A little closer to home.

meandmyguys said:
I haven't read all 5 pages of comments, so this may be off topic if it's drifted, but based on the initial letter: I heard "Please don't create anymore high quality charter schools because we need your money." Sorry? I don't believe in pouring water into a bucket with a hole in the bottom. The public school systems are sieves. Let the money follow the child. Create an efficient system that serves the children in it, using the money that comes with them.
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:CLAP :CLAP :CLAP :CLAP :CLAP
 
Parents can be totally involved in their child's education, but the child is still going to suffer attending a failing school. I think this is why so many parents are frustrated, because if they can't afford to send the child to private school, there are no other options other than home school. Home school isn't an option for many.
 
Foxmeister said:
Parents can be totally involved in their child's education, but the child is still going to suffer attending a failing school. I think this is why so many parents are frustrated, because if they can't afford to send the child to private school, there are no other options other than home school. Home school isn't an option for many.
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If that's the case, then I would have to say that the parents aren't "totally involved." Being totally involved, in my opinion, means that you are being proactive and that you are jumping up and down as soon as the problem starts (or as soon as you are made aware of it) and that you are actively working toward a solution.

Take Madea and RNG for example, both have had recent situations with their kids. In BOTH cases, as soon as they found out about it, they reacted - they didn't wait, blame someone else, they became involved in rectifying the situation. In a lot of cases, I would venture to say, when the school sends home a note or an email, a lot of parents sit back and "let the school take care of it." That's not being totally involved. I will admit that there are situations that parents can be unaware of until it gets out of control, but again, IMO, it's how the parents react to the situation that can show how involved they are.
 
Foxmeister said:
Parents can be totally involved in their child's education, but the child is still going to suffer attending a failing school. I think this is why so many parents are frustrated, because if they can't afford to send the child to private school, there are no other options other than home school. Home school isn't an option for many.
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Not necessarily Fox. A failing school on paper might not be a failing school in reality. You have to remember we are testing children that should not be tested and that does go against a school. Also with attendance issues being a second indicator, it also hurts the school. You can have the most amazing teachers in the world, but if you test kids that should not be and count it against them that kids are not coming to school it looks bad, no matter how great the teachers are.
 
My point is, you can be involved all you want to be at your child's school. That isn't going to make the school successful if you don't have a proactive administration and a proactive BoE.
 
Are there studies available showing the differences between public, private or charter schools 5-10 years following graduation?

The reason I ask is that there are studies that indicate that pre-k education does not make a long term difference.
 
Madea said:
Are there studies available showing the differences between public, private or charter schools 5-10 years following graduation?

The reason I ask is that there are studies that indicate that pre-k education does not make a long term difference.
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The difference there is that the pre-k kids are forced to move at the pace of the slowest in the class they are in. Take a class of all pre-k kids and compare them against a class of all no pre-k kids ... keep them apart and moving at their pace and see where the numbers are.
 
The first thing we need to do to improve our education is to focus on Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic; not just in elementary school; but all the way through high school. We also need more discipline in our schools.

We also need a system that evaluates the performance of our teachers. We have some great teachers, but unfortunately we have some who should not be teachers and we need a system to identify them and get rid of them.

We need to involve the business community in our schools. Many of our high school students will not go to college and many who do will not earn a degree.
 
The first thing that we need to do to improve education is to get more parents more involved and more invested in their children's educations. It is frightening how many parents don't even give schools valid contact information, let alone the support for the education once they get home. It is scary how, even at the elementary school level, so many parents have such truly crap attitudes when it comes to their child(ren) and education. They can't get them there on time ... they see nothing wrong with the bad behavior ... they blame the school/teachers for everything ... they don't make sure that homework gets done ... and on and on and on and on ...
 
unionmom said:
Madea said:
Are there studies available showing the differences between public, private or charter schools 5-10 years following graduation?

The reason I ask is that there are studies that indicate that pre-k education does not make a long term difference.
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The difference there is that the pre-k kids are forced to move at the pace of the slowest in the class they are in. Take a class of all pre-k kids and compare them against a class of all no pre-k kids ... keep them apart and moving at their pace and see where the numbers are.
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And, THAT is why the princess is in a private school. She was tested in sight words, ABCs, numbers, reading and writing. All of the kids had to score 80% or above to qualify for admission to Kindergarten at her school. I couldn't get any assurances from the public school that she would continue to be challenged. But, they're reasoning was good - with the redistricting, they just weren't sure what they would be getting in the kindergarten classes. I'm not comfortable with that.
 
