Thread: Closing Failing Schools

Quote: Originally Posted by lilmisses1014 We also have to have two grades per week for each subject. We get 30 minutes (if we're lucky) for our social studies/science block. With the way our pacing guide is set up, we sometimes only get one day in of either subject... but somehow, we're still expected to get two grades for that one day we teach the subject. When I asked about that at the beginning of the year, I was told-- by the...

I teach in Philadelphia. Overall, our school has serious behavior issues. My kids listen to me. If we are closed down we will turn into a charter school. I will be far away from this school if it turns into a charter school. I will just relocate to a different school in the city. I really don't think most of the parents would care. A lot of them would probably think that it will be a good thing if it is a charter school. Charter schools...

Quote: Originally Posted by Hoot Owl Common sense is being thrown out the window here. I feel your pain. My brother-in-law is in a school who hasn't made AYP and they have a consultant coming to them who has never been a classroom teacher, how stupid is that? That's ridiculous! We occasionally have a higher-up visit our school on our days when we meet as a grade level. They'll talk to us as though we're incompetent and...

Heaven, I teach about half hour or less from the border. Maybe we are close!

Ally, where are you in SC? I'm in SC too, and your school sounds JUST like mine!

Quote: Originally Posted by RainStorm And if your school is closed, those students are channeled into other barely passing public schools, then pulling them under. We've watched that happen with the NCLB requirement to give school choice if a school isn't making standards. A nearby neighborhood that is terribly low income and gang infested repeatedly didn't make it, so their kids were all bused to our school, and now we are...

Hmmmm, why are they not at grade level now? You indicate that behavior isn't a problem. Do you think it's not a problem for other classes in your school as well? And is AYP a matter of getting kids to a particular grade level, or is it a matter of progress since last year? Do the students and parents understand the school is in danger of being closed, and if so would they care? Do they know what it would mean for them if that were to...

So sad- we are on our 2nd year "on the list" but we don't have Title so we're a little different in the "punishment." We were discussing the "all children proficient by 2012" and think it's so unreasonable since they change the proficiency level every year. How are we supposed to help these kids reach the bar when every year the bar is higher and higher? We jokingly tell...

Amen to this entire thread. The school I student taught at was taken over a few years ago. Admittedly, there needed to be some curriculum changes--but.... nearly the entire school of 1,000 had a 1st language other than English. Big surprise they struggled on the test. My first year in public schools I taught in a building that was SI3 (4 years in a row of not making AYP). It was a tough building with lots of ESL students and dedicated,...

So what will happen to all of your students if your school is closed down? This punitive system for "failing" schools is an absolute joke. All it does is further disadvantage the schools and students who are already struggling due to range of complex reasons that cannot be reduced to a few test scores. Why can't the government simply introduce programs and work together with staff to improve results rather than...