Researching schools is a daunting task. Here are some simple questions to research schools. Approach to Teaching ReadingThere are two major approaches: whole reading approach and phonetics. A whole reading approach is when the children starts writing a journal on day one of kindergarten. Although I don't understand how this works, I've heard that this is a very good approach with high performing kids. Phonetics (emphasizing sounding out words) will help kids who have trouble with the whole reading approach but has the disadvantage of being very boring to high performing kids. HomeworkMany schools assign hours of homework per day. It's important to ask, when choosing a school, the average amount of homework a child will have in kingergarten, 2nd grade, 4th grade, 6th grade, to get an idea of homework length over the course of your child's time in school. Two hours of homework will be agonizing to most 2nd graders. Some of the most effective teachers will be able to accomplish all learning in classroom time and will assign almost no homework. In particular, ask how assignments such as book reports and science projects are done. For example, science projects done at home typically end up as parent-assisted or parent-done projects, and they are not a true reflection of a 2nd grader's capabilities. Science projects done in class will look like something done by a 2nd grader. Heterogeneous or homogeneous class makeupA heterogeneous class will consist of students with a range of academic ability. A homogeneous class will consist of students with similar academic ability (typically with students of higher/lower academic ability in different classes in the same grade). Both of these have advantages and disadvantages.
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