Teacher rotation within an ES

[Anonymous]

My child won't enter kindergarten until the fall, but I had heard in passing that there has been a big movement of teachers within the school. It sounded like the principal reassigned teachers who used to teach at one grade to another. It didn't sound like anyone left the school. I'm not really familiar with how things work at schools, but is this common? Is it because a teacher or the principal wanted a change? Or just random?

[Anonymous]

It's hard to say without knowing the specifics (maybe if you identify the school it would help). There are a whole host of reasons why this might happen. It could be teacher preference (e.g., a teacher who prefers fifth might accept a job in third to get into a school and then switch grades when there's an opening), it could be that they need a different number of teachers at each grade level from one year to the next so some teachers need to move to accommodate, it could be that the chemistry within a grade-level team isn't right so they're mixing things up a bit, it could be that a particular grade level has relatively less experienced teachers and they're moving a more experienced teacher from another grade level into that grade to be the team lead, etc.

[Anonymous]

I've had kids at our elementary school for 12 years. I have seen lots of movement within the school. General Ed classroom teachers getting certification to become an AAP classroom teachers - often switching grades. I saw several AAP teachers become the AART. Two were then promoted to the Instructional Coach position. I remember one teacher came in as a kindergarten teacher. Her second year she went to 1st grade, then to 2nd grade (she started when my DS was in K, so she "followed" him each year!) She finally settled into 2nd grade. She was a brand new teacher that first year. She told me it took her a couple of years to find her favorite age of students: 2nd grade.

I wouldn't be concerned with internal movement. You need to be concerned with high turnover of teachers leaving the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've had kids at our elementary school for 12 years. I have seen lots of movement within the school. General Ed classroom teachers getting certification to become an AAP classroom teachers - often switching grades. I saw several AAP teachers become the AART. Two were then promoted to the Instructional Coach position. I remember one teacher came in as a kindergarten teacher. Her second year she went to 1st grade, then to 2nd grade (she started when my DS was in K, so she "followed" him each year!) She finally settled into 2nd grade. She was a brand new teacher that first year. She told me it took her a couple of years to find her favorite age of students: 2nd grade.

I wouldn't be concerned with internal movement. You need to be concerned with high turnover of teachers leaving the school.

+1

I do know of one principal (now retired) who made her teachers pack up every summer and did not give them their assignment until August. It was usually the same, but some years there were changes--which may have been for good reasons and not necessarily her whim. She was an excellent principal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've had kids at our elementary school for 12 years. I have seen lots of movement within the school. General Ed classroom teachers getting certification to become an AAP classroom teachers - often switching grades. I saw several AAP teachers become the AART. Two were then promoted to the Instructional Coach position. I remember one teacher came in as a kindergarten teacher. Her second year she went to 1st grade, then to 2nd grade (she started when my DS was in K, so she "followed" him each year!) She finally settled into 2nd grade. She was a brand new teacher that first year. She told me it took her a couple of years to find her favorite age of students: 2nd grade.

I wouldn't be concerned with internal movement. You need to be concerned with high turnover of teachers leaving the school.

+1 Often internal moves are like setting dominoes in motion rather than swapping two pieces; however, sometimes you'll find that internal movement precipitates turnover but you won't find that out until next year.

[Anonymous]

I loved moving grade levels when I first started teaching. Numbers shifted, so if a grade level lost or added a unit I would volunteer to take one for the team and be the one to move. I got lots of experience with different types of teacher teaming and specialization as well as ages. (I just spent 7 years in one grade and am moving down a grade this year. I'm super excited for the change.)

Some principals do shift teachers around to keep them from getting "stale" or to break up a toxic combination of teachers, but in public where numbers per grade change every year, it's often just necessity that people move around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've had kids at our elementary school for 12 years. I have seen lots of movement within the school. General Ed classroom teachers getting certification to become an AAP classroom teachers - often switching grades. I saw several AAP teachers become the AART. Two were then promoted to the Instructional Coach position. I remember one teacher came in as a kindergarten teacher. Her second year she went to 1st grade, then to 2nd grade (she started when my DS was in K, so she "followed" him each year!) She finally settled into 2nd grade. She was a brand new teacher that first year. She told me it took her a couple of years to find her favorite age of students: 2nd grade.

I wouldn't be concerned with internal movement. You need to be concerned with high turnover of teachers leaving the school.

+1

I do know of one principal (now retired) who made her teachers pack up every summer and did not give them their assignment until August. It was usually the same, but some years there were changes--which may have been for good reasons and not necessarily her whim. She was an excellent principal.

I would hate that. In my district they have to let you know before summer break:

Prior to the summer break, principals shall inform all teaching personnel of their tentative subject or grade-level assignments for the succeeding year. Itinerant teachers will retain base-school assignments from one year to the next unless notified otherwise.