To the parents in "good schools"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Usually when people say “frankly,” it’s a strong verbal cue that they are about to say something highly disingenuous. Trump does it all the time.

Most likely you just need to feel you’ve made the right move.

Uh huh, ok. You're right. Everything is better in your GS9 school. How nice for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
First, when it comes to SPED, my school is pretty adversarial to parents. It was shocking to me because in my old school we sort of viewed SPED as an educational safety net. We were always trying to get kids services, even if it's just speech. That isn't the case here. The default mentality is that no kid is getting referred to kid watch unless they were struggling academically and well...they aren't because they are meeting benchmarks on testing.

So, parents get frustrated. They get private testing, they get educational advocates, lawyers, etc. and it's such a contentious process. I never, ever sat through an IEP meeting that was contentious until I got here. It's crazy. This is the process when it comes to any issue, really. If you have a problem, better be ready to fight. I don't like that, but the parents are happy to scrap with the school and fight for their kids. And the cycle continues.

Second, there is a working expectation here that parents supplement. We will identify gaps, struggles, etc. but the expectation is that the parent is going to step in and fill those holes. My old school didn't do this. We were expected to do this work. If a kid doesn't get it, parents will begin the IEP/504 fight. See above.

Again, people may think I am ridiculous. I get it. This is a nice school with awesome families. But they are being shortchanged.

We moved from FCPS to APS and our Fairfax county school was definitely resistant to any SPED support. It was like pulling teeth to get anything and they seemed to resent it at every turn. Definitely adversarial. Our APS schools (el. and middle so far) have been far more proactive and do seem to view services more as a safety net than a big liability. Our school in APS has a lower great schools score (horrors!) but frankly it is a far more supportive place overall.

Usually when people say “frankly,” it’s a strong verbal cue that they are about to say something highly disingenuous. Trump does it all the time.

Most likely you just need to feel you’ve made the right move.

Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn what you think.

[Anonymous]

I stumbled onto this post and OP, thank you for expressing why I find my kids' elementary school frustrating. Yes, we supplement because if we didn't our kids would spend their days ambling from station to station doing "independent" work. There's the mini-lesson for 15 minutes, but beyond that my kids both report that they work alone or with other kids to figure out things. There is a massive lack of direct instruction. Hence, we spend money on Russian Math and I spend over an hour each night essentially teaching my kids reading, including walking through the different steps in a DRA. It is frustrating when I think about how much time is wasted in school where the kids are not getting direct instruction.

[Anonymous]

Direct instruction is not in Vogue anymore. What would fcps do if they werent at the forefront of every untested idea in education?

[Anonymous]

Direct instruction is not in Vogue anymore. What would fcps do if they werent at the forefront of every untested idea in education?

Remember, it's the parents and politicians that drive these decisions. Unfortunately, the teachers are rarely consulted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I stumbled onto this post and OP, thank you for expressing why I find my kids' elementary school frustrating. Yes, we supplement because if we didn't our kids would spend their days ambling from station to station doing "independent" work. There's the mini-lesson for 15 minutes, but beyond that my kids both report that they work alone or with other kids to figure out things. There is a massive lack of direct instruction. Hence, we spend money on Russian Math and I spend over an hour each night essentially teaching my kids reading, including walking through the different steps in a DRA. It is frustrating when I think about how much time is wasted in school where the kids are not getting direct instruction.

This is me, too. It is exhausting. The education my kids are getting in school is the pits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I stumbled onto this post and OP, thank you for expressing why I find my kids' elementary school frustrating. Yes, we supplement because if we didn't our kids would spend their days ambling from station to station doing "independent" work. There's the mini-lesson for 15 minutes, but beyond that my kids both report that they work alone or with other kids to figure out things. There is a massive lack of direct instruction. Hence, we spend money on Russian Math and I spend over an hour each night essentially teaching my kids reading, including walking through the different steps in a DRA. It is frustrating when I think about how much time is wasted in school where the kids are not getting direct instruction.

This is me, too. It is exhausting. The education my kids are getting in school is the pits.

Maybe you should homeschool. If nothing else, it might help with your martyr complex.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I stumbled onto this post and OP, thank you for expressing why I find my kids' elementary school frustrating. Yes, we supplement because if we didn't our kids would spend their days ambling from station to station doing "independent" work. There's the mini-lesson for 15 minutes, but beyond that my kids both report that they work alone or with other kids to figure out things. There is a massive lack of direct instruction. Hence, we spend money on Russian Math and I spend over an hour each night essentially teaching my kids reading, including walking through the different steps in a DRA. It is frustrating when I think about how much time is wasted in school where the kids are not getting direct instruction.

