April 2010

CONNECTICUT

Meals with teachers and individualized attention, both pictured above at New Haven’s HopkinsSchool, are part o what has kept private schools busy even in a difcult economy.

Sometimes you know when your child is readyfor private school; sometimes your child knows, too.

Extra Help

EDUCATION

By Nicole Wise

In what was, or her, a rare act o teenage rebellion, Sarah Reis-Renzulli o Storrs made a major lie decision without consultingher parents. While a sophomore at a public high school, she tookit upon hersel to contact the director o admissions to Miss Por-ter’s School in Farmington, submitted an application—and wasaccepted. “I was pretty demoralized by the experiences I’d beenhaving in high school,” explains Reis-Renzulli, now a master’s de-gree candidate at UConn. “I visited Miss Porter’s and just knew itwas where I should be—everyone I saw just emanated happinessand condence, and I could really see mysel there.”It’s a story with a happy ending that illustrates why many amilies choose to spend many thousands o dollars to send theirchildren to private school. In a situation that is not uncommon,though it is somewhat more unusual in girls, Reis-Renzulli wasaced with the dicult combination o having dyslexia and a highIQ, so her entire school career had been lled with challenges.With her parents’ blessing, she spent two happy years at MissPorter’s beore being accepted at Union College in Schenectady,N.Y. Now 24, she says the Miss Porter’s experience “completely turned my lie around. It was, in so many ways, the perect placeor me—I developed a lot o condence and began to succeed. Idon’t think I’d have been able to attend a competitive college i Ihadn’t gone there.”What makes this story particularly interesting is that Reis-Ren-zulli is the daughter o two well-known educational experts, Sally M. Reis, Ph.D., a board o trustees distinguished proessor and

j e f f k A u f m A n

teaching ellow in educational psychology atthe University o Connecticut, and JosephRenzulli, Ed.D., proessor and director o the National Research Center on the Giedand alented, also at UConn. “My husbandand I have been supporters o public schoolsour entire lives and we’ve devoted our ca-reers to improving and making changes inpublic education,” says Reis. “But we’d mademany attempts to seek the help our daughterneeded to succeed in the public schools, andthough she had many excellent teachers andcounselors, she was unable to get what sheneeded. We agonized about it and it was anancial sacrice, but Sarah’s whole patternturned around in a matter o about a monthat the new school. My guilt is that not every child can have these resources.”

Flourishing Even in aBad Economy

In a state with many highly regarded publicschool systems and in a dicult economy, private schools are ourishing. Pam McKenna,director o admissions at New Haven’s venera-ble Hopkins School (now celebrating its 350thanniversary), says she has seen “virtually nochange in our applicant pool.” Private edu-cational consultant Holly McGlennon reat,who works with Bertram Educational Con-sultants o Westport and Durham, concurs,saying, “I’m a little shocked that even in thiseconomy, private schools have continued tothrive.” But the amilies she works with con-tinue to put a high premium on education.“For most, once they’ve experienced what anindependent school education has to ofer,”she says, ”there’s just no going back.”In some cases, this means a considerablesacrice on the part o the parents. Toughthe tuition varies, most private school costsall within the same range—the “high 20s”or a secondary-level day school and nearly double that ($40,000 or more per year) orboarding schools. It’s just a bit less than thecost o a highly competitive college, and, aswith colleges, the costs seem to rise a bit withevery new school year.Financial assistance and scholarshipsare available to those who can demonstrateneed—more so now, in act, than even inthe recent past—and many schools ofer re-duced rates or amilies with more than onechild enrolled in a school. At Hopkins, orinstance, “Our orward-thinking Commit-tee o rustees has made provisions to bothincrease our nancial-aid budget and to cre-ate a contingency und or currently enrolledamilies who have a drastic change in their -nancial circumstances,” McKenna says. “Tishas allowed Hopkins to be responsive to theneeds o our community while remainingully stafed and with no cutbacks to our cur-riculum or extracurricular programs.” Tosemeasures are helpul, o course, but evenamilies with healthy incomes not subject to“drastic changes” can nd it quite challeng-ing to und private-school tuition.Tough he acknowledges the high costo private education as a barrier he wishesweren’t there, Douglas Lyons, Ed.D., execu-tive director o the Connecticut Associationo Independent Schools (CAIS) in Mystic,says parents believe the value justies theee. Having 40-plus years o experience ineducation—both public and private—hesays he’d advise parents who could aford ei-ther a private school education early on or aprivate college later to invest in the ounda-tion years. When a student heads to collegewho is “already an independent learner, mo-tivated and with a lot o interests, he or shecan go to UConn or another less expensiveuniversity and be able to eke out every incho benet,” he says. “Tat’s a child who is al-ready prepared to succeed.” And, he adds, theindependent-school environment makes thatpreparation or success likelier to take hold.

What Matters Most

According to Lyons, research shows thatparents cite our actors that are integral tothe decision to seek a private-school educa-tion or their child:

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Academic rigor and the skill o theteachers—the actor he says most assumecomes rst—was actually ranked as the leastimportant o the our reasons.

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Parents believe that private schoolsserve as an “efective interrupter o popu-lar culture.” “It’s tough or a child to remainyoung and innocent nowadays,” says Lyons.“Independent schools help by providing an-other set o adults, outside the amily, whocan model values and experiences that chil-dren will want to emulate.”

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Te next actor, the relationships stu-dents develop with their teachers, builds onthat theme: “I used to say to tell new teachersthat kids don’t care about what you know un-til they know you care,” says Lyons. “Parents value that teachers know the children andbelieve in them.”

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Te rst and most important actorcited came as a surprise to Lyons, he admits,though it made sense when he thought aboutit. “It is saety. It’s not about physical saety,though o course that’s important. What theparents mean is that they want their child toeel sae in every way a child can and shouldeel sae—physically, emotionally and social-ly. In private school you don’t have to worry about going to the bathroom, or who youwill sit with at lunch.”

education

CONNECTICUT