During a parent/teacher conference a couple weeks ago, my daughter was asked if she would consider enrolling my grandson in a private school because he is too advanced for 1st grade. Since they teach for the core testing, he is bored and they can't find anything else for him to do. Besides, his scores are higher than the test "allows" for that grade so its screwing up the numbers. This is in NY by the way.
He reads at a level P and they are only allowed to be at level L by the end of first grade. Craziest thing I ever heard, and I use to teach!

Government should stay out of education, in NY at least. It has been nothing but a downward spiral since Cuomo took office. Between the non funded mandates that have forced so many districts into fiscal ruin and mergers. We just merged 2 years ago and our superintendent at the time stated the merger was only a temporary fix, I almost jumped out of my chair! I will say that I do agree with the new teachers evaluations, I could never understand how a teacher, who I believe has one of the most important jobs, could be afforded such job security. In my years of having two girls go through the public school system I met some great teachers and some real duds. So making everyone earn their job security like the rest of the world is a good thing to me.

Agree wholeheartedly Soccer! Teachers should be subject to yearly evaluations just like the rest of us. If there are areas of deficiency, they should be made to fix those areas. It's only logical.

I actually wish we would merge with a nearby school district but our situation is much different. These are 2 very small very rural school districts. If we joined up, we could retain the small town rural attitude but would be afforded greater opportunities by increasing the tax base and having more students. In years past, OK combined a lot of small town schools but haven't done much lately. Sometimes I just yearn for more choices. As I said above my son's 3rd grade consists of 24 students all in the same class.

First day of testing down. He said he felt confident about it. Said he re-read some of the questions and checked his answers but who really knows. Math today and then he's done! I for one am ready for it to be over!!

if you are a dedicated teacher in an inner city with no parental support for the kids, and kids who just don't want to learn, how effective would those teacher ratings be? while I agree that being a teacher shouldn't equal a job for life regardless of how one does, at the same time I've yet to see an evaluation proposed that did not focus heavily on how well the class was doing, and also how they did on standardized testing. both of those numbers can be greatly skewed, and don't give, at least in my opinion, a valid representation of an effective teacher.

I agree. My annual evaluation comes from my boss. It's very subjective. Why couldn't someone develop teacher evaluations that work the same way? I don't think standardized tests are the correct way to judge how good a teacher does his/her job. But couldn't a principal or even an outside observer come in and observe the class a few times during the year and gauge how well the teacher actually teaches. I guarantee anyone walking into this specific teacher's classroom would come away with a good idea of what kind of teacher she is.

All I know is testing is over for the year. I could not be happier and neither could the boy. Now we just kill time until May 22! I'm thinking of taking the day off just to party with the kiddos.

But then you run into issues like we have in my district. Political good-ole-boy networking. There are TONS of teachers in our district that only got their teaching jobs because of who they know. I know several people in my town with teaching degrees, all of whom actually love children and teaching, and graduated summa-c um-laude with high scores on their Praxis that can't get a job in our district because they don't go to the right church or have the right parents. But we have quite a few who do absolutely nothing in class but let the kids watch videos or just "teach" the favored students (generally the children of prominent community members).

Edit Reason: BOL censors Latin Phrases!

when did this happen.

Ps it is not only the teaching jobs that have that nonsense. The administration is worse than the teachers.

I edited my post to get rid of the censored insert, but it didn't like the middle word of the Latin phrase for "with highest honors" in my post.



Very true as well!

We got into the charter school!!! Latin, here we come!

Yay!

Got results yesterday for Ty's Reading Benchmark test. Not "the" test but just the test the school uses to show how much they've learned. They take a baseline in August, then 1 in Dec then 1 in May. He scored in the 76 percentalile for reading comprehension. He reads at a 5th grade level and would be best served by 4-5th grade textbooks/material. I about died! I showed him the scores and told him what they meant. Told him he should be very proud of himself! And if he worked that hard on his daily work, we wouldn't have had such a tough year. Hoping next year he busts out of this unmotivated attitude and shows 4th grade who's boss. Love that kid!!!

For those still facing the tests, comedian Jon Oliver has a great show on HBO called Last Week Tonight. He does topical news stories and political comedy like Jon Stewart but much smarter. Anyway this week he did a piece on the standardized testing. It's great! Go watch it on You Tube if you can. The amount of money that is made administering these tests is incredible! And all at the expense of the children and teachers. Talks a lot about opting out too CULady. I'll definitely opt my next kiddo out if we're still under this regime!!

