Can Gentrifers Use Their Skills and Resources to "Make" a Great School?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"the kids" are not going to perform well is not the same as "the poor kids are going to infect my child's brain and prevent her from learning." The truth is "those kids" may not perform well, but yours will. Unless you believe that poverty is a disease and somehow somebody will take away your child's meals and peace at home.

That is hugely wrong, and it makes me wonder if you have even the faintest clue of what goes on in classrooms - the kids aren't each all just sitting there in a vacuum with a one-on-one connection with the teacher. There are a lot of kids who come from very dysfunctional homes, who have behavior and discipline problems, who have no idea of what socially acceptable and normal behavior is supposed to be like - they end up talking in class, disrupting, getting up and walking around, throwing things, et cetera - lots of constant disruptive behaviors which consume teachers' time and take away from learning - all of this can end up negatively impacting the entire class.

You're making a lot of assumptions about the behaviors of low income students. The things you are referencing can be addressed with strong classroom management and overall school culture. No child should be in a classroom that is out of control. And an out of control class can happen in any environment, regardless of income, if the adult in charge doesn't have a clue how to establish routine and reign in behavior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"the kids" are not going to perform well is not the same as "the poor kids are going to infect my child's brain and prevent her from learning." The truth is "those kids" may not perform well, but yours will. Unless you believe that poverty is a disease and somehow somebody will take away your child's meals and peace at home.

That is hugely wrong, and it makes me wonder if you have even the faintest clue of what goes on in classrooms - the kids aren't each all just sitting there in a vacuum with a one-on-one connection with the teacher. There are a lot of kids who come from very dysfunctional homes, who have behavior and discipline problems, who have no idea of what socially acceptable and normal behavior is supposed to be like - they end up talking in class, disrupting, getting up and walking around, throwing things, et cetera - lots of constant disruptive behaviors which consume teachers' time and take away from learning - all of this can end up negatively impacting the entire class.

You're making a lot of assumptions about the behaviors of low income students. The things you are referencing can be addressed with strong classroom management and overall school culture. No child should be in a classroom that is out of control. And an out of control class can happen in any environment, regardless of income, if the adult in charge doesn't have a clue how to establish routine and reign in behavior.

Ha. I would like to see what the teachers who have been active on this topic have to say about that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"the kids" are not going to perform well is not the same as "the poor kids are going to infect my child's brain and prevent her from learning." The truth is "those kids" may not perform well, but yours will. Unless you believe that poverty is a disease and somehow somebody will take away your child's meals and peace at home.

That is hugely wrong, and it makes me wonder if you have even the faintest clue of what goes on in classrooms - the kids aren't each all just sitting there in a vacuum with a one-on-one connection with the teacher. There are a lot of kids who come from very dysfunctional homes, who have behavior and discipline problems, who have no idea of what socially acceptable and normal behavior is supposed to be like - they end up talking in class, disrupting, getting up and walking around, throwing things, et cetera - lots of constant disruptive behaviors which consume teachers' time and take away from learning - all of this can end up negatively impacting the entire class.

I can't agree more. The poster who thinks we are speaking of "catching" poverty is the clearest example of in this entire thread of an uninformed, arrogant, over privileged parent. Let me see if I can explain this clearly = the behavioral outcomes associated with homelessnes, abuse, neglect, and unmedicated mental health issues that I have witnessed directly are; suicide attempts, destruction of school property, fights (including with weapons), assaults on teachers, overtly sexual behavior .... I could go on and on. All of this in the classroom in full view of all of the students and staff. If this is the kind of environment you want your kid to learn in, more power to you.

[Anonymous]

I get it. You don't want the poverty next to your kid. Residential segregation or a lucky lottery space are in your future.

[Anonymous]

I don't want the violence next to my kid.

[Anonymous]

One of the reasons we moved schools was to have a more effective PTA that I would not have to run myself. I contribute, gather donations for the auction, sign my kid up for afterschool activities they sponsor...I vastly appreciate what the PTA is doing, but I WOHM w/2 kids and have to be honest, I have very little free time especially in the evenings. I believe it can be done.
One of the hurdles at our old school was that many parents just don't have money to spare, these are not people who can donate a week at their beach house for the fundraiser. The ones with time to volunteer lacked drive and communication skills.
On the plus side there were less demands on my time!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"the kids" are not going to perform well is not the same as "the poor kids are going to infect my child's brain and prevent her from learning." The truth is "those kids" may not perform well, but yours will. Unless you believe that poverty is a disease and somehow somebody will take away your child's meals and peace at home.

That is hugely wrong, and it makes me wonder if you have even the faintest clue of what goes on in classrooms - the kids aren't each all just sitting there in a vacuum with a one-on-one connection with the teacher. There are a lot of kids who come from very dysfunctional homes, who have behavior and discipline problems, who have no idea of what socially acceptable and normal behavior is supposed to be like - they end up talking in class, disrupting, getting up and walking around, throwing things, et cetera - lots of constant disruptive behaviors which consume teachers' time and take away from learning - all of this can end up negatively impacting the entire class.

You're making a lot of assumptions about the behaviors of low income students. The things you are referencing can be addressed with strong classroom management and overall school culture. No child should be in a classroom that is out of control. And an out of control class can happen in any environment, regardless of income, if the adult in charge doesn't have a clue how to establish routine and reign in behavior.

