<p>“What I am disagreeing with is the notion that education through the 3rd grade has no bearing on later educational success.”</p>
<p>Of course it has a bearing - but even in the case that the result is academic delays, they can be managed, at that age. </p>
<p>For example, at that age, most girls are academically ahead of most boys - yet boys do eventually catch up. </p>
<p>My own daughter went to an expeditionary charter where lots of 5th graders still struggled with the times tables. Fast forward a decade, and those kids are in good, or VERY good, colleges. They did catch up in the traditional subjects in which the expeditionary approach wasn’t effective. </p>
<p>My daughter loved the school, but by 7th grade wanted out: she wanted school sports, and the expeditionary school didn’t offer it. It offered week-long backpacking trips, and hut-to-hut skiing races, and sailing in the summer. But no track or football. Not their thing. </p>
<p>My daughter starts grad school at Georgetown this fall. Her closest school friend is in second year of med school. Other kids in her class went to schools that included Stanford, NYU and Vassar along with the main flagship. The unconventional elementary (and for some middle and even high school) education did not stop them from being considered conventionally academically successful.</p>