Chronically Underperforming Schools
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| Wed, 06-14-2006 - 8:28pm |
Hey all. I'm curioius what the consensus is around here on this subject.
We live in a poor District; 80-90% free/reduced lunch. Our DS (AS, 7, 1st grade) goes to a new school in the district; it just opened last year. Some of the old, smaller schools on our end of the city were closed and the kids are going to this school now. Several of the schools in our district have been labelled as chronically underperforming. Our school may be added to that list next year, despite the fact that this is only the 2nd year it has been open.
I know that we can request to have our son transfered to a "better" school within the district. I have no intention of moving him though and think this could be a blessing in disguise since if other parents choose to move their kids, then our school's class sizes will be less.
DH and I are so confused at the differences between our schools scores and those of the schools that are doing well. Two are 94 and 87 in English Language Arts....where our school's is below the target of 75. I don't know where the discrepancy is in the education. It's the same school district. Is it the teachers? Is it the family environment of the students? I can understand the impact of the latter.....but that much?!?! I'm always at my Ds's school. The teachers seem fine to me; how can these kids be testing so badly. I don't put too much stock in the test scores personally, but the system obviously does....and it seems to not be working in our districts' favor. Alot of the kids in high school are getting certificates of completion instead of a diploma because of the tests.
Academically, we think our DS is doing the best that he can (he has reading and math disabilities.) The school is certainly helping on that end with reading programs...etc. Next year he will have more accomodations academically because of a recent Neuro-pscyh eval. But classroom behavioral accomodations and the extra bodies needed to help with these and recess/lunch time are a fight to get because of the budget. Our school is on the higher income side of town as well; we lost some funding because of a lower amount of free/reduced lunch kids. In additon, I also think we lose certain funds because of the chronic underperforming status, though that should also target our school for extra help of some kind too.
Anyone dealing with this issue in their district? I feel like I should do something about it! Even though I have my hands full with DS and all his challenges, plus the 14 month old who wants to be very independent! I grew up most of my childhood in low income housing. I did well in school because I wanted to. My parents expected us to do our best, but worked alot and we were expected to do our homework on our own. I think I would have done well regardless of what school I was in.......school was my thing so our income level didn't seem to factor too much in my education......I graduated in the top 10%.
I'm not sure how to take this info. I know that the budget isn't a legal excuse for denying accomodations but it really is a good reason why so far our school hasn't said, "sure, Sam can have a 3:1 aide in his class; that's a great idea!"
Chrystee


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Sorry, now I understand better. When you said "Underqualified" my brain went instantly to NCLB "Highly qualified" junk.
I think that may be the case in inner city school and in many poorer districts where you have the younger first year teachers. I know they have those schools in San Diego. Our district is a suburb type district. Our school has a mix of immigrants, middle income and very rich. It is an interesting area I live in. Most of the schools in our town have a mix and typically over 1/2 are english language learners. We live in a high hispanic area which isn't a shock since we are less than an hour from the border. Our town in particular has a very large population because there are affordable areas to live as well as expensive or moderate. That is one of the things I love about this town is how eclectic it is. I don't like the richer, more sterilized areas as much which there are alot of around here as well.
Dave's kindie teacher this year is one of the districts main teachers involved in or leading the mentoring program for new teachers. I know that is a big deal in this district and it works out very well here. Mrs. F has taught many many years and is just fabulous. She looks not a day over maybe 35-40 but has kids herself who are married and her daughter is a 1st grade teacher. Mrs. F still gets down on the floor and plays with the kids. Her kids sit with rapt attention everytime she talks.
Renee
Thanks for all the great replies. I have a better idea on what the distinction really means now.
The principal at our school seems to like kids but creative discipline techniques are hard to come by. But she does seem more willing to do different things now that I have an advocate ;) Sam's teacher this year is burnt out and though he has come very far over this year, but I wonder if he could have done better with a more flexible teacher and a more low-key classroom. There are alot of very active boys in his class! I'm curious about next year; Sam's SLP loves the 2nd grade Sped. Int. teacher so I feel hopeful.
A law just recently passed in our state that teachers have to have specialization in what they are teaching.....which sounds like a great idea. But that means that Sped teachers have to not only be dually certified in teaching and Special Ed. but also in reading, math, science....etc....So alot of districts are getting rid of the Sped Int classrooms because staffing them is a nightmare. My advocate thinks it will get figured out eventually, but for now alot of the kids who would have been helped by such a setting are falling apart. So far our district is keeping these classrooms, but rumors have been going around that that may change.
Chrystee
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