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Schools In the US?

Schools In the US?

Old Jun 6th 2007, 11:59 am
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Default Schools In the US?

My son is 6, and in year two. He's in the top 5 of his class (25 of them), just done his SATS and his headmistress says he's done extremely well.

I know in the States, they start school a year later.

We move to MD in July.

What do you think his chances are of going into year 3 in September (on production of his SAT scores, headteacher recommendations etc)?
He'll turn 7 in August, he's the youngest in his class which probably won't help

Also, does anyone know how to check the performance of a school in MD?
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Old Jun 6th 2007, 12:31 pm
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Default Re: Schools In the US?

Originally Posted by AlienUk
My son is 6, and in year two. He's in the top 5 of his class (25 of them), just done his SATS and his headmistress says he's done extremely well.

I know in the States, they start school a year later.

We move to MD in July.

What do you think his chances are of going into year 3 in September (on production of his SAT scores, headteacher recommendations etc)?
He'll turn 7 in August, he's the youngest in his class which probably won't help

Also, does anyone know how to check the performance of a school in MD?
Hi and welcome

http://www.greatschools.net is a good place to start. You'll need to know where you are planning to live (zip codes are good) as schools vary widely from town to town and even within certain cities (depending on the neighborhood). Generally, the best schools in MD are in Montgomery County (Bethesda, Rockville), Calvert County (a rural county 35 miles from DC) and Anne Arundel County (Annapolis).

There are a lot of private schools in the DC area, though at your sons age probably worth going to a public school and saving the money (for now).
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Old Jun 6th 2007, 12:49 pm
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Default Re: Schools In the US?

Originally Posted by AlienUk
My son is 6, and in year two. He's in the top 5 of his class (25 of them), just done his SATS and his headmistress says he's done extremely well.

I know in the States, they start school a year later.

We move to MD in July.

What do you think his chances are of going into year 3 in September (on production of his SAT scores, headteacher recommendations etc)?
He'll turn 7 in August, he's the youngest in his class which probably won't help

Also, does anyone know how to check the performance of a school in MD?
There have been lots of threads on this subject and you may get some info from them.
Personal experience of school varies here, you will have to look at the elementary schools in your area and see how they perform.

I can only speak about the school system here in my part of PA, it may be similar where you are going. Here you have to use the schools in the area you live in because they are funded by property taxes paid by the people of the community. The more expensive the property market should mean that more money goes to the schools.
Where I am there is no flexibility...if you don't live in the township you can't go to school here.
The grades here are Kindergarten through to 12th grade.
I think( but I may be wrong as we didn't do early years here) that age 5 is Kindergatren and age 6 is 1st grade.
Age 7 =2nd grade and so on. Don't try and equate them to the Year 1, 2 and 3 etc of UK schools because it's different.
We have friends who insisted that their child go into 9th grade because they were in Year 9 at home, she struggled and went back to 8th grade.

My personal experience of our US schools is that they are better than the schools we used in the UK. My middle daughter was at a grammer school in England but our high school here leaves it standing.
In our schools here we follow the IB programme from kindergarten so itmay be worth looking for school near you that offer it.

Education here is different, teaching methods and subject matter are also different. Personally I would let him start in the correct grade according to the US sysytem. Also UK SAT scores won't mean much here.
I have to go out now and so this reply is a bit garbled. PM me if you want more info.
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Old Jun 6th 2007, 12:57 pm
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Default Re: Schools In the US?

As Doris mentioned--you really are locked into the school surrounding your neighborhood, with very few exceptions. There is sort of a domino effect in that schools in wealthy areas tend to have more tax revenue available, and tend to have more affluent parents who are involved in the school, which leads to better grades and schools, and so on and so on. The converse can be true as well, as some inner city schools have spiraled downwards with the surrounding neighborhoods (as crime, mid-class flight, etc) increased.

For example, my county in Maryland (Calvert) houses a large nuclear power station. In the first year of operation, the operators of the plant had to pay property tax that was equivilant to the previous year's entire education budget for the county. Needless to say, this excess tax revenue has really pumped up the schools around here over the last 20 years.

