Anonymous
02/05/2013 06:42
Subject: Tell me how your bright, middle-class child did/is doing at a low socio-economic school
I think mine is doing well academically, but agree with the other posters about the social aspects. Last year, for example, we invited the whole class to his birthday party. It was in April, 1 of 2 outside of school parties all year, and about 5 kids came of which only 3 RSVP'd. Academically he is doing great, has had 2 wonderful teachers, and the classrooms have a lot of additional support throughout the day. He is about a grade level above in reading and math and gets plenty of attention from his teacher on his strengths and weaknesses (writing). Our schools is about 65% FARMs and 45% ESOL.
Anonymous
02/05/2013 06:25
Subject: Tell me how your bright, middle-class child did/is doing at a low socio-economic school
Immigrants that I know are highly educated. I do not understand the posters that have said that
The low income housing is for amricans. And I would not really call myself middle class. Just do not have the 250k annual income to be one.
The low income housing is for amricans. And I would not really call myself middle class. Just do not have the 250k annual income to be one.
Anonymous
02/04/2013 20:46
Subject: Tell me how your bright, middle-class child did/is doing at a low socio-economic school
Lots of schools with high farms have apartments and low income housing (rentals), so it's relatively easy to figure this out.
Anonymous
02/04/2013 20:33
Subject: Re:Tell me how your bright, middle-class child did/is doing at a low socio-economic school
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:how do you determine the SES of people you don't know personally?!?!?
The people in the large homes have high SES. Sometimes you do know these people personally.
Really so how much you choose to invest in a house determines your SES?
Anonymous
02/04/2013 20:30
Subject: Tell me how your bright, middle-class child did/is doing at a low socio-economic school
OP, if you will tell us what school you are considering there will likely be people who have personal experience. It is anonymous so people don't usually have an issue with sharing.
I would discount anybody who says it is perfect and anybody who says it is awful. The truth lies in the middle. My kids are in a focus school and the small class size is great. No social challenges with my kids, but I do know others who have had difficulties. Sometimes it is hard to know if it is the school or it is the kid. For most I think it is a bit of both.
I would discount anybody who says it is perfect and anybody who says it is awful. The truth lies in the middle. My kids are in a focus school and the small class size is great. No social challenges with my kids, but I do know others who have had difficulties. Sometimes it is hard to know if it is the school or it is the kid. For most I think it is a bit of both.
Anonymous
02/04/2013 17:19
Subject: Re:Tell me how your bright, middle-class child did/is doing at a low socio-economic school
Anonymous wrote:how do you determine the SES of people you don't know personally?!?!?
If you're asking PP, my guess is if you know the percentage of FARMS kids at the school then that same percentage would be reflected or possibly overrepresented in any given subset of families PP is talking about. So yeah, you're making some assumptions, but if you're at a Title 1 school that is 65% FARMS then you'd pretty safely assume that more than 1/2 of the kids who aren't in extracurriculars or more than 1/2 of families not coming to back to school night are low SES. I'm not sure any of the PPs were saying every single family that wasn't at back to school night is low SES.
Anonymous
02/04/2013 17:15
Subject: Re:Tell me how your bright, middle-class child did/is doing at a low socio-economic school
Anonymous wrote:how do you determine the SES of people you don't know personally?!?!?
The people in the large homes have high SES. Sometimes you do know these people personally.
Anonymous
02/04/2013 17:09
Subject: Re:Tell me how your bright, middle-class child did/is doing at a low socio-economic school
how do you determine the SES of people you don't know personally?!?!?
Anonymous
02/04/2013 14:13
Subject: Re:Tell me how your bright, middle-class child did/is doing at a low socio-economic school
With regard to the question of who runs the classroom parties, my experience has been mostly similar to NOVA mom's experience. Our PTA has started to be more proactive about getting Spanish speaking parents involved by drawing in parents who are fluent in both languages to interpret and translate and just make them feel more welcome. That has helped a lot. One thing I've noted is that all the kids in SFHs get involved in sports at school while the immigrant of low SES families don't. That is unfortunate because it's place where the kids can develop friendships outside school. I don't know that the fees should be cost prohibitive since often there are full scholarships available, but those families probably just don't have support in knowing how to navigate the paperwork required.
