Please ask your children what they've done

:hurray::hurray::hurray:A-freaking-men.

What I see is a "dumbing down" of our kids. I'm blessed that my son performs well above grade level. We are INVOLVED with his studies as far as making sure he has the time and the tools to do his work. We don't do it FOR him. If he was NOT performing at that level, I certainly would not expect the other kids to sit and be bored while he caught up and took EOG's over and over til he passed. Real life does not work this way.

Oh, and BTW, Mr/Mrs. School Admin or Teacher, I didn't bring this up, my son did. I do my best to not talk bad about the school or teacher, but what am I supposed to say when HE talks about time being wasted watching movies? hmmm?

 

ICAM with the previous posters. Pushing kids though only sets them up for bigger failure later on in their school career. It doesn't get any easier, that is why we go K-12 and not 12-K.

 

yeah, i'm an involved parent, too. but what about the kids who don't have them? do we hold back a kid in 1st grade until he's 16, or do we figure out a way to get him to learn? staying after school, tutoring, etc? are these all such foregin concepts? can every one of you say you never had to do any of that? so, a kid needs some remediation and a retest. so what? isn't that what the school is there for? not everyone has an ideal situation. maybe mom's a druggie. maybe dad's in prison. maybe they're both dead. does that kid deserve to be shut out because his parents aren't as involved as my kid's parents?

there's an easier way to solve this, imho. give them the damn test two weeks later so they're doing THAT the last two weeks of school instead. duh.

 

I'm all for remediation to a point, and this is going to sound callous and it's not meant to be.................until it affects the education the OTHER kids are supposed to be getting. Why should the others suffer right along with them? If they've passed their EOG's, either let them do work for the next grade level or send them home. DS has said they have done a bit of 6th grade math lately, thank the good Lord.

I like your suggestion much better than the way it is going on right now.

 

maybe i'm missing something. if one kid needs remediation, the whole class has to sit and be quiet while he gets it, and then again while he retests? unless it's the majority of the class that's retesting, i don't see why the few who need it can't be pulled out and housed together in another classroom or something...

 

Folks, remember I'm the Liberal in this pile. And I agree that there are issues that need addressing regarding absentee/uninvolved parents. But that's not within the purview of the schools.

We either want teachers to teach, or we want the system to parent and teach. They can't do both, especially with the constraints they have, X kids in a classroom, different levels of education within that classroom, disciplinary challenges, different levels of parent support of students, inadequate resources, among many other factors.

Yes, it is a shame that there are biological sperm/egg donors that care not a whit about the offspring they bring into this world. For some, it's more difficult to get a driver's license than procreate.

Ideally, all parents will love and support their children, who will grow up to be productive members of society and good parents in their own right. Even I'm not that deluded to think this is ever gonna happen.

Again, as shameful as this is, it's not within the purview of the schools.

 

Whatever happened to summer school?

 

I don't know, because I have not seen it first hand, only what DS is telling me, but my understanding is that the kids are separted and the ones who have to retest, etc go elsewhere while the rest of them sit and WATCH MOVIES. It's a waste of time, which brings me back to my original post about 12,000 pages ago. Either give them work to do within reason (a little fun is perfectly fine) or send them home and stop wasting resources.

 

At least they had game day. Do you know how tired I get of playing Twister?

 

Yes, remediation involves removing the students requiring remediation and retesting to another classroom. Thus one teacher and a proctor (usually another staff member) go to that area. There can be a single student requiring retesting with one teacher and a proctor, or several. Either way, the other students are either farmed out to another classroom with little to do, or else assigned busy work to complete. At this point, the teachers are just trying to keep and orderly quiet within the school, to not disturb the retesting.

Little, if any, education is provided. I've heard of little engaging, productive work being done these last two weeks meaning: Such a waste of resources.

 

:lol:

Yesterday they had "free enterprise" which means they spend "points" they have accumulated for good behavoir of various items their classmates have made and brought in. My sweet, sweet child spent almost all his points on a candle.................for me. I cried like a baby, cause he could have spent it all on candy, junk food, etc. and instead bought something for me, completely on his own.

 

That *is* sweet, mine would have bought candy.

