State of Education? Some serious thoughts?

[snipsnsnails]

Can we discuss this? I had a girls' night out last night and a friend of a friend who I'd never really met was there. She's a teacher at a large public high school in the NYC metro area and has been teaching there for 23 years. The things she told me were, well, I don't know a better word than discouraging.  

Among other things...She said that while her school has what they'd consider a high graduation rate, they're discovering that a large percentage of kids are dropping out in their freshman year of college because they are so academically unprepared, mainly from being passed along through the system.

She mentioned that behavioral issues and the intensity of some of the actions that go with them seem to be rising, and the ones that are not documented or diagnosed within the school system itself are especially difficult to manage in a classroom setting. A student had a large butcher knife in her handbag three weeks ago (suspended thereafter) and another student was brought to administration for attacking a fellow classmate. When brought in, the parent and uncle of the student denied it ever happened and the teacher, afterward, was told by the principal to not do as many write ups b/c they result in tenuous circumstances like this conference.

She shared that while she's teaching a 9th grade English class, they're reading 5th grade level plays.

She said, somewhat depressingly, that she's retiring in two and a half years because there are times she feels as if she is contributing to the brokenness of the system by being compliant within it.

I'm curious to hear what it might be like where you are? Is this an extreme? An exaggeration? Or reality? Partial reality?

[looseseal]

I have several friends who teach K-5, and I always come away from convos with them depressed. They feel they can basically peg the kids who won't make it from K or 1st. It seems they spend all their time working with the kids of uninvolved parents.

I don't think your examples are isolated. It's definitely scary to think about.

[suzubell]

I have so many thoughts on this that I can't share them from my phone, but on whole, yes, the system is incredibly broken and I haven't seen a plausible solution for the masses, yet. We do our best but society as a whole is a disaster and that is reflected jn the schools. Add in crazy legislation and no money as well as underpaid, under appreciated teachers, and it's a recipe for disaster.

[snipsnsnails]

Oh, I forgot, but your post reminded me, looseseal, that she also said that she is now in a team teaching format with a coteacher. But she was frustrated by what she felt was its ineffectiveness. She thought she could easily manage 15 kids in a class, no matter what sort of personalized approaches any might need, but 30 kids with two teachers wasn't proportionally manageable in a direct conversion, if that makes sense.

[snipsnsnails]

I guess that's what I was wondering, suzubell, what are some of the solutions or ways to move forward? What can I be doing to help fix this brokenness?

[rupertpenny]

I worry about this a lot. It is going to be a huge factor in our decision on when, or even if, to move back to the US. I also realize how ridiculously privilidged I am to be able to make decisions like that.

[killercupcake]

It's bad.

NV is 51st in the nation for education for a reason. I'm at one of the better schools in the valley, but that's because we have 3 magnet programs that dramatically increase our test scores. But, trust, as an urban school, we have our share of issues.

The issues that come through the counseling office are also frustrating because either parents don't follow through, or simply cannot take advantage of the resources they are given because they either don't know how or can't afford to.

The whole system is broken. I was talking to my partner counselor last week and we're both frustrated because there's only so much we can do within the building. At the end of the day, there's a million other fights that have to take place outside of the school building in order to make a difference.

[sarahswim]

The state of education is a giant mess. I have so many thoughts on his, but on my phone, I'll try to be concise. As a society, education has very little value.
Wealthy, poor, middle class-it doesn't matter. Education is an afterthought and teachers are considered lowly peons. That sounds dramatic, but it's true. Where else is someone judged and/or paid as a result of a 10- year old's performance? Their own parents aren't even blamed for their shortcomings! It's continuously the school's problem and the teacher's fault when children perform poorly. However, no one considers what a kid goes through just to get to school in the first place. Until parents actually start parenting, schools can only do so much, regardless of what legislators like John Kasich believe.

