<p>I think the OPs question was what schools should do to improve. My experience is that their is a wide swath of folks who like to sing the praises of independent schools and tend towards the pollyanna. </p>
<p>The point of this thread is what they should be doing to improve - which is plenty.</p>
<p>I’ll add one specific - all teachers should be rated by students and these ratings should be posted so they can be reviewed by parents and students. That might help with the quality gap.</p>
<p>@LC: the problem with that is that kids are notoriously BAD at accurately assessing the teacher’s competency, because it is filtered through so many of their own perceptions. Just have a gander at “ratemyprofessor.com” to get a sense of what a waste this is. That said, I’m with you that there ARE ways of assuring that faculty, both young and old, are actively engaged with the trends in their disciplines, and I’d be interested in schools having more forthcoming “Faculty Notes” about training certification programs, advanced studies, or other programs that specific faculty are undergoing. There certainly IS a variegated talent pool among the teachers at these schools and to the extent we can, it’s a great thing for families to advocate for the strongest possible faculty in general, and to try to make sure one’s own children are getting the best possible education out of the institution. </p>
<p>(That said, I’d also add that there is some life-skill lesson to having to learn how to navigate with some less-than-perfect teacher fits during one’s education, because they’ll face it again in higher ed, as well as the workforce. Also, pretty sure there has been some strategic conversation about dealing with difficult teachers elsewhere on this board. Think grinzing was involved…a search for that person’s posts might turn up some valuable advice on this topic)</p>
<p>@PelicanDad there’s a Gates Foundation study that found that kids are actually very good at assessing teacher competency although I will agree that ratemyteacher is NOT the method.</p>
<p>“Student perceptions of a given teacher’s strengths and weaknesses are consistent across the different groups of students they teach. Moreover, students seem to know effective teaching when they experience it: student perceptions in one class are related to the achievement gains in other classes taught by the same teacher. Most important are students’ perception of a teacher’s ability to control a classroom and to challenge
students with rigorous work.”</p>
<p>We have had a great experience with my d’s bs. </p>
<p>We were lucky and had few schools to choose from. My d, in her more than mature nature, chose the school where she felt she would fit in best. </p>
<p>My d didnt select that school that gave her the best FA package. I have many times struggled to make ends meet, but would not change a thing. I made myself known from day 1. I didnt over do it , but made sure that all her teachers, coaches, deans, even support staff know that my d came from a caring/loving family and I would be involved. It is surely not easy, even as we go into the last year.</p>
<p>Our school has set up a parents network to get the parents more involved. The idea is working out extremely well. I believe that this closer connect of parents gives us support and power. They have even paired “old” parents with “new” parents right after the kids make their acceptance.</p>