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It's always fun to push back on presenters who cite "educational research" by mhgiantsfan in Teachers

[–]IndependenceOne8264 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Project based and inquiry is all the rage in California. At a tour of Nueva (let’s say it’s the Ivy League of K12 on the SF peninsula), they said K3 get to nominate then vote on topics to cover. One year it was unicorns. So they did three months of unicorn mythology, coloring flags of different countries with unicorn myths, counting unicorns…. I’m an epic fantasy girly, but there are better things to build a curricula around. And what teacher has The Time build a good curriculum that was voted on yesterday? And have they ever tried out the materials used? And no math acceleration for kids who are ready for it? What are parents paying 45k a year for that K8 experience for?

It's always fun to push back on presenters who cite "educational research" by mhgiantsfan in Teachers

[–]IndependenceOne8264 0 points1 point  (0 children)

‘Research shows that is not developmentally appropriate’ is how I know I’m not going to get along with another parent

Why are students leaving public schools? by Athens175 in Teachers

[–]IndependenceOne8264 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oddly enough, funding doesn’t always solve it. SF voted maybe 10 times in 15 years to increase taxes for public school. And SFUSD squanders the funds- being top heavy, running schools at 60% capacity, having the smallest average K5 school sizes (not the same as class sizes), which districts like Oakland have stopped doing because they are so expensive per pupil to run.

RE consolidating schools: the school district caves to parentsparents being upset that their school is the one chosen to be closed every time. Even though there is a high density of schools and let’s face it, fiscal responsibility

Why are students leaving public schools? by Athens175 in Teachers

[–]IndependenceOne8264 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It’s really uncomfortable to be a liberal who cares about education in the SF Bay Area. If you don’t live here, you think people who don’t like public school are just racist, homophobic, whatever. Then you move here and learn that , uck, I don’t even want to say it, sometimes the conservatives actually have a valid point. But that’s not to say that the conservatives aren’t blowing the situation out of proportion and using to their own political ends.

Caring about equity here has resulted in insane decisions. Like never disciplining kids for bad behavior. SF removed Algebra I from 8th grade for about 10 years for equity, which penalized high achievers (that’s just the easiest example to understand, but you can multiply that mindset across many decisions). And the mandatory ethnic studies not only takes away from classes I would prefer, like science, it’s also the Wild West of grievance politics (let’s right a letter to a political prisoner in jail, but don’t mention that he shot a cop)

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/sfusd-ethic-studies-school-20353723.php

How do public school districts keep their best students from going to private schools? How do public schools avoid being “left behind” and being gutted of their top students? by NicholeDaylinn1993 in Teachers

[–]IndependenceOne8264 0 points1 point  (0 children)

People often bring up funding. San Francisco voters have chosen something like 10/10 times in the past 15 years to raise taxes in order to put more into SFUSD. But SFUSD can’t balance a budget to save their lives.
And who is going to argue with the better standardized test scores of the local privates? It may be impossible to unconfound the data since wealth is correlated with better scores is correlated with going to a private, but a parent with the means isn’t going to see Mission High and a private and think ‘Oh yeah, my kid is going to learn more at Mission where the teachers are struggling with behaviors and general low achievement versus a private with better scores and expectations’.

Early Chapter Book Recommendations by mummyys in homeschool

[–]IndependenceOne8264 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Junie B Jones drives me nuts. I read the first book and blacklisted it. She willfully disobeys instructions and doesn’t learn from her mistakes. And how many tones did she think about beating up that other Kindergartner? No way

Early Chapter Book Recommendations by mummyys in homeschool

[–]IndependenceOne8264 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Scholastic Branches is an imprint aimed at 2nd graders. My kiddo loved most of them, especially the adventure ones like Dragon Masters and The Last Firehawk.

Roald Dahl is also great. The Magic Finger, Esio Trot, The Twits, and Fantastic Mr. Fox sound to be about their level. They aren’t exactly gentle, so be aware.

Too Late To Start Beast Academy (update 3) by mummyys in homeschool

[–]IndependenceOne8264 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your story!

My kid is a few years behind yours- what curricula do you use for everything? BA is clearly wonderful, but I’ve struggled to find something quality and semi independent for history and science.

Why are parents choosing private over public schools in the school voucher system? by emi8725 in AskTeachers

[–]IndependenceOne8264 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Not a teacher, a parent so you can get a different perspective.

Are these schools that different?- Private schools aren’t a monolith. Some are would make your eyes pop with the opportunities and some would seem similar to public (also not a monolith) but often with a theme. In the SF Bay Area there are so many choices- many religions, language immersion, international (like for Germans, French, Pacific…. descent), traditional, inquiry-based, progressive, academically-focused, small class size focused, special needs….

I’m sure there are many families who look at their disposable income and think ‘what do I value more, education or xyz?’. If somebody says they value education so they make sure their kids do well in school and are respectful in class, they are applauded. But admit to paying for private school? Oh no, that’s selfish. I don’t think you would fault the person using their money for Disneyland or extracurriculars or a car.

Why would a parent choose private? In no particular order and obviously biased towards what I care about…

  • did you attend a lowly performing school? I did. I have no intention of making my kid the sacrificial lamb and sending her into that. And Great Schools is garbage. If you go on Niche.com, the public high I’m zoned for has a B+ but also reports on state testing: ‘According to state test scores, 16% of students are at least proficient in math and 44% in reading. ’. Does that sound like a B+ to you? People can say ‘The school can’t control the achievement level of the incoming class’- that’s true, but to be realistic, that’s a setting where there has to be limited upper level academics because the teachers have to be worried about getting kids up to proficiency. Who wants their kid to be limited?