[fryjack2]

Mar 17, 2016 21:19:09 GMT -5 sarahswim said:

The state of education is a giant mess. I have so many thoughts on his, but on my phone, I'll try to be concise. As a society, education has very little value.
Wealthy, poor, middle class-it doesn't matter. Education is an afterthought and teachers are considered lowly peons. That sounds dramatic, but it's true. Where else is someone judged and/or paid as a result of a 10- year old's performance? Their own parents aren't even blamed for their shortcomings! It's continuously the school's problem and the teacher's fault when children perform poorly. However, no one considers what a kid goes through just to get to school in the first place. Until parents actually start parenting, schools can only do so much, regardless of what legislators like John Kasich believe.

Expand on this please.

[killercupcake]

Mar 17, 2016 22:10:40 GMT -5 tators said:

My thoughts- teachers are spread so thin it's not funny. Meetings meetings meetings, trainings blah blah blah. Parents don't answer emails or concerns and I spend a shit ton of time on interventions for non-intentional learners and behavioral problems. I would agree to the idea that you know in younger grades how a kid will do in the future. It's discouraging when I get 9th graders that can read at a 3rd grade level.

My biggest concern is that we as a national are so focused on "data" and numbers. Those numbers are skewed as hell. Graduation rates are bullshit because we just pass them along because we don't want our numbers to look bad. Kids are absolutely not prepared for college because they have been coddled all through high school.

I am SO fucking sick of the "data."

The state is dropping exorbitant amounts of money on testing and end of course exams and ACTs and PSATs and for what? "Data."

[theoverlander]

Mar 17, 2016 21:41:32 GMT -5 fryjack2 said:

Mar 17, 2016 21:19:09 GMT -5 sarahswim said:

The state of education is a giant mess. I have so many thoughts on his, but on my phone, I'll try to be concise. As a society, education has very little value.
Wealthy, poor, middle class-it doesn't matter. Education is an afterthought and teachers are considered lowly peons. That sounds dramatic, but it's true. Where else is someone judged and/or paid as a result of a 10- year old's performance? Their own parents aren't even blamed for their shortcomings! It's continuously the school's problem and the teacher's fault when children perform poorly. However, no one considers what a kid goes through just to get to school in the first place. Until parents actually start parenting, schools can only do so much, regardless of what legislators like John Kasich believe.

Expand on this please.

I can expand on the "parents need to start parenting" bit, at least from my perspective. This year I have a student who watches Walkjng a Dead and plays Halo all the time. He's 7, and his behavior is out. of. control. I've talked to his parents constantly, and they are more concerned with being his friend than his parent. I called another parent after a girl ripped up her assignment. The mom said, "you're the teacher, do something about it" and hung up on me. These are just 2 recent examples that pop to mind, but there are tons more. I feel like parents don't knowwhat to do now days. They don't know how to draw the line between being the friend or the parent. They don't know whether to do everything for their kid and make tons of excuses for behavior or what. Being a parent is hard, and there are a lot of people who are super struggling. Parents are overwhelmed, and the expectations for their kids keep getting higher and higher and it all sucks.

One of the best things a principal ever said to our staff years ago was, "Remember, these parents are bringing you the best they can." That really stuck with me.

[killercupcake]

Mar 17, 2016 22:15:49 GMT -5 theoverlander said:

Mar 17, 2016 21:41:32 GMT -5 fryjack2 said:

Expand on this please.

I can expand on the "parents need to start parenting" bit, at least from my perspective. This year I have a student who watches Walkjng a Dead and plays Halo all the time. He's 7, and his behavior is out. of. control. I've talked to his parents constantly, and they are more concerned with being his friend than his parent. I called another parent after a girl ripped up her assignment. The mom said, "you're the teacher, do something about it" and hung up on me. These are just 2 recent examples that pop to mind, but there are tons more. I feel like parents don't knowwhat to do now days. They don't know how to draw the line between being the friend or the parent. They don't know whether to do everything for their kid and make tons of excuses for behavior or what. Being a parent is hard, and there are a lot of people who are super struggling. Parents are overwhelmed, and the expectations for their kids keep getting higher and higher and it all sucks.

One of the best things a principal ever said to our staff years ago was, "Remember, these parents are bringing you the best they can." That really stuck with me.

YES. Preach. 

I'm always really careful to even think "The parents need to parent better" line, because a lot of them, I'd say most of them, are really, truly doing the very best they can, with what they have and know. 

