Reply to Teachers are NOT the enemy!

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Reply to "Teachers are NOT the enemy!"

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[quote=Anonymous]

[/quote] So, here's the thing.  You lose credibility when you say that you can't stand when parents want advancement when the kids aren't capable.  I am sure that happens, but it also happens that teachers have no idea what the kids are capable of because of the chaotic environment, unclear instructions, and very limited time with each kid.  You shouldn't assume your estimation of a kid's capability is accurate.

What makes parents crazy is that we've been taught from experience that the system doesn't have our kids best interests at heart.  Some individual teachers do, yes.  But that trust is hard to establish in the current climate.[/quote]

When you think about it, there will ALWAYS be other students smarter than your kid and students much lower than your kid.  That's life, PP.

So does the system set up kids for failure?  It's a system.  It functions at a global level. It's up to the principals to ensure that all their teachers are trained in the curriculum (which now spans from 2.0 to IB) and fully know how to implement it.  Unfortunately, money attracts money.  So of course your high flying schools have all the resources in the world.  Training and collaboration are priorities.  In other parts of the county, day-to-day survival is the norm.

So does the system set up kids for failure?

Sometimes the parents do - purely by having means.

While I get your point, PP - as both a parent AND a teacher in a highly impacted environment - we have to judge current ability on performance measures.  If Map-R is showing that your child is reading 2 grade levels behind, your child will be in the lower reading group.  That's just a fact.  In Bethesda, this child would be receiving tutoring after school and on Saturdays.  This may not be the norm in other parts of the county with high poverty rates.

So a teacher in survival mode has to label and categorize students.  Without the labels, how do you provide each student with the differentiated instructional practices to meet his/her needs?

And WITH labels, we sometimes get stuck on current ability and fail to see other opportunities for growth.

It's a vicious cycle.

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