Not sure how accurate but there is a comparison chart here:

http://www.education-otherwise.org/T...on%20Chart.htm

I'm not an academic, but I have heard at the earlier years, there is a strong pressure to keep children together based on their age and development as much as upon their academic ability. There are a lot of social issues (i.e. being the youngest kid, or smallest, or tallest in a class by a large measure) that administrators try to avoid to help the children develop.

Last edited by penguinsix; Jun 6th 2007 at 1:01 pm.
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Old Jun 6th 2007, 1:12 pm
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Default Re: Schools In the US?

Originally Posted by AlienUk
My son is 6, and in year two. He's in the top 5 of his class (25 of them), just done his SATS and his headmistress says he's done extremely well.

I know in the States, they start school a year later.

We move to MD in July.

What do you think his chances are of going into year 3 in September (on production of his SAT scores, headteacher recommendations etc)?
He'll turn 7 in August, he's the youngest in his class which probably won't help

Also, does anyone know how to check the performance of a school in MD?
I don't know about MD but in NC they can start school at 5. School year runs from Aug - last week of May/First week of June, depending on the county you live in. The cut off date to turn five is October 15, (or thereabouts), and as my son's birthday is also in August he is generally one of the youngest in his class and it's never been a problem.

Actually after a big of digging I just found the enrollment page for Maryland public schools and on this page it seems the cut-off date for Maryland is Sept 1. So if your son is 7 in August it appears he would go into Grade 2, (Year 3 UK).

Before you leave the UK check that you son has all his vaccinations as most states here, (if not all), require students to have certain vaccinations before they can enroll in school.

Good Luck with your move.
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Old Jun 6th 2007, 2:02 pm
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Default Re: Schools In the US?

I would advise sticking with the year-group, particularly at such a young age when social interaction and forming friendship is on many levels just as important as academics.

If you are moving 'for keeps', the keeping up with British kids becomes irrelevant anyway.

If you are planning to go back one day, you can keep an eye on the relevant curriculum in the UK and 'supplement' his education here.

If you just feel that he might be bored, arrange some interesting extra-curricular activities for him, and keep in close touch with his teacher. (Having said that, here in the US it seems very easy for kids to end up overburdened with extracurricular activities.)
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Old Jun 6th 2007, 2:31 pm
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Default Re: Schools In the US?

When your son does get settled in a school, you can request that he be tested to see if he belongs in an academically gifted class (they are called all different things in different school districts.) Typically 7 year olds go into second grade, so this may be the best place for him. Good luck.
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Old Jun 6th 2007, 2:45 pm
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Default Re: Schools In the US?

There are a lot of extra curricular activities where I am and children start them very early and make friends. My youngest found it hard to get on board with somethings because she hadn't been here for those early years.

I like the system here having to use your township schools. We have 4 elementary schools that feed into a middle school for 5th and 6th grade, then they all move to another middle school for 7th and 8th and then onto the High school.
Where we lived in the UK we still had the 11 plus and it was horrible each year waiting to see if your child had passed and if there would be a place at the grammar school. If they failed it was a free for all fighting for places in the better "all ability" schools, using granny's address etc. Some children were allocated places at schools miles away and their parents would have to fight appeals. It was a stressful mess.
Each of my daughters ended up at different secondary schools to their friends.
Even at Primary level people were fighting over places in the better schools.
Here ...they just go through the local schools and they all stay together, until college.

But as I have said before....I think we have been very lucky with our schools here and we pay an arm and a leg in property tax. We struggle to make ends meet at times but we do it for the schools. Once the youngest is through high school we are moving!!!!
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Old Jun 6th 2007, 3:38 pm
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Default Re: Schools In the US?

Thanks a lot for all the input!!

I think I had expected there to be at least two schools to choose from in our immediate area, but since there aren't will just have to work with whatever we get!!
The town we're going to live in is a fairly affluent area so hoping the schools will 'reflect' that....

My son has had all the 'extra' vaccinations, just has to have his third and final Hep B in October....
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Old Jun 6th 2007, 3:55 pm
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Default Re: Schools In the US?

Originally Posted by AlienUk
Thanks a lot for all the input!!

I think I had expected there to be at least two schools to choose from in our immediate area, but since there aren't will just have to work with whatever we get!!
The town we're going to live in is a fairly affluent area so hoping the schools will 'reflect' that....

