rudy
I’m glad that the Andover School people had a chance to chime in here with all the background information on their program; more than just the hearsay offered by others.
For some reason this thread has been bothering me all day. I come from a highly educated background with years of experience in early childhood education including administrative experience at the district level. When I read threads like these I want to remind parents that they need to find the best preschool, music school, high school, or even summer camp experience simply for their own children and family. While input on a particular school, both good and bad, can be helpful with basic school information it is inherently flawed in helping you decide what is best for YOUR child and family. Every family and child is different and input on an anonymous forum will really give you very little valuable information for your personal decision. The information that is most valuable when finding the right educational places for your children will only come from direct contact with prospective schools. You must darken their doorway, so to speak, before you can judge any place your child attends school. A peek in the window doesn’t count. Often times an educational space that is less decorated is more conducive to attention and focus with fewer disctractions for children. What matters is seeing the place in action: are the kids engaged, is good learning going on, are the teachers on the floor with the kids, do they get down to talk with them at eye level, etc.
I guess these types of forum converstaions make me stiffen a little because in the larger picture of educational reform this is one of the places where we need to start. I say this to my neighbors often: please never judge any school until you have been inside and touched, smelled, talked, and LISTENED to what happens on the teaching side of the door. Listen to the teachers, children, support staff, and bus drivers, but not so much the other parents. Our current neighborhood elementary is very underperforming yet I have not ruled it out for my own preschool-aged children when the time comes. In fact, I look forward to being able to check it out for myself to see exactly what is going on there.
If we start building these parenting practices now – when our preschoolers enter middle schools maybe we as a parent support network will have made a tangible difference in how all schools are viewed. At the very least we will have honed in on what works well for our children and will be able to spot the best opportunities when they come our way and will not have missed them because of idle talk in our community.
Anyhoo, just my two cents. Had to get this off my chest. Best wishes to everyone in their endeavers with preschoolers. Mine ran me ragged today and thus my head needs the pillow!