I think private tutoring, etc. is great, in part because it *does* help make up for the large class sizes. And as I mentioned, our district is trying to address the disadvantage that low-income kids come to school with by providing preschool and all-day K. So I'm sure it is possible, if you have enough money and support, for everybody to get the basics at school. In Sweden. ;) But there isn't enough money here, at least in our school district, so it isn't going to happen in our school without parent involvement.
Our school isn't in the highest category on the standardized scores, but in a new measurement the district just developed this year, which considers more than just overall test scores (improvement in individual kids from year to year, how many years kids stay, etc.), we scored in the top ten. So I think we're doing something right.
And no, I wasn't trying to suggest that kids who can barely speak English can't be GT! In fact, our district uses a GT screening test that is supposed to better identify GT low-income kids.
I wasn't addressing you, since I wasn't responding to you. But I do consider someone who doesn't think kids should get daily help from parents with homework or with school projects more hands-off than someone who does. I'm not putting a value judgment on it.
Not really. That is the expectation where Laura is, and was equally the expectation where I grew up. There is always an advantage in growing up in a "house with books" (as it was called when my mom was a kid) and with parents who are literate and cultivated. So, as a kid I did have an advantage, but the other kids still had far more of a fighting chance than they would have had if the parents had been expected to do as much of the teaching as some posters here are describing.
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"I think it's far less than ideal for schools to require or expect that for the average child on a regular basis."
Why?
Do you believe that those who don't sit with their children every night to help them work through their homework think differently?
PumpkinAngel
I think private tutoring, etc. is great, in part because it *does* help make up for the large class sizes. And as I mentioned, our district is trying to address the disadvantage that low-income kids come to school with by providing preschool and all-day K. So I'm sure it is possible, if you have enough money and support, for everybody to get the basics at school. In Sweden. ;) But there isn't enough money here, at least in our school district, so it isn't going to happen in our school without parent involvement.
Our school isn't in the highest category on the standardized scores, but in a new measurement the district just developed this year, which considers more than just overall test scores (improvement in individual kids from year to year, how many years kids stay, etc.), we scored in the top ten. So I think we're doing something right.
And no, I wasn't trying to suggest that kids who can barely speak English can't be GT! In fact, our district uses a GT screening test that is supposed to better identify GT low-income kids.
I knew you'd get this! ;)
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