Parents and school involvement

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-17-2003
Parents and school involvement
2586
Thu, 08-23-2007 - 8:49am

My question stems from a personal experience. My middle child is starting kindergarten next week. I've become fairly close with one of my dd's friend's moms- this is her first child entering the school system. She WOH, I do not, plus I have experience with the school, so she's been calling me with questions and comments.

It started to go bad when she called to complain that the kindy orientation is during the day- when she is working. Then it led to complaints about the parents' read aloud program (when the kids are in library) and other opportunities for volunteerism in the school. I get that these things aren't convenient for her, but I'm getting annoyed with the complaining. How can the kids have an orientation at night when they go to school during the day? None of these events are mandatory for parents or kids. And plenty of activities are scheduled for evenings: Back to school night, the PTA picnic, etc.

She thinks because she can't participate, no one should be able to, apparently. Plenty of WOHP do show up for these things. I think she's being unrealistic if she thought she could put a couple of kids through school without ever taking a vacation day. Am I wrong? Am I missing something here?

Pages

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-27-2005
Sun, 09-09-2007 - 10:09am

www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO/HEHS-94-45

Check out this website. It is in pdf format.

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-03-2006
Sun, 09-09-2007 - 10:48am

Not at all. The level of work the kids are doing is way above what dd's peers are doing in our old district. It's just a matter of raising the bar and getting dd out of spiraling teaching techniques. She couldn't handle them. She needs to learn one thing to mastery and then move on. You know, how the asian countries who are beating the pants off of us in international testing teach.

I had no idea going in what difference it would make. Honestly, I expected it to take years to close the gap between where she was and where she needed to be. We were all shocked on the first day of school last year. Dd said to me, on the way home, in a quiet voice, "Mom, I think all the smart kids are in my class".

One big difference between this school and our old one is dd stays on the G&T track even though she's habitually late with assignments. She gets overwhelmed when things are given to her and often starts way too late. However, they use authentic testing not grades to determine what class a child belongs in. She actually flunked language arts last year but is still considered gifted in that area. Her test scores don't match her grades. She knows the tests don't affect her grades or the school's standing. I don't know if she's test phobic or what but she tests higher than she performs and placing her with the group the tests indicate she should be with has resulted in her not only closing the gap she came in with but passing her grade level by.

Getting this kid to do anything is like pulling teeth but she appears to be learning in spite of it. My theory is that her procrastination actually pays off here. I suspect that she's overwhelmed by the material the first time she sees it (just her nature) then has to relearn it to actually do the assingment late but learns it well that second time around. I suspect she learns it the first time around but she has so little confidence in her ability she won't act on it. Shades of her mother here. I was at the top of my chemical engineering class but would not open my mouth in class unless I felt I'd mastered the material. I would be head and shoulders above my peers but lack confidence in my ability because I knew I had not achieved mastery yet.

I LOVE this school. With that explanation, they altered dd's education plan to allow for late assignments. No matter how late, dd has to do the assignment and they give her full credit based on quality of work. The idea is to build her confidence by showing her that when she does the work, she does well and she does. The only reason she failed language arts last year is that dh and I were in the middle of a divorce and her late assignments kind of got away from us. She had too many unfinished assignments at the end of the year to get a passing grade but her test scores indicated she should be moved up so she was.

Edited to add that test scores support dd has jumped as well. When she entered this school, the school's test scores matched what Sylvan said. After her move onto the gifted track, testing at Sylvan backed what the school said. It's not an issue of her being higher by comparison to lower peers by any means. One of the things that draws parents to this school is the G&T program and the fact that even their standard track is modeled after the G&T program. The bar is set high.




Edited 9/9/2007 2:06 pm ET by gr8fulmom1
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-26-2007
Sun, 09-09-2007 - 11:14am
I don't suppose you actually *read* that link, beyond its title. Otherwise, you might have noticed where it was specifically addressing children who change schools more than once a year. Which doesn't apply to anyone on this board, nor the discuss hereto.

~~~~~~~~~

Kitty

"BTW, I hate Lifetime. Their movies will suck you in and all of a sudden you've watched 3 in a row, used every tissue in t

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-27-2005
Sun, 09-09-2007 - 1:49pm
I don't think YOU read it. It says children who change schools "frequently". The first line (which is what you must have ONLY read) gives a statistic that 1/5 of all americans move yearly. No where have they indicated that these children who change schools "frequently" are moving every year.
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-06-2004
Sun, 09-09-2007 - 1:54pm
Thank you!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 09-09-2007 - 2:09pm
They studied kids in third grade who moved 3 times since 1st.

VickiSiggy.jpg picture by mamalahk

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 09-09-2007 - 2:23pm

I found nothing in the article that had anything relevant to PA's children. Here was the conclusion.


"Children who change schools frequently face many challenges to their success in school. Such change can cause disruption and add to the other challenges-low-income, limited English proficiency, and migrant status-that make learning and achievement difficult for them.

VickiSiggy.jpg picture by mamalahk

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-27-2005
Sun, 09-09-2007 - 2:46pm

"I would love to see what support you have or what reasoning you have to support your theory about children not benefiting from a school change or changes."-From PKA

Never said she was talking about her children's situation.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 09-09-2007 - 3:17pm
Ok I did read it & I didn't see a study about children who move schools a lot, I saw one about children who move schools a lot and have a host of other issues to deal with.

VickiSiggy.jpg picture by mamalahk

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 09-09-2007 - 4:58pm
You're very lucky that you've never felt that the best thing to do at the time was to put up with an abusive boss.

<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> 

Pages