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Schools and Education General Discussion
Reply to "In a supposedly top rated district. Sit tight until 5th-6th grade?"
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[quote=Anonymous]Warning, this is a long post I moved to our top rated district from the city (not DC). Every single parent, former residents of the state, realtors, and people on anonymous Facebook groups, Reddit, DCUM, citydata and greatschools said I could not go wrong and that the schools were top notch. Class sizes are only 18-20 and each class has an aide who comes in for at least 75% of the day. Well I have not been happy with our elementary since kindergarten when DD was handed an iPad at school and sent home with Fountas & Pinnell graded readers (result: she did not learn to read. Thankfully someone on this board recommended a phonics book which I worked through with her!). 1st grade was still blah though the teacher actually taught phonics and I calmed myself by telling myself school at this age is really just for socialization. iPad use continued but at least she brought home a weekly in-class handwritten piece (usually 3-4 sentences and a picture). It wasn’t at all edited, spelling was never corrected, but at least I could see the work. Class seemed to be about trying to curb behaviors from a couple of kids while struggling to get some contenders to learn to read. In 2nd grade now and the school is doubling down on kindness and inclusion projects (like writing a snowflake wish or painting kindness rocks), random fundraisers, and continuing with spirit week every single quarter. The teacher seems to show movies one a month if not more. There are still behavioral issues that seem to steer the classwork (though nothing like that I read here sometimes about repeated violence in the classroom!). The daily iPad use continues. I get no graded work, the kids don’t write on paper, and they are still using number line and manipulative to demonstrate 1-20 addition and subtraction. Basically I feel like school is a waste of time apart from socialization, and I try to cram in most of the teaching and learning in the hour and a half after school. My kid is doing fine academically and behaviorally, but I also feel like a bad parent. My question is - do academic and behavioral expectations at public elementary school ramp up suddenly in 3rd or 4th grade and I just have to wait until then? I keep hearing on this board that it’s sink or swim in a year or two, that the expectations go way up and kids begin to struggle. Will school become more what I was used to growing up rather than a fun free for all? Are my expectations too high? I actually went to a crappy middle of nowhere public school where lots of kids dropped out of high school and felt I got more of an education than she’s been getting at school so far. I recently found a 2nd grade writing piece I did as a kid. No way would they do anything close to that at school. But I did expect her school would at a minimum teach phonics in k-1, that they would be working on double if not triple digit addition and subtraction by 2nd grade, and that they would work on writing and spelling at least a little bit on paper every week. Has public education just completely collapsed and I need to just go private either now or starting in 6th? But everyone in my area seems to send their kids to public, because the publics are “so great,” so it seems we would have to commute into the city to go to a top private (if she could even get in). [/quote]
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