Tag Archives: Jenks

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Why I Chose Green Woods Charter: 2011-09-25 School Selection Report

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This is a snapshot of one parent’€™s school choice. You can read other parent testimonials and help other parents. Take five minutes to complete an anonymous survey to tell PSS and our readers about your school choice!

What school did you decide on? Green Woods Charter School

Calendar year your child entered 2011

Grade your child entered K

What neighborhood are you in? NW Philly

What schools did you consider? Greene Street Friends, Project Learn, Houston, Henry, Jenks, Powel, Independence Charter

What factors were most important to you? Public Eduction, Diversity, safety

What first attracted you to the school? The setting

What were the critical factors that led to your choice?  In the end, we got ZERO from the SDP voluntary transfer program and our local catchment school was not an option for us…making the choice between private and charter.  I am a product of public schools, the daughter of 2 public school teachers.  I really wanted public school to work.  So when we “hit the lottery” and got a spot at GWCS this was the next best thing.  Our son was excited about going to school in “the jungle” and we were excited that this guaranteed his younger brother a spot, saving untold $$ for college instead of grade school!

Did you relocate in order to choose this school? No

On the political spectrum, I consider myself to be  Democrat

Please share anything else about your experience I still have greater philosophical issues with GWCS.  Realizing that admission is a lottery process, the lottery itself and application process are far too complicated and non-transparent for my taste.  Further, I think they could do a far better job with outreach to increase diversity.  Many demographics are simply unable to apply to GWCS given the inaccessibility to the school itself by public transit as well as the convoluted process to even obtain an application.  This does really bother me and it is my hope that as a parent I can work from within to make some relatively easy changes in these areas.

That said, my son is doing fantastic.  He is well above his grade level in math and reading, but far from bored and really exploring things and issues I never thought about in kindergarten!

This is a snapshot of one parent’s school choice. You can read other parent testimonials and help other parents. Take five minutes to complete an anonymous survey to tell PSS and our readers about your school choice!

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3 Parents Share Why They Chose Greene Street Friends [School Selection Report]

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This is a snapshot of three parents’ school choices. You can read other parent testimonials and contribute your own thoughts. Take five minutes to complete an anonymous survey to tell PSS and our readers about your school choice!

Parent #1

What school did you decide on? Greene Street Friends

Calendar year your child entered 2011

Grade your child entered PreK

What neighborhood are you in? Fairmount

What schools did you consider? We considered doing the voluntary transfer for public schools and charters.  We looked at other private schools but found this to be much more affordable.

What factors were most important to you? Tuition, Teaching Philosophy, School Performance (test scores, success of graduates), Teacher Quality, Principal Quality, Diversity

What first attracted you to the school? The size (small) and the fact that it is a Friends school.

What were the critical factors that led to your choice?  When we went to see it and met some of the staff, it seemed to be a very gentle and nurturing environment.  Also, much more affordable as it only goes up $100 each year.

Did you relocate in order to choose this school? No

On the political spectrum, I consider myself to be  Progressive

Parent #2

What school did you decide on? Greene Street Friends

Calendar year your child entered 2011

Grade your child entered kindergarten

What neighborhood are you in? NW Philly

What schools did you consider? Wissahickon Charter, Miquon, Germantown Friends, Perelman, Project Learn, Greenwoods

What factors were most important to you? Tuition, Location, Teaching Philosophy, School Performance (test scores, success of graduates), Teacher Quality, Principal Quality, Diversity

What first attracted you to the school? We heard great feedback from families who went there, plus that they focus on quality education and affordability.

What were the critical factors that led to your choice? Quality education, school values and environment, strong teaching and leadership, relative affordability

Did you relocate in order to choose this school? No

On the political spectrum, I consider myself to be  progressive

Please share anything else about your experience We love the small school experience of Greene Street, the focus on educating the whole person, the excellent sense of community and commitment to diversity and inclusiveness that a relatively low tuition allows.

Parent #3

What school did you decide on? Greene Street Friends

Calendar year your child entered 2011/2012

Grade your child entered K

What neighborhood are you in? NW Philly

What schools did you consider? Henry, Jenks, Greenwoods, Wissahickon Charter, Project Learn, and Perlman JDS

What factors were most important to you? Tuition, Location, Teaching Philosophy, Diversity

What first attracted you to the school? reputation

What were the critical factors that led to your choice? We wanted a school that was local, diverse, and offered a holistic view of child development. Cost was a factor as well.

