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Schools

How Do You Choose the Right Middle School?

Lisa Brennan seeks advice about how to find the right school.

As parents, we try to give our children the best advantages we can.  We look for the best schools, sports teams, and extra curricular activities that are available to our children.  

Some parents believe that the steps and advantages that they provide to their children now will have a significant impact on which they will become.  There is one main concern for many parents: middle school. I am particularly concerned about middle school as I have a child who needs more individualized attention.

To begin, the first place I started was to gain a quantitative measure of the middle schools.  I pulled up this years WKCE test scores, which indicate that between the five public middle schools (Gilmore, McKinley, Jerstad, Mitchell, and Starbuck) they have a reading proficient rate range from 73 to 79 percent.  As parents, taxpayers, and citizens do we find these results acceptable? This site has great information here is the link https://apps2.dpi.wi.gov/sdpr/district-report.action.  Here is an interesting but not surprising fact Walden III, &The REAL School, ranged in the 91-96 percent in reading.

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What are parents to do? I talked with Rich and Carolyn Null, who sent children to Gilmore, only to have a horrific experience and then moved their child to Prairie.  “We would consider ourselves pretty active parents, and after my experience with my daughter, there was no way I was sending my son to a RUSD middle school. Gifford has been an excellent experience... top notch, but it ends there.”

Carolyn said, “Prairie is exactly what I believe schools should be like, caring, proper teaching and just a positive atmosphere. There are never lock downs at that school. What kind of society do we live in where we have days set aside for lock down practices?”

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I have developed a strategy over the next few weeks. I am going to several middle schools including all public, charter, e-schools, and some private.  I am going to have an open mind in an effort to find the best fit for my son. It makes sense that one school may work for one child and not for another each child is an individual and has different abilities. I invite you to share your insight, questions, or comments as I begin my approach to middle schools.

 

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