Getting Started

As you consider sending your child to a private school, you will quickly become aware of at least ten challenges you will face. If you are intrinsically well-organized and able to cope with a major project, tackling all that's involved with getting your child safely off to private school shouldn't be too difficult. There's just a lot to the project. If you find projects daunting, hopefully, this short essay will help you focus on the main sections of the process. Let's get started.

1. Deciding whether to send your child for primary grades or high school

I assume you have decided to send your child to a private school. Several articles in Private School Review explain the differences between private and public education. If you still need help making that decision, then read those first. Then, circle back and pick up with this first challenge.

There are two schools of thought about whether you should send your child to primary grades or high school. One line of thinking is that your child needs a solid foundation in core skills such as reading and math. That approach's proponents are adamant that you should send your child in the early, formative years. The other school of thought touts the idea that a solid college preparatory education in the high school years is essential. The thinking is that intensive preparation for college-level studies will help your child get into a good college or university, perhaps even a top-tier one.

Have you ever begun a project only to realize after a while that you didn't know what you were doing? It's like the guy who opens the box with 100 parts. Some assembly is required. Does he read the directions? Probably only when he gets stuck.

When you set out to choose a private school for your child, you need a clear road map for the process. You also need to understand that this is a major project that will consume a substantial amount of your valuable time.

How much time will it take?

• Researching schools online: 20-30 hours spread out over 4-6 weeks. This task can be done in the comfort of your own home on your own time.

• Visiting out-of-town schools: 36-60 hours spread out over 3 or 4 visits. The amount of time consumed by travel is the wild card here. The actual campus visit will usually include an interview with the admissions staff. Allow about an hour for testing.

• Visiting local schools: 10-15 hours spread out over 2 or 3 visits. Interviews and any testing the schools require will add an hour or two.

Signs that you may be doing it wrong

As you can see, choosing a private school is a major project. Get it wrong, and your child will be very unhappy and hate her school. It's also possible that your child won't even get into a school. So, before you get that sinking feeling that you are doing it all wrong, let's look

The pendulum has swung once more. This time in favor of the advantages of single-sex education. New research quantifies what many of us have known anecdotally, namely that single-sex education works. Here are a dozen boys' schools' public thoughts about themselves and their missions.

From Avon Old Farms, Avon, Connecticut

As a boys' boarding school, our programs are designed to help young men focus on their development at a time when distractions abound. Although numerous opportunities exist for our students to interact with girls from Miss Porter's, Ethel Walker's, and other nearby schools, boys are free to live and learn in our structured, supportive environment. In an all-boys context, our students embrace scholastic challenges and compete in the athletic arena while feeling safe exploring the arts, experimenting with poetry, expressing school spirit, and just being themselves.

Avon Old Farms offers grades 9-12 and a Postgraduate year. The school serves approximately 500 young men.

From Marquette University High School, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

MUHS has evolved with each passing decade to meet the changing needs of the young men in our community and like our 17th Century namesake, Father Jacques Marquette, students, faculty and staff members share a passion for exploring uncharted territory, whether it’s in a textbook or their own hearts.

Marquette University High School offers grades 9-12. The school serves approximately 1050 young men.

I thought it might be instructive to gather a dozen or so girls' schools' public thoughts about themselves and their missions. The words which I have quoted can be found on each school's web site. Hopefully, if you are thinking about sending your daughter to an all girls' school, you will be inspired to explore the opportunities available to you in these fine educational environments committed to educating your daughters to be all they can be.

From Nightingale-Bamford School, New York, New York

"Founded by two bold, visionary entrepreneurs in the same year that women won the right to vote, the Nightingale-Bamford School has helped generations of girls to become strong, independent, confident women. We offer a rigorous, college-preparatory education from Kindergarten through grade 12 in a caring and attentive school community."

"Over the 90 years since our school was founded, we have graduated almost 3,000 alumnae, expanded our building four times, and adopted new disciplines and means of teaching. But throughout it all, we've retained the same guiding principles that Miss Nightingale and Miss Bamford instilled in those first students: truth, friendship, and loyalty."

The Nightingale-Bamford School offers grades K-12. The school serves approximately 570 young ladies.

From Saint Mary's School, Raleigh, North Carolina

"Saint Mary’s School has developed curriculum and employed strategies that capitalize on the strengths of girls on their journey

When you think of single-sex education as a choice or an option when you are thinking about sending your child to private school, the subject becomes a little easier to understand in the 21st century. Historically, private schools have offered single-sex education for decades. Indeed, many of our older K-12 schools were founded with the purpose of educating boys or girls separately. That's how things were done in the 18th and 19th centuries. Colleges and universities were also set up as single-sex institutions. For example, Harvard University was an all-male university until 1977, when its sister college, Radcliffe, merged with it.

Characteristics of single-sex schools

How do we define a single-sex school? By definition, a single-sex school is a school that educates boys or girls exclusively. As a general rule, classes will not be co-educational. On occasion, neighboring boys and girls schools with an established relationship will host co-educational classes.

What grades do single-sex schools offer? Typically, single-sex schools offer grades 9 through 12 and a Post Graduate year where available. A handful of single-sex schools offer the middle school grades 6 through 9. Even fewer schools offer PK-12. You will also notice that middle school grades go up to grade 9, and high school begins with grade 9 as well. Actually, grade 10 is probably the most common entry point for private high schools. That’s one reason for the overlap of the grades.

Are there different kinds of single-sex schools? Single-sex schools come in residential or boarding