Reply to If ATS is so popular, why not create two of them?

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Reply to "If ATS is so popular, why not create two of them?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]As much as this forum talks about ATS, you know they are doing something right. Ha!

Knowing what we know now, I wish instead of the Spanish immersion program, we would have at least tried for the lottery at ATS. C'est la vie![/quote]

The good this is that APS’ ELA department has pretty much bought into the way ATS does things. You won’t get homework _ that’s a ATS thing. But what you do have is a curriculum that includes structured literacy/phonics and is content rich due to CKLA. Obviously some schools have growing pains and some teachers are less enthusiastic about the changes but I believe that will change once they see the results. Plus science of reading evidence is so strong that there is no turning back. Also CKLA requires some direct instruction so APS schools are starting to do that more. So hopefully your kid will get really good instruction and learn another language :)[/quote]

I think schools are moving in ATS’ direction when it comes to English. I’d like to see APS focus more of the behavioral issues that teachers are dealing with. Setting high behavioral expectations is better for kids and for teachers. Kids focus more, there is less bullying, and the environment becomes all together more welcoming. A lot of teacher burnout is due to behavioral issues. My cousin’s husband is a middle school teacher in Montgomery County. He has been teaching for 20 years. Student behavior is out of control according to him. Teachers are not allowed to do anything about it. He feels sorry for the students who have go to school in such a disruptive environment.  But there is very little he can do. He loves his students but is completely burnt out so this will be his last year. He got a certificate in some security related field and will be switching careers. He’ll be making double what he’s making now and will be working from home. He says it’s not about the money and that most teachers aren’t in it for the money (though more money would be nice & is definitely becoming more of an issue due to inflation). It’s student behavior and admin. Also says drug use is out of control. Hard drugs as well as pot. Says pot definitely is having an effect on student performance (they are too high to focus or know what they are doing). No one cares. Only solution seems to be to have everyone Narcan trained. Obviously that’s important for saving lives but it’s almost impossible to teach students that are hooked on drugs and the drug use makes it difficult for students who do not use drugs to learn. Overall it’s a shit show. Before leaving teaching altogether he contemplated getting a job in an international school overseas. His friend is a teacher in Dubai and says that although the kids there are spoilt rotten, they are well behaved and want to learn. He decided that the move would be too much for his family though. Plus his daughter has some medical condition and he’d rather be close to a major children’s hospital.[/quote]

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