This is me, too. It is exhausting. The education my kids are getting in school is the pits.

Maybe you should homeschool. If nothing else, it might help with your martyr complex.

It's interesting because I agree with PP's point. It's telling how many people are like lalallala nothing to see here when we talk about high achieving schools and the meh educational experience. We supplement. Everyone around here does too. Our school definitely coasts and they do because we don't demand more as parents and if it's all test scores we are fine. Everyone pretty much passes.

[Anonymous]

I am in an excellent school district and think OP's point make a ton of sense. I also can see how much people where we live are invested in their homes and community and schools and are happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After our school became Title 1, some teachers left because they did not have the special credentials to teach at a Title 1 school. I believe it's up to the teachers to obtain the credentials themselves. Year after year, when the gap students would not score well, the teachers had to go through more training. Wash, rinse, repeat. At least Title 1 funding paid for that. I'm surprised you didn't get burned out, OP.

When my youngest was in lower ES, the teacher needed volunteers to read to the children. When I arrived, I was told it was for those who didn't have native English at home. And, if a student had native English (smaller %age of the class), I was told to read just a little, then "send them on their way". I wondered if this was the case when I was not there - just focus the attention where it was needed and send the rest on their way!

I subbed as an assistant at our title I school in the ESL class many years ago. It was horrible. Granted, an occasional sub assistant is maybe a waste of air--it was in the teacher's view. She sat all the kids around a table and showed them a Disney cartoon (actually, class "Smokin Mickey" where giant rolls up a hayfield and smokes it. . . kids were 6-7 years old). Kids just sat quietly throughout. One little Kurdish girl sitting next to the white board, there's a dry erase marker there, after 20 min of Disney she picks it up and makes a tiny circle on the whiteboard, teacher comes over, sees it, little girl exiled to other side of the room with head down on desk for 20 min. So depressing.

OTOH the title I teacher had minored in German and did his student teaching in Germany, there was a student teacher who was a Spanish minor, and another Kurdish child with cerebral palsy was being taught ASL so my son's kindergarten teacher decided it was an opportunity to teach all the kids some of each language (there was a Bosnian boy who was fluent in 5 languages, none of them English, but spoke German).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After our school became Title 1, some teachers left because they did not have the special credentials to teach at a Title 1 school. I believe it's up to the teachers to obtain the credentials themselves. Year after year, when the gap students would not score well, the teachers had to go through more training. Wash, rinse, repeat. At least Title 1 funding paid for that. I'm surprised you didn't get burned out, OP.

When my youngest was in lower ES, the teacher needed volunteers to read to the children. When I arrived, I was told it was for those who didn't have native English at home. And, if a student had native English (smaller %age of the class), I was told to read just a little, then "send them on their way". I wondered if this was the case when I was not there - just focus the attention where it was needed and send the rest on their way!

I subbed as an assistant at our title I school in the ESL class many years ago. It was horrible. Granted, an occasional sub assistant is maybe a waste of air--it was in the teacher's view. She sat all the kids around a table and showed them a Disney cartoon (actually, class "Smokin Mickey" where giant rolls up a hayfield and smokes it. . . kids were 6-7 years old). Kids just sat quietly throughout. One little Kurdish girl sitting next to the white board, there's a dry erase marker there, after 20 min of Disney she picks it up and makes a tiny circle on the whiteboard, teacher comes over, sees it, little girl exiled to other side of the room with head down on desk for 20 min. So depressing.

OTOH the title I teacher had minored in German and did his student teaching in Germany, there was a student teacher who was a Spanish minor, and another Kurdish child with cerebral palsy was being taught ASL so my son's kindergarten teacher decided it was an opportunity to teach all the kids some of each language (there was a Bosnian boy who was fluent in 5 languages, none of them English, but spoke German).

Honestly, I think your point is interesting. It's tragic for those kids, but it seems like your second experience is a lot more in line with OP's.

[Anonymous]

They clocked this issue on the AAP forum. http://evite.me/kJhHwKmzF3

No one cares, though. Gotta keep up those property values.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only time you get the cohort AND the faculty is a big money private.

Or in any good public outside the teacherunions-loving USA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I think the lack of good teaching programs and a strong curriculum are at the heart of many teaching issues in the US.

This immigrant disagrees.

The problem here is too much money, too little parenting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I think the lack of good teaching programs and a strong curriculum are at the heart of many teaching issues in the US.

This immigrant disagrees.

The problem here is too much money, too little parenting.

This immigrant disagrees with immigrant. Curriculum, I've experienced first hand here, sucks.