| Author |
Message |
    
Manley
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 20, 2001 - 9:49 am: |     |
If you had the power to change one thing in the Maplewood/South Orange school district.What would it be?
I would have only one goal. Increase test scores across the board.I still believe teaching for the test is allowed cheating,it's clear the only assessment the state is interested in are test scores.We need to be up to 90% in three years.
PS Before you ask,I'm thinking about another run for the School Board. |
Tracks
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 20, 2001 - 10:06 am: | |
Manley, how would you teach to test scores? how would you get the improvement that you think we need to acheive? And at what price would these improvements cost the towns?
Most importantly, since you would be only one vote out of nine, how would you make sure you got the votes to implement your views on the rest of the BOE and the Super? |
Nohero
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 20, 2001 - 11:36 am: | |
Maybe we need some basic test prep help for those students who need it. Turning the schools into a mill for learning how to take tests, however, would not be appropriate. |
Deadwhitemale
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 20, 2001 - 1:49 pm: | |
Is it cheating if the test is a true measure of what has been learned, for example, in Math, Geography, Sciences, grammar, spelling, reading comprehension, exposition, history, social studies, foreign language, art and music?
Perhaps a measure of the students, curricula and parental involvement?
MY WISH is for the Board, numerous curricula coordinators and the Superintendent to stop wringing their hands over the "diversity" of human nature, and to stop trying to use our taxes to forcibly remake the bottom half of the class the top half of the remaining (after withdrawal and placement in private school) students. They should instead devote equally as much of their focus on the top tier of academically enabled, and give them reason to remain in district, before they quit by middle school year 8.
By fourth grade the district should be grouping and giving appropriately challenging materials to each student in each group, not retarding the best and brightest, and outplacing the less enabled in "special ed."
DWM |
Mtierney
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 20, 2001 - 2:12 pm: | |
Busing. Has the need for it been re-evaluated? |
Alidah
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 20, 2001 - 4:35 pm: | |
Since I don't have kids in the school system but will shortly:
I want to stop hearing that the schools teach only to kids in the middle, OR to gifted kids, OR to kids with problems, depending on who you're talking to.
I want to hear that every kid is challenged and encouraged to reach their full potential, no matter what that may be. |
Nilmiester
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 20, 2001 - 8:00 pm: | |
The entire BOE. Go for it Manley. |
Mem
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 20, 2001 - 8:51 pm: | |
Manley, please? |
Nakaille
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2001 - 10:50 am: | |
SMALLER CLASSES so that teachers can spend time teaching to the group AND to the individuals rather than trying to manage a crowd. 25 kids in a first grade class makes it much harder for kids to learn to read. The kids who have a natural gift for it and/or a lot of support at home, will. The middling kids will "middle along" but may never develop the pleaure of reading that makes other learning so much easier. The kids who are in trouble from the start will tend to get lost. So much of our struggles with reading and associated learning in later grades could be solved if we could give these kids extra attention up front, instead of waiting for them to fail. Yes, I know that smaller classes cost. It's cost-effective in my opinion. (Less money spent on evaluations and remediation.)
Bacata |
Njjoseph
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2001 - 11:28 am: | |
Bacata, I always respect your opinions and viewpoints, but let me ask you a question regarding your last post. Please don't take offense; I'd just like to present a few observations and ask for yours and your opinion.
You're probably in a similar generation that I am (late 30's -- sorry if I offend), so I wonder what school was like where you were. I went to Catholic school, with 30 to 35 children in a class. This continued even through senior year of high school.
While in theory I agree that smaller classes should mean more individual attention to the children, I wonder how effective that really is. Test scores of my generation seem to be so much better than the test scores of the current generation, yet the students have so many things we didn't have: computers, the internet, etc. We did well then, but if the students now are not doing as well as we did, what is the reason?
I wonder, too, if this isn't significantly due to an age where both parents are working full-time jobs, whereas my mother didn't work until I was in high school. Food was on the table every night at 6:00, where we ate as a family. Homework was reviewed everyday, discipline administered when warranted (no exceptions!) bedtime was set and adhered to (and I remember it as being an hour or two less than the kids today). Some friends have said that when they get home at 7:00 or 7:30, the last thing want to do is reduce quality time with their children by disciplining them or making them redo their homework. IMHO, that's a mistake; quality time can be spent productively, and it doesn't really mean watching TV together.
I have another friend who is an educator and he believes some of my observations to be correct. Since I'm childless, however, maybe my opinions are a bit skewed. |
Face
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2001 - 12:07 pm: | |
The cynic in me wants to suggest raising taxes in order to force more residents to send their children to our public schools and away from private schools. This alone will tend to raise test scores. |
Mem
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2001 - 12:41 pm: | |
More teachers, less administrators. |
Mem
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2001 - 12:42 pm: | |
Or get administrators that teach and teachers that administrate. |
Nakaille
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2001 - 12:57 pm: | |
Njjoseph: no offense taken. I am a few years older than you 
I attended public schools in which the number of children per class varied widely from year to year. I have vivid memories of school in general because it was a place I loved and where I could succeed. One of my vivid memories is of the difference I felt between my 4th and 5th grade classes (in Madison, NJ a town my parents selected because of its school system.) In 4th grade we had 30 or 31 kids in class. The teacher was a strict disciplinarian. But still, the class tended to become noisy and unfocused very quickly, resulting in her frequently yelling and imposing punishments on various members. It was a miserable learning atmosphere. My 5th grade class had only 20 kids in it. It was quiet and serene and we had time and attention to do wonderful small group projects. The teacher knew each one of us - our strengths and weaknesses both and was able to call on the best in most of us. Some of it was probably personality differences between the two teachers but some was definitely about sheer numbers. It was basically the same group of kids.