Clearly you haven't been in some EOTP high schools, the reality is far different due to a number of issues that are to do with poverty, but in DC that means race. If you don't understand this, then you don't have a clear understanding of the issues many schools and teachers face in DC. Having 20+ students in your class that are reading at more than 6 years below grade level mean they cannot access the materials you are supposed to be using. Differentiation works up to a point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"the kids" are not going to perform well is not the same as "the poor kids are going to infect my child's brain and prevent her from learning." The truth is "those kids" may not perform well, but yours will. Unless you believe that poverty is a disease and somehow somebody will take away your child's meals and peace at home.

That is hugely wrong, and it makes me wonder if you have even the faintest clue of what goes on in classrooms - the kids aren't each all just sitting there in a vacuum with a one-on-one connection with the teacher. There are a lot of kids who come from very dysfunctional homes, who have behavior and discipline problems, who have no idea of what socially acceptable and normal behavior is supposed to be like - they end up talking in class, disrupting, getting up and walking around, throwing things, et cetera - lots of constant disruptive behaviors which consume teachers' time and take away from learning - all of this can end up negatively impacting the entire class.

You're making a lot of assumptions about the behaviors of low income students. The things you are referencing can be addressed with strong classroom management and overall school culture. No child should be in a classroom that is out of control. And an out of control class can happen in any environment, regardless of income, if the adult in charge doesn't have a clue how to establish routine and reign in behavior.

Magical thinking. Posters here are speaking from years of experience. Evidently you have not actually seen many of these classrooms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I get it. You don't want the poverty next to your kid. Residential segregation or a lucky lottery space are in your future.

Do you even realize that there are many parents whose kid is the "poverty" and those parents don't want their kid sitting next to more poverty? That those parents want a different environment for their kid and don't view "socioeconomic diversity" as some cutesy way of exposing kids to the poors.

The parents of those kids in poverty are stuck and have limited choices. If they had them, they would almost just as likely go to another school as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To answer the original question. Gentrifies simply need to apply the "strength in numbers" theory to add more children from middle and upper-middle income families to a particular school. That's the best, surefire way to "improve" a bad school.

Of course, then the poor kids are driven out--probably to an even worse school. As PP said, it's a shitty situation all the way around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"the kids" are not going to perform well is not the same as "the poor kids are going to infect my child's brain and prevent her from learning." The truth is "those kids" may not perform well, but yours will. Unless you believe that poverty is a disease and somehow somebody will take away your child's meals and peace at home.

That is hugely wrong, and it makes me wonder if you have even the faintest clue of what goes on in classrooms - the kids aren't each all just sitting there in a vacuum with a one-on-one connection with the teacher. There are a lot of kids who come from very dysfunctional homes, who have behavior and discipline problems, who have no idea of what socially acceptable and normal behavior is supposed to be like - they end up talking in class, disrupting, getting up and walking around, throwing things, et cetera - lots of constant disruptive behaviors which consume teachers' time and take away from learning - all of this can end up negatively impacting the entire class.

You're making a lot of assumptions about the behaviors of low income students. The things you are referencing can be addressed with strong classroom management and overall school culture. No child should be in a classroom that is out of control. And an out of control class can happen in any environment, regardless of income, if the adult in charge doesn't have a clue how to establish routine and reign in behavior.

Ha. I would like to see what the teachers who have been active on this topic have to say about that.

I made that comment and I am a teacher. I've taught in MoCo, DCPS extremely poor and DCPS Title 1, but not extremely poor. The latter never had the behavior issues that were mentioned in any large numbers. A couple of children, sure. Students who transferred in from schools that were out of control calmed down and blended in because it wasn't acceptable. The low income DCPS school did, and it took some time at the beginning of the year, but in MY class, the behavior was under control. MoCo- same thing. Effective classroom management takes an organized, effective teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"the kids" are not going to perform well is not the same as "the poor kids are going to infect my child's brain and prevent her from learning." The truth is "those kids" may not perform well, but yours will. Unless you believe that poverty is a disease and somehow somebody will take away your child's meals and peace at home.

That is hugely wrong, and it makes me wonder if you have even the faintest clue of what goes on in classrooms - the kids aren't each all just sitting there in a vacuum with a one-on-one connection with the teacher. There are a lot of kids who come from very dysfunctional homes, who have behavior and discipline problems, who have no idea of what socially acceptable and normal behavior is supposed to be like - they end up talking in class, disrupting, getting up and walking around, throwing things, et cetera - lots of constant disruptive behaviors which consume teachers' time and take away from learning - all of this can end up negatively impacting the entire class.

You're making a lot of assumptions about the behaviors of low income students. The things you are referencing can be addressed with strong classroom management and overall school culture. No child should be in a classroom that is out of control. And an out of control class can happen in any environment, regardless of income, if the adult in charge doesn't have a clue how to establish routine and reign in behavior.

Magical thinking. Posters here are speaking from years of experience. Evidently you have not actually seen many of these classrooms.

See the post immediately before this one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You're making a lot of assumptions about the behaviors of low income students. The things you are referencing can be addressed with strong classroom management and overall school culture. No child should be in a classroom that is out of control. And an out of control class can happen in any environment, regardless of income, if the adult in charge doesn't have a clue how to establish routine and reign in behavior.

Ha. I would like to see what the teachers who have been active on this topic have to say about that.

I made that comment and I am a teacher. I've taught in MoCo, DCPS extremely poor and DCPS Title 1, but not extremely poor. The latter never had the behavior issues that were mentioned in any large numbers. A couple of children, sure. Students who transferred in from schools that were out of control calmed down and blended in because it wasn't acceptable. The low income DCPS school did, and it took some time at the beginning of the year, but in MY class, the behavior was under control. MoCo- same thing. Effective classroom management takes an organized, effective teacher.


I think this is applicable in many EOTP title 1 schools, and probably can't be said enough when this topic comes up.