We've been lucky so far with the teachers that our kids have had. They've been able to keep them moving at a good pace even with the work they've had to do to help the others catch up/keep up. And now the young lady has been referred by her 1st grade teacher for testing for venture. (not that I'm a proud mommy or anything)
 
Foxmeister said:
The first thing we need to do to improve our education is to focus on Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic; not just in elementary school; but all the way through high school. We also need more discipline in our schools.

We also need a system that evaluates the performance of our teachers. We have some great teachers, but unfortunately we have some who should not be teachers and we need a system to identify them and get rid of them.

We need to involve the business community in our schools. Many of our high school students will not go to college and many who do will not earn a degree.
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STOP WITH THE COMMON SENSE!!! Excellent points. Here's a long article (from the Atlantic, so duh) about a failing school that turned things around by focusing on the basics.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/10/the-writing-revolution/309090/?single_page=true
 
unionmom said:
The first thing that we need to do to improve education is to get more parents more involved and more invested in their children's educations. It is frightening how many parents don't even give schools valid contact information, let alone the support for the education once they get home. It is scary how, even at the elementary school level, so many parents have such truly crap attitudes when it comes to their child(ren) and education. They can't get them there on time ... they see nothing wrong with the bad behavior ... they blame the school/teachers for everything ... they don't make sure that homework gets done ... and on and on and on and on ...
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I disagree only because you can't make them get involved. We can however make the necessary personnel changes on a BoE that is more proactive, actually concerned with improving education and willing to work towards those necessary changes.

You can have all the parents in the school district checking their children's homework every single night, but if you don't have the right faculty and administrative personnel, nothing will change.
 
Foxmeister said:
unionmom said:
The first thing that we need to do to improve education is to get more parents more involved and more invested in their children's educations. It is frightening how many parents don't even give schools valid contact information, let alone the support for the education once they get home. It is scary how, even at the elementary school level, so many parents have such truly crap attitudes when it comes to their child(ren) and education. They can't get them there on time ... they see nothing wrong with the bad behavior ... they blame the school/teachers for everything ... they don't make sure that homework gets done ... and on and on and on and on ...
Click to expand...

I disagree only because you can't make them get involved. We can however make the necessary personnel changes on a BoE that is more proactive, actually concerned with improving education and willing to work towards those necessary changes.

You can have all the parents in the school district checking their children's homework every single night, but if you don't have the right faculty and administrative personnel, nothing will change.
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I know you can't actually make parents give a rat's butt about their kids' educations but that is, from my perspective, the biggest are of problems for these kids. You can have the absolute best of the best teachers but if the parents don't care the likelihood of the kids doing well diminishes greatly. I see it all of the time ... I can look at how parents act and tell you which kids are theirs at school. Or, I can see how the kids act and tell you what their parents are like.
 
No child left behind and government mandates have really harmed the system. As long as that kind of thing continues it will not matter how good a teacher is or how much the parents are involved the education system will not be what it should be.
 
newsjunky said:
No child left behind and government mandates have really harmed the system. As long as that kind of thing continues it will not matter how good a teacher is or how much the parents are involved the education system will not be what it should be.
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The federal government needs to completely stay out of education. The majority of the decision making on education should be done at the district level. I'm a firm believer in school choice and vouchers. Both create will create competition that can lead to improving education.

The state can establish advancement and graduation criteria as well as provide choices of curriculum for the districts, but the local districts should choose which curriculum they will use.
 
Foxmeister said:
newsjunky said:
No child left behind and government mandates have really harmed the system. As long as that kind of thing continues it will not matter how good a teacher is or how much the parents are involved the education system will not be what it should be.
Click to expand...

The federal government needs to completely stay out of education. The majority of the decision making on education should be done at the district level. I'm a firm believer in school choice and vouchers. Both create will create competition that can lead to improving education.

The state can establish advancement and graduation criteria as well as provide choices of curriculum for the districts, but the local districts should choose which curriculum they will use.
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:agreed
 
Not to drag this up again but....

I voted early today and she asked what I voted on the charter schools amendment...then proceeded to absolutely flip her lid. "You're taking money away from teachers! You're taking money away from your stepsons! You're taking money away from the bus drivers!" :wut
 
deewee said:
Not to drag this up again but....

I voted early today and she asked what I voted on the charter schools amendment...then proceeded to absolutely flip her lid. "You're taking money away from teachers! You're taking money away from your stepsons! You're taking money away from the bus drivers!" :wut
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Who did? Who do I need to edumacate? :tapfoot2
 
deewee said:
Not to drag this up again but....

I voted early today and she asked what I voted on the charter schools amendment...then proceeded to absolutely flip her lid. "You're taking money away from teachers! You're taking money away from your stepsons! You're taking money away from the bus drivers!" :wut
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Really tick her off and tell whoever you're talking about that I voted for it too...
 
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