A kindergarten school tour (preferably in-person) gives you the inside scoop on what the school stands for, what kind of families you’ll encounter (+ whether you fit in), and a portal into what older kids are capable of doing if they continue with that school. It takes time to do in-person tours, but having completed dozens of virtual visits last year and having completed at least a dozen in-person ones so far (the season isn’t over), I can reassure you that there is nothing like the in-person visit. I love the convenience of the virtual ones, and they are 100% better than making a decision in a vacuum. If you can though, make the effort to go in person, then look for these five things.
Kindergarten school tour giveaway #1: how did the commute during rush hour make you feel?
It may just be a mile away but is that mile uphill? What will you do if inclement weather is forecast for that whole week (heat advisory, snowfall)? How is your mental health when you get into the office?
Sometimes it feels like a cop out, but do not underestimate the effort it will take you to get to your chosen school, and factor in that burden into your decision making. A constantly grumpy parent is never desirable!
Are the kids playing together or engaging with each other?
The in-person kindergarten school tour gives you an indicator of whether the kids want to be in the classroom and if the teacher is doing a good job engaging them. Virtual tours cannot show you body language and how much energy is expended on discipline or classroom management (which is inevitable, but also takes away from instruction time).
At the end of the day, you want to know if the kids are happy and allowed to be kids. Some schools will have intense academic standards they push for – these all seem great until you see that kids are overwhelmed by the work load while in class. Imagine what homework is like at home without the additional support and consider if you actually want to be the homework police for your 5 year old.
Pro tip: make the most of your kindergarten tour by peeping on what kids in older grades are doing
Just because you’re on a kindergarten school tour doesn’t mean you can’t see other grades in action – and spoiler alert! – you should! This gives you a sense of the rigor and curriculum that’s being implemented, as well as how it compares to other schools in your neighborhood. Tour a variety of schools and try to always visit the same grades – the one your child is entering, and one that is towards the end of a student’s career at that school (for kindergarten, I recommend 4th or 5th grades).
How is the school measuring success? Are there year-end benchmarks kids have to hit?
One kindergarten school tour I went on imparted valuable information that wasn’t anywhere on the website:
- One of their objectives is that 5/6 year olds are expected to sit for 40 minutes and write on a given prompt
- There is no tenure for teachers; those who failed to meet those school’s prescribed objectives were counseled and if they did not meet expectations, booted
Yes, there is something to be said for getting rid of dead weight. No one wants a bad teacher. But equally, if there is no job security, what are the incentives in place to keep teachers motivated? These indirectly impact the whole self that teachers bring to the classroom.
Will you fit in with the other families?
I once had a colleague tell me that she had ruled out lots of other schools because she didn’t want to be the only parent sweating a $10,000 donation at the annual fundraising gala.
This gave me pause, but as THAT unabashedly bum looking parent at the school tours (my preferred athleisure uniform is not even Lululemon gear – ha!), I finally understood what she meant. Done well, your kids are going to make friends with all sorts of people across the socioeconomic and racial spectrum. What you’re trying to work out is whether you’re comfortably in the middle of the spectrum or at the extremes. Having straddled both the rich and the poor divides, I know it is a different energy that you have to bring when you are not at parity with other families. Being aware of this reality is important.
Great schools has a nice list of questions for school tours broken out by type of learning environment. After a school visit, take the time to compare notes and think about what aspects of the visit elicited feelings from you – positive or negative. Will the school nurture your child’s multiple intelligences? How would a parent teacher conference go down – would the conversation be about your child needing additional tutoring or would it be about how happy your child is?
At the end of the day, you want the kindergarten school tour to show you what your child would learn, who they would learn it with (i.e. economic and racial diversity matters), whether they would be happy, and if the teachers care about the kids’ well-being. That’s really the simple breakdown of what a good school experience entails: a child who is challenged, able to find his place in a microcosm of the broader world around them, and cared for by adults who are passionate about the subject matter.
