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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]These ratings systems got crap when it was all about test scores, which are typically a proxy for income level.  Now they factor in diversity.  So an all white school with the same test scores won’t rank as high.

ATS is able to produce high scores with diverse students because it’s a self selecting population of students.[/quote]

Here we go again. ATS diversity comes from the VPI program. There are VPI programs in several APS schools and all students get into through a lottery. Yet the ATS VPI students do better than their counterparts in other schools. Also other option schools have a self selecting population but they aren’t doing as well as ATS. ATS is simply a better school. [/quote]

What other schools have self selected student populations on academic rigor ? That’s literally ATS selling point, teaching stuff like it used to be taught.

It’s the combination of VPI and EVERY STUDENT there has engaged parents who want their kid there. [/quote]

Yes but you are acting like there is nothing different about the school itself. My daughter’s friend was in Discovery. They moved her to ATS. Her mom told me that ATS is just much more rigorous. That’s the story you hear from parents who come from other neighborhood schools. The curriculum is more rigorous. Now whether this means anything in the long run is something else. Because even if the curriculum is more rigorous in elementary school it may not make a different in the long run.  [/quote]

One clear difference is the number of minutes spent on literacy in the lower grades and how they remediate kids who aren't making top scores, even without and IEP, 504, or whatever. They just do it, including 1:1 tutoring. [/quote]

If they spend more time on literacy, what are they cutting back on? The school day is the same length as other elementary schools in APS, no?

And the kids who are pulled for tutoring — what do they get pulled from? I can’t imagine it’s recess.

ATS also has weekly assemblies, right? This, again, eats into instructional time.

Maybe it’s more about what’s happening at HOME than most people acknowledge. ATS has big class sizes which makes any meaningful amount of 1-on-1 support during the school day impossible. Of course kids with involved parents are going to outperform their peers whose parents can’t be bothered to work with their child at home.

(And I agree with PP, at the MS and HS levels, I don’t see any difference. The former ATS kids in our neighborhood vary greatly in how well they’re doing later on. Some are bright. Others… not so much.)[/quote]

A lot of the extra tutoring to get students at grade level happens after school. Other times it’s during what ATS calls “starblock” where teachers work one on one with students based on their individual needs. ATS teachers have a lot of support in the classroom. They use their specialists a lot and there are many of them. The specialists help everyone and according to my kids there is at least one “extra teacher” that comes in the class during the day. So yes the classes are large but the specialists are utilized extremely well. They have specialists that other schools don’t have and they will now be getting more specialists after being designated a title 1 school. As for the literacy block, you tell me. Why can’t other schools fit in a longer literacy block? How are they using their time?[/quote]

So ATS has extra staff that other schools don’t have, and they’ve had them prior to becoming Title 1?!

They employ more teachers and reading specialists than the other elementary schools in APS?

And the struggling learners are expected to stay after school for tutoring?[/quote]

I don’t know why they have those staff members. Maybe each school gets to pick what their specialists and in other schools the specialists don’t come and support the teachers in the classroom while teaching  . That’s a question you can ask APS. But for example we have a testing coordinator but that testing coordinator works with students and teachers in the classroom.

I doubt any school can force students to stay after school and I dont know how it works exactly because my kids never stayed afterschool. But I know every parent whose kid stayed after school to catch up on their reading and math skills was really happy and grateful. I imagine that it’s something ATS suggests to the parents and the parents are more than happy to take them up on the opportunity. They work to catch up students during class time as well by utilizing the specialists. Starblock and lunch time is used for non-academic stuff as well. For example when my daughter moved to ATS in first grade she was extremely shy and had no friends. During starblock a specialist worked with her and two other new kids and they were specifically put together so that they can have an opportunity to get to know each other. We had to sign something to give the school permission to do this. She also ate lunch with a small group of students and the counselor who had the students play games with each other so that they could get to know each other. They make sure all the kids are socially and emotionally adjusted as well. [/quote]

So the secret sauce to ATS is increased staffing? Funny that these additional positions don’t show up in Syphax reports.

Do ATS teachers get paid to stay after school to tutor kids? Or is it unpaid labor?[/quote]
Principals have some flexibility in how they use their FTE allotment and how they provide services. Every APS school where I have worked or sent my kid (ATS included) has had an intervention period (star time or whatever their mascot was) as well as some form of after school intervention available to struggling students. They also have lunch bunches with counselors for new or struggling students. The thing about ATS is that their needs are less severe than many schools and that is in part to parental involvement and expectations. The design of option schools means that students don't start school with zero introduction to US culture and English language. I've had students who have been in the US for less than a week thrown in to regular classes. That's hard to overcome! [/quote]

Doesn’t explain why ATS is still better than every north Arlington school despite 37% of students being English learners and 36% being economically disadvantaged.[/quote]

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