 

hahahahaha, hey one time.... nevermind. :lol:

 

maybe it shouldn't be, but it is.

not my system, but that's the way it has been set up and evolved over time, mostly due to the liberal argument that it's done for the greater good of society. you start flunking all those kids without the remediation/retest thing, with a big dose of "tough crap" and see what happens. their parents will get involved, alright. they're going to fight for their right to make it the school's responsiblity instead of theirs. thanks, liberals who think they can save the world. you can't. some people won't be saved. then what? a whole generation of uneducated/undereducated cretons gets turned loose on society? good luck with that whole thing...

i'm a conservative, and i'd have to say that the school system is the only hope we have for some of these kids. if we don't try to get to them when they're young, sometimes in spite of their parents instead of in concert with them, then it's my town and my neighborhood and my world that gets worse, not theirs. imho, that's a good use of my tax dollars. consider it an investment in the safety of the future.

and i gotta say, hat, your second paragraph is exactly why the charter school exists. yes, they can. my kid's second grade class had a minimum of 4 reading groups this year, with a total of 22 kids. at times there were more groups, and for a big chunk of the year one of the groups actually physically went to learn with the 3rd graders for part of the day. we have the same EC kids, the same discipline problem kids, and even LESS resources from the fed/state/county, and in only our second year was named a School of Distinction for our EOG scores. just because your system can't do it, doesn't mean mine can't....

 

Cleo answered this one best...

3-6 weeks (based on grade level) of parent paid for summer school should be enough remediation time for a retest. You fail it the 2nd time, you repeat the grade.

Why does dad always have to be the one in prison? :lol:

Anyways... whoever the caretaker is should be involved. My child shouldn't have to wait around because of the other kid's parents lack of involvment. I understand that every kid learns at a different level and that some get things others can't. But as you suggested, after school tutoring, parental supplementing additional materials to help the child, etc., etc. There are plenty of places that offer additional help for children. Sylvan Learning Center comes to mind. Plus there are many other opportunities out there for help. You just have too look for them.

No time to remediate. They'll go over their set number of days.

 

summer school? heaven forbid! i might have to give up my summer vacation



that may be the best answer. sounds like maybe our grandparents were doing it right "old-school" style "back in the day". there's got to be some language in the law that ties the funding to graduation from grade to grade at end of school year, though, as opposed to whether or not they start the next year at level +1. state and county funding is done by ADA (butts in seats), but i think the fed money has different requirements...

 

Yes, charter schools offer these advantages as my child is at one for this very reason. The unfortunate part is that the school he goes to is VERY inconsistant. We loved his teacher and believe she did a great job. Half way through the school year (finally) my child was assessed. Why they wait that long I don't understand. He assessed high and was scheduled to to go up a grade for both math and reading. His primary teacher would send him but was sent back 3 or 4 times a week because the other teacher was not ready or it was inconvienent. I understand if the other teacher is giving a test and it carries over into that block of time or if there was a specialized project that he couldn't be part of, but most of the time we were not told why he didn't go. These inconsistancies can make it very difficult to maintain his learning process but we could supplement it at home to keep it up.

 

Yes, inconvenience the parents and then they will realize it is *their* problem. Too much pressure and not enough pay for teachers nowadays.

 

....and sadly this is the problem we run into all too often. Parents fuss that they pay taxes for the schools to teach their kids what they need to know and then blame the school if their child fails. Teachers wish more parents would be involved, check folders and homework, read with the kids every night, respond to calls and notes, etc. Maybe then everyone would be on the same page where the child is concerned.

One major issue I see is that some schools allow parents too much say over what happens with their child in the classroom and that should NOT be the case. With so many other options for an education I say of you are not happy with the education your child gets at your local school then pay to send them to a private school or keep them home and teach them yourself.

Some say there is too much testing and too many chances, many teachers agree. But it's not their fault.....they are doing what they are told to do. I agree that if a kid fails, and does so by a fairly large margin, then they fail. Repeat the grade and learn the material. But I would venture to say that if those parents were more involved then that child may not fail.

Regardless....your child may be in a classroom with one of these children and the teacher has to work with that unique situation. And in some classes the movie they watched was directly related to a book they were also reading these past few weeks. Today some watched Conjunction Junction...the old Saturday morning cartoon.....it's not like they are watching Spongebob, Disney cartoons or Avatar. It's still educational material. But you are always welcome to come and be involved and see for yourselves.

And, no, I'm not a teacher......but I am honored to know every one of these kids and teachers.