Are any APS Elementary Schools Offering After School Tutoring?

[Anonymous]

OP here. Lots of thoughts and feedback. Appreciate it. But also curious, for everyone that is bothered by the lack of readily available resources for kids who need support—are you all advocating to your individual school admins or the school board or the county board? The wheels of advocacy don’t turn if only one person is pushing. I’d love to think we are all collectively using our voices and power to raise these issues, but, it seems like a lot of Arlingtonians are comfortable just complaining and leaving it at that.

We did discuss holding our child back after the pandemic. The school emphasized that they really only do that for kids who are not at grade level with social emotional/maturity issues. I would argue that the pandemic should suspend historical notions of what the criteria are for holding a child back.

We have had him assessed for learning disabilities, and he does not have any per the testing about two years ago.

He was in K when covid struck and all of the useless virtual school time really set him back. I did not receive millions of dollars in federal funding to address that, APS did. Can we all push this responsibility on them where it belongs?

[Anonymous]

If you are talking about math inventory, and that over half are not proficient, just to give you some education the proficiency benchmark is an END OF YEAR goal that does not change during the year. The students are working towards that benchmark in each administration but the score data just shows if they’ve met it. It is completely normal to have students who were proficient at the end of say 4th be in the yellow basic range at the start of 5th because they have not become proficient in 5th grade skills. It’s an end of year goal. If you look at the spring 22 data you can see for example that at the end of 5th grade about 71% of 5th graders met the proficiency benchmark.
Hope that makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Amazing that we all just except that private tutoring for fundamentals like reading and math are just one more part of the exorbitant cost of life in Arlington...

There are plenty of kids here who do not really need tutors but have highly competitive parents who think their child needs to be the “best”

There are a ton of kids who need intensive support or are below basic in reading and math. Not even half are proficient in math right now. Check out the APS dashboard. It's atrocious. The primary recommendation in this thread is "hire a tutor". Trust me when I say that even the most competitive parents would prefer to spend $1000 a month on something else to get their snowflake into Harvard. Families should not need to hire tutors to teach fundamental reading and math skills.

Schools are shifting away from teaching math fundamentals, instead emphasizing group projects, discussions, explorations. All nice if your kid already knows the fundamentals. Not so good if they don't know the fundamentals and need time to practice them. You don't have to get a tutor. Buy a pack of flashcards. The point is that you need to make sure they have these fundamentals. If not, they're going to struggle through the whole pathway and it becomes increasingly hard to remediate because their gaps are from prior years. It's not about getting ahead; it's ensuring they don't fall behind. There seems to a shift in thinking on reading instruction so that's encouraging.

So we’d back to APS isn’t teaching fundamentals and we’re all supposed to be ok with that. Cool, cool.

But that isn't true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Lots of thoughts and feedback. Appreciate it. But also curious, for everyone that is bothered by the lack of readily available resources for kids who need support—are you all advocating to your individual school admins or the school board or the county board? The wheels of advocacy don’t turn if only one person is pushing. I’d love to think we are all collectively using our voices and power to raise these issues, but, it seems like a lot of Arlingtonians are comfortable just complaining and leaving it at that.

We did discuss holding our child back after the pandemic. The school emphasized that they really only do that for kids who are not at grade level with social emotional/maturity issues. I would argue that the pandemic should suspend historical notions of what the criteria are for holding a child back.

We have had him assessed for learning disabilities, and he does not have any per the testing about two years ago.

He was in K when covid struck and all of the useless virtual school time really set him back. I did not receive millions of dollars in federal funding to address that, APS did. Can we all push this responsibility on them where it belongs?

I think you are stuck on that and you need to let it go for your own peace. I think if there are specific supports you would like you should ask for them. I know the math interventionist meets with small groups at our school. That might be a good place to start.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Lots of thoughts and feedback. Appreciate it. But also curious, for everyone that is bothered by the lack of readily available resources for kids who need support—are you all advocating to your individual school admins or the school board or the county board? The wheels of advocacy don’t turn if only one person is pushing. I’d love to think we are all collectively using our voices and power to raise these issues, but, it seems like a lot of Arlingtonians are comfortable just complaining and leaving it at that.

We did discuss holding our child back after the pandemic. The school emphasized that they really only do that for kids who are not at grade level with social emotional/maturity issues. I would argue that the pandemic should suspend historical notions of what the criteria are for holding a child back.

