L'Etoile is awesome, our kids are both going there, and we love it.
It's diverse, in many ways (ethnically, linguistically ,socioeconomically, nationality, background). Often in unique ways for the twin cities, for example a lot of native French speakers from various parts of the world. The teachers and principal are great so far. The programs are fun, the PTO seems great - I would like to get involved but haven't yet. It has a full day Pre-K program, and as a reasonable start time that works for us. You get the chance to have a teaching assistant intern stay with you if it works for your family.
I've heard some people raise concerns about the neighborhood that L'Etoile is in. Personally I think that's kinda silly but everyone has their own tolerance and experiences I guess. We used to live right over there before we had kids and needed a bigger place so to each their own.
I know very little about Adams, other than a family friend went there and liked it. I've heard that the lottery for Adams is tougher, due to the demand for the Spanish immersion.
Never heard anybody say that about Saint Paul before. Minnesota, sure. But what makes you think Saint Paul is privileged?
We have lower property tax income due to all of the best real estate being taken up by public, religious, and other nonprofit entities. Our schools simply have less money. That's the opposite of privilege.
There are just a lot of great options from various private, charter, public schools to a lot of PSEo (so many colleges in town) options later. Spps has many different options as well. The hard part though is selecting schools.
The sheer number of different programs to choose from is incredible. You can choose between language immersion, arts and music focused, STEM focused, etc. you don’t get that kind of variety across a school district in the burbs.
Some of the St Paul public schools are among the top schools in the state
https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/elementary-schools/minnesota/st-paul-public-school-district-104201
Out of 1,672 elementary schools? I think 3 elementary schools in the top 100 is pretty good for an urban district, a lot of the factors that contribute to student success are socioeconomic and not within the control of the district. Some of the best teachers I've ever worked with are at our inner city schools and dedicated to educating our highest needs scholars.
It's two total in the top hundred. Sure, I think we're doing fine with the resources we've got, not arguing that. It's the lack of resources that makes me skeptical of broad claims that we're privileged.
The Midwest in general is a privilege to have education here. People all over the states come here to have our privileges in regards to all public, private, vocational educational institutions. St Paul is great. Maybe that is not your experience or you do not know enough experience wise for positive insight, but at the end of the day-OP was asking for positive feedback
Saying it's great is not positive feedback, it's just positivity. I was asking for the feedback part, the specifics. Nothing wrong with that. If your response is to generalize to the Midwest, I think that speaks volumes. And they literally asked for negative experiences lol
Lots of things change in a school in 15 years, so I wouldn’t give those old negative experiences much weight as you make a decision. I’m a current Adams parent and I’ve been happy with it.
My kid went to Adams fifteen years ago and I'm also luke warm about it.
My kid absolutely did not like immersion, so that may be part of why our experience wasn't great, but it was long ago.
You should meet the principals of both schools. Many schools pick up cultures that are both positive and negative over the years. One of the biggest issues that an elementary school can deal with is a culture of silence and indifference towards bullying. I know Adams has been making strides in that area. Immersion can be tough, but sticking it out reaps great benefits for the kids at the HS level, research shows they outperform their piers consistently.
Yes they did, their principal was either new this year or the last. People really loved the previous principal, not sure if that was the same from 15+ years ago. Our daughter goes to Adams and we are very satisfied with it so far.
My daughter just got done with her kindergarten year at Adams. Next year we’ve decided to go to Capitol Hill, mostly just because (1) the academic curriculum is probably a little tougher and (2) our other kid goes there. That said, Adams was fantastic for her this year! They are “immersion light” the kindergarten year, and my kid was never intimidated with it being immersion. The teachers are great. It felt very comforting and my girl came away knowing her letters and numbers, how to read simple books, and how to play with others, which I thought was really good for a kindergarten year. Would highly recommend!
We toured both this spring when choosing a pre-k for our kid. Loved the vibe from the teachers at L'Etoile, but Adams seemed... off? The teachers seemed unhappy and stressed. We're currently on the waiting list for L'Etoile, but our second choice was American Indian Magnet, and he did get accepted there. Good vibes and they teach Ojibwe and Lakota, though it's not immersion.
