Reply #74: It depends on the school.

[knitter4democracy]

My hubby's parents sent all four of their kids to a private Christian school up through middle school, and every single one was at least a grade-level behind from the public high school when they switched.

My MIL even taught there for a couple of years--with absolutely no training whatsoever--and had me come do a guest lesson in poetry for her sixth grade language arts classes. I was a state certified 7-12 English teacher with three years experience in Catholic schools and a new stay-at-home mom with our baby daughter at the time. I did a lesson on metaphor, a grade appropriate lesson from the state English/Language Arts curriculum, and poetry writing, and I cried on the way home. The kids didn't know poetry and obviously didn't really know writing. It was one of the scariest and saddest teaching moments I ever had.

On the other hand, my Catholic high school students constantly amazed me at how high-level they were. Like public school teachers, I only ever had half the parents show up at conferences and all, but most of the kids were motivated to do their best. Some tried to go the easy, cheating route, but most really worked hard and tried their best. They were truly joys to teach (the rest of the job sucked, but the kids were great).