S/0 if you could improve low school performance, what would you do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: What would you do to actually raise the performance of the lower performing students? Not lower the gap by hoping others would drop but actually raise the performance of lower performing students and schools?

# 1) Put lower performing kids in a different class completely - I mean obviously, they need extra time and focus on certain skills they are lacking.

2) That separate class would focus more on preparing for standardized testing

3) That separate class would de-emphasize homework (at home) - and even provide a class time for homework. I can guarantee you many of these kids do not have the same resources or quiet places for homework. More single parents, more english as a second language, not as much access to computers, etc. I can attest that this can be just as good, because I switched from a top public to a private, and the private did not emphasize homework (at home) so much, plus we had an extra period for doing homework, and all but 2 kids went to college, and mine wasn't even a top school.

4) That separate class would add extra computer instruction or computer class time use.

This and also expelling unruly kids that refuse to change. Disruptive classes affect everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can't. It can't all be solved during the six hours a day in a school, no matter how fantastic the school is.

You can't make up for high stressed parents with low paying jobs whose car breaks down and they lose their job.

You can't make up for sick parents who can't be engaged with their kids enough to help with homework.

You can't make up for kids whose parents never finished high school, or have undiagnosed learning disabilities that impede their ability to help their kids through school.

You can't make up for homeless families.

You can't make up for abusive households.

You can't make up for drug addicted or untreated mentally ill parents.

You can't make up for parents whose command of English isn't good enough to help with school work.

You can't make up for parents who work two and three jobs and can't focus on dealing with learning difficulties or behavioral issues.

You can't make up for families that can't put food on the table on a regular basis.


Faced with all of this, I think MoCo does a pretty good job. They give many kids two meals a day, for example. Probably the most regular (even only) food many kids get. But you won't have lower SES schools pushing out scores comparable to high SES schools.

To fix schools, you have to significantly reduce social ills, like most aspects of poverty.

I think a longer day and year round schooling for kids that fall in the above categories will help some of the statements listed above. I would make some enrichment programs on a volunteer basis or even a credit class for high performing seniors or college kids.

[Anonymous]

Make it a lot easier for teachers to refer students for individual, targeted extra help outside of the classroom, or outside of school hours, starting as early as Kindergarten. Provide this extra tutoring free of charge and make it difficult for a child NOT to receive it.

As early as Kindergarten, if children are not making certain benchmarks in reading (especially decoding) or math (especially the basics -- counting with one to one correspondence, subitizing (knowing instantly how many items are in a group up to 4 or more with patterns) and using number bonds to 10) provide individual or very small group, targeted tutoring 5 hours a week -- by very experienced tutors -- the absolute best in the field! who will play hands on games and activities to get these children quickly up to speed.

When new students enter the school district, have them assessed before registration on these basics at every grade level. Even if a child enters in 4th grade or 8th grade -- evaluate them on the basics starting at the K level to see if they have any gaps, and provide individualized tutoring as needed to advance them rapidly through what they are missing.

Stop expecting classroom teachers do provide the 3 ring circus classroom -- a "below grade level" lesson, an "on grade level" lesson, and an "above grade level" lesson. The "below grade level" group often encompasses kids who are 2 or 3 years below grade level and really need different skills before they can advance. Provide rapid remediation for kids who are very below grade level. Most schools have the language for such remediation (they call it Tier 3 intervention) but they lack the staff and class time to provide this intervention. Or they create after school "study buddies" group sessions that aren't targeted to a child's specific need. It ends up being more wasted time.

Upper class kids who get into academic difficulties have parents who hire tutors or who tutor the kids themselves. Poor kids can't afford that. THere may be some funding to get them tutoring but the companies that are used usually aren't very effective.

[Anonymous]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned improving services for special needs children. As a parent with a special needs child, I can tell you that it is a nightmare to get basic services for a child that is obviously struggling and obviously has a learning disability. Even with two parents who are lawyers and clear/cut expensive outside testing, the time required to keep the local schools from dropping the ball is intense. The local schools see para-educators as coverage and reserve staffing for covering meetings and many non special needs functions. As long as the local school has enough of a caseload to justify the existing staff, more cases are just more work. There is a real problem with schools not providing services that are required by federal law and in the end position kids not to fail later on. The local ES schools could care less if a child doesn't get the services they need and later fails in middle or high school.