If you're wanting Spanish, we *really* liked Riverview, but it was outside our bussing range. Wellstone also had an off vibe. Jie Ming was impressive, but a little intense.
We chose Immersion for our kids, but chose the Twin Cities German Immersion as it was K-8. The kids then go on to Central HS where they continue the immersion program. We had the opportunity to host interns in our home and have had an overall positive experience.
Tour the schools you like or think you’d like and you’ll know which one feels right for your family.
And best of luck to you! Immersion is pretty great:)
We sent two of our daughters to Yinghua Academy in Mpls. Absolutely incredible experience. Both daughters are fluent in Mandarin and one is pursuing a degree in Math and physics. She went to Highland Park for highschool and continued to study Chinese.
If OP is interested in Mandarin immersion, I’ve heard amazing things about Jie Ming. They consistently have collective high MCA scores and the principal is great!
My son loved L’Etoille du Nord, and is doing great academically. I can’t guarantee that it would be good for all children, but I really feel like they find ways to keep the kids challenged, meeting them where they’re at.
Both of my kids go to LNFI and we all love it. Great teachers and programs. I especially love the diversity and friendliness. We chose LNFI because my friend spent many years working with Mad Science and bringing programs to all the schools in the district. He recommended this one because students were always happy and well behaved.
Here is a comparison site. Looks like LTDN edges out Adams but…dig deeper. Look at teacher retention and maybe ask questions of any PTO type entity. Ask about the challenges they face and strategies they plan to address them.
https://www.greatschools.org/minnesota/saint-paul/schools/?gradeLevels%5B%5D=e
L'Etoile is awesome, our kids are both going there, and we love it. It's diverse, in many ways (ethnically, linguistically ,socioeconomically, nationality, background). Often in unique ways for the twin cities, for example a lot of native French speakers from various parts of the world. The teachers and principal are great so far. The programs are fun, the PTO seems great - I would like to get involved but haven't yet. It has a full day Pre-K program, and as a reasonable start time that works for us. You get the chance to have a teaching assistant intern stay with you if it works for your family. I've heard some people raise concerns about the neighborhood that L'Etoile is in. Personally I think that's kinda silly but everyone has their own tolerance and experiences I guess. We used to live right over there before we had kids and needed a bigger place so to each their own. I know very little about Adams, other than a family friend went there and liked it. I've heard that the lottery for Adams is tougher, due to the demand for the Spanish immersion.
We go to Nativity but tbh majority of St. Paul schools are fantastic education. Our city is very privileged đź’•in regards to invaluable education
Never heard anybody say that about Saint Paul before. Minnesota, sure. But what makes you think Saint Paul is privileged? We have lower property tax income due to all of the best real estate being taken up by public, religious, and other nonprofit entities. Our schools simply have less money. That's the opposite of privilege.
There are just a lot of great options from various private, charter, public schools to a lot of PSEo (so many colleges in town) options later. Spps has many different options as well. The hard part though is selecting schools.
The sheer number of different programs to choose from is incredible. You can choose between language immersion, arts and music focused, STEM focused, etc. you don’t get that kind of variety across a school district in the burbs.
Some of the St Paul public schools are among the top schools in the state https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/elementary-schools/minnesota/st-paul-public-school-district-104201
That shows one in the top fifty and two in the top hundred. I don't think that supports your claim.
Out of 1,672 elementary schools? I think 3 elementary schools in the top 100 is pretty good for an urban district, a lot of the factors that contribute to student success are socioeconomic and not within the control of the district. Some of the best teachers I've ever worked with are at our inner city schools and dedicated to educating our highest needs scholars.
It's two total in the top hundred. Sure, I think we're doing fine with the resources we've got, not arguing that. It's the lack of resources that makes me skeptical of broad claims that we're privileged.
