Most schools in the US operate solely by catchment areas. Outside of major cities, it's very rare for people to have even the amount of "school choice" that Philadelphia allows. If you live in Bryn Mawr or Cheltenham, your child attends the local school that he or she is assigned. You don't get much choice. Magnet schools, transfers, bussing, selective admissions-- these are all patchwork solutions to educating people in failed public school systems. The traditional ideal for a school was that everybody in the neighborhood walked down the block to the closest school, not the smart kids with dedicated parents from all over the city.

I don't understand how elementary school students would take entrance exams anyway... kindergarteners shouldn't need to know much to enter school. That's the difference between public and private schools. If you want a school that keeps the riffraff out, public schools are not the choice for you.

So your comment "this is Philadelphia, so nothing is based on merit" makes no sense on two counts: Philadelphia gives its students more school choices than neighboring districts, and Philly is not alone in this... it's a very typical large urban school system.

You are still stuck with the school wher eyou live. Even if you have many to choose from , there are ally basically the same.

regarding rifffraf, yeah i would liek to keep riffraff away from my kids. Who wants riffraff?

Actually, Philly has more public schools whose entrance is merit-based than the average school district.

It comes from having a historic public school system that modeled itself on private schools.

Now there is a another really exciting high school formed with Microsoft:

Posted on Thu, Jan. 12, 2006
"New 'high school of future' inundated with applicants"
By Susan Snyder
Inquirer Staff Writer from www.phillynews.com

"Nearly 1,500 Philadelphia students have applied for 170 ninth-grade openings at the internationally touted Microsoft high school, which is scheduled to open in West Philadelphia in the next school year, district officials said yesterday.

The competition for entrance into the "high school of the future" - a $62 million project that the school district is developing in partnership with the Microsoft Corp. - is keen. It has also prompted several community groups to demand guaranteed enrollment for children in their neighborhoods...."

But the problem remains staying in the city through the elementary/middle school years.

How to afford not sending your kid to some of the East Coast's best schools that cost more per year than I spent for my first four years in college?

How do you guys manage it? I know you are out there, the ones that strategize and hob knob for the best slots.

Yes, how do you get into Meredith, with its 300 person waiting list? Are you required to forge your address?

Meredith isn't the only option. Greenfield and McCall are both solid schools and Greenfield takes over half of its Kindergarten class from outside of the catchment area which should mean that the new Center City initiative will make it fairly easy to get in. All are k-8 schools. In West Philly, there is the Alexander School and Powell. Niel can probably say more about the options including several charter schools.

For those who are interested in a magnet middle school, there is Masterman which is extremely competitive and the Girard Academic Music Program (GAMP), also competitive but not as seriously so. It's a nice, lesser known, little gem in South Philly.

For high school, it seems there are more options all the time... in addition to the Masterman powerhouse, there is also Central, CAPA, Girls High,GAMP, the new Microsoft school and the new Franklin Institute Science school which is slated to open in the Fall of 2006. I know there are other solid High School choices as well.

AHB

Speaking of the "Masterman Powerhouse," I read in the paper yesterday or today that the Masterman principal will now be heading up the South Philadelphia region.

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south phila region?? are they bringing back clusters

I don't know that I would be enthusiastic about either Greenfield or McCall...
Greenfield might work in the early grades, but after third or fourth grade the school changes entirely...McCall is also a poor performing school, despite its location. I know the principal is in her first year, and I really like her, but there are major discipline problems...

I hate being such a pessimest, I would be the biggest cheerleader if I didn't have to send my son in a few years...that forces me to be a realist...

Meredith is really is the only sustainable option in CC...

I would love to be convinced otherwise though!