Photo courtesy Roland Park Country School

At first it seems simple: Private schools are non-public schools. But, because there are so many different types of private schools, and often they fall into multiple categories, defining private schools is a difficult task. So, let’s start with differentiating between private and public schools.

Public v. Private
Public school systems receive local, state and federal funding and as a result must follow specific guidelines for teaching, determined by the government. On the other hand, private schools are funded by tuition, fees and gifts, enabling the schools to determine the curriculum and how it will be taught. Within the public school system are charter schools.

Types of Private Schools
For parents looking at private schools in the Baltimore area, the choices are extensive. The following list provides a general description of the types of schools available. It must be noted that many schools fall into more than one category and within each category parents will find additional options such as co-ed or single sex, and urban or rural. The bottom line is that private schools offer families a choice.

Photo courtesy Institute of Notre Dame

Independent Schools - According to the Association of Independent Maryland Schools (AIMS) independent schools have certain characteristics in common. Each is governed by a board of trustees, is independent in governance and finance, has stated policies of nondiscrimination in admission and employment, and is a nonprofit corporation. Each fosters a culture of learning, not only in the classrooms and laboratories, but in every area-on playing fields, stages, in music practice rooms, and art studios.
 

Religious Based Schools – Because private schools determine the curriculum and how to teach it, many private schools are religious-based. There are a variety of schools in the Baltimore area with roots in the Catholic and Jewish faiths as well as the Protestant religions including Lutheran, Baptist, Presbyterian and Episcopalian. Additionally, there are schools founded by Quakers, Seventh Day Adventists and Muslims.

In most Catholic and Jewish private schools students are expected to participate in religious teachings and customs. According to the Private School Review, many of the other religious based schools teach religious, moral and ethical values without aggressive evangelism and require attendance at 'chapel.' This gathering of the school community offers a chance to remind students that there is a larger power afoot without heavy-duty evangelism or teaching about what that power may be.
 

Photo courtesy The Montessori School 

Alternative Schools –
The variety of alternative schools in and around Baltimore offer families even more options when looking at schools. Some are part of a worldwide network and others are one-of-a kind and founded to meet a need.

Special needs schools address learning differences and adjust their teaching strategies to help children learn. Baltimore’s Odyssey School, for example, is widely recognized for academic excellence and research-driven teaching techniques for children with dyslexia.
 
Montessori Schools give children the freedom to learn at their own pace while progressing on the framework of a structured curriculum designed to help students develop to their fullest potential. According to administrators at the Montessori School in Lutherville, “The Montessori method not only allows for individual development and growth, but embraces the different paces at which children will naturally learn.”

Progressive schools are the result of educational reformers who sought to eliminate rigid educational practices, rote learning, and conformity over individuality in the classroom. Nearly a century ago, the headmaster of the Park School of Baltimore said, “We may cut away a useless part here and there or recast one part or another, but it should be done with reverence, if without fear. In making our changes, let us not become obsessed with any one method or system.”

Waldorf Schools emphasize developing a child's imagination and creative side and discourage exposure to entertainment such as television, popular music and computers. The Waldorf Schools emphasize a cooperative rather than a competitive spirit and expression through music, dance and art. Teachers stay with a class for four years and standardized textbooks are rarely used.

Theme-based is how Steve Warner, the Head of Baltimore’s GreenMount School classifies the K-8 school in Baltimore City. “At one time the GreenMount School was touted as an ‘alternative’ school, meaning that it was an alternative to the traditional approach to learning.  These days in the public sector alternative has come to mean the school where kids go when they have been expelled – not exactly what we wanted to advertise.  So we dropped the term,” he said.  “Then we took on the term, progressive, which we meant as a school that moves students forward in preparation for higher secondary education. That term now has taken on a more political slant.  Now we like to think of ourselves as simply theme-based and experiential.”

Throughout the coming months, Baltimore’s Private School Examiner will explore in greater depth the variety of private school categories -- the alternatives to public schools.
 

National Association of Independent Schools

Charter School Examiner

Division of Catholic Schools