All public schools will try to teach to the tests, because the tests are based on the state standards, but mediocre and bad schools stop there. Good and great schools will also teach what is not tested. For instance, in California science is not tested until grade 5. A survival-mode school will largely ignore science in the lower grades, while a great school will have a well-developed science curriculum from K on. I’d ask teachers about the projects they teach to try to get a sense of whether they collaborate and share ideas, or hide in their rooms doing their own thing.

I’d agree that parent involvement is the most important factor in any child’s success. I’d also agree that it’s important to find a school where involvement is high, because your child will not only be learning from you and the teachers, they will be learning from their peers.

I’ve worked at and attended wealthy and poor schools. I’ve never seen the phenomenon of rich parents checking out of their kid’s education because they have a ‘good school’. Maybe my schools weren’t ‘good’ enough for that phenomenon? We did have a 98% four-year college attendance rate in my high school, and a 95% rate for the district where I first worked. Kids in those schools had a ton of parental involvement. My current school is economically diverse, and we do have many poor families who are very involved and devoted to education. I work in an expensive area, and we have many poor families who simply do not have the time (many have three jobs and barely see their kids). In the area where I work, lower income level correlates with a higher level of school violence, but this is not true in the area where I live.

I hope we get to see more of what makes your school so fantastic!

The pictures and story are just plain fun!

Oh Kendra, this is the 21st century. We have dads who participate too. Okay, very few dads, but still…

sounds like you have found a great program.