Smart School Choice Strategy: Creating a Personalized School Scorecard to Build Strong Kids
Smart School Choice Creates 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 subject 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 children and creative enough to always find 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 strength zone. 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 school selection process 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 community support, 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 get “thinking outside the box.” Smart classrooms with access to current and latest-generation computer and Internet technology. A learning experience that honors your family’s faith and values, rather than attacking or shaming your child for holding on to a strong belief 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 a single school campus, this opens the door to exploring 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 objective is to find out what needs your child is facing and then select the school option that can guide him or her 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 ‘score’ the school options available to your child on a notepad, located at the top of the page . You should include as many options as you can think of to make a complete analysis of what is available to your child.
Even if you think you only have one option, really sit down and consider the school options available to your child in the upcoming school year. This way, you’ll be able to track the metrics to see a visual number at the bottom of the page to see how each school option contributes to best meeting 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 options you facing your child). 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 to meet your child’s unique needs). ), to rank or score each school option based on your own personal standard of what is most valuable to bringing out the best in your son or daughter. Create this list in the left margin of your notepad and include factors such as the following.
Smart School Features includes a combination of important factors such as:
Safety, Academic, Great Teachers, Strong Leaders, Parents Involved, PTA-PTF Groups, Location, Transportation, Cost or Tuition, Friends/Peers, Fits Child’s Personality, Fits Career Goals, Fits Goals Academics, School Size, Well-equipped Classrooms, Class to Teacher Size Ratio, 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 Child Care, Clubs, FCA, DECA, OJT, etc. for Social Connection, School Life – Social Events 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 Core Values comparisons measured 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 your specific priorities listed along the left column on a numerical scale. out of 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. Please leave blank any areas you are unaware of, however, as this will greatly lower 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 school culture is really like firsthand.
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-of 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 the maturity level, simply consider the scores from your school choice table to narrow your search and find the best school. Remember, the higher the score, the more likely you are to help your student achieve their best during this or any school year.
Strong students can often build strong lives, so the time you take now to guide your children in the best direction (even if it means making the sacrifice of carpooling with different children in different directions for several years) It will lead to a solid life. and confident young adults for life, and that’s a great exchange.
By Dwight Bain, Nationally Certified Counselor and Certified Life Coach