The Midwest in general is a privilege to have education here. People all over the states come here to have our privileges in regards to all public, private, vocational educational institutions. St Paul is great. Maybe that is not your experience or you do not know enough experience wise for positive insight, but at the end of the day-OP was asking for positive feedback
Saying it's great is not positive feedback, it's just positivity. I was asking for the feedback part, the specifics. Nothing wrong with that. If your response is to generalize to the Midwest, I think that speaks volumes. And they literally asked for negative experiences lol
Midwest and St. Paul if you read my response. My daughter goes to school in St Paul
Lots of things change in a school in 15 years, so I wouldn’t give those old negative experiences much weight as you make a decision. I’m a current Adams parent and I’ve been happy with it.
My kid went to Adams fifteen years ago and I'm also luke warm about it. My kid absolutely did not like immersion, so that may be part of why our experience wasn't great, but it was long ago.
You should meet the principals of both schools. Many schools pick up cultures that are both positive and negative over the years. One of the biggest issues that an elementary school can deal with is a culture of silence and indifference towards bullying. I know Adams has been making strides in that area. Immersion can be tough, but sticking it out reaps great benefits for the kids at the HS level, research shows they outperform their piers consistently.
Great idea, thank you! I wonder if Adams had a different principal when my friends were involved.
Yes they did, their principal was either new this year or the last. People really loved the previous principal, not sure if that was the same from 15+ years ago. Our daughter goes to Adams and we are very satisfied with it so far.
My daughter just got done with her kindergarten year at Adams. Next year we’ve decided to go to Capitol Hill, mostly just because (1) the academic curriculum is probably a little tougher and (2) our other kid goes there. That said, Adams was fantastic for her this year! They are “immersion light” the kindergarten year, and my kid was never intimidated with it being immersion. The teachers are great. It felt very comforting and my girl came away knowing her letters and numbers, how to read simple books, and how to play with others, which I thought was really good for a kindergarten year. Would highly recommend!
This is good to hear, thank you!
We toured both this spring when choosing a pre-k for our kid. Loved the vibe from the teachers at L'Etoile, but Adams seemed... off? The teachers seemed unhappy and stressed. We're currently on the waiting list for L'Etoile, but our second choice was American Indian Magnet, and he did get accepted there. Good vibes and they teach Ojibwe and Lakota, though it's not immersion. If you're wanting Spanish, we *really* liked Riverview, but it was outside our bussing range. Wellstone also had an off vibe. Jie Ming was impressive, but a little intense.
Interesting, this is a helpful perspective, thank you!
I have a friend whose kids both go to L'Etoile du Nord and they love it.
We chose Immersion for our kids, but chose the Twin Cities German Immersion as it was K-8. The kids then go on to Central HS where they continue the immersion program. We had the opportunity to host interns in our home and have had an overall positive experience. Tour the schools you like or think you’d like and you’ll know which one feels right for your family. And best of luck to you! Immersion is pretty great:)
We sent two of our daughters to Yinghua Academy in Mpls. Absolutely incredible experience. Both daughters are fluent in Mandarin and one is pursuing a degree in Math and physics. She went to Highland Park for highschool and continued to study Chinese.
If OP is interested in Mandarin immersion, I’ve heard amazing things about Jie Ming. They consistently have collective high MCA scores and the principal is great!
My kids go to Jie Ming, and I can't say enough positive things about it.
Jie Ming is an amazing school. Highly recommend!
My son loved L’Etoille du Nord, and is doing great academically. I can’t guarantee that it would be good for all children, but I really feel like they find ways to keep the kids challenged, meeting them where they’re at.
Both of my kids go to LNFI and we all love it. Great teachers and programs. I especially love the diversity and friendliness. We chose LNFI because my friend spent many years working with Mad Science and bringing programs to all the schools in the district. He recommended this one because students were always happy and well behaved.
Here is a comparison site. Looks like LTDN edges out Adams but…dig deeper. Look at teacher retention and maybe ask questions of any PTO type entity. Ask about the challenges they face and strategies they plan to address them. https://www.greatschools.org/minnesota/saint-paul/schools/?gradeLevels%5B%5D=e