It's easy to say that open house, or whatever else, had a shitty turnout because parents just don't care, but the reality is that, and especially here in Vegas, parents from our school are working 2 jobs. Sometimes more. A lot of parents work nights, so while 6 pm open houses sound reasonable, they just don't always work for working parents. And that's just one factor. It's not that they don't parent, it's that they literally cannot parent because they're trying to keep a roof over their family's heads and keep food in their bellies. 

[isabel]

And yet all the education talk on the Democrat side is about higher education and student loan rates. I have student loans, as does DH. I would love to see those rates dropped. But not as much as I would like to ensure that the children of today can actually get the education they deserve. As the person you talked to said, they can't get through college if grade school is failing them. Who cares if college is free if kids are dropping out their freshman year?

Oklahoma is in crisis right now. K-12 education is a mess in a lot of places and I feel like nobody cares.

kfor.com/2016/03/03/oklahoma-state-agencies-facing-even-deeper-budget-cuts-to-make-up-additional-235-million/

[ohiowan]

Mar 17, 2016 22:10:40 GMT -5 tators said:

My thoughts- teachers are spread so thin it's not funny. Meetings meetings meetings, trainings blah blah blah. Parents don't answer emails or concerns and I spend a shit ton of time on interventions for non-intentional learners and behavioral problems. I would agree to the idea that you know in younger grades how a kid will do in the future. It's discouraging when I get 9th graders that can read at a 3rd grade level.

My biggest concern is that we as a national are so focused on "data" and numbers. Those numbers are skewed as hell. Graduation rates are bullshit because we just pass them along because we don't want our numbers to look bad. Kids are absolutely not prepared for college because they have been coddled all through high school.

We're spread ridiculously thin in our district. I'm going to have five preps next year and no planning period. Im not going to have the time do anything extra next year, and if I don't have everything planned out for next year over the summer I'm pretty much fucked. I'm feel like I'm half-assing lessons because I don't have the time to plan as is.

[mcmel]

Mar 17, 2016 22:27:37 GMT -5 loonylunalovegood said:

Mar 17, 2016 22:20:11 GMT -5 killercupcake said:

YES. Preach. 

I'm always really careful to even think "The parents need to parent better" line, because a lot of them, I'd say most of them, are really, truly doing the very best they can, with what they have and know. 

It's easy to say that open house, or whatever else, had a shitty turnout because parents just don't care, but the reality is that, and especially here in Vegas, parents from our school are working 2 jobs. Sometimes more. A lot of parents work nights, so while 6 pm open houses sound reasonable, they just don't always work for working parents. And that's just one factor. It's not that they don't parent, it's that they literally cannot parent because they're trying to keep a roof over their family's heads and keep food in their bellies. 

OMG YES! This seems like the complete opposite of my PP, but I was slapped in the face with this today. One of my students has a mom that has a lot of problems. The little girl has been late to school everyday this week, but she always manages to make it before circle time. Today she sent in the most random stuff for our spring party, like Cheerios and noodles, but they were in bags, not in their original containers. The girl also had a little green bracelet wrapped around her ponytail. At first I was like WTF? But then I realized this is all her mom has to work with and she's obviously trying to do her best with what she has.

I'm starting to realize that a lot of being a teacher is just heartbreaks after heartbreaks.

I was also recently given a huge reality check. I teach 10-12 graders and one of my students is always fighting off sleep. A few weeks ago he told me that his mom does a paper route and doesn't feel safe doing it alone so she brings him with her.

He said that he tries to sleep right when he gets home, but it's damn near impossible to go to bed at 6pm. He says that he's usually able to fall asleep by 9 or 10, but then he has to get up and do the paper route with his mom from 2-6am. He then goes back home, naps for an hour, and then goes to school. Then, he works all day on Saturday and Sunday at his own job.

There is no way I could power through my day on that sleep schedule. I don't know how he does it. Sometimes I'm blown away with how well the students and parents do with what they're given.

