Can achievement gap be closed with extra tutoring?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All you need is 1 disruptive kid or behind kid in your "high caliber class" and that is the time sink. Too much pressure to test well and get everyone to same level.

The only thing worse than public school is a massive county-run public school.

OK, let's get rid of the public school system! No more public schools. And then what?

put an aide in the classrooms. that's how DCPS and private schools handle it. and lower max caps on # of kids per class.
so much more effective to teach over 22 kids of different abilities when there are two teachers, not one. the rotating centers structure doesn't cut it, never will.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Differentiation and tracking

Textbooks

Reinstate final exams

Fines for being absent

Mandatory attendance to summer schools and tutoring if below grade level, else you pay a fine

More instructional days, shorter summer vacation. More breaks between quarters for students to catch up if they are lagging behind

Hold students back if they are failing

Mandatory regular attendance. Unexcused absence should be fined

Increase school day by an hour. This hour should be reserved for homework.

Block scheduling

[Anonymous]

Differentiation and tracking

Textbooks

Reinstate final exams

Fines for being absent

Mandatory attendance to summer schools and tutoring if below grade level, else you pay a fine

More instructional days, shorter summer vacation. More breaks between quarters for students to catch up if they are lagging behind

Hold students back if they are failing

Mandatory regular attendance. Unexcused absence should be fined

Increase school day by an hour. This hour should be reserved for homework.

Block scheduling

Teachers Aides in classroom

Better pay for teachers and less administrators in central office.

[Anonymous]

If Montgomery County would stop welcoming illegals with open arms and paying for their lawyers, paying fees, giving them discounted tuition, and offer up so many services - MCPS wouldn't have this problem. Casa De MD is ruining this state and their education system. MCPS has been on the decline for the last 15 years and it has everything to do with the resources now needed to educate kids who just show up in the country and we sadly have to educate federal law breakers instead of asking for SS# and deporting those that are illegal.

ESOL teachers make double the amount a classroom teacher takes. How many are in your school compared to 10-15yrs ago. We had 1 and now we have 3.5. Check and see what the FARMS at your school was 10-15yrs ago and what it is now. I bet it correlates exactly with the hispanic population.

I am so sick of hearing that we need to close the achievement gap. It is always at the expense of the legal citizens who are being dumbed down in an already easy curriculum to let 10yr olds with a 4yr old education somehow pass. Ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

And how will struggling families manage all of your suggested fines? More than likely kids will drop out as soon as possible.

[Anonymous]

drop out rates already 50%+ in that demo by 10th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:drop out rates already 50%+ in that demo by 10th grade.

[Citation needed]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Differentiation and tracking

Textbooks

Reinstate final exams

Fines for being absent

Mandatory attendance to summer schools and tutoring if below grade level, else you pay a fine

More instructional days, shorter summer vacation. More breaks between quarters for students to catch up if they are lagging behind

Hold students back if they are failing

Mandatory regular attendance. Unexcused absence should be fined

Increase school day by an hour. This hour should be reserved for homework.

Block scheduling

Teachers Aides in classroom

Better pay for teachers and less administrators in central office.

Very expensive, but if we got rid of all the ESOL teachers, we would have the money to do this.
And if the kids that can't speak English, don't learn then they can just keep repeating the same grade until they do. Maybe their parents would actually take initiative to learn the language too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And how will struggling families manage all of your suggested fines? More than likely kids will drop out as soon as possible.

The struggling families will not pay any fine if their students show up for school. Simple.

The idea is to not pay the fine, no?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All you need is 1 disruptive kid or behind kid in your "high caliber class" and that is the time sink. Too much pressure to test well and get everyone to same level.

The only thing worse than public school is a massive county-run public school.

OK, let's get rid of the public school system! No more public schools. And then what?

put an aide in the classrooms. that's how DCPS and private schools handle it. and lower max caps on # of kids per class.
so much more effective to teach over 22 kids of different abilities when there are two teachers, not one. the rotating centers structure doesn't cut it, never will.

Put an aide in which classrooms? Once we've gotten rid of the public schools, which nothing is worse than, according to the top PP.

Also, is DCPS generally considered a highly-effective school system?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Differentiation and tracking

Textbooks

Reinstate final exams

Fines for being absent

Mandatory attendance to summer schools and tutoring if below grade level, else you pay a fine

More instructional days, shorter summer vacation. More breaks between quarters for students to catch up if they are lagging behind

Hold students back if they are failing

Mandatory regular attendance. Unexcused absence should be fined

Increase school day by an hour. This hour should be reserved for homework.

Block scheduling

Teachers Aides in classroom

Better pay for teachers and less administrators in central office.

Very expensive, but if we got rid of all the ESOL teachers, we would have the money to do this.
And if the kids that can't speak English, don't learn then they can just keep repeating the same grade until they do. Maybe their parents would actually take initiative to learn the language too.

Since ESOL is a special service, perhaps ESOL intervention should have a fee. Remove ESOL from the free education conversation. Unless there is a financial burden no one would have any incentive to learn the language easy way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And how will struggling families manage all of your suggested fines? More than likely kids will drop out as soon as possible.

The struggling families will not pay any fine if their students show up for school. Simple.

The idea is to not pay the fine, no?

It sounds simple to you. It's not simple in reality. There are lots of reasons why kids from struggling schools miss school, most of which are not "because they just didn't feel like it that day". If you didn't go to school because your housing situation is unstable or you had to go interpret for your parent at a government office or you had to stay home and watch your baby relative or ... how will a fine make you more likely to go to school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All you need is 1 disruptive kid or behind kid in your "high caliber class" and that is the time sink. Too much pressure to test well and get everyone to same level.

The only thing worse than public school is a massive county-run public school.

OK, let's get rid of the public school system! No more public schools. And then what?

put an aide in the classrooms. that's how DCPS and private schools handle it. and lower max caps on # of kids per class.
so much more effective to teach over 22 kids of different abilities when there are two teachers, not one. the rotating centers structure doesn't cut it, never will.

DCPS isn't nearly the size of MCPS and you are also allowed to fund for your own aides, which many schools do. You are not allowed to do that in MCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Since ESOL is a special service, perhaps ESOL intervention should have a fee. Remove ESOL from the free education conversation. Unless there is a financial burden no one would have any incentive to learn the language easy way.

Special ed is a special service too. Gifted ed also a special service. Fees for special ed and gifted ed! Right?

Alternatively, we can stop with the idea that public schools are fee-for-service. They're not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And how will struggling families manage all of your suggested fines? More than likely kids will drop out as soon as possible.

The struggling families will not pay any fine if their students show up for school. Simple.

The idea is to not pay the fine, no?

It sounds simple to you. It's not simple in reality. There are lots of reasons why kids from struggling schools miss school, most of which are not "because they just didn't feel like it that day". If you didn't go to school because your housing situation is unstable or you had to go interpret for your parent at a government office or you had to stay home and watch your baby relative or ... how will a fine make you more likely to go to school?

The reality is that there are many valid reasons for missing school and these will be excused absences no doubt. However, if there are fines associated with absentism then the parents will make alternate arrangements and act like parents. This is the price to pay for being in America.