Reply to Teachers, what’s the difference between teaching at a Title 1 school vs low ses not title 1?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I teach at a Title I middle school.  The most prevalent comment I've heard about our school from new teachers is their surprise at finding that the quality of teaching is very, very high.  Our principal is extremely selective and has very high expectations for all staff and students.  I think that a lot of teachers walking into a new school that is Title I expect that the teaching and caliber of staff will be sub-par.  It is the opposite at our school and new staff generally seem surprised to find that a Title I school like ours is very well run and we have a strong teaching staff.  So we routinely (and proudly, I dare say) burst that bubble.

A bubble that new teachers to our school don't expect is that there is a very high level of accountability and need for transparency.  Title I status brings significant additional funding but there is a tremendous amount of oversight.  The oversight runs the gamut from an increased level of output by teachers of data and documentation to additional meetings, walk-throughs and other things.  Because my school has been in the program for a while now we know what to expect; however, the first year or two had a steep learning curve and it seemed that we were always scrambling to meet some deadline.  If there is anything that runs the new teachers out fast, it is the difficulty of meeting the high expectations for maintaining quality instruction while juggling the near constant demands for data and documentation, or even preparations for yet another walk-through.  It is a significant stressor and you have no latitude at all in when you will respond to a data request or a requirement to adopt a new model of documentation or instruction at the drop of a hat.

As far as the demographic is concerned, working with the student population at a high-FARM school can be demanding and challenging.  But kids are kids so a lot of the basics are the same.  Structure and consistency reign supreme as well as the ability to meet student physical/social/emotional needs without being enabling.

All in all, if I had to weigh the demands of the student population versus accountability, then I think that the biggest challenge for someone new to Title I will be dealing with the accountability demands.  There are two keys to success:  being organized and the ability to work well with others.  The most successful teachers at my school have their stuff together, are good planners and can manage the paper flow.  They also are those who are highly cooperative and who are willing to accept input from other teachers (content or team).  This is why my first point above (high caliber of teaching) is so important.  If a new teacher cannot lose the generally held bias that Title I schools have bad teachers, then the new teacher won't be willing to work with others or accept help.  Then they get into a vicious self-fulfilling cycle of failure and eventually runs screaming from the school.

Good luck in your interview.  It will be interesting to see what other replies you receive.[/quote]

If this was actually true - the best most quality teachers!  Great and committed data gathering and analysis! - then Title 1 schools would be knocking it our if the park I. Terms of test scores, basic skill acquisition like reading and math,  and achievement gap closure - yet that is almost never the case.

I think like many teachers you have no idea what “quality” teaching is going to look like and don’t seem to understand that data gathering and analysis - basically inputting records into an application or system that spits out analysis isn’t some rare task but rather many people in many fields do this all the time.

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