We have had him assessed for learning disabilities, and he does not have any per the testing about two years ago.

He was in K when covid struck and all of the useless virtual school time really set him back. I did not receive millions of dollars in federal funding to address that, APS did. Can we all push this responsibility on them where it belongs?

People are advocating for these things. Parents and staff included. Lots of apologists giving APS and school board cover to not do more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Virtual school was completely unhelpful for my DC. Have a strong aversion to online support services. Virtual school taught him how to manipulate Lexus and the iPad to work in his favor and make it look like he knew how to spell etc, while he just made the iPad work for him.

Really I was just hoping to get a baseline understand of what is being offered across the county and use that to shape my advocacy.

Our DC has a 504 for adhd though the pediatrician described it as quite mild. He bas always struggled with academics and we had him tested/evaluated and everything came back in the normal range with no learning disabilities.

He really just does best with focused small group or individual support. We do this at home but we also work full time and have another child. Also, it was APS decision to close for as long as they did during Covid—not mine—they can go ahead and use their funding and support kids with academic recovery like other districts are doing.

Op virtual school was 2 years ago. It sounds like your kid has disabilities which he would have had either way. It’s pointless to blame virtual learning for that. That isn’t how disabilities work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Virtual school was completely unhelpful for my DC. Have a strong aversion to online support services. Virtual school taught him how to manipulate Lexus and the iPad to work in his favor and make it look like he knew how to spell etc, while he just made the iPad work for him.

Really I was just hoping to get a baseline understand of what is being offered across the county and use that to shape my advocacy.

Our DC has a 504 for adhd though the pediatrician described it as quite mild. He bas always struggled with academics and we had him tested/evaluated and everything came back in the normal range with no learning disabilities.

He really just does best with focused small group or individual support. We do this at home but we also work full time and have another child. Also, it was APS decision to close for as long as they did during Covid—not mine—they can go ahead and use their funding and support kids with academic recovery like other districts are doing.

Op virtual school was 2 years ago. It sounds like your kid has disabilities which he would have had either way. It’s pointless to blame virtual learning for that. That isn’t how disabilities work.

Not OP The fall-out from virtual school is ongoing. Kids didn't learn core fundamentals in virtual and have gaps. Those gaps are most harmful in subjects that build, like foreign language and math. Kids have some flexibility with foreign language. Lots of kids dropped their pre-covid foreign language and began a new one when they realized they would otherwise be advanced to the next level without knowing the prior one. Not so with math. Kids have to keep taking the next year's math course and if they are missing foundations from the virtual period, these will continue to hold them back thereafter until these gaps are filled. Each year's math class is marching on with new material and there are very few interventionists for kids who need gaps filled. Thus, the need for families to fill gaps themselves. Wealthier families are doing it, which is worsening achievement gaps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Virtual school was completely unhelpful for my DC. Have a strong aversion to online support services. Virtual school taught him how to manipulate Lexus and the iPad to work in his favor and make it look like he knew how to spell etc, while he just made the iPad work for him.

Really I was just hoping to get a baseline understand of what is being offered across the county and use that to shape my advocacy.

Our DC has a 504 for adhd though the pediatrician described it as quite mild. He bas always struggled with academics and we had him tested/evaluated and everything came back in the normal range with no learning disabilities.

He really just does best with focused small group or individual support. We do this at home but we also work full time and have another child. Also, it was APS decision to close for as long as they did during Covid—not mine—they can go ahead and use their funding and support kids with academic recovery like other districts are doing.

Op virtual school was 2 years ago. It sounds like your kid has disabilities which he would have had either way. It’s pointless to blame virtual learning for that. That isn’t how disabilities work.

DC is spending more money now for learning loss from 2 years ago. Fairfax just had a SB meeting on the topic. Only in lake wobegone Arlington is it no longer a problem.

[Anonymous]

My son has attended private since the Covid virtual year, but we’re moving him back to public for middle school. Even in private, my son didn’t pick up all the math as evidenced by test mistakes. Honestly, we determined the cause to be inexperienced math teachers who didn’t properly teach the material. We reviewed homework with him every night and he got it. The solution is we discovered excellent online learning resources (for ex, iXL) and YouTubes to explain basic concepts. I’m sorry to say he’s learned more math from YouTube videos than his ineffective teacher!

