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Good Philadelphia Charter Schools?
  • AnnmarieAnnmarie
    Posts: 11Member

    Does anyone know of any good Philadelphia Charter Schools?  My DS4 starts Kindergarden Sept 2013 and I have no idea where to send him.  My DH and I live just out side of Center City Philadelphia and we both can not wait to move out of the city, we hate it.  But our DS will be starting school before that can happen and I dont want to send him to the public school, and we can't afford catholic, let alone that we are not catholic. 

    If no one knows a good school does anyone know of a good school rateing website that they trust?  Their is so much information I dont know where to start.

  • SpringSpring
    Posts: 1,431Member
    I've been using greatschools.org to find a school for my DD4 who will start the same year. Not anywhere near you though so I can't help there. What I've ended up doing though is I've used the website as a list of schools, because it's fairly comprehensive and I've called and toured a few. I make a point to know what kind of testing they do, what the scores are of the testings, what they expect of children entering kindergarten to know, and most importantly what they do to prepare them for 1st grade. I asked about discipline policies, recess, how they handle conflict, what their average teacher turn around rate was... I would go on but I bet I already sound a little nuts. Being there in person was really the only way I felt like I could truly find out everything about the school. Of course you'll probably have more questions but those were my top concerns.
    "Sometimes I question my sanity. Sometimes it replies."
  • AnnmarieAnnmarie
    Posts: 11Member

    That's awsome, thanks so much @Spring.  I have crossed that website too, and it is the easiest to understand/navigate.  I never thought about all the questions to ask, thanks so much for that advice!  I have a lot of family who are teachers, mostly at catholic schools, and no one has mentioned to ask about discipline policies, or average teacher turn around rate.  I would of never have thought of that!  Greatly appreciated!

     

  • SpringSpring
    Posts: 1,431Member
    I'm glad I could help! :) I got the turn around rate question from my sister who graduated from Elementary Ed a few years ago. She said she read a statistic in her book that schools that have teachers staying longer tend to do better on their testing scores and are more dedicated to their students. I figured if the teachers are happy in the schools, staying longer then that must mean it's a good school? Haha I hope so anyway. Anyway, good luck!  :D
    "Sometimes I question my sanity. Sometimes it replies."
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