New TA here: please don’t send your kids to high poverty schools if you can avoid it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To add, mixing kids is not a solution, it will just make schools equally bad. The answer is of course early intervention plus poverty reduction but it’s a long shot I know. It seems like more and more poor families just… appear from thin air? Not sure.

Um no, the data is clear that poor kids do way better in integrated schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To add, mixing kids is not a solution, it will just make schools equally bad. The answer is of course early intervention plus poverty reduction but it’s a long shot I know. It seems like more and more poor families just… appear from thin air? Not sure.

Ah yes, just not in my backyard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have recently started working as a TA at an 85% low income and ESL school. This is not in the DMV area but I think there are very similar schools in FCPS for example. I can never say this to parents in my district because I am bound by all the privacy stuff but I want to say it here: please please don’t send your child to a school like that, even for K.
I don’t know why the kids from middle class families are there. Many of them seem at least 3rd Gen American so it’s not like their parents have no clue about the school system. Heck, many first Gen parents have a good idea! But apparently not them?
Each class has a group of very disruptive kids who ideally need their own aide, either as a group or even individually. They don’t seem to be getting much education simply because they are so distracted they can’t possibly learn much.
The rest of the kids are very very different from each other in terms of their levels. Ideally each class should have at least 3 level groups (not counting the separate one for distractable kids).
But since they only have one teacher… most of the time most of the kids are left to their own devices. The teacher works with one group at a time, doing an awesome job juggling them. The rest are doing activities mostly on their chromebooks. If your child is highly driven, disciplined, is able to ask for help, and has a good attention span - this kid will be fine. But even in that case… there won’t be much fun or enthusiasm in learning. Most of the energy is spent keeping discipline, and helping those who clearly struggle.
Your child’s presence doesn’t seem to benefit anyone either. I mean, maybe it benefits another child like that who now has a friend who is “good, smart” kid. But it definitely doesn’t have any influence on the overall class dynamic, I mean, yeah, it’s better than the class being 100% disruptive but maybe in the latter case help would arrive a little faster?
At the same time, it’s hurting the kids who are capable of learning and being excited to learn, but who instead spend their days almost forgotten (unless they get in trouble) and on their chromebooks.
Anyway, sorry if I am being too direct, but I really wanted to help the kids who can do so much better than this.

Dear TA, you are describing a typical school in an affluent area in the DMV. If you want more homogenous classes, it’s time for private.

[Anonymous]

As a teacher, maybe you should make more of an effort as a teacher to meet these kids needs and get them on grade level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher, maybe you should make more of an effort as a teacher to meet these kids needs and get them on grade level.

+1 as a TA at that school your job is to work hard and try to change the problems that you identify, not give up and say they can’t be helped. If that’s your perspective, then that school is not the setting for you. There’s no shame in admitting a job is not right for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher, maybe you should make more of an effort as a teacher to meet these kids needs and get them on grade level.

+1 as a TA at that school your job is to work hard and try to change the problems that you identify, not give up and say they can’t be helped. If that’s your perspective, then that school is not the setting for you. There’s no shame in admitting a job is not right for you.

She isn't going to change most of these problems. She won't change poverty and everything that goes with it. But there are things teachers can do to deal with the issues students bring to school. The book, The Poverty Problem, is great for understanding poverty and gives suggestions that can help in the classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher, maybe you should make more of an effort as a teacher to meet these kids needs and get them on grade level.

As a teacher, you aren’t going to move the needle for 99% of these kids. The problems are too deep. Unless you can figure out a way to give them a new set of (good) parents, a drug free home, and discipline- no amount of classroom tactics within a teacher’s reach are going to make much of difference- for the vast majority. Sure once in a while you will get a highly motivated focused child that is able to and wants to succeed despite home life, but they are few

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher, maybe you should make more of an effort as a teacher to meet these kids needs and get them on grade level.

+1 as a TA at that school your job is to work hard and try to change the problems that you identify, not give up and say they can’t be helped. If that’s your perspective, then that school is not the setting for you. There’s no shame in admitting a job is not right for you.

She isn't going to change most of these problems. She won't change poverty and everything that goes with it. But there are things teachers can do to deal with the issues students bring to school. The book, The Poverty Problem, is great for understanding poverty and gives suggestions that can help in the classroom.

Thanks, I am familiar with that book and I often read it with the new teachers I mentor! I was unclear in my response--I don't think any of working in high-poverty schools can "fix" poverty or the way our school systems and zoning systems contribute to perpetuating it. But if one doesn't believe that they can make a difference in the lives of the children with whom they work, then they need to find a different setting in which to work.

[Anonymous]

You realize not everyone can afford well off school areas OP? I actually wonder as housing is going crazy, if some of the schools that MC folks avoided are now on the table and that will improve scores? Idk. I know I’m in NoVa. My kids go to good but not the top schools bc those houses are too expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You realize not everyone can afford well off school areas OP? I actually wonder as housing is going crazy, if some of the schools that MC folks avoided are now on the table and that will improve scores? Idk. I know I’m in NoVa. My kids go to good but not the top schools bc those houses are too expensive.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher, maybe you should make more of an effort as a teacher to meet these kids needs and get them on grade level.

+1 as a TA at that school your job is to work hard and try to change the problems that you identify, not give up and say they can’t be helped. If that’s your perspective, then that school is not the setting for you. There’s no shame in admitting a job is not right for you.

She isn't going to change most of these problems. She won't change poverty and everything that goes with it. But there are things teachers can do to deal with the issues students bring to school. The book, The Poverty Problem, is great for understanding poverty and gives suggestions that can help in the classroom.

Thanks, I am familiar with that book and I often read it with the new teachers I mentor! I was unclear in my response--I don't think any of working in high-poverty schools can "fix" poverty or the way our school systems and zoning systems contribute to perpetuating it. But if one doesn't believe that they can make a difference in the lives of the children with whom they work, then they need to find a different setting in which to work.

Teacher here. We can help students advance academically but it is a heavy pull to do so. We've just gotten 70% of the kindergarten students in my school to grade level. At the beginning of the year, that % was 10-15%. It was a hell of a lot of work. Sadly, they will go home over the summer and start off next year with appr. the same % on grade level as last year. For our kids, 10 weeks off is devastating.

[Anonymous]

Teacher here. We can help students advance academically but it is a heavy pull to do so. We've just gotten 70% of the kindergarten students in my school to grade level. At the beginning of the year, that % was 10-15%. It was a hell of a lot of work. Sadly, they will go home over the summer and start off next year with appr. the same % on grade level as last year. For our kids, 10 weeks off is devastating.

Not disagreeing with any of this. It feels sisyphean. We do it because we want to try rather than walk away from them. I'm not arguing that it feels insurmountable sometimes and the system should be better.

It has helped me to do a little internet sleuthing and find out what some of my students are doing 15-20 years down the line. We are making a difference.

[Anonymous]

WOW. I have just as much a right to live where I live (30% FARMS school) as does everyone else.

[Anonymous]

OP, I sort of hate that you work with children. Your post comes off so condescending.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher, maybe you should make more of an effort as a teacher to meet these kids needs and get them on grade level.

NP.

37 years in teaching- Special Ed, Reading.

There is no magic pill in any one year from any one teacher or teachers that will "get these kids on grade level."

It begins at birth, continues through the important years of language development, and continues with nutrition, support, and intellectual life at home just to be able to get through Kindergarten. Some or all of this is missing for children in low socioeconomic strata.