Did you relocate in order to choose this school? No

On the political spectrum, I consider myself to be  progressive

This is a snapshot of three parents’ school choices. You can read other parent testimonials and contribute your own thoughts. Take five minutes to complete an anonymous survey to tell PSS and our readers about your school choice!

usual suspects

Beyond the Usual Suspects II

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Way back in the early stages of this blog, I wrote about how in most conversations with Philadelphia parents, the same list of ”hot” public and charter schools is always discussed.  It’s probably not a mystery to you, but the schools I heard about the most were:

Philadelphia Public Schools (alphabetically): Greenfield (Center City) * Henry (Mount Airy) * Houston (Mt. Airy) * Jenks (Chestnut Hill) * McCall (Center City) * Meredith (Queen Village) * Penn Alexander (West Philly)

Charter Schools (alphabetically): Independence Charter (Center City) * Green Woods Charter (Roxborough) * Russell Byers Charter (Center City)

My concern back then (which turned out to be justified) was that with so many people vying for spots in the same trendy schools, the chances of getting into a school via the Voluntary Transfer Program (VTP) within the School District of Philadelphia or selected in a charter lottery is small.  I listed several schools that I thought were worth further consideration that might be off of the radar of most parents.  Here is what I wrote about them:

  • Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures (FACTS) Charter School (Chinatown) This Chinese language immersion elementary school has a diverse student body (70% Asian, 21% African-American) stellar math scores, but pretty low reading scores.  FACTS serves many immigrant students (i.e., non-native English speakers), I presume that the low reading scores are in part the result of that, but I have no evidence to confirm that hypothesis.  I love the idea of a language immersion programs, so this school is particularly attractive to me.
  • Christopher Columbus Charter School (Bella Vista)–They have a nice diversity (35% African American, 51% White) and almost all of their teachers have 5 or more years of teaching experience.  They have a troubling 22:1 student/teacher ratio (as does Independence charter, by the way), however and the parent involvement website hasn’t been updated in almost a year.
  • Philadelphia Performing Arts Charter School (South Philadelphia)- It’s hard to argue with their test scores–90% score proficient or higher on math 71% on reading (3rd grade).  Not sure my oldest would be interested in this type of curriculum though.
  • Andrew Jackson Elementary (South Philly) – I wrote about an article showcasing how parental involvement has really boosted this school.  Is it on par with the others?

In over a year since, I have learned about a lot more schools and thought I’d share some additional “unusual suspects”.

What other Philadelphia public and charter schools do you think parents should also be considering?

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Cook-Wissahickon Elementary Joins the Revolution

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Over the last last year an a half blogging here, I have been treated to numerous anecdotes from readers and several news stories about parents taking matters into their own hands to improve their public schools. First Andrew Jackson got local attention, then McCall got national attention.  Other schools have been standing up similar efforts, including Jenks and Bache-Martin.  Now you can add to that list Cook-Wissahickon located in Manyunk/Roxborough. Read all about it in the Inquirer feature on them: Monica Yant Kinney: A city school success has parents working to save it – Philly.com.  These stories make me proud of my city and make it clear that there is an energy at the grassroots level.  If it can be properly harnessed, I think our schools could experience a real renaissance.

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Why I Chose J.S. Jenks Elementary: 2011-03-01 School Selection Report

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This is one parent’s opinion on why they chose JS Jenks. Help other parents–take five minutes to complete an anonymous survey to tell PSS and our readers about your school choice!

Date Submitted: 4/1/2011

What school did you decide on? John Story Jenks

Calendar year your child entered 2009

Grade your child entered Kindergarten

What neighborhood are you in? NW Philly

What schools did you consider? C.W. Henry, Suburban Public Schools if we moved.

What factors were most important to you? Tuition, Location, Reputation, Public Eduction, School Performance (test scores, success of graduates), Teacher Quality, Principal Quality, Diversity

What first attracted you to the school? I was interested because it was my neighborhood public school; walkability

What were the critical factors that led to your choice? I struggled with school choice – I wanted to utilize my local public school, but  didn’t know anyone there at the time I began looking.  Once I met parents who attended the school and talked with them, visited the school and met the principal/teachers I became very comfortable there.  I loved the small, neighborhood feel to the school and the enthusiasm of the teachers and administration.  I liked that the principal has a long term vision for the school and works with parents to improve the school.  I liked that my child would have an urban public school experience at a school with alot of socioeconomic and racial diversity.

Did you relocate in order to choose this school? No

On the political spectrum, I consider myself to be Liberal

Please share anything else about your experience Public school, particularly in an urban district like Philadelphia, has ample bureaucracy, budget and space woes, etc..  But overall our experience thus far has been rewarding and enriching, both for my son and for me.  He is thriving at Jenks and I can’t imagine he would be better served academically anywhere else, public or private.

My advice: don’t dismiss your neighborhood public school without researching it yourself first. Visit the school, talk to parents, see for yourself, you may be pleasantly surprised.

This is one parent’s opinion on why they chose JS Jenks. Help other parents–take five minutes to complete an anonymous survey to tell PSS and our readers about your school choice!