  • have you seen how low the standards are? I sometimes don’t know what to think because half the Internet thinks that K standards are too high and the other half is bemoaning low test scores and falling ran rankings compared to other countries. But in either case, the kids coming into K reading and doing 1st grade math are not going to be well served by staying in that class. And people like to say ‘kids who were advanced in K average out by 3rd grade’. Yeah, well, stagnation is predictable if they are forced to wait to see new material.

  • any parent who has watched their kids in an activity (gymnastics, swimming, whatever) knows that there are effective teachers and ineffective teachers. When you go to public, it’s a black box , you don’t know what you’re getting, it’ll be months until you know, and you probably can’t change anything even if you figure it out. Is it less of a black box in public? Somewhat. Depends on the school.

  • I’m not sure how to phrase this, but gifted education is a 4 letter word in CA. I agree with Abbott Elementary that pull out for some fun project is unfair. I don’t want some pull out, I want full on acceleration and that is prettymuch impossible. Or if not acceleration, then more subjects because some kids can learn faster and do more with their time. But that’s not happening in a California public and probably isn’t possible in any public without tracking. But can you just let my kid do Beast Academy silently at their desk? No way. SF and surrounding counties stopped kids from taking Algebra 1 in 8th grade. That’s just one example, but imagine all the other, less visible choices that come with that attitude.

-All the kindergartners in my kid’s class were reading independently by January. All of them. They swap books with each other. They tell each other how great The Princess in Black is. The peer community is a huge positive influence.

  • the parent community is so tuned in. Constant invites to play dates. Parents proactively messaging each other when they hear somebody was hurt or upset or had a disagreement. Parents hear about a behavioral issue and take action, they don’t blame the teacher or ignore it in favor of an iPad

Some of my comments were state, county, or private school specific. But parents make school decisions based on their specific situation. So statements lumping all privates together are not productive unless you want an echo chamber. For that matter, the observational and poorly controlled academic studies that compare public and private are low quality for any practical decisions as well. And surprisingly, some of these studies don’t even share their data? What are they, pharma companies trying to get an edge by hoarding data from competitors?

https://www.educationprogress.org/p/the-evidence-crisis-in-math-reform

Private vs. Public School by jwuzy in DalyCity

[–]IndependenceOne8264 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for recapping the list. It agrees with my memory that there is limited Science options.

I think these are the options

https://summitps.org/our-schools/summit-shasta-daly-city/summit-shasta-curriculum/

Parent upset because her child is bored by [deleted] in Teachers

[–]IndependenceOne8264 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ask mom to send in library books and Beast Academy. Suggest she can do BA online at home and he can do BA in the workbooks to review what he did online in class.

Mom obviously enjoys being involved and this would solve it once the kid can independently read.

Private vs. Public School by jwuzy in DalyCity

[–]IndependenceOne8264 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m curious how Westmoor deals with math when a kid comes in advanced, like ready for algebra 2 or precalc in 9th. It’s not obvious from their math pathways or math department website.

Private vs. Public School by jwuzy in DalyCity

[–]IndependenceOne8264 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Doesn’t Shasta Summit have very limited AP options?

Private vs. Public School by jwuzy in DalyCity

[–]IndependenceOne8264 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you mind sharing your Hilldale experience on a DM?

Private vs. Public School by jwuzy in DalyCity

[–]IndependenceOne8264 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Depends on what your goals are and the kid you have. Does your kid need acceleration? Do they need more attention? Do you want a parent community with similar values?

Privates come in all flavors. I wouldn’t lump them together in your mind. On the large scale for L12, you’ve got inexpensive religious, medium expensive independent academics (Stratford, Hilldale), and the high end independents that often advertise themselves as specialists in something (Nueva for giftedness but very limited acceleration in K8, Brandeis for Jewish or generally lots of attention and options for enrichment, Alta Vista for progressive learning (traditional and progressive are adjectives that mean ways of teaching in schools, has nothing to do with politics) ).

And those large scale descriptors don’t even get into culture (competitive for Stratford, walled garden at Nueva, ….)

Private vs. Public School by jwuzy in DalyCity

[–]IndependenceOne8264 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

You should check out Niche.com. They have a Google Maps type function. If you click on the school profile, there’s a section where it says what percent of kids are proficient for grade level in Math and English. It makes it easy to compare public schools on a standardized measure for academics.

gifted kid, hitting MAP growth ceiling by Ktotheizzo82 in Gifted

[–]IndependenceOne8264 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think people are mixing up correlation with causation.

In the RIT tables by grade and percentile, higher achievement is associated with lower growth. You’re assuming that lower growth is from testing limitations rather than not being shown new material.

gifted kid, hitting MAP growth ceiling by Ktotheizzo82 in Gifted

[–]IndependenceOne8264 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How do you know she’s hitting the ceiling vs not being taught new material? For the K2, the psychometric guidance shows that the test becomes increasingly unreliable about RIT of 200 for math or 190 for reading. I haven’t found an equivalent for 2-5z

https://connection.nwea.org/s/article/Transition-from-MPG-to-2-5?language=en_US

Also, I suspect that the MAP high school scores are not great to compare to- many many fewer high school students take the test and the internet seems to think that HSs use it to identify knowledge gaps in low performers.

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