I am knee-deep in the Montclair kindergarten touring and choice process. I picked my top choices after visiting schools, some twice. My husband Johan took that into consideration along with making a spreadsheet comparing test scores. Some readers questioned this method. Here, Johan defends his spreadsheet:
When we first moved to Montclair we went on a tour at the Montclair Co-op and fell in love with the concept. They don’t believe in test scores or homework, and believe a child should learn through playing with other children. We had a wonderful year there, followed by two great years at MMO, which is located closer to our house.
With my twin daughters entering kindergarten next year, my two barometers for preferences on which schools to pick come down to my wife’s input from the tours and test scores. I work on a European hours schedule, which meant morning nor evening tours were possible for me.
This brings me to the question: Do test scores matter?
Fundamentally, I would love to be one of the parents who say no. While I do believe the best way for children at this age to learn is through interaction with their peers, I feel it would be naive of me to not address the fact that from high school and on, much of their education and work opportunities will be affected on how they test. To get into college you need to score well for college (SAT and ACT), business school (GMAT), law school (LSAT), med school (MCAT) and Snookie (GED–just kidding). Having an early start to give them that extra confidence, and getting them just a little bit ahead makes sense to me. But, then again, by day, I’m a data cruncher.
NJ Spotlight offers comprehensive test scores for our schools, but doesn’t give a head-to-head comparison. To get this comparison, I spent some time inputting the data into a simple Excel spreadsheet to see how the schools stacked up. They break it into three categories: language arts, math, and science by different grades, and score them in percentages that test “Advanced proficient,” “Proficient,” and “Partially proficient.” One school stuck out as having a very high percentage of “Advanced proficient” and “Proficient” and two schools stuck out as having a relatively high percentage of students that scored only “Partially proficient.” Two schools are above the town average.
I’m sure several readers will think I’m absurd. And, as stated in a few responses to my wife’s earlier story, someone even said they would not want their kids to go to school with my offspring because of the type of parent I am. Honestly, that’s a shame, because I have three wonderful, silly and well-behaved children that will build great friendships with their future classmates.
Montclair offers a great opportunity for our children through the Magnet program, and ultimately all the schools are good. But if I can combine a school that my wife got a good impression of with a school that offers above average test scores, that would be the ideal situation for me. The truth is, in our top three schools, one scores high, one average and one below average. And while I’d prefer the first choice, we’d be perfectly happy at any of the three we like.
Good luck to all the parents going through the same process and to the pre-schoolers getting ready to enter kindergarten this fall. After all, in the end, they’ll all wind up in the same place: Montclair High School, Class of 2024.