I can't imagine what happens to kids with parents who can't advocate at this level and don't have the money for expensive outside testing to prove to the school that the child has a problem. Prematurity and learning disabilities are more prevalent in lower SES children than higher SES children. The higher SES children with LDs are more likely to come from older parents that are more likely to be financially established. The gap here is extreme between low SES and high SES.

If MCPS was compliant with federal law and held responsible for reporting and serving special needs children across the county, scores would improve for this population.

[Anonymous]

14:24 spot on!!!

[Anonymous]

The easiest, but not the cheapest, change would be to hire more teachers and build more classrooms so that there are smaller classes and a better student to teacher ratio.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:School would be 7am-7pm 5 days a week. Breakfast, lunch and dinner ... all homework and sports and tutoring is done at school.

School would be 11 months out of the year.

I'm a teacher and my colleagues and I sometimes joke that the school system should just adopt our students. They already spend from 7-6:30pm at school every day. They get 3 meals a day at school too. We should just put bunk beds ala Murphy beds in the hallways and the students can just live at school. That way, all of their needs are met and they can be raised to be successful in school. They can go on field trips, etc on the weekends so they have experiences they would not get at home. Screen time would be eliminated. Right now, my students have been playing X-Box all summer and probably haven't picked up a book at all. It's sad but there are only so many things "outsiders" can do. I worry about my students but I need to remind myself that I've done what I can do for them. If we "fixed" poverty, that would be a step in the right direction but it isn't the only step.

[Anonymous]

I'm a teacher and my colleagues and I sometimes joke that the school system should just adopt our students. They already spend from 7-6:30pm at school every day. They get 3 meals a day at school too.

If the kids are spending 7 am to 6:30 with you throughout the school year then you can't blame the parent's lack of education and ability or interest to work with them outside of school.

Why not make before and after care a more substantive time? Homework clubs or bringing in middle and high school students to be reading buddies is one option. If MCPS curriculum depends on parents reading to kids at hime then you must know that these kids will never get ahead. If the parents can't read English how are they supposed to be reading to their kids for 30 minutes every night?

My kids are not in middle school yet but if you offered a bus to a lower performing ES school where they could be reading buddies with young kids, they would love this.

How about offering extra homework with instructions in Spanish for the kids to do during aftercare? I make in the upper 6 figures, have several degrees and I can't figure out half the time what the homework or assignments that come home expect. My kids listen and do it independently but if they didn't understand what the teacher said verbally in class then I would not be able to guess what was required. I don't understand why instructions or examples seem to be constantly missing in MCPS materials. It strikes me as very sloppy and damaging for lower performing students.

[Anonymous]

Change the low performing schools - the schools with high farm rates - into Montessori schools after extensively training the teachers and providing the right materials.

Didn't Maria Montessori develop that style as a way to teach disabled children and poor children? Most people who send their preschoolers to Montessori rave about it so why not try that method in a poor performing school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I'm a teacher and my colleagues and I sometimes joke that the school system should just adopt our students. They already spend from 7-6:30pm at school every day. They get 3 meals a day at school too.

If the kids are spending 7 am to 6:30 with you throughout the school year then you can't blame the parent's lack of education and ability or interest to work with them outside of school.

Why not make before and after care a more substantive time? Homework clubs or bringing in middle and high school students to be reading buddies is one option. If MCPS curriculum depends on parents reading to kids at hime then you must know that these kids will never get ahead. If the parents can't read English how are they supposed to be reading to their kids for 30 minutes every night?

My kids are not in middle school yet but if you offered a bus to a lower performing ES school where they could be reading buddies with young kids, they would love this.

