Important Information for Parents from childs school...

Originally posted by sligtlyskeptical

The point is if it doesn't make sense don't teach it. Better not to learn something than to learn it wrong. I hate the standardized test mostly because of the content rather than the idea behind them. I also think teachers would be better off just teaching their normal curriculum.

Here's a sample of what its like to teach in public education today.

I have 18 first graders. Of these students, the following applies:

4 speak limited to no English
12 live in single parent families or with grandparents
8 have a close family member in prison
17 are classified as "low economic status"
1 student is homeless and living out of a car
1 student has a parent who is physically abusing mom.
1 student has a parent who has threatened to kill the child at school

I don't teach in an inner city, but in a small town. Now knowing the background of my students, is it any surprise they have difficulty with school lessons? Its kinda hard to worry about fractions when you don't know if you'll have supper when you get home, or if Dad is going to be drunk, or what have you.

The big problem with the testing is it doesn't measure learning progress, thinking and rationalizing skills, etc. In addition, many test questions are biased or written poorly, like your example. Honestly, I doubt many of my students would know what a band major is, let alone be able to answer a question with two potentially correct answers.

As teachers, we spend more time "proving" to others we can teach by constantly assessing our students. No joke: I have to give my students a standardized reading test EVERY WEEK. The test lasts about three hours. For first grade. And that is three hours of instructional time gone.

Okay, I feel like I've hijacked this thread by ranting about education, so I'll stop now.

The big problem with the testing is it doesn't measure learning progress, thinking and rationalizing skills, etc. In addition, many test questions are biased or written poorly, like your example. Honestly, I doubt many of my students would know what a band major is, let alone be able to answer a question with two potentially correct answers. As teachers, we spend more time "proving" to others we can teach by constantly assessing our students. No joke: I have to give my students a standardized reading test EVERY WEEK. The test lasts about three hours. For first grade. And that is three hours of instructional time gone.



Now you hit the nail on the head right there. I totally agree with this.
In Texas we have the TAKS test. Doesn't matter if the student makes A's and B's on all of their grades, if they can't pass the TAKS test they do not pass. Some students just don't test very well. When you put them against a clock they panic. Others have a hard time focusing that long. These tests take all day.

Anyway, you are right. We have gone off course on this post.
Sorry Antar for getting off topic. I just get really fired up about education in our country.

reply to post by smyleegrl


Oh no I never for an instant thought that it was any of my 3 children's teachers. But now I have to fully agree with the rest that you said and funny thing is that I meant to mention everything else you did! Thanks for joining in the discussion.

reply to post by antar


I home school now, but when my boys were in school it was purely about containing any spreading of illness, there was no sinister intentions behind it. None of my boys have any immune system deficiencies thankfully, but I know of a few who did and their moms kept them home on their own when there was anything going around. In my experience with the public schools while the boys were still in it, we were informed of everything. Chicken pox, conjunctivitis, flu, ect.. anything I would get a notification of. Now to be fair I think the only reason they notified me of everything was because we didn't give any of our boys chicken pox vaccine as well as a few other ones. The chicken pox was silly, we didn't give them the vaccination because they got chicken pox on their own before the vaccine, not that I would have given it to them anyway. But we filled out the exemption form and for the most part none of them were vaccinated. Because we filled that out, they notified us of everything. LOL

reply to post by MaMaa


Right, however what I am alerting to is the fact that the whole connectivity of parents and administration has changed and what it is being replaced with is far from innocent and harmless, in fact it is my opinion that this is taking it to the extreme and not on the behalf of the welfare of the community and the students but instead a sinister ploy to gain access to personal information which they can use to track everything an individual family does and that is not for the benefit of families nor community.

My families safety does not reply upon the local health department and I do not expect any guidance from them other than interference and suggestions about vaccines.

When we give up our rights and freedoms in exchange for safety,...well you know the rest.

We used to just have to call to let them know when the kids were going to be absent due to illness, and report anything contagious for the benefit of the other kids in the class.

But now, at our school, they want real specifics, as H1N1 took 5 kids down for the count for about a month each.

I'm not sure how I feel about it. One of my kids has a heart condition, and infections are a real concern for us to keep him safe and out of surgery for as long as possible. On the other hand...

I do know that I don't appreciate it when they do not trust my parental observational skills. For example... One of my kids suffers from significant environmental allergies. It effects his eyes - making them red and weepy. They called me to the school, I told them it was his allergies. They said, "No. That's conjunctivitis, highly contagious." I said, "There's no pain, no discharge. I've been parenting over a decade and have seen my share of pink eye in my kids. That's not it." They made me remove him from the school until I brought a doctor's note saying he wasn't contagious. I took him to the doctor, 30 miles away, and missed a day's work and therefore a day's pay. Lo, and behold, he had "allergy eyes." The doctor wrote me a note, chuckling the whole time. So I'm out hundreds of dollars, because they wouldn't listen to my parental observations. THAT ticks me off.

Originally posted by Daz3d-n-Confus3d
reply to post by sligtlyskeptical

 

Read a little further down the page. I provided a link.
I don't make things up in my head and pronounce them as fact.
A little respect next time before you proclaim me a liar.

Sorry about that. I see from your post that Texas does do this.

reply to post by sligtlyskeptical


No problem
Thanks to Rick Perry, thank goodness he dropped out of the Presidential race.

reply to post by macman


You have to understand the underlying Teacher vs. Parent psychological war going on here. Then there is the Parent. vs Government and the Teacher vs. Government.

Remember, these are paradigm shifting times.

reply to post by InfoKartel


Absolutely.

It should look more like Parents/Teachers vs. Government.

Maybe one day the real antagonist is realized and dealt with accordingly.
Parents should occupy classrooms until the garbage is taken out.