In a supposedly top rated district. Sit tight until 5th-6th grade?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Move your kid to a tech free school rn. You will never get this time back. Do your research and find a TECH FREE school. Even the parochial Catholic schools won’t be good enough in this regard. You have to be in an environment where everyone (parents and teachers) are ALL IN on reading, writing and arithmetic. Waiting until you hope it gets better will undoubtedly end up with you disappointed and your little one uneducated.

There are zero tech-free schools where their students score high in math, reading, or science.

Like another PP said, Montessori schools, Waldorf schools, classical
Schools and some small, private Christian schools that are not in the tech arms race. There are options but one has to do their homework.

I know they have them but none of them are top rated schools. There’s a tiny Waldorf school near us. There’s no screens it’s more play based . They don’t begin to teach reading until about 7 years old. They aren’t assigned specific reading until end of third grade. Their math is play based. It works for some kids but I don’t see it being a better choice for everyone. The parents are kind of weird too.

By college all students will need laptops. At that point they need to be completely tech savvy.

I'm not familiar with Waldorf but Montessori teaches reading at 2-3.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think any of us random DCUMers can answer for you. It’s subjective and depends on your very individual child and approach to parenting and education. For me, this school wouldn’t be cause for concern in the early grades except for the movies and behavioral issues (sadly not uncommon even in the best public schools). Have you asked to volunteer in the classroom so you can observe firsthand what is taking place and get to know the teacher better? Our K in MCPS required lots of worksheets and busy work and my kids were taught to read by sight words which sucked. But 2 of 3 teachers were really kind and my kids were happy. I’d rather have had them play and socialize in k and have less pressure in 1st and 2nd. One of mine later transfered to a progressive K-8 where I saw that kids need not be pushed in early years to excel later. He joined in MS but his classmates who were lifers are now at very competitive colleges. The pressure he experienced in the early grades of public school didn’t seem to provide an advantage. At the same time that I felt our public school put too much pressure on kids too early, we knew other parents who felt their kids were bored and unchallenged so began supplementing. Highly gifted magnets began in 4th and those parents seemed much more happy then. Maybe you can research gifted education in your district and learn more about the curriculum in later elementary grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Move your kid to a tech free school rn. You will never get this time back. Do your research and find a TECH FREE school. Even the parochial Catholic schools won’t be good enough in this regard. You have to be in an environment where everyone (parents and teachers) are ALL IN on reading, writing and arithmetic. Waiting until you hope it gets better will undoubtedly end up with you disappointed and your little one uneducated.

There are zero tech-free schools where their students score high in math, reading, or science.

Like another PP said, Montessori schools, Waldorf schools, classical
Schools and some small, private Christian schools that are not in the tech arms race. There are options but one has to do their homework.

I know they have them but none of them are top rated schools. There’s a tiny Waldorf school near us. There’s no screens it’s more play based . They don’t begin to teach reading until about 7 years old. They aren’t assigned specific reading until end of third grade. Their math is play based. It works for some kids but I don’t see it being a better choice for everyone. The parents are kind of weird too.

By college all students will need laptops. At that point they need to be completely tech savvy.

I'm not familiar with Waldorf but Montessori teaches reading at 2-3.

One of the huge differences is Montessori is very concrete, while Waldorf embraces imaginary play. Montessori materials are meant to be used in one way and one way only, and is very focused on "real world" things--a cartoonish dinosaurs stuffie wouldn't be welcomed in a traditional Montessori classroom. Waldorf would have no problem with a child taking a cartoonish dino stuffie and pretending it's a dragon or rocking it back in forth like a baby.

Waldorf feels very woo-woo (don't get me started on the fairies!), Montessori less so. Both are supposed to be very child-directed. Waldorf is really loosey goosey, while Montessori has freedom within rigid parameters.

[Anonymous]

PP. And for all the "Montessori teaches reading at 2-3" that I see, Montessori also allows children to choose not to learn to read, too. A true Montessori school isn't going to push a child to do something they don't want to do.

A bunch of kids in my neighborhood attend a Montessori school. Their reading is atrocious. I don't know if it's the teachers (excuse me, guides) or what, but even the upper elementary kids are not fluid, confident readers. One mom keeps bemoaning the fact that her first grader can barely read, and that no matter how many times she asks the teachers to give her child lessons, they keep telling her it is the child's decision and they won't do it until the child asks for it.

I'm sure Montessori is great for some kids, especially those who are naturally intellectually curious and want to learn how to read and do math. It doesn't seem so great for most of my neighbor kids, for whatever reason.

[Anonymous]

OP, top-rated often just correlates to high socio-economic status.

Many parents have to hire tutors or teach kids the basics themselves in that case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, top-rated often just correlates to high socio-economic status.

Many parents have to hire tutors or teach kids the basics themselves in that case.

This. It just means the families at the “top schools” have the resources to do more supplementing outside of school.

[Anonymous]

Academics won't ramp up until AP courses in HS and even then they aren't rigorous for the most part. I have an 11th grader who hasn't brought home any HW ever. He's in 4 AP courses now and has taken a few in 9th and 10th grades. His teachers let the students do the HW in class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP. And for all the "Montessori teaches reading at 2-3" that I see, Montessori also allows children to choose not to learn to read, too. A true Montessori school isn't going to push a child to do something they don't want to do.

