New Athenian Academy

Disclaimer: This blog entry is specific to private schools.  I spent all of my education in the public school sphere, but have been teaching in private schools.  I find some of the quirks of private schools interesting.  This entry is an example of that fascination.

So what’s up with admissions standards in private school?  Or a better question, why do some have them and some don’t?

Let’s look at my former school.  I could not determine any admission standards.  It seemed like every “Tom, Dick, and Harry” that applied got in.  The only thing I saw was the the family applying had to sign a statement of faith and list where they went to church.  That’s it.  A piece of paper that anyone could fake. Is this good or bad?  I would like to take the stance that this is bad.

One of the goals of every private K12 school is to find their vision, the driving principles. Is this a school for the gifted?  Is this a school for students with LDs?  Is this a school focusing on the Montessori approach?  Is this school completely project based?  The school needs to have niche.  A group to serve and a plan to serve them.  Without it, a private school is no different than a public school.  (Remember I spent most of my time in public school.  My kids go to public school now.  I want public schools to succeed.  However they must take everyone, so there is an inherent obstacle in place.)

At least I supposed that this was a goal of all private schools.  As I started to do some research, the goal was often lacking.  In fact, this was something that my former school sorely lacked.  I bemoaned the fact that we had no discernible vision for three years straight.  Guess we wanted to be the school that took anybody and it showed.  I had gifted students, violent students, failing students, lazy students, highly motivated students, undisclosed LD students, etc.  Someone could say that all the students were Christian and that’s why they were at my school, but that would be a lie.  They weren’t all Christian.  We needed a vision to define our school and maybe then we could have worked on the admission policies and standards.  Instead we become the catch-all school.  Not the place were I wanted my kids especially since I was paying for this directionless education.

Back to the general.  Once you decide the vision, the school needs to develop an admissions policy.  I wanted to see what other private schools required for admission.  I focused my research only on Indiana, as that is where I reside.  There are too many private schools in the country to give a simple summary, so I thought I would stick to my area.  Here’s some of the common standards I found.

In Indiana, you get to choose from Christian schools or Christian schools.   There are only about 1% of all private schools are not Christian.

Among the nonChristian schools, a majority are Montessori.  Thankfully Montessori schools have a fairly definite vision.  Unless you want your child in Montessori environment, there is no reason to choose these schools.  They don’t have any admission standard per se, but I am sure the parent needs a basic understanding and agreement of the philosophy to send their child there.  So that’s some type of policy.

The few other secular private schools are very ambiguous about their policies and standards.  Most sites, I had to search far and wide for any clue as to their curriculum or detailed philosophy.  Saying that we seek students with “intellectual curiosity” tells me nothing about what you are looking for or what my child really needs.

Looking at the Christian schools, I amazed by their lack of differentiation or any type of vision.  All of them say something like “we are Biblically-based.”  That tells me nothing.  What exactly is “Biblically-based”?  Can you be a Christian school and not be biblically based?  I really wonder.  I only found a few schools that elaborated on this point.  And usually to very confusing results.

Moving on to the admission standards, I again found confusing and/or missing results.  Most of the Christian schools required some type of Pastor’s recommendation (do Pastor’s really get these and answer honestly?) and an admissions application.  Among the more interesting questions on the application, I found one school who required a testimony of salvation from the parents (the parents’ salvation testimony, not the student’s).  I also found one that asked questions such as “Do you smoke?”, “Do you listen to rock music?”, “Do you go to rock concerts?”, and my favorite “Do you frequent secular movie theaters”? (There are nonsecular movie theaters out there?  That’s news to me.)  What exactly are these questions used for?  Are we trying to make sure the incoming student is Christian?  Like that’s not hard to fake if one was so inclined.  This tells me nothing about what type of student they are actually looking for.

In general I only found a few schools that specifically stated some sort of admissions test and passing score.  Talking to parents of private school students, many mentioned that their child took some type of aptitude or assessment test, but very rarely do schools specify which one or the passing score.  This would be helpful.

Extra note: Most schools require a nonrefundable application fee.  So even if you don’t get into chosen school, you’re out ~$50.  But without clear admission standards, you are always taking a gamble on these applications.  Be prepared to possibly spend lots of money just in fees before you even find out the acceptance status of your child.

What conclusion can I make about admissions standards and policies?  Most school don’t really have them.  I was talking to friend about this topic and she came up with this summary.  ”Perhaps the schools are more interested in the money coming in than a real vision and plan for the school.”  Unfortunately I am going to have to agree with that statement.  Private schools seem to be more concerned about getting more money through the door than creating a specialized alternative to public school education. And no, Christian is not a specialized alternative.  For all I know the kids could be sitting around singing Sunday school songs all day long instead of learning things like math.

My advice: Private schools need to specialize.  They need to create niche markets if they are going to truly succeed and improve the education standards in this country.  The willy-nilly visions are not going to cut it.  This advice is something I wish my former school had taken to heart.  Maybe it would still be open.

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Education Process by Tobe