s/o If You Left APS this Past Year for Private, What Differences Did You Notice?

[Anonymous]

Curious. Are teachers in private school absent a lot? Our teacher misses work at least once a week. Seems they have accrued a lot of leave. Behavior not addressed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curious. Are teachers in private school absent a lot? Our teacher misses work at least once a week. Seems they have accrued a lot of leave. Behavior not addressed.

Yes but is your kid getting challenged?

[Anonymous]

I cannot believe teachers don’t understand why textbooks are important. Kids learn in different ways. As a kid I HATED the fun activities or group projects. It just want how I learned. I’d go home and read a textbook and write the answers at the end of the summary and then my teachers would correct it - even the grammar and spelling even if it was social studies! This thread has me very worried about APS. We moved my K to a parochial when APs declared it too hard to open. What is going at APS. Seriously!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I cannot believe teachers don’t understand why textbooks are important. Kids learn in different ways. As a kid I HATED the fun activities or group projects. It just want how I learned. I’d go home and read a textbook and write the answers at the end of the summary and then my teachers would correct it - even the grammar and spelling even if it was social studies! This thread has me very worried about APS. We moved my K to a parochial when APs declared it too hard to open. What is going at APS. Seriously!!!

Are teachers saying this? Are classroom teachers the ones buying county wide curriculum resources?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I cannot believe teachers don’t understand why textbooks are important. Kids learn in different ways. As a kid I HATED the fun activities or group projects. It just want how I learned. I’d go home and read a textbook and write the answers at the end of the summary and then my teachers would correct it - even the grammar and spelling even if it was social studies! This thread has me very worried about APS. We moved my K to a parochial when APs declared it too hard to open. What is going at APS. Seriously!!!

Are teachers saying this? Are classroom teachers the ones buying county wide curriculum resources?

I know at least a few APS teachers who wish they had textbooks so I suppose there is not a teacher consensus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I cannot believe teachers don’t understand why textbooks are important. Kids learn in different ways. As a kid I HATED the fun activities or group projects. It just want how I learned. I’d go home and read a textbook and write the answers at the end of the summary and then my teachers would correct it - even the grammar and spelling even if it was social studies! This thread has me very worried about APS. We moved my K to a parochial when APs declared it too hard to open. What is going at APS. Seriously!!!

Are teachers saying this? Are classroom teachers the ones buying county wide curriculum resources?

I know at least a few APS teachers who wish they had textbooks so I suppose there is not a teacher consensus.

No, teachers are not the ones who “don’t understand” the importance of textbooks, not are we the ones who decide not to purchase them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2 of mine left for private. One was already in the works before Covid. Kid was unchallenged by APS HS. Kid never did homework barely studied didn’t really have to try and had straight As. She is now challenged by her private school. Much harder course load. She can’t slack off and has to work. The parent community is definitely way more involved than public. There are also lots of extracurricular activities that don’t happen in public.

My other kid has learning disabilities. Kid is now in a very small independent private school with very small classes (10 kids). It’s mastery based learning so kids learn at their own pace. Kid is actually enjoying school again. We enrolled there in November after 2 months of virtual learning which wasn’t working at all.

We’re never going back to APS.

What is this mastery based program that you speak of?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More traditional education. Textbooks. Paper and pencils. Focus on learning grammar. Study habits. Higher expectations overall. Kids who were APS honor roll students having to actually work hard and not getting automatic As.

I’m an APS teacher. I give all you people about two minutes before you start finding fault with your private school teachers and education, too. Textbooks??

Just because everyone went to school, doesn’t mean they know everything about education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More traditional education. Textbooks. Paper and pencils. Focus on learning grammar. Study habits. Higher expectations overall. Kids who were APS honor roll students having to actually work hard and not getting automatic As.

I’m an APS teacher. I give all you people about two minutes before you start finding fault with your private school teachers and education, too. Textbooks??

Just because everyone went to school, doesn’t mean they know everything about education.

Smaller class sizes are important. APS, as well as other school districts, just don’t have the resources to make sure that some students aren’t falling behind due to lack of attention. Private schools aren’t perfect, but if you do have the money, you can ensure your kid doesn’t fall through the cracks.

Meanwhile APS is adding one more student to each elementary grade level next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More traditional education. Textbooks. Paper and pencils. Focus on learning grammar. Study habits. Higher expectations overall. Kids who were APS honor roll students having to actually work hard and not getting automatic As.

I’m an APS teacher. I give all you people about two minutes before you start finding fault with your private school teachers and education, too. Textbooks??

Just because everyone went to school, doesn’t mean they know everything about education.

The APS teacher questioning textbooks is in the post above

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More traditional education. Textbooks. Paper and pencils. Focus on learning grammar. Study habits. Higher expectations overall. Kids who were APS honor roll students having to actually work hard and not getting automatic As.

I’m an APS teacher. I give all you people about two minutes before you start finding fault with your private school teachers and education, too. Textbooks??

Just because everyone went to school, doesn’t mean they know everything about education.

Smaller class sizes are important. APS, as well as other school districts, just don’t have the resources to make sure that some students aren’t falling behind due to lack of attention. Private schools aren’t perfect, but if you do have the money, you can ensure your kid doesn’t fall through the cracks.

Meanwhile APS is adding one more student to each elementary grade level next year.

Oh, they definitely have the resources to make it happen. They just happen to re-direct their funding to wokeness.

Also, private school teachers make less. I suppose it’s worth it to not have to deal with the crappy public education system.

[Anonymous]

Just chiming in to say I also really liked textbooks when I was in school. I am a very classic learner (read and re-read and look things up when needed). I wish they would come back. Also less distracting than a lot of YouTube type tech and apps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More traditional education. Textbooks. Paper and pencils. Focus on learning grammar. Study habits. Higher expectations overall. Kids who were APS honor roll students having to actually work hard and not getting automatic As.

I’m an APS teacher. I give all you people about two minutes before you start finding fault with your private school teachers and education, too. Textbooks??

Just because everyone went to school, doesn’t mean they know everything about education.

The APS teacher questioning textbooks is in the post above

We have no idea if that person is actually an APS teacher or just someone looking to stir the pot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2 of mine left for private. One was already in the works before Covid. Kid was unchallenged by APS HS. Kid never did homework barely studied didn’t really have to try and had straight As. She is now challenged by her private school. Much harder course load. She can’t slack off and has to work. The parent community is definitely way more involved than public. There are also lots of extracurricular activities that don’t happen in public.

My other kid has learning disabilities. Kid is now in a very small independent private school with very small classes (10 kids). It’s mastery based learning so kids learn at their own pace. Kid is actually enjoying school again. We enrolled there in November after 2 months of virtual learning which wasn’t working at all.

We’re never going back to APS.

What is this mastery based program that you speak of?

Kids learn at their own pace. They stay on a concept until they learn it unlike traditional schools where a lesson has a set amount of time and they move on whether kids understand or not. Kids in the same class could all be on different stages of a subject. It’s really only possible in small classes with more than one teacher. It’s been a lifesaver for my dyslexic/dysgraphic kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just chiming in to say I also really liked textbooks when I was in school. I am a very classic learner (read and re-read and look things up when needed). I wish they would come back. Also less distracting than a lot of YouTube type tech and apps.

+1 Me too. I would seriously fail school if I had to learn things by watching you tube videos like my kids have to do. I am not an auditory learner at all.

Signed,
Mom with a PhD