Cristo Rey Schools: A Different Kind of School

Dissatisfied with your local public schools? When parents are faced with underperforming public schools in their area, what alternatives do they have? In most cases, just three options are available: they can keep their children at home and homeschool them. They can also consider sending their children to private schools. Or they could relocate to an area with good schools. Let's leave out the last option, which is a real stretch for most families. Selling a home and finding a new one is not a project for the faint-hearted.

Fact: The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reported that during the 2019-2020 academic year, approximately 3.3% of school-aged children were homeschooled, which amounted to around 1.7 million students.

Fact: According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), during the 2017-2018 academic year, around 5.8 million students (about 10% of all elementary and secondary students) attended private schools.

The mothers in this video explain why they are thinking about homeschooling their children.

The other underlying condition which we have to appreciate is that we are talking about average middle-class families. Typically these hard-working folks bring in less than $100,000 a year. In many cases, much less than that. I feel that this is a very important factor to deal with upfront. Why? Because, in most cases, parents in this income bracket feel that they cannot afford private school. So they don't even bother exploring private

One of the main reasons many of us parents look at private schools is because we want our children to receive a religious education. I define a religious education for the purposes of this article as an education which adheres more or less to the religious beliefs which we hold dear. In other words if you are Roman Catholic, you will want to think seriously about educating your child in a Roman Catholic school.

It has been several years since I examined the data on religious schools in the National Center for Education Statistics Private School Universe Survey. This survey covers academic year 2011-2012. So I was fascinated to see that out of the 30,000 private schools in the United States approximately 21,000 were described as religiously-oriented schools. About 9,000 schools were what we call non-sectarian or not affiliated with any specific religion. By comparison there were approximately 99,000 public schools in the 2011-2012 academic year. That would mean that private K-12 schools are educating approximately 30% of school-age children.

Let's review the 25 religious categories which the Private Universe Survey documents.

Roman Catholic: The Roman Catholic Church has always taken its educational mission seriously. As a result about 7,000 K-12 schools educate 1.9 million students. Catholic schools include parochial schools which are largely K-8 schools and diocesan high schools. These schools are mostly organized and administered at the local and regional level. Add to this mix hundreds of schools which were established by

Add things up, and you’ll quickly find the answer – math is crucial both in academics and the real world.

To progress through high school to college and beyond, you better make sure your math skills are strong enough to face the gauntlet of exams, SATs, and more. Mathematics opens up career opportunities and helps students develop critical problem-solving skills that they can use for the rest of their lives.

We spoke with some experts in mathematics and learning to get some quick tips on improving your math skills. “Math is used in almost all parts of our lives, from sciences and computers to music and art,” states Tanya Mitchell, the Vice President of Research and Development for brain training company LearningRx. Tanya says that math struggles often relate to weak cognitive skills, not genetics, gender, age, or study habits. Students can uncover their weaknesses and conquer math by following these strategies and following personal training programs.

1. Write out your work.

It may be basic, but writing out your work is an essential rule to doing great math. Alison Dillard, Owner, is a huge proponent of “show your work.” “Writing out your work will help you take complicated questions and break them down into logical pieces and steps. This will cut down on careless errors, which will improve your test scores and grades. Being able to write down step-by-step how to solve a question will inherently increase your understanding of it.” Good old-fashioned pencil

One of the first things a parent says when she speaks to me about private schools is something along the lines of "I want my son to go to such and such a school." When I diplomatically ask why she is interested in that specific school, the answer is usually, "because I heard it is a really good school." That is a starting point in determining which school your child should attend. However, there is much more to the process than merely expressing an interest in a school because you heard it was a good one.

So, why don't you and I work our way through that initial consultation? Hopefully it will help you refine your private school search process. Ideally, it will help you find a school that meets your requirements as well as what your child needs to flourish and be happy.

What are you looking for?

Understanding what you are really looking for is a critical part of any private school search process. So, start at the beginning and apply a couple of filters. The first filter asks what type of school are you looking for. Day or boarding? With thousands of private schools here in the United States as well as hundreds more in Canada and the United Kingdom, using this filter reduces the number of schools for our consideration rather dramatically.

As this introduction to choosing a private school states, you have to look at many schools before you find the one that's