Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We switched to public from private for early elementary. We were looking for more experienced teachers than what our private school offered, as well as slightly larger class sizes so my DD would have more friend options. However, some of the things I have noticed have caused me to wonder whether we made the right decision, namely:

1) Very little feedback from the teacher - sometimes my DD will send home corrected work with low scores - one or two assignments even resulted in 0's. But there is no feedback from the teacher during the week or expression of concern about her score. I get all of her corrected work back once a week, usually on a Friday and then will follow up with the teacher the next week. I just feel like if my kid tanked an assignment or clearly doesn't understand something that happened on Monday, I would love to know then instead of waiting 5 days until the week is over and she is even more lost.

2) Kids grading each other's work and the teachers never see it. Every day the kids switch papers and grade each other's homework. One day my DD did her homework but had done a couple of problems incorrectly and at home, we were't sure where she had gone wrong. I told her to just let the teacher know once she turned in her homework so she could get help. She said the teacher never sees the homework and never provides the correct answers. The kids just review each other's work and put a checkmark next to each other's work and it comes right back home. The kids correcting each others' work has led to kids being bullied because their peers see and correct their work.

3) There are quite a few kids who clearly have behavioral problems coupled with serious learning disabilities and that are quite disruptive. Initially, my DD had lots of difficulty concentrating. We would ask that she be moved away from particularly distracting kids, however, there are enough of these kids that it's hard to avoid. I am not talking about a kid being chatty - it is beyond that - i.e., randomly and constantly yelling at the top of their lungs; urinating randomly in inappropriate places; not honoring personal space, etc.

4) Constant worksheets! Every week, I swear there are no fewer than 25 worksheets stuffed inside of her folder. She constantly complains that she's bored and I believe it's because of the monotony and rigidity of the curriculum.

My DD was excited about the new school for about a month, stopped being excited thereafter and now for the past month, just asks not to go to school or makes up random illnesses or injuries so that I will keep her home. She's made one good friend but I think feels swallowed up in the overall environment and has lost some of her confidence.

In this situation, would you stick it out and hope it gets better or look into going back to private school?

A few things to consider:

1. Receiving all of a child's work once a week is a pretty good record for "feedback".

2. I attended private school, and we corrected one another's work every day. I recall the teacher putting all of the scores in her grading book, but that seems very normal to me.

3. In this no-textbook era, I have found more use of worksheets as well because teachers don't have other materials. I'm afraid this has become widespread, even outside the U.S.

Anonymous wrote:We switched to public from private for early elementary. We were looking for more experienced teachers than what our private school offered, as well as slightly larger class sizes so my DD would have more friend options. However, some of the things I have noticed have caused me to wonder whether we made the right decision, namely:

1) Very little feedback from the teacher - sometimes my DD will send home corrected work with low scores - one or two assignments even resulted in 0's. But there is no feedback from the teacher during the week or expression of concern about her score. I get all of her corrected work back once a week, usually on a Friday and then will follow up with the teacher the next week. I just feel like if my kid tanked an assignment or clearly doesn't understand something that happened on Monday, I would love to know then instead of waiting 5 days until the week is over and she is even more lost.

2) Kids grading each other's work and the teachers never see it. Every day the kids switch papers and grade each other's homework. One day my DD did her homework but had done a couple of problems incorrectly and at home, we were't sure where she had gone wrong. I told her to just let the teacher know once she turned in her homework so she could get help. She said the teacher never sees the homework and never provides the correct answers. The kids just review each other's work and put a checkmark next to each other's work and it comes right back home. The kids correcting each others' work has led to kids being bullied because their peers see and correct their work.

3) There are quite a few kids who clearly have behavioral problems coupled with serious learning disabilities and that are quite disruptive. Initially, my DD had lots of difficulty concentrating. We would ask that she be moved away from particularly distracting kids, however, there are enough of these kids that it's hard to avoid. I am not talking about a kid being chatty - it is beyond that - i.e., randomly and constantly yelling at the top of their lungs; urinating randomly in inappropriate places; not honoring personal space, etc.

4) Constant worksheets! Every week, I swear there are no fewer than 25 worksheets stuffed inside of her folder. She constantly complains that she's bored and I believe it's because of the monotony and rigidity of the curriculum.

My DD was excited about the new school for about a month, stopped being excited thereafter and now for the past month, just asks not to go to school or makes up random illnesses or injuries so that I will keep her home. She's made one good friend but I think feels swallowed up in the overall environment and has lost some of her confidence.

In this situation, would you stick it out and hope it gets better or look into going back to private school?

Anonymous wrote:I wasn't surprised by any of this except the urinating in inappropriate places. Are kids actually peeing all over the classroom? That's insane (and disgusting).

Anonymous wrote:I wasn't surprised by any of this except the urinating in inappropriate places. Are kids actually peeing all over the classroom? That's insane (and disgusting).

Anonymous wrote:The only thing that surprises me is that there is any homework at all.

Anonymous wrote:We switched to public from private for early elementary. We were looking for more experienced teachers than what our private school offered, as well as slightly larger class sizes so my DD would have more friend options. However, some of the things I have noticed have caused me to wonder whether we made the right decision, namely:

1) Very little feedback from the teacher - sometimes my DD will send home corrected work with low scores - one or two assignments even resulted in 0's. But there is no feedback from the teacher during the week or expression of concern about her score. I get all of her corrected work back once a week, usually on a Friday and then will follow up with the teacher the next week. I just feel like if my kid tanked an assignment or clearly doesn't understand something that happened on Monday, I would love to know then instead of waiting 5 days until the week is over and she is even more lost.

2) Kids grading each other's work and the teachers never see it. Every day the kids switch papers and grade each other's homework. One day my DD did her homework but had done a couple of problems incorrectly and at home, we were't sure where she had gone wrong. I told her to just let the teacher know once she turned in her homework so she could get help. She said the teacher never sees the homework and never provides the correct answers. The kids just review each other's work and put a checkmark next to each other's work and it comes right back home. The kids correcting each others' work has led to kids being bullied because their peers see and correct their work.

3) There are quite a few kids who clearly have behavioral problems coupled with serious learning disabilities and that are quite disruptive. Initially, my DD had lots of difficulty concentrating. We would ask that she be moved away from particularly distracting kids, however, there are enough of these kids that it's hard to avoid. I am not talking about a kid being chatty - it is beyond that - i.e., randomly and constantly yelling at the top of their lungs; urinating randomly in inappropriate places; not honoring personal space, etc.

4) Constant worksheets! Every week, I swear there are no fewer than 25 worksheets stuffed inside of her folder. She constantly complains that she's bored and I believe it's because of the monotony and rigidity of the curriculum.

My DD was excited about the new school for about a month, stopped being excited thereafter and now for the past month, just asks not to go to school or makes up random illnesses or injuries so that I will keep her home. She's made one good friend but I think feels swallowed up in the overall environment and has lost some of her confidence.

In this situation, would you stick it out and hope it gets better or look into going back to private school?