[killercupcake]

Mar 17, 2016 22:47:47 GMT -5 mcmel said:

Mar 17, 2016 22:27:37 GMT -5 loonylunalovegood said:

OMG YES! This seems like the complete opposite of my PP, but I was slapped in the face with this today. One of my students has a mom that has a lot of problems. The little girl has been late to school everyday this week, but she always manages to make it before circle time. Today she sent in the most random stuff for our spring party, like Cheerios and noodles, but they were in bags, not in their original containers. The girl also had a little green bracelet wrapped around her ponytail. At first I was like WTF? But then I realized this is all her mom has to work with and she's obviously trying to do her best with what she has.

I'm starting to realize that a lot of being a teacher is just heartbreaks after heartbreaks.

I was also recently given a huge reality check. I teach 10-12 graders and one of my students is always fighting off sleep. A few weeks ago he told me that his mom does a paper route and doesn't feel safe doing it alone so she brings him with her.

He said that he tries to sleep right when he gets home, but it's damn near impossible to go to bed at 6pm. He says that he's usually able to fall asleep by 9 or 10, but then he has to get up and do the paper route with his mom from 2-6. He then goes back home, naps for an hour, and goes to school. Then, he works all day on Saturday and Sunday at his own job.

There is no way I could power through my day on that sleep schedule. I don't know how he does it. Sometimes I'm blown away with how well the students and parents do with what they're given.

I've had students arrive late to exams several times because they just got off work. School starts at 8 am. They come to school straight from work. 

They're exhausted. I couldn't pass my proficiency exam either (needed for graduation, btw) if I was working on zero sleep.

[Marmee]

My mom recently retired...the last 15yrs she spent at an inner city HS in Las Vegas. She taught for 40+ yrs...mostly Special Ed. It is so bad for tons of reasons...so not exaggerated in comparison to what she experienced.

[mcmel]

Mar 17, 2016 22:50:06 GMT -5 killercupcake said:

Mar 17, 2016 22:47:47 GMT -5 mcmel said:

I was also recently given a huge reality check. I teach 10-12 graders and one of my students is always fighting off sleep. A few weeks ago he told me that his mom does a paper route and doesn't feel safe doing it alone so she brings him with her.

He said that he tries to sleep right when he gets home, but it's damn near impossible to go to bed at 6pm. He says that he's usually able to fall asleep by 9 or 10, but then he has to get up and do the paper route with his mom from 2-6. He then goes back home, naps for an hour, and goes to school. Then, he works all day on Saturday and Sunday at his own job.

There is no way I could power through my day on that sleep schedule. I don't know how he does it. Sometimes I'm blown away with how well the students and parents do with what they're given.

I've had students arrive late to exams several times because they just got off work. School starts at 8 am. They come to school straight from work. 

They're exhausted. I couldn't pass my proficiency exam either (needed for graduation, btw) if I was working on zero sleep.

Fuck, man If people could earn a living wage they could be home more. They could parent more. They could help with school work. They could discipline and watch the amount of screen time and make sure their homework gets done and make sure their kid isn't hanging out with the wrong crowd and and and. In my (short) experience, parents generally want to parent. They're just stretched so thin they can't.

No one should have to work 2-3 jobs just to put food on the table and keep the lights on.

[theoverlander]

It seems like the whole system is rigged somehow.

Here's how screwy it is. There is a teacher shortage, and an even worse sub shortage. Two days last week we had to scramble to cover classes because there were no subs available at all. And yet... A new state law was passed that if a teacher forgets to re-up their certificate (which must be done by taking a butt load of classes at costs to the teacher every 5 years) then that teacher is legit BANNED FROM TEACHING FOR 5 YEARS. No excuses, no exceptions. So a perfectly good teacher is out of a job because they didn't file the paperwork in time every 5 years and they will be replaced with...?

Testing. Data. Testing some more. What the hell. Stop it. Don't tie teacher jobs/pay/benefits to kids scores. I can't control the fact that a student has been absent 40 days this year, so I shouldn't be held accountable for her scores. I can't control that this other boy's dad was taken away to a mental hospital in October and maybe that has something to do with why he isn't showing enough "growth" to look good on a chart for the school. And really, all this testing shows is that kids from a higher socioeconomic level have more resources and therefore do better on tests. How do policy makers not see the correlation? It blow my mind.