Anonymous
02/04/2013 12:59
Subject: Tell me how your bright, middle-class child did/is doing at a low socio-economic school
Anonymous wrote:We are in NOVA and have chosen our neighborhood school. It is 70%(+) FARMS and 50% spanish-speaking. Test scores are not great. Our experience is similar to other pp's - DS is doing fine academically and seems challenged. Is learning things that his peers (at other schools) are learning. The school understands its population and knows how to challenge the kids who are better prepared and more engaged, and how to help those who are not.
The challenge for us also is on the social side of things. Very hard to arrange playdates, do birthday parties, etc. Beyond the 50% spanish speaking, there also are many immigrant families speaking a variety of languages.
One thing that I've noticed, which PP's haven't mentioned, is that the general social environment/culture at the school seems...lacking. That is, the school is not a hub for everyone, the way that my school was when I was growing up. When they hold social functions, parties, etc., there are a LOT of people who do not come. (The same people tend to be there every time.) Another example - for back-to-school night, very few people come. Also things like classroom parties don't happen, unless one of the American parents steps forward to organize it (and since there are few of us, and many of us WOH, it's particularly hard). I think the families who have non-American cultural backgrounds maybe just don't expect that school is something they would participate in beyond simply sending their child there each day to learn.
I posted earlier about my kids' school in Silver Spring, and this is not the case for our school. I find that the school very much IS a hub for the kids, playing there after school, staying after for clubs, etc. My kids have also come home from classroom parties for Halloween and Valentine's Day with goodie bags that so-and-so's mom (not one of the "white kids") made for the entire class. I don't volunteer or plan the parties, but it seems like these parents who don't go in contribute in other ways. Back to School Night seems well-represented, and we have learning nights every few months that seem to also be well-attended when we go. I don't go to every single one of these special events either, so I can't expect that other parents would, no matter what their SES is. I think it's going to vary by school--I don't doubt your experience and I agree that culture can play a role in it, but I don't think it's necessarily a quality of Title I/lower SES schools.
Anonymous
02/04/2013 12:15
Subject: Tell me how your bright, middle-class child did/is doing at a low socio-economic school
Lot of thoughtful responses here, and I think you find that the experience can vary.
Just wanted to offer one comment on the social aspect.
We are also at a diverse, high FARMs school, and also don't have a ton of playdates.
However, we came from a private preschool, and didn't have a ton of playdates from there, either!
My kids do sometimes want to have kids over, but I also think that it has to do with personalities. My kids like their classmates, and whenever I am at the school I see warm friendly interactions between my kids and classmates, but it doesn't always translate to playdates. I think, at least for my kids, they enjoy having the weekend to just "chill out".
When I was growing up, I never really needed/wanted a huge group of friends. I had 2-4 close friends, and that worked for me. As a child I attended both higher and lower income schools, and my approach to friendships was they same regardless of the school.
Just wanted to offer one comment on the social aspect.
We are also at a diverse, high FARMs school, and also don't have a ton of playdates.
However, we came from a private preschool, and didn't have a ton of playdates from there, either!
My kids do sometimes want to have kids over, but I also think that it has to do with personalities. My kids like their classmates, and whenever I am at the school I see warm friendly interactions between my kids and classmates, but it doesn't always translate to playdates. I think, at least for my kids, they enjoy having the weekend to just "chill out".
When I was growing up, I never really needed/wanted a huge group of friends. I had 2-4 close friends, and that worked for me. As a child I attended both higher and lower income schools, and my approach to friendships was they same regardless of the school.
Anonymous
02/04/2013 12:07
Subject: Re:Tell me how your bright, middle-class child did/is doing at a low socio-economic school
Sadly, not well. She cried every day at dropoff. She spent a lot of time alone. She became somewhat quiet and withdrawn.
When she changed schools, she was much happier and more perky right away. Now, if I ask her about the kids she talked about at last year's school, she doesn't even remember them.
It's like a punch in the gut every time I think of it, honestly. It was just kindergarten, but I hate that I put her through a full year of being an outsider, with grownups who didn't stand up for or take an interest in the quiet kids. I guess they were too busy dealing with the problem children... Needless to say, she didn't learn anything, either.
