Reply to Exclusive school clubs in 4th and 5th grade

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Our school does have some things like this, but other things are mentioned to kids themselves and parents are only contacted if their kid indicates interest. If you have a kid that doesn’t always volunteer themselves and/or just doesn’t pay a ton of attention, that’s another possibility. One of my kids is invited to do everything while another is barely cognizant that the activities exist; if it weren’t for kid #1, I’d think opportunities weren’t advertised to the kids themselves… but because of kid #1, I know they are.[/quote]

OP here, that could be it.

Thanks to the other PPs too. I don’t think the leadership club in this case is code for behavior improvement—I know the kids and they are good kids.

Exclusive clubs are not the same as ability-based, open-through-competition clubs. Teachers inviting certain kids quietly is problematic in elementary in my opinion. Letting kids try and fail is a good exercise. But creating opportunities only for certain kids and quietly/almost secretly is quite another. I don’t know exactly what’s happening though and didn’t want to jump to conclusions.[/quote]

But the point is that some of the "exclusive clubs" are things that the kids implicitly auditioned for via their classes (DCPS math bowl, DCPS Google competition, Battle of the Books, DCPS 5th Grade All Star Choir). The math instructional coach, the music teacher, etc don't need to do sham auditions, because they already know which kids can do math, read books quickly, sing well, etc. Your kid was eligible and considered, he just didn't get it.[/quote]

What does “implicitly auditioned” mean? Shouldn’t the kids and parents (in elementary) be told these opportunities exist? You can’t compete for or be motivated by something if you don’t know about it. I’m perfectly fine with my kid being told you’re not good enough for this if that’s the case, but that’s not what happened. [/quote]

It means teachers have access to all kinds of information about your kid and they place them into the opportunities based on that. Like at our school, the kids who score above a certain threshold on the assessments get to have a special math club, those who score above a certain number on ELA get to join a book club. [/quote]

This.  [b]The teachers all know who the top kids.[/b]  At our school, the group of top kids in reading had a book club while the other kids worked on reading skills. They also got to do story time to the lower grades and some other things.

Let it rest, OP.  Yoir kid just didn’t make the cut.  It’s OK and life.  Other PP is right.  The school and teachers don’t announce such things because parents will be emailing and calling ad nauseum about getting their kid in.

I just see it as a sort of differentiation in the elementary level.[/quote]

I don’t doubt that teachers THINK they know this, but like everyone else they are very, very, very often fooled by confirmation bias and implicit racial and gender bias.  I know that the HS math teacher who gave me a D wasn’t a very good judge of my potential, and I said as much to the assembled parents, teachers, and admins when I had a chance to say a few words at an awards banquet after being recognized for winning (during the same semester that I earned a D) a statewide math competition. [/quote]

Maybe you got a D because you scored low on tests, wasn't engaged in class learning, didn't pay attention in class, didn't complete class work, homework or online work. Surely if you had done all of the above and scored 100% on assessments you would have gotten an A. But then again, seems easier to blame others.[/quote]

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