My son has had all the 'extra' vaccinations, just has to have his third and final Hep B in October....
You could look into private school for him, bearing in mind that the UK definition is different from the US definition.

In the US, a "private" school is one that one needs to pay tuition for. It is not open to the masses---there are admission criteria. Sometimes, but not always, these schools are affiliated with churches.

A "public" school in the US is the type that provides a free education to anyone who enrolls.

If you think you won't be happy with the public school in your area, you might want to seek out some private schools there, just to see what they have to offer in comparison. If you are moving to an "affluent" area, I'm sure you could find several from which to choose.

~SecretGarden
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Old Jun 6th 2007, 4:11 pm
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Default Re: Schools In the US?

Originally Posted by AlienUk
I think I had expected there to be at least two schools to choose from in our immediate area, but since there aren't will just have to work with whatever we get!!
The town we're going to live in is a fairly affluent area so hoping the schools will 'reflect' that....
If you already know your street address, the website for the school district in that area will tell you which school your child will be eligible to attend. They basically have maps. You can also look at real estate sites like http://www.realtor.com and find property near your home--they'll list the elementary and high schools for the property right in the listing.
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Old Jun 7th 2007, 5:12 pm
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Default Re: Schools In the US?

In my opinion schools in the US are generally better than the UK and they push the children hard in academics and sport. Our daughter is 10 and has just completed preAP 6th Grade, her taks scores were excellent and she got straight A's in her grades. The schooling system must be flexible as the majority of her school friends are 12yrs old. So they let her go in a higher grade.
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Old Jun 8th 2007, 6:00 am
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Default Re: Schools In the US?

Originally Posted by AlienUk
Thanks a lot for all the input!!

I think I had expected there to be at least two schools to choose from in our immediate area, but since there aren't will just have to work with whatever we get!!
The town we're going to live in is a fairly affluent area so hoping the schools will 'reflect' that....

My son has had all the 'extra' vaccinations, just has to have his third and final Hep B in October....
Good luck with all of this, am also relocating soon - 2 children aged 4 and 7 so know what you going through. Think we are going to accept the children will, on the face of it, be repeating a year - however, with the house move, making new friends, getting into a new social group and just settling in - its going to be a big, and at times quite stressful experience for them, we just want them to get as integrated socially as possible and the rest will come when they feel settled.
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Old Jun 8th 2007, 11:55 am
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Default Re: Schools In the US?

Originally Posted by cybersecretary
Good luck with all of this, am also relocating soon - 2 children aged 4 and 7 so know what you going through. Think we are going to accept the children will, on the face of it, be repeating a year - however, with the house move, making new friends, getting into a new social group and just settling in - its going to be a big, and at times quite stressful experience for them, we just want them to get as integrated socially as possible and the rest will come when they feel settled.
Don't think of it as repeating a year because things are so different.

Eg...My youngest came here knowing stuff about Elizabethan England and could build a mean replica of an Elizabethan house but she had never heard of Lewis and Clark. All the other children were way ahead of her in USA stuff and all the UK knowledge she had didn't help. She is very bright but needed extra help for that first year just to bring her USA knowledge base up to speed.
My teenagers were the same...maths is done differently here. They could do it but only when they had relearned US methods. We were very confident that our brightest child, the middle one, would leave her US counterparts standing but only now ..18 months into life here is she beginning to back at the top of her classes. She was brilliant at history in the UK but other than having an aptitude for it she was years behind in US studies. This was just repeated accross the board.
Our children all had to do English as a foreign language...I kid you not. I was outraged at first but it was more of a social integration programe. Yes it told them that a pavement is a sidewalk here but the class also taught them a lot about life here and they all really enjoyed it.

My now 18 year old said it was like landing on a different planet, the first few months at school she literallly couldn't understand the lessons.
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Old Nov 3rd 2007, 1:03 pm
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Default Re: Schools In the US?

Thanks to all for the advice....
Well, after much debate, the school asked for a letter from his old school recommending he go into third grade and they also tested him extensively for a week.
He went into third grade in August and has been doing really well, lowest grade so far is an A- !
Homework is definitely much more than in the UK, but it takes him maybe 10 mins to do it.....
Biggest problem I've had so far is him coming home from school singing 'Superman dat ho' - he had NO idea what it meant...
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