I've been teaching for years and years, and from talking to people everyone is so demoralized. Most of us have some idea that might help, but no one ever listens. When do you ever see a true to life, working teacher helping to guide policies? Our union listens and is trying, so I feel lucky to work in a string union state. However, our state is failing to fund basic education at the moment, so who knows what will happen.

Oh, and today we were told that we can only ask for about 3-4 things for our supply list next year. The school will provide pencils, scissors, glue, and paper. We can ask for notebooks, crayons, colored pencils, and a pencil box. Any other need we have to supply ourselves or maybe write a grant. This includes things like Kleenex, wipes, markers, white board markers, etc. say what now? I'm totally living off a combo of Excedrin Migraine and Pepto Max. Canny get a PTA grant for that?

It's all so frustrating. We have a ton of kids in our classes with higher needs than ever (behavior, English language learners, high achievers) and little to no resources to reach all of them. Sigh.

[killercupcake]

Mar 17, 2016 22:54:14 GMT -5 Marmee said:

My mom recently retired...the last 15yrs she spent at an inner city HS in Las Vegas. She taught for 40+ yrs...mostly Special Ed. It is so bad for tons of reasons...so not exaggerated in comparison to what she experienced.

Can she come back? WE NEED HELP. lol

Ugh. It's sad because it's true.

[killercupcake]

Mar 17, 2016 22:57:08 GMT -5 mcmel said:

Mar 17, 2016 22:50:06 GMT -5 killercupcake said:

I've had students arrive late to exams several times because they just got off work. School starts at 8 am. They come to school straight from work. 

They're exhausted. I couldn't pass my proficiency exam either (needed for graduation, btw) if I was working on zero sleep.

Fuck, man If people could earn a living wage they could be home more. They could parent more. They could help with school work. They could discipline and watch the amount of screen time and make sure their homework gets done and make sure their kid isn't hanging out with the wrong crowd and and and. In my (short) experience, parents generally want to parent. They're just stretched so thin they can't.

No one should have to work 2-3 jobs just to put food on the table and keep the lights on.

Yep. It just kills me. These kids aren't working to save for a car. They're working to help pay the bills at home. Sometimes it's easy to get frustrated when a senior is still trying to pass proficiency exams they've been taking 3 times a year since their sophomore year, but I have to remember most of them are not in this situation because they want to be. They're not absent all the time and credit deficient because they're just sitting at home doing nothing. They're working, or helping take care of siblings, or doing any other number of things I was privileged enough to not have to deal with.

Or some of them are ELL, and speak zero English because they just came to this country last month. And now they have to pass a reading, science, math, and writing exam IN ENGLISH or else they don't graduate. It's not fair. And I don't care that life isn't fair, education should be equitable and attainable for everyone, and it isn't.

[scottyderp]

Half the teachers that I know seem to be happy, the other half hate teaching because of the insane amount of homework and the crazy parents/kids that don't have access to enough resources. 

[WOT?*]

Mar 17, 2016 22:27:37 GMT -5 loonylunalovegood said:

Mar 17, 2016 22:20:11 GMT -5 killercupcake said:

YES. Preach. 

I'm always really careful to even think "The parents need to parent better" line, because a lot of them, I'd say most of them, are really, truly doing the very best they can, with what they have and know. 

It's easy to say that open house, or whatever else, had a shitty turnout because parents just don't care, but the reality is that, and especially here in Vegas, parents from our school are working 2 jobs. Sometimes more. A lot of parents work nights, so while 6 pm open houses sound reasonable, they just don't always work for working parents. And that's just one factor. It's not that they don't parent, it's that they literally cannot parent because they're trying to keep a roof over their family's heads and keep food in their bellies. 

OMG YES! This seems like the complete opposite of my PP, but I was slapped in the face with this today. One of my students has a mom that has a lot of problems. The little girl has been late to school everyday this week, but she always manages to make it before circle time. Today she sent in the most random stuff for our spring party, like Cheerios and noodles, but they were in bags, not in their original containers. The girl also had a little green bracelet wrapped around her ponytail. At first I was like WTF? But then I realized this is all her mom has to work with and she's obviously trying to do her best with what she has.