Attaboy!! Did you buy him a book? (That's usually my response to great reading level news.)

CO - I have just read this entire post and I have to say...I thought you were talking about me...HA! Your son is VERY intelligent..he is bored and a little overwhelmed with some subjects that he doesn't care for all that much (or subjects that "he can't see the forest for the trees" kind of thing) and maybe even a little ADD/ADHD (whatever they call it). I hated reading, but when I was tested, I was in the 90? percentile for reading comprehension and my IQ was in the top 1% of my class (up there with the all A's people). I didn't care if I made all A's. I could have applied myself and definitely done that, but I really didn't care. There was more to life for me than making all A's. I graduated with a gold cord (overall B average). I am STILL this way. Give me something that is too much or I don't like and I will do just enough to get by..because its painfully boring to me and I can't concentrate enough to really get it done! Give me something I'm interested in or a real challenge and the sky is the limit on what I can do. He will be fine. You just have to work out some kind of way or process for him to attack these problem area's instead of shutting down and taking D's. Each person is different on what that process is. But, he is capable of great things Momma and will be just fine. Of course you already know he can do great things.. :):):)

Update: Preliminary test results are in. He passed "THE" test but only barely. I've decided to let him go on to 4th grade in hopes that another few months and a new teacher will help have more motivation and connection. Looking for summer programs. Focusing on online programs because of the distance involved to get to a decent sized town. OU offers a summer reading program online that promises to motivate and teach kids how to read more effectively including textbooks. I think we are going to try it out. It comes highly recommended from our principal. Pricey but probably on par with Sylvan and other type tutoring programs.

Tomorrow's the last day of school. We're both so ready for it all to be over we may just party all day long!!

I think you are making the right decision about letting him go on to 4th grade. It is amazing what a different teacher may accomplish.
And the all day long party sounds like something the whole family needs! Heck, I think I could use one myself. Your struggle brought back a lot of unpleasant memories, but those days will pass and one day your little guy will be all grown up and doing great! My 35 yr old traveled that road and has done some amazing things.

My daughter-in=law who is a stay at home mom,took the next to youngest out of school about the last 6 weeks of the school year. It was amazing how he improved, she continued the home school for his 3rd grade year, but she now feels he is better equipped to handle the work load, plus a different teacher. He is a smart little guy and he and the teacher did not mesh well. I think you are doing right by letting him move on, and not put him back in this situation with this teacher for another year.

Hope you all have an awesome summer!

Just wanted to give a quick update to everyone who offered such great advice. We're now almost 4 weeks into 4th grade. I've yet to see a single paper with a grade below a 70%, he is happily turning in all his assignments on time, he loves his teacher and most importantly he's loving school again. It's made such a difference in his attitude. He told me just last week that he was proud of himself for not having any late papers! It's been great.

So thank you again to everyone for the advice and encouragement!!

That is great news!! Hopefully the rest of the year will go as smoothly.

Glad to hear it CO!

I wish there was a "like" button on BOL.
CO - so glad to read these posts.
It's a motivation for me, dealing with a similar situation.

Children (and adults) are all so different. What comes easily to one is a daily struggle for another. When your child struggles, you struggle. It's amazing how the heart of a parent is so content when a child finds his/her way, learns new things, has a break-through in life.

So happy for you CO!

Awesome news. The right teacher can make a huge difference. Sounds like you got the right one this year.

Quick article on the end of No Child Left Behind. It will be a welcome change in my household and the school district. Hopefully placing education back in the hands of the state will allow for more flexibility and focus on things that matter. I'm hopeful that teachers will have time to teach instead of just preparing for the TEST.

Not to put a damper on it but it is being replaced by Common Core which did not go away by the signing of this act (or so I have been told) please someone correct me. Please.

My understanding is that Common Core can now be replaced by curriculum designed or chosen by each state and the federal DOE cannot withhold money just because they don't like the curriculum. So in essence, each state can choose to replace common core.

I assume all will since most were in the process of getting waivers from federal DOE. I know OK has been granted permission to write/choose its curriculum and is in the process of getting it approved. IDK when exactly that curriculum could be put in place in the schools. I hope it's before the 2016-17 school year so my younger one can dodge the horrendous 3rd grade test schedule. I think they take 25 mandated standardized tests during that school year.