Rock and a Hard Place
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Rock and a Hard Place
| Thu, 11-20-2003 - 10:45am |
There's something on this board that has been bothering me, and I hope I can articulate it.
| Thu, 11-20-2003 - 10:45am |
There's something on this board that has been bothering me, and I hope I can articulate it.
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No, I am not. I am assuming FULL responsibility for my children's education. I send them to school primarily for socialization. I don't live in your world, thank goodness, and have not witnessed the situations you describe. When I spoke of witnessing parents who don't accept their children for who they are, I was speaking to child welfare cases I worked on. I am not competitive with my children, and no matter how many ways you twist my words, it will not become a reality. I do not blame the school system for my child's success or failures. I see the school as a partner in my child's education.
1. Some parents may not be so in tune with what's going on with their child -- maybe one of those FT WOHP working 80+ hours/week who don't set foot in their kids' school (wink). This may give them a sense of where their child is.
2. For those who are at the bottom of the distribution, the parents may be able to better work with the teacher to try to help the kid improve. (to me, the "national average" means nothing. If the kid is below the "school average" then he is "below average."). Perhaps that kid has a learning disability and that's why he's "last" in his class. I think that information would be very useful.
3. For those who are at the top of the distribution, the parents may be able to work with the teacher to try to better the kid's education. Maybe she needs to be tested for a gifted program. Maybe she will benefit from having extra lesson. If she's really really bright, then I think it's important to challenge her.
However, if all parents who discover that their child is performing below class average assume the extremely unlikely - that the class is full of highly gifted students - rather than the much more likely - that their child is performing below average for some child-specific reason - then the class comparison data is not as useful as it could be of course. A determined enough parent can find some way to avoid facing reality I'm sure. The class data at least makes it clear that the teacher and school aren't likely to be at fault. The knowledge of that fact alone could save the parents years of effort directed towards blaming the school for their childs relatively lackluster performance.
The chart isn't to help the teacher with her knowledge. Its to help you with yours.
Or is your issue that the comparison is only in the classroom, as opposed to on a larger scale?
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