Today is the final day for kindergarten open
enrollment. Kindergarten is an
institution that is most children’s first experience with a structured
environment. It is not even required by
the state of Colorado. I could hold the
kids out and they could enter first grade at age 6.
For most families, open enrollment means letting the local
school know that you have a child who will be 5 years old before October 1st
and would like to enroll them in Kindergarten.
If for some reason you don’t like your local school, you can ask all
other public schools in the area if they can accommodate your child. There is no cost to you, except
transportation back and forth. Bus
service is limited to the local school only.
Since Colorado began allowing charter programs in 1993,
there is another dynamic. Charter
schools have limited enrollment based on class size and will gauge interest
every year and randomly select students to enroll. This exclusivity has created demand exceeding
supply. “If it is hard to get in, it
must be better.” I don’t believe that is
the case. However, I believe the faculty
and administration at these schools know they must maintain parity or better
with local schools to ensure community interest. To that end, I believe charter schools are
more accountable to core learning and ensuring their students are successful in
high school.
Charters promote their schools as well. They will host meetings to showcase their
school and faculty. Local schools just
give you the numbers in terms of demographics and CSAP scores. That is not to say that they are worse, but
they are guaranteed funding, whereas charters must manage their budgets more
carefully. The newer charter schools
will not be in custom buildings, but could be in strip malls, converted
churches, or other existing dwellings.
Several do have cafeterias and gym facilities, but all do not.
The families self select as well. Parents with less time to volunteer or less
interest in the curriculum the school is following will shy away from charter
schools. Families with closer bonds to
neighbors will also be more drawn to local schools.
However if you get turned on by understanding what Saxon
math, Shurley grammar, Balanced Literacy and Open Court reading means, the
charter program offers you a wonderful opportunity to fine tune your child’s
education.
No comments:
Post a Comment