New TA here: please don’t send your kids to high poverty schools if you can avoid it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, people have explained it to you over and over the many valid reasons why a parent with means would send there child to such a school, but you’re either not taking that for an answer or just want to pick a fight.

NP. I’ve not seen it explained “over and over” why those who don’t have to attend a school like this send their kids. I’ve seen explanations for why those without other options do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not sure I agree with this thread. I do not live in an expensive area. In fact, I read that over 70% of the kids that go to my daughter's school are living below poverty level. That doesn't matter to me. I think she is getting a great education. She is happy.

I think picking the teacher is more important than picking the school (to me). My daughter is in 2nd grade. She started at her school this year. After deciding that we liked this school, I also asked other parents and did my own research on the teachers at the school. I had it narrowed down to 2 teachers I liked. I had a chance to do a walk-through of the school and meet the teachers (in the spring before she started school). After watching her in her classroom, I knew which teacher was right for my child. She was also the same teacher that was recommended to me by other parents. She has turned out to be a fantastic teacher, and I couldn't imagine my daughter getting a better education anywhere. Between her teacher (who I spent a lot of time picking) and our work with her at night, she has done amazingly well in school. If you do your research into the teachers and then follow up with parent involvement you have a great chance of your child getting a quality education. It is amazing what you can find online. I was able to see teacher reading lists, lesson plans, etc all from the school web site. I am getting ready to start my research for her 3rd grade teacher. That way I can get my request in as early as possible for a greater chance of getting our preferred teacher next year. I am hoping I am as happy with my choice next year as I am this year.

Lol - so you use your influence to manipulate your way into the best teacher’s classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your parents are well educated and connected, and supplement at home and pay attention to what the school is providing, the kids will probably be fine.

It's all the parents who send their kids to school and don't care who are the problem. And, yes, there are LMC and MC parents who don't pay that much attention or care, because they don't think school is important.

I respectfully disagree, as an elementary teacher. You are willfully exposing your child to near toxic levels of stress that NO child should experience. But children who have not had stable homes nor witnessed healthy relationships bring those traumas through the school door every day. Your child will hear language, see behaviors, and possibly receive physical aggression that is confusing and harmful. I would maybe be more okay with it in later high school when they have some ability to understand it. But no way in hell would I put my child into this environment before then. And let me be clear that it’s not okay for ANY child, not just those whose parents can afford better schools/neighborhoods.

Wealthy families have trauma, neglect, drug abuse and sex abuse too... its just more hidden.

Great. As long as my kid doesn’t see it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes this is what limousine liberals don’t get and why they seem out of touch. Most families in these schools would love school choice.

We’ve got plenty of underperforming charters, too. No “voucher” will ever allow your child to go to Sidwell. I hope you realize that.

Lots of great parochial schools that actually teach kids grammar, writing and math.

And myths, legends, and lies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The issue is we need better teachers and school staff. We go where there is affordable housing that is not a stretch...

Op here. The teachers I work for all seem to be juggling so many things and doing a great job at it. They are pretty rigid in terms of discipline but I know where they are coming from. I would say each class needs a couple permanent instructional assistants for these kids to have a semblance of normal educational experience that kids in “normal” schools have

Couldn't get through page three so apologies if this is touched on later but lets revisit.

NEW to teaching and making declarative statements of "high poverty" schools as if they are absolutely and definitely bad is really not appropriate. You are NOT an expert in education from your 8 months working in a high poverty school and its sad to me that a post like yours gets this much traction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, people have explained it to you over and over the many valid reasons why a parent with means would send there child to such a school, but you’re either not taking that for an answer or just want to pick a fight.

NP. I’ve not seen it explained “over and over” why those who don’t have to attend a school like this send their kids. I’ve seen explanations for why those without other options do.

Yes, they have. A belief in urban public schools is one reason, as is wanting to expose your kids to the way others live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, people have explained it to you over and over the many valid reasons why a parent with means would send there child to such a school, but you’re either not taking that for an answer or just want to pick a fight.

NP. I’ve not seen it explained “over and over” why those who don’t have to attend a school like this send their kids. I’ve seen explanations for why those without other options do.

There are explanations listed, you’re just not satisfied with them.

[Anonymous]

I work in a very affluent school and we have the same problem (incredibly disruptive groups of students who take up all the teachers time). The high flyers get ignored, as do those on grade level (this is most of the students in our school - IGNORED). It is the disruptive ones, and those that need tons of interventions and help that get all the attention. Their parents are a combination of entitled (not my little angel) and in complete denial (you just need to be nicer to her - she never behaves this way at home therefore it must be something you are doing to her at school) about their children's issues.

[Anonymous]

OP here I suspect you’re under 22 years old so you would not understand how the housing market works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not sure I agree with this thread. I do not live in an expensive area. In fact, I read that over 70% of the kids that go to my daughter's school are living below poverty level. That doesn't matter to me. I think she is getting a great education. She is happy.

I think picking the teacher is more important than picking the school (to me). My daughter is in 2nd grade. She started at her school this year. After deciding that we liked this school, I also asked other parents and did my own research on the teachers at the school. I had it narrowed down to 2 teachers I liked. I had a chance to do a walk-through of the school and meet the teachers (in the spring before she started school). After watching her in her classroom, I knew which teacher was right for my child. She was also the same teacher that was recommended to me by other parents. She has turned out to be a fantastic teacher, and I couldn't imagine my daughter getting a better education anywhere. Between her teacher (who I spent a lot of time picking) and our work with her at night, she has done amazingly well in school. If you do your research into the teachers and then follow up with parent involvement you have a great chance of your child getting a quality education. It is amazing what you can find online. I was able to see teacher reading lists, lesson plans, etc all from the school web site. I am getting ready to start my research for her 3rd grade teacher. That way I can get my request in as early as possible for a greater chance of getting our preferred teacher next year. I am hoping I am as happy with my choice next year as I am this year.

