What I tell prospective parents

By Susan Joling

Last week I watched "Waiting for Superman," a documentary about public schools. The title refers to a Harlem educator’s childhood belief that a superhero would fix the problems of the ghetto. One painful scene was of families crowded into inner-city gyms waiting to see if their lottery number came up for a charter school with an excellent reputation and high academic standards. There were ten slots and hundreds of applicants. When all the spots were filled, the "losers" shuffled back to their neighborhood schools, billed as drop-out factories.

In Anchorage, we are fortunate to have lots of good schools. Besides some excellent neighborhood schools, we have charter and optional schools, each with a particular philosophy. Some parents shop for any school with high achievement scores when they should be looking for a philosophy they can embrace.

The lottery season is under way, which means there will soon be tours of Chugach Optional with anxious and curious parents trying to navigate through a sea of school choice. I've led school tours and you never know what questions will come up. Once, after I mentioned the required 36 hours of parent volunteer hours, a parent asked if there was a book in the office where parent volunteer hours were recorded. I said I didn't think so. He looked relieved, but I haven't seen him around since.

Inevitably, touring parents want you to compare Chugach to other schools; in essence they're asking for help in making a decision by comparing Chugach to other schools that you know nothing about. This is always dicey and it seems better to talk about what you know. Often parents will talk about how they've put in lottery applications to Chugach, Northern Lights ABC, Winterberry, etc. This is when I take my opportunity to talk about what I know.

I tell parents about the first time I entered Chugach with Jan Bronson. My children were still in pre-school. Within five minutes, I knew I wanted my sons to attend. I saw that it was a child-focused place where students were given choices. I heard respectful interactions between adults and students. Worthy, high quality, student work was displayed on every inch of the hallways. Interdisciplinary projects were in progress. The library was the heartbeat of the school, and though it was ten minutes before school would be out, every single student was engaged in a learning activity.

I tell parents that I want my children to have the benefit of being in a multi-age classroom because there aren't the limitations of a single-grade curriculum. Skill and concept development are more likely to happen at a child's own pace. Classrooms can focus on learning from day one and not on classroom logistics and routines. Half the class already knows how the classroom works and the older students quickly and efficiently pass this information on to the grateful other half. I'm glad my older son has the experience of being a younger student in a class. I'm grateful my younger son has the opportunity for leadership as an older student every other year.

I tell parents that Chugach teaches responsibility by giving students responsibility. Students are encouraged to be in-charge learners who direct their own learning. I wasn't sure the "in-charge" part was ever going to happen with one of my kids, but by fifth grade he was the master of his learning.

I tell parents to think about what they want for their own children. What I know is that Chugach teachers teach students to take charge and lead their own learning in elementary school and beyond.