{"id":239208,"date":"2023-01-11T21:34:22","date_gmt":"2023-01-11T21:34:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buoyantbloomer.com\/?p=239208"},"modified":"2023-08-15T01:26:12","modified_gmt":"2023-08-15T01:26:12","slug":"education-quality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buoyantbloomer.com\/education-quality\/","title":{"rendered":"What criteria are you using to determine education quality?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Education quality can&#8217;t be summarized by a few numbers, and yet that&#8217;s precisely what busy parents confronting school choice are left to make a decision with. But let me short circuit the conversation right here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Your list of top schools will look different from mine because a good school is good for a particular family with a particular set of values. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Let me say that another way:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">When it comes to education quality, there is no one single model of a successful school. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>So if we want to celebrate schools for their different strengths and view schools through the lens of &#8220;fit&#8221; rather than through the lens of &#8220;best school&#8221;, what criteria should we consider to drive high quality decision making? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Education quality measured in 5 criteria<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Everyone wants a sound bite, so here is the TL:DR version of the criteria all parents should be considering in a school thanks to Jack Schneider and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondtestscores.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Beyond Test Scores project<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Quality of teachers and teaching environment<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>School culture (including safety, relationships, and academic orientation)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Resources (facilities and personnel, learning resources, community support)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Academic learning (performance, student commitment to learning, critical thinking, college and career readiness)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Character and well-being (civic engagement, work ethic, artistic and creative traits, health)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I completed my Masters degree at Tufts University in Somerville, MA so the fact that this project was conducted using Somerville as an example was truly fascinating to me. It&#8217;s also a great read!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ok, but those criteria don&#8217;t exist <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I know, reader, I know. That&#8217;s why parents looking for a good education are typically stuck with word-of-mouth, <a href=\"https:\/\/buoyantbloomer.com\/kindergarten-school-tour\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">school tours<\/a>, and redactive sites like Niche.com, Great Schools, and Inside Schools. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s the problem with word of mouth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Those that are sharing information need to be well informed, and that isn&#8217;t always the case. Information networks are of highly varying quality. I hear it all the time &#8211; so and so school is bad, yet I know the parents have never toured the grounds, so how can they know? Same goes for those gushing about the school across the street. \n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Pro tip: if a school is really good, you definitely must tour. And if a school is THAT bad, well 2 hours isn&#8217;t going to kill you to scope it out and form your own opinion. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Even among those with direct experience, it&#8217;s still complicated. You might hear about teachers who are beloved by parents at a school for example, but are they better teachers? Some might spend a lot of time directly communicating with parents but have almost identical teaching practices as another less &#8220;involved&#8221; teacher. The one who is in direct contact with the parents will be favored, but might not necessarily be more effective in the classroom. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Word of mouth is also complicated because it&#8217;s based on assumptions made by a sample size of two: the parent&#8217;s own child and themself. Heck, priorities between two parents in one family can diverge making one parent more apt to say they&#8217;re at a great school while the other parent only feels like their child&#8217;s needs are being met. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>There&#8217;s also the issue of our neanderthal brains focusing on negative information. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>So this brings us to an important point we have to remember:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A school is rarely good or bad in all ways or for all kids<\/h2>\n<cite>Jack Schneider<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Fine, tell me what I need to do to find quality education<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Unpopular answer: Ask questions. Tour schools. Hang out at playgrounds after school is out and chat up parents who attend schools you&#8217;re interested in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There&#8217;s no shortcut to getting the data because there&#8217;s no shortcut to explaining your child, your family&#8217;s values, and your vision for your child&#8217;s future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Beyond test scores, ask yourself:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>How do the kids do in middle school?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How often are arts, music, language instruction, and PE offered a week? <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What electives are offered? Can you supplement them on the side if none are offered?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What have parents who have had a particular teacher say about him or her (find multiple sources)?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What does the inside of the school look like? Do students look like they respect it or is it trashed inside? Northeast winters take a toll on any building &#8211; especially if they&#8217;re older and not maintained to commercial standards. Exterior appearances should not be judged. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How often do teachers turnover? <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How does the <a href=\"https:\/\/buoyantbloomer.com\/gifted-programs-in-elementary-school\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">G&amp;T program<\/a> differ from the general education program?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Kindergarten admissions are closing on the 20th for NYC parents. Get out there and find the answers you&#8217;re seeking!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Education quality can&#8217;t be summarized by a few numbers, and yet that&#8217;s precisely what busy parents confronting school choice are left to make a decision with. But let me short circuit the conversation right here. Your list of top schools will look different from mine because a good school is good for a particular family [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":239209,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[52,66],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-239208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-decision-making-for-parents","category-preschool-at-home"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What criteria are you using to determine education quality? | Buoyant Bloomer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Education quality can&#039;t be measured by just test scores and word of mouth. 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