Did you go to Public Schools and What did you think of your education?

I went to HISD public schools for elementary (River Oaks), middle (Lanier), and high school (Lamar), finishing it all up in 2001. Albeit my 3 public schools are pretty much the best ones in the city, but I have to say, I would not choose to go to a private school if given the option. My kids will probably go to public schools as well, especially if zoned to such great schools as the 3 above (though I may not still be in Houston).

Personally, I think evaluating teachers on test scores in ridiculous. If you use that as a metric, teachers become practically forced to use their time preparing you for a particular type of knowledge/test instead of actually valuable things such as critical thinking or things that exceed what that age is "supposed to" know. It boxes the knowledge into a neat, narrow package that does not have the breadth it should.

Of course, there will be teachers that don't just teach for the test, but I think they will be even fewer than now. I had to take the TAAS test back then, and teachers who prepared almost exclusively for it were a complete waste of time and learning potential. There were some back when the TAAS scores didn't mean your job, and making the TAKS scores (or whatever) mean your job will increase that number.

But again, my public school experience was pretty rosy given the schools I went to. River Oaks Elementary is pretty much the best HISD elementary school, Lanier is pretty good, and Lamar is an IB school.

 

I began my education in private schooling and was moved to public schooling in the 5th grade.

Private is significantly better.

Edit: For example, there were people in my high school classes that could barely read, and would need the teacher's guidance to pronounce any word bigger than three syllables, didn't know who we fought for our independence, wouldn't have been able to tell you how many senators each state has, etc. Those people all passed.

I just recently took a mini class at an HCC campus, and there were people there who could not read assignments when called upon. It was pretty shameful.

 

Beats me. It was almost a decade ago. I assume they're pretty much the same, though.

 

If you can get in a public school that offers extensive honors/AP classes then public schools are usually great. The difference between the honors and average classes were remarkable. I took average english, and the teacher would actually have us watch the movies in class in place of reading the books. This happened for Hound of the Baskervilles and Great Expectations. One time she gave up testing/quizzing/discussing the book Brave New World because nobody was keeping up with the reading. My average Spanish class was full of punks, who brought the teacher to tears on one occasion.

I learned stuff in those classes because of the work I did on my own, but the class time itself was a waste of time.

 

if you read my thread on testing for my son you may remember I said my sister sends her kids to HISD over private schools. she sends one to Lanier

 

went to public school and UCLA.

I grew up in an upper-middle class neighborhood so I can't really relate.

Usually it's the quality of the students (and parents in particular) that determine how effective a school or teacher is.

You can be pretty certain that a bad student's parents didn't really care that much. Likewise, the honors kids' more or less had parents who stressed education.

Teachers should be held accountable. But given the inherent obstacles some teachers face, any system could be very difficult to implement.

 

i went to the other HISD (Humble) and they always touted their "Excellence in Education" awards reflected by their test scores...

 

I went to both public and private schools but none in Houston. In Cambridge I was in a great public school then moved to a nearby town and went to a mediocre public school. Then I moved again and went to a pathetic public school. In fifth grade I started going to an excellent private school in Cambridge. By highschool I moved again and spent part of my Freshman year in Maine (public school, so-so, very rural), 2 1/2 years at a very good private day school for girls in the Cleveland area and my senior year at another very good private day school for girls in Chattanooga.

Even though the public schools in Cambridge are some of the best in the nation by any standard (lots of money while a very high percentage of residents send their kids to private school) in my experience a great private school is considerably better than a great public school. I would never consider sending my kids to a bad public school, I would home school before taking that option. The bad public school experience was like spending time with a very bad babysitter all day.

I know a lot of private schools just don't seem to be worth the money. What the good private schools I went to had to offer included very experienced teachers with PhDs, opportunities to do graduate level research at nearby universities (it's hard to beat having your name on published research papers when your applying to college), classmates who are all very smart and talented, amazing facilities, great student-teacher ratios, funding for your projects and clubs, single sex education, well funded programs for sports, arts and performing arts, ample opportunity to study abroad or around the country with programs such as The Mountain School (Emerson would have loved it), college counselers on very good terms with admissions staff at elite universities. No, they don't bribe the admissions staff but they are very good at helping students match up with schools that suit them and start them early (about seventh grade) on building on their strengths to get in.