When she changed schools, she was much happier and more perky right away. Now, if I ask her about the kids she talked about at last year's school, she doesn't even remember them.
It's like a punch in the gut every time I think of it, honestly. It was just kindergarten, but I hate that I put her through a full year of being an outsider, with grownups who didn't stand up for or take an interest in the quiet kids. I guess they were too busy dealing with the problem children... Needless to say, she didn't learn anything, either.
Anonymous
02/04/2013 12:05
Subject: Tell me how your bright, middle-class child did/is doing at a low socio-economic school
Anonymous wrote:We are in NOVA and have chosen our neighborhood school. It is 70%(+) FARMS and 50% spanish-speaking. Test scores are not great. Our experience is similar to other pp's - DS is doing fine academically and seems challenged. Is learning things that his peers (at other schools) are learning. The school understands its population and knows how to challenge the kids who are better prepared and more engaged, and how to help those who are not.
The challenge for us also is on the social side of things. Very hard to arrange playdates, do birthday parties, etc. Beyond the 50% spanish speaking, there also are many immigrant families speaking a variety of languages.
One thing that I've noticed, which PP's haven't mentioned, is that the general social environment/culture at the school seems...lacking. That is, the school is not a hub for everyone, the way that my school was when I was growing up. When they hold social functions, parties, etc., there are a LOT of people who do not come. (The same people tend to be there every time.) Another example - for back-to-school night, very few people come. Also things like classroom parties don't happen, unless one of the American parents steps forward to organize it (and since there are few of us, and many of us WOH, it's particularly hard). I think the families who have non-American cultural backgrounds maybe just don't expect that school is something they would participate in beyond simply sending their child there each day to learn.
I teach ESOL and for Back to School Night the same is true for us. Many of our parents work at night and many of them do not speak English so they feel uncomfortable coming to events like this. There is also a cultural difference in that schools are often seen as "hands off" for many immigrant parents. The teachers do their job and it is not up to the parents to be a part of that. Some immigrant parents are also intimidated because they may not be very well educated themselves. Their kids go to school to learn, but it is not a place where parents usually participate.
Anonymous
02/04/2013 12:04
Subject: Tell me how your bright, middle-class child did/is doing at a low socio-economic school
Anonymous wrote:We are in NOVA and have chosen our neighborhood school. It is 70%(+) FARMS and 50% spanish-speaking. Test scores are not great. Our experience is similar to other pp's - DS is doing fine academically and seems challenged. Is learning things that his peers (at other schools) are learning. The school understands its population and knows how to challenge the kids who are better prepared and more engaged, and how to help those who are not.
The challenge for us also is on the social side of things. Very hard to arrange playdates, do birthday parties, etc. Beyond the 50% spanish speaking, there also are many immigrant families speaking a variety of languages.
One thing that I've noticed, which PP's haven't mentioned, is that the general social environment/culture at the school seems...lacking. That is, the school is not a hub for everyone, the way that my school was when I was growing up. When they hold social functions, parties, etc., there are a LOT of people who do not come. (The same people tend to be there every time.) Another example - for back-to-school night, very few people come. Also things like classroom parties don't happen, unless one of the American parents steps forward to organize it (and since there are few of us, and many of us WOH, it's particularly hard). I think the families who have non-American cultural backgrounds maybe just don't expect that school is something they would participate in beyond simply sending their child there each day to learn.
Another likely possibility is that these families have parents who are working at night.
Anonymous
02/04/2013 11:50
Subject: Tell me how your bright, middle-class child did/is doing at a low socio-economic school
Anonymous wrote:Because of the behavior issues, right PP?
Yes, there are behavioral issues in this classroom. My reason for posting though was to point out that reduced class sizes for high FARMS schools applies for K through 2nd. In my opinion, the smaller class sizes work. I wouldn't count on smaller class sizes at the 3rd grade or above, however. Staffing decisions take the total number of teachers available for first to fifth into account (K levels are staffed separately.) Just because the class size guidelines call for no more than 27 kids in a 3rd grade class, for example, doesn't mean that you can't have 31 or 32 kids, depending on how the numbers break out at other levels. And while you might get support from another teacher for reading groups, that's not going to apply for the whole day. Much of the day will be one teacher with the whole class.