A bunch of kids in my neighborhood attend a Montessori school. Their reading is atrocious. I don't know if it's the teachers (excuse me, guides) or what, but even the upper elementary kids are not fluid, confident readers. One mom keeps bemoaning the fact that her first grader can barely read, and that no matter how many times she asks the teachers to give her child lessons, they keep telling her it is the child's decision and they won't do it until the child asks for it.

I'm sure Montessori is great for some kids, especially those who are naturally intellectually curious and want to learn how to read and do math. It doesn't seem so great for most of my neighbor kids, for whatever reason.

This is school/teacher specific and not Montessori specific. My kids go to a private Montessori elementary and it’s been wonderful. They don’t get to do whatever they want. It isn’t a free for all. They have to do work in each core subject daily, fill out a work log daily, and have a box were they turn in assignments. The teacher meets with them frequently to give lessons, check progress on work, look over their work log, and makes sure they are meeting their goals and doing appropriate level work. They take standardized tests twice per year and mid year they do an in-school assessment and adjust their work accordingly. I have two that moved from Montessori elementary into public middle school and they were far accelerated and had zero issues transitioning. OP, look into Montessori. They don’t use screens other than for standardized testing and for the older kids to type papers/essays.

[Anonymous]

School ratings do not mean "good" schools. It means good test scores and wealthy parents.

Some of the best schools near us are Title 1 schools.

So first break down your bias about what a "good school" actually is, then look around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:School ratings do not mean "good" schools. It means good test scores and wealthy parents.

Some of the best schools near us are Title 1 schools.

So first break down your bias about what a "good school" actually is, then look around.

This is OP. We actually looked at a neighborhood feeding into a title 1. I was able to visit the elementary several times and was shocked by what goes on there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School ratings do not mean "good" schools. It means good test scores and wealthy parents.

Some of the best schools near us are Title 1 schools.

So first break down your bias about what a "good school" actually is, then look around.

This is OP. We actually looked at a neighborhood feeding into a title 1. I was able to visit the elementary several times and was shocked by what goes on there.

No, title 1 schools are not good. Sorry. While the teachers may be good or even great, they are teaching a bunch of kids that are either far behind or not at grade level. If your child is working above grade level or even at grade level, they will not make progress. Plus more behavioral issues, more IEPs, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School ratings do not mean "good" schools. It means good test scores and wealthy parents.

Some of the best schools near us are Title 1 schools.

So first break down your bias about what a "good school" actually is, then look around.

This is OP. We actually looked at a neighborhood feeding into a title 1. I was able to visit the elementary several times and was shocked by what goes on there.

No, title 1 schools are not good. Sorry. While the teachers may be good or even great, they are teaching a bunch of kids that are either far behind or not at grade level. If your child is working above grade level or even at grade level, they will not make progress. Plus more behavioral issues, more IEPs, etc.

You can’t paint any type of school that way. Based on the OP complaints. At our title 1 school my 2nd grader has been doing phonics every year, the whole class is doing addition and subtraction with 3 and 4 digit numbers and my son’s math group (3 of 21 kids) is doing multiplication and division in their small group with the teacher. They do weekly spelling tests on paper and are working on how to structure 5 sentence paragraphs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School ratings do not mean "good" schools. It means good test scores and wealthy parents.

Some of the best schools near us are Title 1 schools.

So first break down your bias about what a "good school" actually is, then look around.

This is OP. We actually looked at a neighborhood feeding into a title 1. I was able to visit the elementary several times and was shocked by what goes on there.

No, title 1 schools are not good. Sorry. While the teachers may be good or even great, they are teaching a bunch of kids that are either far behind or not at grade level. If your child is working above grade level or even at grade level, they will not make progress. Plus more behavioral issues, more IEPs, etc.

You can’t paint any type of school that way. Based on the OP complaints. At our title 1 school my 2nd grader has been doing phonics every year, the whole class is doing addition and subtraction with 3 and 4 digit numbers and my son’s math group (3 of 21 kids) is doing multiplication and division in their small group with the teacher. They do weekly spelling tests on paper and are working on how to structure 5 sentence paragraphs.

Ok, good for you. 99% of title 1 schools are teaching to the the bottle 25th percentile who happen to be the majority of their students

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a 4th grader at an expensive private that everyone aspires to go to in my area, and if I hadn’t looked at the date and timestamp I would have assumed that I had written this a few years ago and it had been bumped by a recent reply. My Dd did have a standout 3rd grade teacher who was a true star and really pushed her forward in writing and math. But otherwise I think that the vast majority of schools are tailored toward the struggling kid, and that’s a shame because they don’t seem to actually be helping the struggling kids. It’s a mess.

I agree.

- 2nd grade public school parent of above average kid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a 4th grader at an expensive private that everyone aspires to go to in my area, and if I hadn’t looked at the date and timestamp I would have assumed that I had written this a few years ago and it had been bumped by a recent reply. My Dd did have a standout 3rd grade teacher who was a true star and really pushed her forward in writing and math. But otherwise I think that the vast majority of schools are tailored toward the struggling kid, and that’s a shame because they don’t seem to actually be helping the struggling kids. It’s a mess.

I agree.

- 2nd grade public school parent of above average kid

When does this change? I don't think middle school and high school teach to the bottom the way early elementary does.