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

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[quote=Anonymous]I have recently started working as a TA at an 85% low income and ESL school. This is not in the DMV area but I think there are very similar schools in FCPS for example. I can never say this to parents in my district because I am bound by all the privacy stuff but I want to say it here: please please don’t send your child to a school like that, even for K.
I don’t know why the kids from middle class families are there. Many of them seem at least 3rd Gen American so it’s not like their parents have no clue about the school system. Heck, many first Gen parents have a good idea! But apparently not them?
Each class has a group of very disruptive kids who ideally need their own aide, either as a group or even individually. They don’t seem to be getting much education simply because they are so distracted they can’t possibly learn much. 
The rest of the kids are very very different from each other in terms of their levels. Ideally each class should have at least 3 level groups (not counting the separate one for distractable kids). 
But since they only have one teacher… most of the time most of the kids are left to their own devices. The teacher works with one group at a time, doing an awesome job juggling them. The rest are doing activities mostly on their chromebooks. If your child is highly driven, disciplined, is able to ask for help, and has a good attention span - this kid will be fine. But even in that case… there won’t be much fun or enthusiasm in learning. Most of the energy is spent keeping discipline, and helping those who clearly struggle. 
Your child’s presence doesn’t seem to benefit anyone either. I mean, maybe it benefits another child like that who now has a friend who is “good, smart” kid. But it definitely doesn’t have any influence on the overall class dynamic, I mean, yeah, it’s better than the class being 100% disruptive but maybe in the latter case help would arrive a little faster?
At the same time, it’s hurting the kids who are capable of learning and being excited to learn, but who instead spend their days almost forgotten (unless they get in trouble) and on their chromebooks. 
Anyway, sorry if I am being too direct, but I really wanted to help the kids who can do so much better than this. [/quote]

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