Smart School Choice builds strong kids

Develop a selection scorecard to place your student in the best school to meet their needs

I recently had dinner with my friends Bill and Nancy Palmer and the topic of school choice came up; mainly because at some point they had each of their five children in five different schools. If you think that schedule sounds crazy, then you’ve never met the five extraordinary young adults they raised and successfully launched into the world. It was extremely stressful at times to keep things organized, but they were committed to building strong kids and were creative enough to always come up with options to help each child grow in strength and confidence. How they did it? Simple, they chose the educational experiences that best suited each of their children at each stage of life, regardless of convenience.

Parents are often afraid of changing schools, or don’t realize that they have so many options available to guide their children into their zone of strength. Let’s first look at what makes a ‘good’ school really ‘good’. Since it’s not really one thing, it’s a combination of many factors that, when combined, can create a learning environment that can bring out the best in your child. These are some of the most common items to consider when beginning the process of selecting a school to bring out the best in your son or daughter.

-Key factors of a ‘good’ school:

Strong Parental Involvement As the old saying goes, a school is only as strong as the level of parental support it receives. Clear support from the community, especially from elected officials. Focused school leaders, especially in administrative roles. Well-structured academic programs to cover different learning styles. Committed and supportive teachers focused on the needs of their students. A safe and secure learning experience. Budgets that allow extracurricular activities to positively impact multiple areas of development, such as the arts, music, journalism, ROTC, languages, and sports. Guidance departments focused on a personalized plan to help students “think outside the box.” Smart classrooms with access to current and state-of-the-art computer technology and the Internet. A learning experience that honors your family’s faith and values, rather than attacking or shaming your child for holding on to a strong faith system.

Of course, any parent would want the best for their children, but in my experience, the word “best” actually floats in many variables throughout the different stages of childhood. So since ‘better’ isn’t really just one school campus, this opens the door to explore many experiences that often accelerate the learning environment for children living at home.

This can only happen when you begin to see that the main goal is to find out what needs your child is facing and then select the school option that can guide him to a position of greater strength. This just goes along with what may have worked for your child last year. Remember, a child’s maturity changes from year to year, and for many children this means that their academic choices should change with it.

– Chart to solve the confusion of discovering the best schools.

Start making smart school choices to help your child be their best by creating a chart to literally ‘rank’ the school options available to your child in a notebook, found at the top of the page . You should include all the options you can think of to make a complete analysis of what is available for your child.

Even if you think you only have one choice, really sit down and consider the school options available to your child in the upcoming school year. In this way, you will be able to track the metrics to see a visual number at the bottom of the page to see what each school option contributes to better meet the needs of your son or daughter at any stage of their educational development.

Here’s a sample of how to structure at the top of the page, except it’s more personal and more powerful if you actually put the name of each of the schools you’re considering in that particular column (for example, list the choices you your child faces). such as: Orange County High, Mountain Prep, Holy Family, The Community School, Math Magnet Prep, Military Leadership Academy, or a virtual online school)

SmartSchool Options:

Public- College Prep- Christian- Home School- Charter- Boarding School- Private- Magnet-Military- Online or Virtual School, etc.

Once you’ve created a list on the page of all the options available to meet your child’s needs, then it’s time to add the list of variables (preferably in order of importance to you in meeting your child’s unique needs). ), to rank or rate each school option based on your own personal standard of what is most valuable to bringing out the best in your child. Create this list in the left margin of your notebook and include factors like the following.

Smart School Features include a combination of important factors such as:

Safety, Academics, Great Teachers, Strong Leaders, Involved Parents, PTA-PTF Groups, Location, Transportation, Costs or Tuition, Friends/Peers, Fits Child’s Personality, Fits Career Goals, Fits Goals Academic Activities, Size of School, Well-Equipped Classrooms, Class Size Ratio to Teacher, Well-Maintained Campus, Clean School Facilities, Hot Lunches and Cafeteria, Wide Variety of Sports, After-School Activities, Tutoring – Academic Help, Music , Choir, Band, Fine Arts and Drama, Bible, Worldview or Faith Building Classes, After School Activities or Childcare, Clubs, FCA, DECA, OJT, etc. for Social Connection, School Life: Socials and Proms, Travel: Unique Learning Experiences, SAT or ACT Prep Classes, Strong Guidance Department, Tuition Assistance Programs, Partnerships with Community Groups (Boys & Girls Clubs, Scouting, etc.), Partnerships with business groups to develop early career success (such as Junior Achievement, career training)

TOTALS of all your measured core values ​​comparisons against each school choice: A higher score reveals a stronger school choice to meet your child’s needs.

Once you’ve developed as many categories as fit your child’s unique needs, then it’s time to go back and rate each school at the top of the page against their specific priorities listed along the left column on a numerical scale. from 10, (best) to 5 (average) and then to 1 (terrible).

Be honest and don’t play favorites as you truly consider the needs of the students in your family as this process works from selecting a preschool through college. Leave any areas you are unaware of blank, however, since this will greatly reduce the score for that particular school, it indicates that you need to do more research to create a fair analysis of some of the schools you may have selected for your child.

Another technique you can use is to do a detailed web search on each school, however, I recommend that you take your child with you to see the new schools with you in person. Walk around campus, talk to teachers or other students, or if possible, visit the school when it’s in session and ‘shadow’ a host student throughout the day to see what the school culture is really like first-hand.

This school choice process can be repeated each year as needed based on the needs of your son or daughter. Add your child’s maturity level to complete the best selection process by identifying where you think your child is at during this stage of their academic career.

Child (up to 13 years old) – Dependent and Irresponsible

Adolescent (13-19) – Development, Maturation and Growth

Young Adult (20-25) – Independent and Responsible

It is wise to consider your child’s level of maturity as some school settings will require a higher level of responsibility or independent decision making. Once you’ve identified your maturity level, simply look at your School Choice Chart scores to narrow your search and find the best school. Remember, the higher the score, the more likely it is to help your student reach their best performance during this or any school year.
Strong students can often build strong lives, so take the time now to guide your kids in the best direction (even if it means making the sacrifice of carpooling different kids in different directions for several years) will lead to a solid life. and confident young adults for life, and that’s a great trade.

By Dwight Bain, Nationally Certified Counselor and Certified Life Coach