I'm starting to realize that a lot of being a teacher is just one heartbreak after another.

</3

I was on donorschoose earlier this afternoon (see my post. They're doing matching donations until the 20th.) There is a school near me that is looking for donations of two Kindle fires and enough money to pay for subscriptions to Scholastic news. The Kindles they're asking for are the cheapest, with advertisements, so they can hope to get the donations more easily. I donated enough to pay for half the subscription, knowing that the match will cover the other half. I'm talking with a company to hopefully get the Kindles donated as well.

This is a school I drive past regularly. It's two or three miles from our house and across from a store I shop at regularly. Our school simply asks for $5 at the beginning of the year to cover the cost of the Scholastic News subscription and done! It's all taken care of. Our PTA has raised funds for an entire classroom set of tablets for our students so they could practice for the new online tests, learn how to use Google Docs, and more. And this school can't even afford two of the cheapest Kindles.

It just broke my heart, the dichotomy between our school and theirs.

(Note: a friend, who was GD1's teacher, is now teaching at an even more financially challenged school. It breaks her heart, knowing she has students that are living in cars and don't have a home to go to after school. I donated to her classroom just by cleaning out my garage and picking up a few things...and it was so needed. I can't believe how little the schools provide for the students, and how much the parents are expected to pay when so many simply can't. Back when I was a kid *everything* was paid for and school funding was a priority. How things change in a mere couple (okay, a few and then some) decades. I just reminded myself that I need to bring some construction paper and white chalk to her classroom. They are still using CHALKBOARDS in her classroom. My jaw dropped. Boy, have I been far, far too insulated.)

[sarahswim]

Mar 17, 2016 21:41:32 GMT -5 fryjack2 said:

Mar 17, 2016 21:19:09 GMT -5 sarahswim said:

The state of education is a giant mess. I have so many thoughts on his, but on my phone, I'll try to be concise. As a society, education has very little value.
Wealthy, poor, middle class-it doesn't matter. Education is an afterthought and teachers are considered lowly peons. That sounds dramatic, but it's true. Where else is someone judged and/or paid as a result of a 10- year old's performance? Their own parents aren't even blamed for their shortcomings! It's continuously the school's problem and the teacher's fault when children perform poorly. However, no one considers what a kid goes through just to get to school in the first place. Until parents actually start parenting, schools can only do so much, regardless of what legislators like John Kasich believe.

Expand on this please.

For me personally, it's incredibly frustrating as a teacher to try to get kids to care about ancient India when they're not sure where their next meal is coming from, when dad might be home next, or if they have to stay home to take care of other siblings because parents aren't around. And there's no box on the state test to fill in for "mom got out of jail last night but went straight to her boyfriend's house instead of seeing me, so I can't really focus on these questions today".
Generally, I feel like education has been flipped, I guess. When I was a kid, parents believed what the teacher said; students had to follow rules and if there were poor grades/behavior, it was the child's fault. It's not that way anymore. Parents often blame teachers, and blindly believe their children over the adults in the same room. This is all coming from my own experience, yes, but I have friends at more affluent districts who experience the same, if not worse.
I hope I'm making sense. I believe that most parents do the best they can for their kids and make choices they believe are best for their children. But often those choices aim to keep their child from being disciplined instead of teaching them responsibility for their actions.

[katfco]

There's so much I could say about this subject. I teach in arguably the worst school in the district. We have over 500 kids, preK to 6, and most classes are 25-30. That's in a school in what my kids define as the "ghetto." Several kids are being raised by aunts or grandparents, have family members who've been killed and have parents who are or have been in prison.

Our last few staff meetings have been focused on childhood trauma and how it affects cognitive function. We have so many emotionally disturbed and traumatized kids who get no help. Our school is not a safe place for either kids or teachers. This week, the librarian got a concussion from trying to prevent a fight and a third grade teacher had to go to the ER because one of her kids twisted her wrist and she felt something pop.

The district knows our kids need help; they just don't see it as important enough to do what's necessary.

