Reply to Can we spreadload FRL% across APS? Arlington / Education Newbie here

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]One teacher cannot provide tailored lessons to 20+ kids at widely varying skill levels. Schools either need to do tracking or parents will make an effort to get their kid in a school that has more kids at their grade level. [/quote]

That’s what APS wants, though.  They have a standard to meet and are not required to do more.  People who want more for their kids will need to leave (which is what we will eventually do).[/quote]

There was a lot said about this at tonight’s gifted services work session. I missed the part where they talked about elementary but big changes are probably coming to middle school. I think you can find a recording of the meeting if you didn’t watch live and are interested.[/quote]

Did the parts that you heard sound positive?  [/quote]

It depends on how you look at it. I’m still processing and trying to visualize what it will actually look like, pitfalls, etc. If the plan moves forward it would make gifted identification all but irrelevant in middle school since intensified classes would be open enrollment. As a parent with a gifted id’d middle schooler, I like the tentative plan for the transition year (next year), which is to increase the number of gifted kids in a cluster from 5-8 to 10-15 (not sure of the exact numbers, but in that ballpark). After next year they would institute the intensified classes.[/quote]

I think it would result in a better learning experience for the kids in the new intensified classes. There's no way you don't end up with a classes that are stratified by socioeconomic class, though. Administrators can do outreach to try to move the needle, but the classes are going to be whiter and richer than the school as a whole. [b]Should we refuse to offer more challenging classes to kid who would benefit because it doesn't look good when you break out the demographic data? [/b]I would say offer the classes and help who you can, but I'm not sure where APS will end up. [/quote]

They basically said that if this happens they'd consider dropping the intensified classes which is really frustrating. Absolutely they need to do more outreach and encouragement and examine their identification process for bias. But it is also not surprising that kids from affluent families will be more prepared for a higher level of rigor than kids who've grown up with the toxic stress of poverty. The schools can't fix that. At least someone in the meeting did acknowledge that the on-level class can better meet the needs of the kids who stay at that level if there is not such a wide range the teacher needs to address.[/quote]
I think it’s likely that highly educated parents of Arlington will enroll their kids in the intensified classes even if their child isn’t ready for it so it will create much of the same issue of teachers having to slow down material. [/quote]

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