How about offering extra homework with instructions in Spanish for the kids to do during aftercare? I make in the upper 6 figures, have several degrees and I can't figure out half the time what the homework or assignments that come home expect. My kids listen and do it independently but if they didn't understand what the teacher said verbally in class then I would not be able to guess what was required. I don't understand why instructions or examples seem to be constantly missing in MCPS materials. It strikes me as very sloppy and damaging for lower performing students.

They spend 35-45 minutes a day with me. I am not a miracle worker. I have 5-6 year olds who are developmentally are about where my 3 year old son is. It takes years to overcome the poor early environment these kids grow up in.

[Anonymous]

They spend 35-45 minutes a day with me. I am not a miracle worker. I have 5-6 year olds who are developmentally are about where my 3 year old son is. It takes years to overcome the poor early environment these kids grow up in.

In your post you said that the students were in school from 7 am to 6:30 pm. They may only be with YOU for 35-40 minutes but unless you were exaggerating they are in the MCPS building for 11.5 hours a day. Could one of your colleagues provide some instruction during those 11.5 hours??

If this child is 2 years behind developmentally why is the child not on an IEP? Why does he not have IEP goals and pull out services? Why is developmentally delayed a LD in a high SES school and just a sign of a poor early environment in a low SES school? It takes years for special needs kids to develop techniques to work through their disabilities. This is true for rich and poor kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Free after school enrichment programs. I posted on the other thread about experience with both "good" and "bad" schools -- I was shocked that there were no after school programs in the "bad" school. In the good schools my DC took Mad Science, Lego Robotics, etc. In the bad school there was just aftercare. Which is fine, but not the same. In the bad school, every single student got free breakfast just for walking in the door, no questions asked, no forms. They should do the same for after school enrichment programs.

I have had one child in a wealthy school and one in a high FARMS magnet. The difference in after school programs is unbelievable. I agree completely with you that MCPS should be funding much better after school options at the high FARMS schools. IME, however, the local school administration was really part of the problem -- no desire to create new programs, no desire to write grants to get funds, and a view of the FARMS kids that was, IMO, pretty racist, and prevented the administration from even conceptualizing the FARMS kids as kids who might enjoy Lego Robotics or Mad Science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised no one has mentioned improving services for special needs children. As a parent with a special needs child, I can tell you that it is a nightmare to get basic services for a child that is obviously struggling and obviously has a learning disability. Even with two parents who are lawyers and clear/cut expensive outside testing, the time required to keep the local schools from dropping the ball is intense. The local schools see para-educators as coverage and reserve staffing for covering meetings and many non special needs functions. As long as the local school has enough of a caseload to justify the existing staff, more cases are just more work. There is a real problem with schools not providing services that are required by federal law and in the end position kids not to fail later on. The local ES schools could care less if a child doesn't get the services they need and later fails in middle or high school.

I can't imagine what happens to kids with parents who can't advocate at this level and don't have the money for expensive outside testing to prove to the school that the child has a problem. Prematurity and learning disabilities are more prevalent in lower SES children than higher SES children. The higher SES children with LDs are more likely to come from older parents that are more likely to be financially established. The gap here is extreme between low SES and high SES.

If MCPS was compliant with federal law and held responsible for reporting and serving special needs children across the county, scores would improve for this population.

Totally agree with this. As mom to a SN child with a language learning disability, I saw a couple of other kids in my DC's first grade class whom I suspected also had LDs, but because they were minorities they were treated as "bad" behavior problems instead of getting the academic help they needed. It was pretty shocking to me. Even as an attorney with financial resources, I had a very difficult time getting my DC appropriate help. I can't imagine how someone who doesn't speak the language, doesn't have money for private assessment, and can't research the law, gets help.

[Anonymous]

School year round.
Teach to potential, which means tracking in every school and grade.
Send people home if they can understand English.

[Anonymous]

This a dream world. The county will never have the funding. Can't help parents popping out babies and not parenting them. It isn't our job to do this. I don't want my child in school for 12hrs because others need free daycare. They already get free meals, free education and free before/after care. I personally don't care about the gap. With the amount of illegal immigrants entering our county, the gap will only get worse.