Title 1 school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am an experienced teacher who has friends who work in a Title 1 middle school in FCPS. I’m shocked at how academically low so many of the students are, even kids who have been in FCPS since K or 1st grade. There needs to be a concerted effort to get kids to attend school and behave while there, and that isn’t happening. I know that a rigorous behavior modification program will work, with clear guidelines and rewards and sanctions for not behaving appropriately, but schools are left to try these things themselves, and there isn’t buy-in from the students and staff. Kids in low SES families will work for food items, for personal hygiene items, and other teen items that their families can’t buy for them. There is money to set up programs with these items as goals, and kids will behave to get them. They will not work for stickers or cute pencils. Once they get a taste of success, they will start to see success and have hope and commit to school, for the most part. Many of the kids at this school that I am familiar with score poorly on IQ tests and are at a second or third grade reading level, despite years of American schooling. They need to be taught in very small groups and not be forced to sit in general education classrooms where they have no understanding of the content. They need basic skills and vocational education so they can be good citizens and get jobs, but every day in school they feel like failures. I’m by no means lumping all Title 1 kids together, but there’s a group that is not being served by our present system.

So you want to basically create an entire parallel education system for them? Who is going to pay for that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“Even when parents care”.

Sorry but caring is an action word, you demonstrate care and caring. Not merely say it.

It is not a concept you willy nilly say that you are, yet do nothing to show that you care.

Well, the parents cared enough to leave their country and families to come here so their children could live a better life. They care enough to work 2-3 jobs to house and feed their kids. I wish that they understood better how to support their kids’ education and how being educated helps break a lot of cycles but we can’t say they objectively “don’t care” because they do not have those skills or experiences. Many of my students’ parents have an elementary education and aren’t literate themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Even when parents care”.

Sorry but caring is an action word, you demonstrate care and caring. Not merely say it.

It is not a concept you willy nilly say that you are, yet do nothing to show that you care.

Well, the parents cared enough to leave their country and families to come here so their children could live a better life. They care enough to work 2-3 jobs to house and feed their kids. I wish that they understood better how to support their kids’ education and how being educated helps break a lot of cycles but we can’t say they objectively “don’t care” because they do not have those skills or experiences. Many of my students’ parents have an elementary education and aren’t literate themselves.

School attendance is compulsory. They could start there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Even when parents care”.

Sorry but caring is an action word, you demonstrate care and caring. Not merely say it.

It is not a concept you willy nilly say that you are, yet do nothing to show that you care.

Well, the parents cared enough to leave their country and families to come here so their children could live a better life. They care enough to work 2-3 jobs to house and feed their kids. I wish that they understood better how to support their kids’ education and how being educated helps break a lot of cycles but we can’t say they objectively “don’t care” because they do not have those skills or experiences. Many of my students’ parents have an elementary education and aren’t literate themselves.

This is absolutely true for many parents living in poverty and/or Title I zones but I don’t think we do the communities any service by perpetuating model minority stuff. Some of the parents are terrible, don’t work hard, and have very few social-emotional skills. That’s where a bulk of the problems come from. Do you get that in wealthier districts? Occasionally but that personality type makes it harder to afford life in more expensive zones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Even when parents care”.

Sorry but caring is an action word, you demonstrate care and caring. Not merely say it.

It is not a concept you willy nilly say that you are, yet do nothing to show that you care.

Well, the parents cared enough to leave their country and families to come here so their children could live a better life. They care enough to work 2-3 jobs to house and feed their kids. I wish that they understood better how to support their kids’ education and how being educated helps break a lot of cycles but we can’t say they objectively “don’t care” because they do not have those skills or experiences. Many of my students’ parents have an elementary education and aren’t literate themselves.

This is absolutely true for many parents living in poverty and/or Title I zones but I don’t think we do the communities any service by perpetuating model minority stuff. Some of the parents are terrible, don’t work hard, and have very few social-emotional skills. That’s where a bulk of the problems come from. Do you get that in wealthier districts? Occasionally but that personality type makes it harder to afford life in more expensive zones.

I’m not sure you understand what model minority means if you’re using it in that context.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a teacher and never worked in a title 1 school before. I had no clue, but I moved to a new state and have now worked at one for 3 months.

It's really bad what I'm seeing here.

I'm leaving after 2 months but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be taking away from this experience? I have seen it all here.

Some are like feral animals! Behavior is off the charts - cursing, middle fingers, hitting, and constant fighting. Attendance - literally if teh kids don't feel like coming to school, the parents just let them stay at home. Every other day students are gone. I've never seen so many students tardy and just plain absent from class. Basic behavior and life skills are lacking from the beginning.

This is just a taste of the behavior the academics are even worse. They are so so low.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am an experienced teacher who has friends who work in a Title 1 middle school in FCPS. I’m shocked at how academically low so many of the students are, even kids who have been in FCPS since K or 1st grade. There needs to be a concerted effort to get kids to attend school and behave while there, and that isn’t happening. I know that a rigorous behavior modification program will work, with clear guidelines and rewards and sanctions for not behaving appropriately, but schools are left to try these things themselves, and there isn’t buy-in from the students and staff. Kids in low SES families will work for food items, for personal hygiene items, and other teen items that their families can’t buy for them. There is money to set up programs with these items as goals, and kids will behave to get them. They will not work for stickers or cute pencils. Once they get a taste of success, they will start to see success and have hope and commit to school, for the most part. Many of the kids at this school that I am familiar with score poorly on IQ tests and are at a second or third grade reading level, despite years of American schooling. They need to be taught in very small groups and not be forced to sit in general education classrooms where they have no understanding of the content. They need basic skills and vocational education so they can be good citizens and get jobs, but every day in school they feel like failures. I’m by no means lumping all Title 1 kids together, but there’s a group that is not being served by our present system.

