Requesting a teacher in FCPS

[Anonymous]

I have heard other parents mention requesting specific teachers. DC is rising 1st grade and I'm told we lucked out with our K teacher. How do you know which teacher to request and how do you ask? (1st kid here...)

[Anonymous]

Our principal doesn't accept teacher requests. In fact, asking for a specific teacher is a good way to not get that teacher at our school.

[Anonymous]

Hi--
I am an elementary administrator in FCPS. I and many of my colleagues will not take requests for a specific teacher. We cannot predict changes over the summer that may result in staffing changes. Instead, we ask parents to list the traits in a teacher that would best suit their child, "My child really needs a teacher who 'gets' the kid that marches to a different beat," or "We would prefer a teacher who is highly structured and helps kids stay organized. Our son struggles in this area."

Please remember that there are many factors that go into building class groups. Again, this is what I and many of my colleagues do, but there are principals who allow parents to name a specific teacher. Your best bet is to set up a meeting with the principal in the next couple of weeks. Make it about what your child needs, and not about who you heard was a good teacher. Best wishes.

[Anonymous]

My children are at two different schools in FCPS. I can say at both schools, parents are asked to do what the administrator above asks, list qualities. There are a lot of things to consider. Many times, parents have asked specifically for their child to not be placed with "x" or "y", so, what happens if two parents both request the same teacher. Also, I think that what would be a great teacher for one child, might be a terrible fit for another. If there were specific qualities your K teacher possessed, that you would like to see in a 1st grade teacher, that is the way I would go.

[Anonymous]

I would email the principal saying what a great year your kid had and that you thought the teacher was fabulous for x and y reasons. I think they appreciate positive feedback and will try for a good match for your kid going forward. With that said, I'm really not sure how much thought/effort is put into these decisions because I've seen some very surprising class lists.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I am curious what goes into creating a class list as well. PP, as an elementary school teacher, can you tell us what is involved so that parents at least understand the process a bit better?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would email the principal saying what a great year your kid had and that you thought the teacher was fabulous for x and y reasons. I think they appreciate positive feedback and will try for a good match for your kid going forward. [b]With that said, I'm really not sure how much thought/effort is put into these decisions because I've seen some very surprising class lists.

Haha, so true. Last year, I requested a teacher for DD who would offer differentiation in the classroom and would challenge her more. What DD got was a teacher who believed that "a kid should be a kid" and that since they have years to go before they are ivy-league bound, she gives minimal homework (that took DD a maximum do 5 minutes to complete without any effort). DD ended up being a "checker" and a "teacher's assistant" the whole year! It would have been better for DD if she got more challenging work while the teacher checked on the other kids. For the next school year, I didn't bother sending in a teacher request form. I don't even think they read them...

[Anonymous]

I am 22:56, and am a former elementary teacher. I taught music, but sometimes sat in on the placement meetings as I had experience with all of the children. At our school (I was in LCPS, but think FCPS works the same way) a card was assigned to each child. The teachers sat around a table and started pulling cards one at a time. Oftentimes, teachers enjoyed having younger siblings of former students (or not). There is a large emphasis on balancing a ratio of boys and girls. There is often discussion of keeping certain children/personalities separated for various reasons. At my children's current FCPS school, I get the impression that they worked to balance out having children with prior preschool experience in each class (at least for K placement). They also balanced out the numbers of non-English speakers. Also taken into consideration are general parent recommendations, and requests for certain children to not be together. As far as academic abilities, my experience as a parent has been that it seems balanced with regard to children who seem to struggle, are average, or advanced. (just a perception, obviously I have no idea about the skills of each child). In the upper grades, especially if there is a Local Level IV class with spaces available, academics are the main consideration, at least at my older son's school.

[Anonymous]

Our principal sent out a letter to parents encouraging them to let her know if there were certain qualities in a teacher that work better for their child. I appreciate being able to send an email about this. Of course, some years the kids get 'what i asked for' and it hasn't worked for them, other years it's been a great fit.

I would email the principal and just be truthful, if there's some quality that your child really needs - strict/organized/energetic etc. But don't mention a teacher because most don't seem to like that. If your principal is nice then they'll probably use the information and give you what you request. Why wouldn't they - it doesn't effect them much and you won't be able to complain later about the teacher - 'because you got what you requested'.

Good luck

[Anonymous]

OP - in the future pay attention to what the older kids parents are saying about their teachers (1st grade for you). Then you would know which teachers might work best for your child.

[Anonymous]

22:34 here--grabbing a bite and catching up on DCUM

A lot goes into the class grouping. It's a process that can take hours. Here are the things that my team of teachers and administrators group for:

--Spec Ed, ESOL and Adv Academic needs. It's a best practice to have a resource teacher push into the classroom as much as possible, so we cluster hi-needs kids while at the same time not overloading the class. These are the classes where you would see more co-teaching.

--gender balance
--behavior challenges
--heterogenous in terms of ability. There should be, as much as possible, an equal distribution of high, average and low performing kids
--separating kids who may not have been a good match in a classroom or because of parent request to separate
--size of class. I try to keep the inclusion classes a little smaller because if a new student with an IEP or ESOL status comes in, they would likely go into those classes.
--match with teacher. Sometimes you just know that a certain teacher is going to do well or clash with the personality of a particular student. Most kids will do fine with any teacher, and most teachers will do fine with any kid. But there are times when it would be good to be proactive.
--parent requests

Some needs trump others, and often there are several configurations that would work. In the end, we try to maximize success for every child. Of course, we have no control over who arrives in the summer. Kids move in, and we don't always have the benefit of knowing what the child needs or how his/her personality may impact the dynamics of a class.

If you have questions about the process at your dc's school, I invite you to speak with your school's principal.

Lunch over! Back to work!

[Anonymous]

I'm married to a teacher. The way it works at that school is much like the administrator above described. The parents fill out a sheet describing their child and what works well for them in a classroom. If you're trying to get a particular teacher, try to describe their teaching characteristics as being the sort that your child would benefit from.

As someone else said, another consideration is balance. Ratio of boys/girls is one factor. Dividing up the students with greater attention needs among the classrooms is another. Sometimes decisions are made to separate students because they are disruptive together as well.

In our school, the decisions are largely made by the child's current teachers as to placement for next year. Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
In our school, the decisions are largely made by the child's current teachers as to placement for next year. Hope this helps.

This is true. My DD's teacher from this past year told me she had already picked out a great teacher for DD and that she writes a full paragraph on each child when she sends her list to the next grade's teachers.

That said, when I filled out the sheet about my children's qualities I did include the names of a couple teachers I had obtained favorable intel on (i.e. Mrs. X or Mr. Z might be a good fit for my child).

I don't know who my kids will be placed with, but I trust my DD's former teacher to make a good choice for DD.