DailyDirt: Sending Your Kid To School

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

A couple decades ago, the choices for elementary schools were pretty simple and limited -- public or private school. It's a bit more complicated now with public schools, charter schools, magnet schools and various different kinds of private schools that may be religious or based on a particular philosophy or pedagogical technique. (There's also the choice of opting-out with homeschooling....) In the end, there's no certainty in any complex decision -- some schools might have higher test scores, but quantitative statistics aren't everything. Here are just a few links for parents looking at a choice between elementary schools.

• If you're totally new to the experience of picking a pre-school or elementary school, PBS Parents has compiled some questions to think about. Or just more stuff to stress about.... [url]
• Most parents just send their kid to the school closest to their home. But for those parents who are considering different schools, test score data should be interpreted in a trend context, not just as a snapshot grade for the school. [url]
• Some techies are opting to homeschool with the help of online resources and hacker groups to collaborate on DIY projects. There are some startups like AltSchool and programs from the Khan Academy that are contributing to this additional alternative to the public/private school model. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: altschool, education, homeschooling, khan academy, moocs, parenting, school, test scores