So you want to basically create an entire parallel education system for them? Who is going to pay for that?

DP here and no, it wouldn’t be a separate education system. But I think we need to acknowledge that many kids in Title 1 schools, especially heavily ESOL T1 schools, aren’t going to graduate at 18 with a full HS diploma and go away to a 4 year college where they will graduate at 22 and immediately start a white collar office job or maybe grad school. It’s just not realistic for this population. Some will of course! And they should be supported with college prep classes.

But we’re doing a disservice to everyone else for whom that isn’t necessarily a realistic goal. They need more career training at the MS/HS level. They need to get their gen ed stuff done in the mornings half day and then be off to work or a job training program after lunch once they turn 16. There are so many fields to train in and they are mostly jobs safe from outsourcing and AI. Off the top of my head: food service, child care, auto body, appliance repair, construction, landscaping, a bunch of medical careers like dental hygiene, phlebotomy, LPN, elder care, and if you complete a 2 year program and get licensed you have even more options like PT/OT assisting.

But the one size fits all everyone must go to college model isn’t working right now. We are lucky in this area to have a large population center and plenty of jobs. Some title 1 areas are poor and rural and those kids are at a disadvantage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Even when parents care”.

Sorry but caring is an action word, you demonstrate care and caring. Not merely say it.

It is not a concept you willy nilly say that you are, yet do nothing to show that you care.

Well, the parents cared enough to leave their country and families to come here so their children could live a better life. They care enough to work 2-3 jobs to house and feed their kids. I wish that they understood better how to support their kids’ education and how being educated helps break a lot of cycles but we can’t say they objectively “don’t care” because they do not have those skills or experiences. Many of my students’ parents have an elementary education and aren’t literate themselves.

I’ve taught in some really rough schools and many parents don’t care. To be honest very few of my students were raised by their parents plural let alone one parent. The stories of abuse broke my heart, the level of sexual activity at a young age that families knew about was alarming, and the attendance was atrocious. I won’t post specific anecdotes on here because it would be identifiable but kids have been in serious medical conditions and parents couldn’t bother to come to thr hospital, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Even when parents care”.

Sorry but caring is an action word, you demonstrate care and caring. Not merely say it.

It is not a concept you willy nilly say that you are, yet do nothing to show that you care.

Well, the parents cared enough to leave their country and families to come here so their children could live a better life. They care enough to work 2-3 jobs to house and feed their kids. I wish that they understood better how to support their kids’ education and how being educated helps break a lot of cycles but we can’t say they objectively “don’t care” because they do not have those skills or experiences. Many of my students’ parents have an elementary education and aren’t literate themselves.

I’ve taught in some really rough schools and many parents don’t care. To be honest very few of my students were raised by their parents plural let alone one parent. The stories of abuse broke my heart, the level of sexual activity at a young age that families knew about was alarming, and the attendance was atrocious. I won’t post specific anecdotes on here because it would be identifiable but kids have been in serious medical conditions and parents couldn’t bother to come to thr hospital, etc.

NP. There are title 1 schools with majority ESOL students and those with majority generational poverty US citizen students. I think you teach at the latter and the PP you are replying to at the former.

[Anonymous]

One of the PPs nailed it - many kids at title 1 schools simply have low IQ. It is exacerbated by lack of exposure (never heard of penguins) but even if they are told some facts about, say, avocadoes, they can’t retain them even for a few minutes or maybe they just don’t understand. So even if they get individualized attention they won’t be able to succeed in the traditional sense.
They are made to learn pretty abstract stuff and they just don’t care. They think about money, their trinkets, relationships. They have zero interest in how the world works outside of that.
Signed,
Someone who works 1:1 with title 1 students

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Without a major education overhaul, public education will be only for poor and Sped within one generation. We were pretty die hard public education supporters (it went well for us as children) and I honestly don’t think my grandchildren will attend public school unless something massively changes. My youngest is in 9th grade and decided not to change course but I can’t wait to be done with public education as it stands. Kids who want to learn and be at school are treated like criminals because of all the crap the school tolerates from the other kids. Bathrooms are regularly locked and guarded. Cheating is rampant. They make entire classes retake tests because a few kids cheated, while those kids get a slap on the wrist.

Ironically, it the democrat-driven “reforms” in education which are most likely to push passage of voucher legislation.

[Anonymous]

It's crazy and very classist you guys are calling disadvantaged kids in poverty "low iq".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's crazy and very classist you guys are calling disadvantaged kids in poverty "low iq".

I teach in a Title 1 school and every year, I have a few former students who end up being tested for IEPs. The majority of them don't qualify because they have low IQs and normal adaptive skills. IQs in the low to mid 70s. Never had that in the wealthy suburban school I taught in for 12 yrs prior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's crazy and very classist you guys are calling disadvantaged kids in poverty "low iq".

I teach in a Title 1 school and every year, I have a few former students who end up being tested for IEPs. The majority of them don't qualify because they have low IQs and normal adaptive skills. IQs in the low to mid 70s. Never had that in the wealthy suburban school I taught in for 12 yrs prior.

I work with a lot of Title 1 kids and they are very nice, they dont have IEPs (nor do they give off the vibes of needing one) but they just dont process anything remotely academic, even like some info about ladybugs. they are pretty competent in fashion or videogames or soccer tho.

[Anonymous]

FCPS is on the verge of cutting off funding for Title I schools in Fairfax county.