Reply to Schools with high FARM rates

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Your child's instructional day will be interrupted by countless episodes of disruptive behavior. The classroom culture will be tense as these children are frequently not engaged and well below level of the grade level material. Many of the  teachers will be on the spectrum of burnout. Lots of staff turnover. The school focus will be to raise those test scores and the curriculum will be focused entirely on that. The common denominator of rigor will be much lower. Your kid will look like a rock star to most teachers who appreciate that he does his work, doesn't mouth off, and makes an effort. Is this a good thing? Not really, because the perception is skewed. He won't be challenged. He will not be motivated and inspired  by other achievers, as they are not the norm. He will be involved in a close knit group of friends there, which is nice, but there are few options to make broader connections. School events are sparsely attended by the whole of the community.

Before the flamers start, yes, there are some  kids from low income environments who excel beyond all these characterizations, but it is not the norm.

Sincerely,

Someone who really knows......[/quote]

This was our experience as well.

Even though my child had good teachers, the other poster was correct differentiation often meant silent reading and harder math worksheets with no instruction.

Reading instruction was terrible, sadly most teachers just don't know how to intervene when a child is struggling and reading resource teachers are really limited. Writing instruction was almost non existent until 5th grade. Classroom time had to be devoted to reading and math. Science and social studies are after thoughts.

The best quality  a teacher can have in a school with a high farms rate is the ability to manage classroom behavior. His/her teaching skills can be mediocre because most of the day is spent managing behaviors so that's the most needed skill. When looking at high farms rate schools, ask about that first and academics second because sadly that's the priority for e teachers and admin as well.[/quote]

Would you mind sharing where this was? If not the specific school- than the area.[/quote]

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