Parents are most likely to switch their kids right before middle school or high school, in hopes of propelling them into the best colleges. In these days of long waiting lists, though, parents are starting the private-school admissions grind earlier and earlier – even though many educators contend that a public-school background is no disadvantage in private-school admission later on. To Philadelphia educational consultant Jody Dobson, of Dobson Educational Services (which advises parents on how to pick schools), the most crucial years in a child’s school career don’t come in either elementary or high school; he suggests spending your money in middle school instead. “There are so many changes going on in a child’s life then – psychological, physical, temperamental, educational,” Dobson says. “If there’s a time for clarity, consistency, attention, that’s it.”

“If a school’s working, there’s always going to be some sort of draw – a good teacher, friends, interests,” says Dobson. “If September doesn’t present some positive anticipation,” he notes, it may be time to consider a move.

Parents contemplating a move from public to private (or vice-versa) need to know what they’re looking for, which means understanding how their child learns, what the child’s strengths and weaknesses are, and what sort of community they want for him or her. To that end, consultant Dobson says, he recommends to (most) of his clients that they have their children tested by an educational psychologist before picking a school. Typically a psychologist will run an eight-hour, two-day battery of tests to check auditory and visual processing, motor skills, reading skills, comprehension and practical thinking. For example, a child who doesn’t seem to learn much just by listening probably won’t reach peak performance in a school with large classes and a traditional lecture format. Instead, parents might want to search for a school that lets a child learn more visually or experientially.

Ask the right questions for your child, not those you think you have to ask. Forget about the gifted programs, the AP classes, the Ivy League acceptances and the championship sports teams, if that’s not where your child is headed. Instead, ask how the school goes about identifying and addressing the needs of different kids, and how it accommodates varying learning styles and interests. Find out what the school takes pride in: Does it stress the speed of learning, so that every child reads novels in first grade? Does it believe in a more fluid teaching style, in which kids learn at their own pace? Individual attention? Academic rigor? Sports? The arts?

Increasingly, parents who visit a school are already aware of its academic reputation – and for a lot of schools, academics aren’t that complicated an issue. Your child can get a first-rate education at dozens of public and independent schools in the Delaware Valley. What really matters is the culture, which encompasses everything from competition to discipline to freedom of expression to – ever more important – the values imparted to kids.

But choosing a school isn’t a one-time thing, even for the same child – and for private schools, it’s a decision made every year. “Privates will constantly reassess kids to make sure it’s still a good fit, says consultant Dobson. “It’s another reason to make sure the school is right.” Some parents sit down a few months before private-school applications are due, to recap the year so far and look at who will be teaching their children the following year. Sometimes, parents discover that they misjudged their kids’ learning styles or needs; sometimes, they find that a second or third child would do better somewhere else.