How to Choose the Correct Type of School for Your Child?
Posted on April 8, 2008
Filed Under Family
How do you choose the best school for your child? School choice options available to parents have increased dramatically in recent years.
Think about your child’s needs and your family’s needs and wants. Consider the personality of your child. A quiet child might fare better in a smaller school or a school with small class size. If you have a budding artiste or scientist, you will want to look for a school that has programs in these areas. Is it important to you that your school be close to home or your place of work? On the other hand, will you need a school with before and after-school care? Check out the following post for ideas on what to consider:
Neighborhood School
Normally, your first option is your neighborhood school. Each public school district sets up its own rules and boundaries for each school in the district, so it is best to check with your local district to find out which school your child will be assigned to, and what the rules are for attending charter schools, magnet schools, or other schools within or outside your local district.
Charter Schools
Charter schools are public schools of choice that operate with freedom from many of the local and state regulations that apply to traditional public schools. Charter schools allow parents, community leaders, educational entrepreneurs, and others the flexibility to innovate, create and provide students with increased educational options. Charter schools exercise increased autonomy in return for stronger accountability. They are sponsored by designated local, state, or other organizations that monitor their quality and integrity while holding them accountable for academic results and fiscal practices.
School Transfers
School districts generally set their own policies for intradistrict transfers (from one school in the district to another) and interdistrict transfers (to a school outside the district). Preferences are often given to children whose childcare provider is near a particular school, or whose parents work in the city where the school is located. Most school districts have an appeals process if your request is denied. Space limitations often make transfers difficult, and each district’s process has its own regulations, so be sure to check with your local district for specific requirements.
Virtual Schools
Instead of taking classes in a school building, students can receive their education using a computer through a virtual school. Virtual schools have an organized curriculum. Depending on the state and district, students can take the full curriculum or individual classes. Some school districts have used these online schools to offer classes that will help students learn at their own pace. Virtual education is sometimes used in remote areas for specialized or advanced courses that are not available in the immediate area. This type of studying is also called “distance learning.”
Magnet Schools
Magnet schools are another option offered by many school districts. Magnet schools generally have a particular focus, such as art or technology, or follow a different structural organization, such as mixing different grade levels within one classroom, or operating on a year-round schedule. Magnet schools are not governed by neighborhood boundaries; they draw students from throughout the school district and must accept students on a nondiscriminatory basis.
Alternative Schools
These are generally schools whose educational philosophies are different from traditional programs. Typically, alternative schools have small classes, a social and emotional development curriculum, and a self-paced academic curriculum. This title is used officially as well as informally to describe a wide range of schools, so it’s important to ask specific schools why they are classified as “alternative.”
Private Schools
Private schools are schools that do not receive funding from the state. They set up their own criteria for admission. Families of the students pay tuition or, in some cases, students receive scholarships to attend. The teachers, principal, board of directors (and sometimes the parents and students) decide upon curriculum, teaching methodology and enrollment requirements. Private schools are not required to hire credentialed teachers.
Home Schools
Homeschooling is an option for a growing number of parents. Some parents prepare their own materials and design their own programs of study, while others use materials produced by companies specializing in homeschool materials. Some take advantage of virtual school programs or other educational resources available on the Internet. Of course, exercising this option may require major changes in how your family lives. Teaching your children at home is an ambitious undertaking, requiring time, planning, creativity, and commitment. Be sure to check with your state because different states have different requirements for homeschooling.
Documentary source: http://www.ed.gov
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Our kids have basically always attended a school in a neighboring district, because our own district had no facilities for challenging gifted children. The local school board reluctantly released the kids through “Schools of Choice”, a Michigan based program allowing a limited number of students to attend schools outside their district. Participation by the schools in Schools of Choice is optional - not all districts do, and some will gladly receive outside students but deny releases of their own. This is a nice overview of the basic options out there.