School choices
Sometime in the next couple of weeks, Sarah and I are going to have to decide on where we want Micah to go to school. I'm happy that it's a choice--Minnesota seems unique in that you can send your kid pretty much anywhere if you're willing to drive them, and there's about 10 options with busing for us. We're pretty settled on our first choice, Loring School (school's web site and state report card here), which isn't very far from us, has busing, and seems decent. It's got drastically higher test scores than most area schools*, even though demographically it shouldn't (high percentage of Free and Reduced Price lunch students, meaning poor). Makes me a little worried about teaching to the test/skills based learning, but we observed the Kindergarten briefly and it didn't seem too bad. It's small, diverse, and also local so he can have some friends near his house. They even have a garden and an after school cooking program. Micah liked that the Kindergarten room had legos--it was his first choice.
The problem is the second choice. On the one hand, there's Bryn Mawr (website and report card). It's south of us and is actually where our church meets, but still has busing. Friends from small group send their kid there, so Micah would have a friend on the bus and daycare after school. Though the demographics are similar to Loring, test scores aren't nearly as good. Our friend liked the kindergarten classroom but hasn't been as impressed with first grade. And they start at 7:30, meaning Micah would have to be at the bus stop before 7 and would be home around 2:30. There's other schools he could go to, but this is really the best of the lot. Some, including one five minutes walk from our house, would mean real social isolation for Micah when comparing kids' demographic backgrounds.
The other option is Marcy Open School (website and report card). It's close to the university, but doesn't have busing. I'd probably drive him or ride the city bus over (about 30-40 minutes) on my way to school. It's still diverse, though almost half white, has a cool arts program (including a rock band) as well as partnerships with downtown organizations. Like Loring, it starts at 8:40. Test scores are similar to Loring. On the other hand, it's further away, meaning Micah wouldn't have friends from the neighborhood. It's a K-8 school, so it's bigger. Micah seemed overwhelmed when we visited. Transportation would be a real hassle.
It's probably a moot choice--I'm fairly sure Micah would get into Loring. But it feels important to me for some reason. I lean toward Marcy at this point, just because I want Micah to have a good experience (and don't want to get him up at 6:15-30 every weekday). But there's some real drawbacks with either option. Tough choices.
*Despite my generally negative feelings about No Child Left Behind as an educator, those scores are a helpful reference for how students are doing as a parent. I don't think they're a great measure of the school's academics as much as an indicator of the overall school population and atmosphere. North High, where my service learning class has been involved, has a 9% proficiency rating in math. Nine percent!!!! Tests may not be the best measure of achievement, but there's problems there--far beyond what the school has control over.