kitchen table math, the sequel: tutors at the Masters School

Friday, June 1, 2007

tutors at the Masters School

So we heard this week from a parent with a child at The Masters School that more than a few of the kids there have tutors.

$26,000/year tuition and the parents are hiring tutors.
Posted by at

5 comments:

concernedCTparent said...

We have a Masters School nearby as well and I called them to ask about their math program. For that very pretty penny your child will receive a K-6 math education using Everyday Mathematics. After an uncomfortable moment of shocked silence, the person who answered my inquiry asked if I would like an enrollment packet.

Why in the world would I pay 75k/year (3 kids) when I can have that disaster of a math curriculum for free at my local public school?

No wonder the parents are hiring tutors!

June 1, 2007 at 6:58 PM
Catherine Johnson said...

Is it the same Masters School?

I had no idea they had more than one campus!

But yes, as far as I can tell most of the chi-chi private schools are using constructivist math.

Private schools have traditionally been progressive.

We also looked at staff at the private schools around here.

The humanities departments are staffed by Ph.Ds (or AbDs). The math departments are staffed by teahers who went to ed schools.

This is at the most expensive private schools in NY.

June 2, 2007 at 8:39 AM
Catherine Johnson said...

My former agent, whose kids go to Dalton, was telling me one day about a fancy new math program her son was going to have the "opportunity" to take. (I think she said he was gifted in math.)

As far as I could tell she was talking about Everyday Math.

June 2, 2007 at 8:39 AM
Catherine Johnson said...

Nevertheless, it's clear that private schools make progressive education work.

We think there are 3 factors that allow private schools to pull off a miracle public schools never do:

1. high accountability - the parents expect their kids to learn, and the schools deliver. There's no assumption that an input naturally equats an output, no questions asked.

2. tiny class sizes and extremely individualized attention - a friend told me something fascinating about the Masters School. She went to the same Open House I did, and the math teacher showed her a complicated Monopoly Game the students had created in order to learn math. Well, of course, I have ZERO patience for that kind of thing at this point....and she said that was her first thought, too --- until she realized her own son, who is mathematically gifted, had in fact MADE HIS OWN MONOPOLOY GAME AT HOME. She said she came away thinking that the "projects" at Masters School are actually PROJECTS THE KIDS WANT TO DO.

3. the elitism of private schools: they hire teachers with Ph.D.s in liberal arts disciplines if they possibly can, Ab.D.s is they can't. And these people set the tone. Progressive ed dominated by disciplinary specialists is a whole different kettle of fish from progressive ed dominated by people who came up through ed schools.

June 2, 2007 at 8:44 AM
concernedCTparent said...

I also tend to believe that because the teachers are generally very qualified, they "edit" what they choose to teach from these reform programs and most likely supplement with other tried and true material. Nevertheless, I have heard accounts at similar "chi-chi" schools (love that!) of parents having to provide tutoring for their child. In some cases, parents refrain from complaining because the wait lists are so long and the prestige so great, they are afraid to lose their child's spot and instead keep on shelling out the big bucks tuition plus tutoring.

June 2, 2007 at 7:35 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)