In high school the disparities continued in class size. Most of the upper track or AP classes were quite small compared to others. Although I do remember one physics class I had that had an enormous lecture combined with small labs. The teacher was particularly gifted and managed to retain control of the large lecture hall and be entertaining and educational simultaneously.
I shudder and hesitate to agree that to some extent it may make a difference to have a parent at home afterschool hours who is not exhausted/angry/whatever from the "work" day. My mother (who worked exclusively in the home throughout my childhood) taught me to read before I entered kindergarten but I think she understood instinctively that I was receptive to this. She had not done so with her older two children. She herself was a not very literate immigrant (German speaking) who had left school in 8th grade to work full-time. She met my father's expectation that dinner be on the table at 5:15. After first grade they never checked my homework because there was no need. It was done, not necessarily perfectly, but certainly complete. As I said, I loved school. It was my escape from a homelife that was troubled in many ways.
BUT I also think you are right that it is the quality of the time that 2 earner households put in with their kids that counts. We pick our 4 year old up from school after 6:00. If she has homework she does it first thing, usually. We don't slack on discipline just because we're tired, either. (We may actually have less tolerance for poor behavior at these times since we're tired!) We read to her first thing in the morning and last thing at night and almost any other time she requests it. We and she don't watch TV in the evening unless she's doing an asthma treatment, and then it's preselected videos that have either educational content or positive entertainment value (Raffi, Sesame St, kids' documentaries, etc.) We pay close attention to her media exposure because we think it is critical at this age, creating a foundation for her future as learner, consumer, etc. She can read at the same level I did at age 4, picking and sounding out 3 or sometimes 4 letter words. She cannot read a sentence yet but is clearly yearning to. I think that's a combination of her aptitude and our attention to print. She also gets (very boring) phonics instruction at her preschool. Most of her teachers, unfortunately, have not had the gift of dramatic reading aka oral interpretation of literature. They are mostly using a pre-set script for the phonics instruction which has good and bad aspects to it. She eats up opportunities to write in the course of daily life. She did her first letter to Santa this year, for example, at my suggestion and was thrilled to be able to bring it to one of "Santa's helpers" for delivery. Way cool!
Okay, longwinded enough, right? I see I'm rambling. Gotta get some lunch and fuel the brain cells.
Have a great day all.
Bacata |
Musicme
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2001 - 2:42 pm: | |
Nakaille:
Your current household sounds alot like my own, though I have 3 kids. Homework gets done before any television, and if it gets late, showers and baths need to be taken so no TV. On another thread is the story of the high-school kids getting out of hand on the way home from school. Reminds me of a television program...maybe "Pro" wrestling? Let's forsake using words to work out our differences and use the back of a folding chair instead. Not!
Your balanced approach to raising the little one is a refreshing breeze on this board. What is difficult is when your little tyke encounters another type that has been raised in a different kind of household. Your vocation has certainly put you in contact with the families of which I am speaking. But it is that early intervention that can make the biggest impact - towards a positive life. Usually the later intervention is used to protect the rest of us by seperating a negative life. Good luck to your brother. |
Ejt
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2001 - 2:49 pm: | |
Nakaille, in Tuscan they added a fifth 1st grade teacher which allowed my daughter's class size to be 15 students. Compared to many other schools where the average 1st grade class size is 20-30, I feel that 15 is very reasonable. An extra 5 or 10 students at that age can make a HUGE difference. I commend them for keeping it small. To expect any less than that would be unrealistic.
Is 15 the average in the other elementary schools in the district? |
Ejt
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2001 - 2:51 pm: | |
PS GO Manley!! |
Musicme
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2001 - 3:05 pm: | |
Manley:
There certainly seems to be a more varied program available for kids these days compared to when we came up. I don't recall any exposure to foreign language untill high-school.
Media Centers? Computer Labs? the internet?
There sure are a lot of other things to focus on other than the core classes.
Much of the time, our kids are running so much to various extras that they have little time for the actual homework.
Don't forget the weekend sleep-overs 'till 3 or 4 in the morning with those little draggin' butts going to school Monday morning.
I should add in the thoughts about the Nintendos and Playstations and Gameboys. Make sure you don't cut into the playtime. Get 'em a good fighting game.
I think there are plenty of reasons for the kids of today being in a different place than we were. We can harken back, but it won't change the fact that time's a-racin'. |
Nakaille
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2001 - 3:11 pm: | |
So how can we have first grade classes varying from 15 to 25 in the same district? This is not a good situation at all! Do we need a poll for class sizes in the different grades or can someone from the district speak to this discrepancy?
Bacata |
Sac
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2001 - 3:27 pm: | |
It is my understanding that the district has a class-size limit of 22 in the elementary grades, although a school can push it a bit (maybe go to 23 in one or two sections within a grade) without having to establish a new class. Alternatively, I believe that they can increase the size somewhat and add an Aide to the class. When my older daughter was in 1st grade at Tuscan, they had to create a new 1st grade class during the first week of school due to last minute enrollments that pushed class sizes over the limit. As a result, there were 5 classes with 17 or 18 in each class rather than four classes exceeding the limit. I have never heard of a change to that policy so I wonder why we would have classes with 25 students in any first grade in the district (??) Perhaps someone has more information on this policy? |
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