[Narwhal]

Mar 18, 2016 7:41:07 GMT -5 tators said:

Mar 17, 2016 22:45:22 GMT -5 @kirkette said:

Unfortunately, her situation isn't rare at all. It's sadly the norm, as the public education system is completely broken.
Even "stellar" public districts, really aren't stellar because things get masked, and the general public doesn't know how to accurately critique schools. It's not a knock on the general public, but it is extremely easy for schools to hide and manipulate data, so that it represents their campuses in a positive light ( example high college acceptance rates when "college" is heavily weighted toward junior colleges vs. 4 year universities; large numbers of university freshmen woefully unprepared for critical thinking and college level writing, math, and reading).

At best, "stellar" districts are top of average, by the way public education is . 

And so much this- I cringe when people say, "it's a top rated school, they have this many stars" ratings don't mean anything besides they have an admin good at distorting math and if we're talking about high graduation rates- they are probably good at pushing teachers Into passing the failing kids.

So much so! It's like recruiting for sports. my co worker was telling me how her neighbor it trying to get her child into a "east side" school (the affluent schools in my city) and they live in a Title 1 school zone. She said that in order to even be considered for a special transfer her 4 year old has to be reading, writing his fist and last name with the correct capitalization and no backwards letters, and be able to write his whole address with the same criteria. WTF? This is public school!! I get students who don't know how to hold a pencil! That's kindergarten! I'm still WTFing over it.

Please forgive any typos- on my phone!

[Aloe Vera]

My sister is a HS teacher and is frustrated.
There is nothing she can do. Her principal doesn't care about kids' education. He cares about enrollment numbers and $$$.
Everything has to look good on paper. Kids return homework 2 weeks late? Grade it the same and move on.
Kids threaten you or another kid? Maybe it was your fault.
Parents aren't involved and contribute to the problem. No accountability.

[revolution]

I only have 1 year of teaching experience from when I was in NJ. I taught 7th grade math. I was so shocked that the kids couldn't do basic math. I was required to give them calculators every day. The basics were just not there.

Also, I was not allowed to fail anyone. If they weren't getting the grades, I had to give them "every opportunity to pass". Which translated to having them with me at lunch, before school and after school. And if they just showed up a few times, I had to pass them regardless of what grades they earned or what they actually knew.

For my DD, so far so good. She's in 2nd grade at a public school. She's had great or good teachers and is being challenged and what she is learning is amazing. It gives me some hope.

[nikki25]

[/quote]I've had students arrive late to exams several times because they just got off work. School starts at 8 am. They come to school straight from work. 

They're exhausted. I couldn't pass my proficiency exam either (needed for graduation, btw) if I was working on zero sleep.[/quote]


I am not a teacher but appreciate these threads since i am extremely out of touch with schools as my oldest is in K.

There was an interview on NPR months ago about a unique pilot program school that is offering a completely different concept to high school. They had varying start times depending on what worked better for the student and their working parents. Some of the kids had babies or jobs or no parental guidance and focused very little on test results and their jobs were part of their curriculm to a certain degree. Most of their day was not in the school. They took their needed classes and a lot of done online. They were able to go at night or later in the day all with whatever worked within their parameters.

The school had a couple of people who would check up with the kids daily. Give them rides to and from school and work with the parents.

I know this is not feasible in most schools and the pilot program focused on a selected set of teens but thought it was such an interesting idea and financially beneficial due to the lower overhead costs.

So, teachers, in your opinion what do you think is needed?

I guess the other part is that schools can't control the parents and how they behave or parent so the only control them and the government really have is control of what occurs in school. I could 100 % be off on this but was curious about the teachers' opinion?

[nikki25]

I listen to NJ 101.5 daily and education is a large topic. I was shocked to hear there are over 650 school DISTRICTS in the small state of NJ. Each district requires a lot of salary. A lot. Yet, in a state that has one of the highest incomes and by FAR the highest property taxes which funds the schools, Christie states the schools are broke. Broke.

None, of that makes sense. I mean, I have no fucking idea how common core math works, but even I can even figure out that underfunded schools should never be a sentence uttered by the governor.