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I recently visited a K-8 Catholic school to find out more about their program and five years ago my eldest child attended a Catholic kindergarten. I attended Catholic school from grades 2-7. These experiences are my frame of reference.
Things are clearly quite different than when I attended Catholic school. For starters, when I was in school, almost every teacher was a nun. You just don't see that anymore.
The principal of the school I just visited seemed pleased that the diocese had recently (in the past couple of years) required the school to amend their curriculum to conform with our state standards. Prior to that, Catholic schools were more concerned with meeting national expectations of learning for all Catholic schools. I don't see this change as a positive, however. Our state standards are woefully low (comparing results of the CMT to the NAEP makes clear just how low they are). Projecting forward and over the long haul, this is really not a good thing for Catholic schools.
The other red flag was the pride in their Lucy Calkins style "writer's workshop" approach to teaching writing. They do teach grammar in every grade K-8 and offer Honors English for students who are capable.
The math, on the other hand, was still much more traditional than anything in our public school district. It's neither Singapore nor Saxon, but it's not Everyday Math or Investigations either. They have honors algebra available in eighth grade. They have a significant percentage of the graduating eighth graders place out of algebra at the high school level. That's definitely something.
The other silver lining: I did observe the order, respect for others, respect for self, discipline and self-assured, smiling faces I remember from my own Catholic school days. I contrast this with the disorder, disrespect, and stress I recently observed at a visit to a magnet school in our county. I believe that children thrive in a structured environment because it feels safe and predictable. I still believe this learning environment/school culture element is an important aspect of most Catholic schools today.
I also think that that this type of school culture is what makes schools like KIPP, Green Dot, Stuyvesant, and others so successful.
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*My daughter only attended Catholic kindergarten for a year because it was terrible. The parents were fantastic, the environment was what I was seeking, but my daughter didn't learn a darn thing in school. I ended up teaching her to read myself when I realized the school wasn't anywhere near doing so.
This is not typical of Catholic school kindergarten. We just had very bad luck (an inexperienced teacher had replaced a beloved teacher who had just retired and the principal, a nun, was in her 90's and losing track of her school). I was too green at the time to understand how profound a difference this would make.
One of my very good friends has a son that is a year ahead of my daughter and he was attending a different Catholic school. By comparing notes, it was clear that the two kindergarten programs were night and day. This prompted my decision to enroll her elsewhere for first grade.
When the private school evaluated my daughter to see if they felt she would be ready for first grade, they concluded that she would probably be better off repeating kindergarten at their school. This wasn't a terrible situation since my daughter was a very young kindergartener and I expected as much based on my own gut feelings.
Over the summer I worked on phonics with her and she was reading well in short order. The private school re-evaluated her at the end of summer and decided she had made enough progress that they would leave the decision up to me as to whether she should attend kindergarten or first grade.
We decided she was ready for first grade and that the first grade teacher would discuss any issues as they arose so that we could intervene right away. The teacher never needed to contact me for intervention and my daughter had an excellent first grade education.
This was a Carden school. Rigorous, highly structured, direct instruction driven and very, very traditional. The difference between the Catholic kindergarten and the Carden first grade was a chasm. Many children might not have been able to make that leap. I was fortunate that my daughter was able to and that if she hadn't, it was early enough to remediate and get her back on track without much delay.
As with any school, some Catholic schools are more effective than others. It seems that some have part of the recipe but by missing some vital ingredient, they are not as successful as they could be. From what I gather, the key was a school with clear learning expectations, tested and refined methods of teaching, and extremely high expectations of their students.
After all, this is the school where the first grade teacher looked at my daughter's penmanship one day and said, "I know you can do so much better than this." She smiled, placed my daughter's work in the trash, and handed her a new piece of paper. My daughter quickly went about doing her work to her capabilities and was very proud of herself for doing so. She didn't cry and she wasn't emotionally scarred. She simply knew the expectations where high and that she was going to be held up to them.
When schools, Catholic or not, are unafraid to set the bar high and expect their students to reach those goals, amazing things happen.
My impressions of Catholic school v. public are in line with what you describe. We have several friends and neighbors that send their kids to Catholic school and the emphasis is most certainly on academics and achievement. I don't know why this should surprise me.
Anyway, they are ahead of public school in math. Very traditional, structured teaching. I've compared the worksheets and problems the elementary kids are given, and it is far better than EM or TERC.
Does anyone have any experience with other religious schools? I glanced briefly at the Solomon Schechter Jewish elementary school and they list Everyday Math in curriculum.
Catholic school curriculums are set either at the school or archdiocese level, so can vary significantly.
In California, I believe all parochial schools are accredited, and teach to the state standards. Here that is not a bad thing as the state standards are actually pretty good.
We have straight phonics instruction and an emphasis on math facts. As we were talking to the third grade teacher recently she was half-apologizing to a prospective parent that in her class there was a lot of memorization of multiplication tables, because there is no other way to efficiently learn the skills you need for higher level math. Needless to say we don’t view that as a negative.
The school uses Houghton Mifflin texts which aren’t bad. However we’re going to take a another shot at introducing Singapore math to the school.
One of the best things my son’s school does is administer the ITBS towards the beginning of the year. The results come back early enough in the academic calendar to be useful for working on issues in the same school year.
We have found that there are significant differences between Catholic schools in the city. There was at least one school near us we didn’t consider due to it being a bit more squishy touchy-feely.
One of the best things my son’s school does is administer the ITBS towards the beginning of the year. The results come back early enough in the academic calendar to be useful for working on issues in the same school year.
The school I visited recently does this as well. I find this very good practice as it is effective use of standardized tests as a diagnostic tool. Receiving the results in time to modify the educational scenario is the only way to go.
In California, I believe all parochial schools are accredited, and teach to the state standards. Here that is not a bad thing as the state standards are actually pretty good.
Oh, please don't remind me. My sister's children attend a Catholic school in CA and we both have kidnergarteners. We compare notes often and it's not looking good. CT standards are dreadfully low. When they become the benchmark, you're doomed.
We have straight phonics instruction and an emphasis on math facts.
And the teacher apologized for this? I would have a lot more free time if this were the case. Instead, I get to homeschool one child and afterschool the other two to make sure they get what they need.
We have found that there are significant differences between Catholic schools in the city.
This is probably the case just about everywhere. While I still believe most are a very safe bet academically, as to rigor, and in terms of overall environment, it pays to ask the tough question (how do they teach math, reading, and writing) right up front.
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