What Parents Should Know About Day Schools

When choosing a school for their kids, parents have to weigh a number of different factors. The advantages of private schools include greater student and teacher engagement, higher academic standards as reflected in test scores and college admission rates, and extracurricular activities that allow students to develop skills and self confidence. These are on the list of what to know about day schools for parents, so they can make a responsible decision about what would be the best school for their children.

What are the benefits of private school education?
For any parents considering the advantages of a private education, here’s what to know about day schools. By a number of different indices, such as student engagement, academic performance, extracurricular activities, and colleges admissions, day schools outperform their public school counterparts. Many private schools also have summer camps where students can enjoy the vacation and learn new activities and ideas at the same time.

• Higher academic standards
  With lower student to teacher ratios, day schools are able to give individualized attention to each student. Teachers are both committed and highly qualified. This environment supports academic success, as seen in test scores and college admissions. For instance, average SAT scores for private schools are 1235. This is well above the national average of 1060 for all schools.

• College admissions
  A large percentage of private school students go on to college after graduation. Private schools begin the conversation about college early and counselors spend about 55% of their time on college-related counseling. At public high schools, counselors spend only 22% of their time on college-related counseling. The outcomes can be seen at graduation, when 95% of all non-parochial private high school graduates go on to four-year postsecondary institutions. By comparison, only 49% of public school students do so.

• Extracurricular activities and summer camps
  Private schools offer extracurricular activities that help students to gain self confidence and to develop their skills in different areas. These could be music, the arts, and other creative projects or athletics. Many private schools also have summer camps where students can maintain the connection to learning. Summer camps are also a place to try new sports and creative activities, which help students to discover new interests and talents.

• Student and parent involvement
  Student engagement is an essential component of the learning process and private schools do better in this regard. While only 4% of private schools report that student apathy is a problem, for public schools their figure rises to 21%. Parental engagement is another measure of a quality education. While almost one fourth or 24% of all public school teachers find parental involvement lacking, only 3% of all private school teachers face this problem.

For parents considering enrolling their children in private schools, there are some important factors to take into account. Among what to know about day schools must be included academic performance, higher rates of college admissions, and extracurricular activities such as creative arts and sports. Both students and parents are much more actively engaged in a private school education, which leads to better student performance all around.