Lol - so you use your influence to manipulate your way into the best teacher’s classroom.

This smells of troll. Name the public that allowed you to observe multiple classrooms before your child was even enrolled. I’ve never had a teacher request granted, other than for a severely behaviorally-challenged student who was terrorizing their fellow students, teacher, and aide. Evacuation of the classroom was commonplace, and it was a wasted year for my child that spurred us to private. You’d be doing a service if you name the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work in a very affluent school and we have the same problem (incredibly disruptive groups of students who take up all the teachers time). The high flyers get ignored, as do those on grade level (this is most of the students in our school - IGNORED). It is the disruptive ones, and those that need tons of interventions and help that get all the attention. Their parents are a combination of entitled (not my little angel) and in complete denial (you just need to be nicer to her - she never behaves this way at home therefore it must be something you are doing to her at school) about their children's issues.

Except at the affluent schools, vast majority of students continue to meet grade level standards year after year, despite the couple disruptive students. So either they aren’t getting ignored, or parents are making up all the lack of teaching at home.

The low income schools continue to fail to meet grade level standards for majority of their students year after year. So either the teacher isn’t teaching them or they are unable to learn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work in a very affluent school and we have the same problem (incredibly disruptive groups of students who take up all the teachers time). The high flyers get ignored, as do those on grade level (this is most of the students in our school - IGNORED). It is the disruptive ones, and those that need tons of interventions and help that get all the attention. Their parents are a combination of entitled (not my little angel) and in complete denial (you just need to be nicer to her - she never behaves this way at home therefore it must be something you are doing to her at school) about their children's issues.

Ditto. 100% the same in our affluent school and it is dramatically worse this year than pre-covid. Additional $ for additional staffing is desperately needed, but that’s okay, because the shortage is so significant that it doesn’t actually matter.

The system is broken.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work in a very affluent school and we have the same problem (incredibly disruptive groups of students who take up all the teachers time). The high flyers get ignored, as do those on grade level (this is most of the students in our school - IGNORED). It is the disruptive ones, and those that need tons of interventions and help that get all the attention. Their parents are a combination of entitled (not my little angel) and in complete denial (you just need to be nicer to her - she never behaves this way at home therefore it must be something you are doing to her at school) about their children's issues.

Ditto. 100% the same in our affluent school and it is dramatically worse this year than pre-covid. Additional $ for additional staffing is desperately needed, but that’s okay, because the shortage is so significant that it doesn’t actually matter.

The system is broken.

But according to test scores, the affluent schools are still able to exceed state averages for gravel level

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your parents are well educated and connected, and supplement at home and pay attention to what the school is providing, the kids will probably be fine.

It's all the parents who send their kids to school and don't care who are the problem. And, yes, there are LMC and MC parents who don't pay that much attention or care, because they don't think school is important.

I respectfully disagree, as an elementary teacher. You are willfully exposing your child to near toxic levels of stress that NO child should experience. But children who have not had stable homes nor witnessed healthy relationships bring those traumas through the school door every day. Your child will hear language, see behaviors, and possibly receive physical aggression that is confusing and harmful. I would maybe be more okay with it in later high school when they have some ability to understand it. But no way in hell would I put my child into this environment before then. And let me be clear that it’s not okay for ANY child, not just those whose parents can afford better schools/neighborhoods.

I'm a parent with a child (5th grade) in "high poverty" charter and many of my friends have kids in similar district or charter schools. There are a number of kids in my child's class who are tough (and have been for years) and are clearly coming from tough situations. Honestly that has not caused issues for my kid or any of the kids of my friends. My kid has had pretty normal friend issues-a group of 3 where the girl who gets excluded is constantly changing. One year they had a teacher who clearly did not have the skills to deal with tough kids and was unhappy and left the school after a year, but her teachers have been really good at handling kid dynamics. She did have a student teacher this year who told her class all about the time he was kidnapped at gunpoint (!?), which she had some questions about. I don't hear any complaints from my friends along those lines either, they hear language and see kids acting out but don't seem particularly bothered by it. My kid was upset when other kids were calling each other the n-word, but she talked to her friend about it, they told the teacher, the teacher addressed it.

Much more bothersome to me is the difficulty of accessing services for kids who are behind academically and the overall low academic expectations. As I've worked to get additional academic support for my kid, I've been told "well, our curriculum is so ineffective that you can't expect your child to be on grade level" and "well all the kids at this school are behind so you can't expect your kid to be on grade level."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work in a very affluent school and we have the same problem (incredibly disruptive groups of students who take up all the teachers time). The high flyers get ignored, as do those on grade level (this is most of the students in our school - IGNORED). It is the disruptive ones, and those that need tons of interventions and help that get all the attention. Their parents are a combination of entitled (not my little angel) and in complete denial (you just need to be nicer to her - she never behaves this way at home therefore it must be something you are doing to her at school) about their children's issues.

Except at the affluent schools, vast majority of students continue to meet grade level standards year after year, despite the couple disruptive students. So either they aren’t getting ignored, or parents are making up all the lack of teaching at home.

The low income schools continue to fail to meet grade level standards for majority of their students year after year. So either the teacher isn’t teaching them or they are unable to learn.

It’s not the teachers.