[Anonymous]

OP you say you son had ADHD. Is he in treatment for that? Not just medication but therapy to help him develop skills to manage ADHD. My son (2nd grade) started therapy this yr for ADHD and we have seen improvements in academic achievement.

What do you have in his 504? I think every kid works better in small groups but unfortunately public schools do not have the staff resources to do small group instruction only. It is just a reality closure or no closure. With ADHD you really need to focus in giving you kids this necessary support to achieve academically. Unfortunately this likely will mean support outside of school whether it is a tutoring, therapy, executive functioning coaching (probably not till he is older) and maybe medication or diet changes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I believe there Title 1 schools that have after school tutoring programs run by other entities (Aspire/ACH). Unfortunately APS blew its pandemic funding on virtual school program. It should have gone directly to parents to find interventionists/tutors on their own. What APS did with its pandemic $ seems criminal. I hope they are investigated.

Oh good lord, this again? Just because you disagree with the use of the funds hardly makes it criminal. And you think the funds should have gone directly to you instead? Sorry, I don't think so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Virtual school was completely unhelpful for my DC. Have a strong aversion to online support services. Virtual school taught him how to manipulate Lexus and the iPad to work in his favor and make it look like he knew how to spell etc, while he just made the iPad work for him.

Really I was just hoping to get a baseline understand of what is being offered across the county and use that to shape my advocacy.

Our DC has a 504 for adhd though the pediatrician described it as quite mild. He bas always struggled with academics and we had him tested/evaluated and everything came back in the normal range with no learning disabilities.

He really just does best with focused small group or individual support. We do this at home but we also work full time and have another child. Also, it was APS decision to close for as long as they did during Covid—not mine—they can go ahead and use their funding and support kids with academic recovery like other districts are doing.

If only they would have. But now the money is all gone. APE is the only group I’ve seen advocate for APS to do more to help kids recover academically. You’d think ASEAC or septa would be interested, but they haven’t been.

Maybe it's because there are bigger problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP you say you son had ADHD. Is he in treatment for that? Not just medication but therapy to help him develop skills to manage ADHD. My son (2nd grade) started therapy this yr for ADHD and we have seen improvements in academic achievement.

What do you have in his 504? I think every kid works better in small groups but unfortunately public schools do not have the staff resources to do small group instruction only. It is just a reality closure or no closure. With ADHD you really need to focus in giving you kids this necessary support to achieve academically. Unfortunately this likely will mean support outside of school whether it is a tutoring, therapy, executive functioning coaching (probably not till he is older) and maybe medication or diet changes.

Not OP but can you give more info on therapy for ADHD? A therapist? Someone else? What’s involved?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Virtual school was completely unhelpful for my DC. Have a strong aversion to online support services. Virtual school taught him how to manipulate Lexus and the iPad to work in his favor and make it look like he knew how to spell etc, while he just made the iPad work for him.

Really I was just hoping to get a baseline understand of what is being offered across the county and use that to shape my advocacy.

Our DC has a 504 for adhd though the pediatrician described it as quite mild. He bas always struggled with academics and we had him tested/evaluated and everything came back in the normal range with no learning disabilities.

He really just does best with focused small group or individual support. We do this at home but we also work full time and have another child. Also, it was APS decision to close for as long as they did during Covid—not mine—they can go ahead and use their funding and support kids with academic recovery like other districts are doing.

Op virtual school was 2 years ago. It sounds like your kid has disabilities which he would have had either way. It’s pointless to blame virtual learning for that. That isn’t how disabilities work.

+1

Sounds like OP still needs to address the learning disabilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you say struggling do you mean behind grade level or that they have to work really hard to stay at grade level?

Our child has been what a special educator friend described as “on the bubble” probably since covid closed things down. He wasn’t failing but he wasn’t thriving. He has struggled to keep up with peers in prior years, which is why we had him tested to see if there was anything underlying that would help explain his struggles. It seems academics just don’t come naturally to him.

This week though his teacher called to tell us that his report card would have a D for his math grade. She indicated that he struggles when he is not in small groups or 1:1. That he just gets lost, tries to finish super fast without checking for accuracy or correctness and then gets a bad score.

I was told when I tried to raise the question of additional interventions or supports two years ago that he had “to be two grade levels behind” in order to qualify for extra services. This was the VP at the time who said that in a group meeting.

OP, your child may be struggling because of a disability that has nothing to do with Covid. No, your child doesn't have to be 2 grade levels behind to get an IEP. You should push back on that.