Although I didn't have straight A's in highschool (too lazy) I wait listed at Harvard and got in everywhere else I applied (all top twenty). In college I didn't have any trouble with the workload and graduated with honors. My previous schooling definately prepared me well for college.

We live in the Third Ward with a terrible public school around the corner. Our oldest daughter is at Awty with our second applying for PK3 for next fall. If we weren't going the Awty route I would be looking at St. Johns.

 

I went to private school all throughout high school (several). I never really thought it was all that special. We still had coaches teaching history and algebra. That said, we didn't have the semi-r****ded students you find in public school a lot. I had a B average and was in the 3rd quartile of my graduating class.

 

I was at a private school through first grade. I then attended public school for second through sixth grade. I was then in private school through high school.

I saw a big difference both times I switched. Private school was significantly ahead of the public school. I think I had an equal distribution of good and bad teachers at both public and private school. The real differences (in my humble opinion) are greater resources at the private schools and greater family support for the kids.

I send my kids to private school now, but I am zoned to HISD. My kids would be attending Askew, which I understand is a good school, but I know that my children are ahead of what is being taught at Askew. My kids are not geniuses and they need the support of smaller classes and other children interested in learning.

 

I went to public schools in Houston. Some of my teachers sucked, some were decidedly average, and some were outstanding, making a impact on the rest of my life. Pretty ordinary, in my opinion. I was far more influenced by the university professor sitting at the dinner table every night.

 

Went to private school and then public school starting fourth grade.

I thought they were comparable. I went to CCISD.

 

Did any one go to KIPP in Houston? That school is ranked as one of the top 100 high school in the nation with a 80% hispanic and 18% black student population (of which 88% are from economically disadvantaged families). It is a charter school though, does that mean they get to pick who can enroll in the school? Couldn't other school copy what these type of schools are doing?

 

I'm not sure about KIPP but I believe a number of charter schools have asked for and received corporate funding. Charter schools attract a lot of good teachers as well. I'm not sure that a public school can get additional funds from the private sector. Additionally, not everyone can get the better teachers. Certainly some public schools can copy this model and some already do.

 

I'm not sure about in Texas. But in Los Angeles Charter schools can choose who they accept and don't accept. Though that is possibly changing. So yes that can really have an effect. I find that a lot of times teachers at the worst performing schools are the best teachers. That is because they have to work the hardest and find the most innovative ways to reach those students.

Take a teacher from one of the best performing schools in the better neighborhoods and put them in a poor performing school with economically challenged students and those students will perform even worse. That is a general statement of course.

 

Langal had it pretty much right. You can have great teachers and below average students and have a good school, or you can have good students with average teachers and have a good school.

The school I went is always one of the top ranked school in the state usually with 95% plus grad rate and 90% plus of grads going to college every year. I think the teachers are good but not great, the reason the school is so good is because the student population is mostly the kids of university faculty and staff's, which made the school environment so much better than other near by schools. The local government loves this because they can charge somore tax because of the school district!

 

I went to both Cy-Fair ISD and Humble ISD. Sometimes I felt that there were huge problems with the curriculum. However, for the most part, my experiences in both districts were very good. I guess every district has schools that are good and schools that are bad.

How would you guys rank public ISD's??

I guess the big ones are:
Cy Fair
Klein
Houston
Humble
Spring
Aldine
A-Lief

And more specifically, which public schools out of those ISD's are notable for being extraordinary??

 

I grew up in the Alief system. I was in accelerated/pre-ap/ap classes all of my life but still feel like it didn't prepare for me college. I graduated from Hastings in 3 yrs but one of my biggest regret was not taking bio/chem 2..

Needless to say that I struggled in the pre-med program at Baylor.