Any teachers out there?

[stacie]

I disagreed with you Robin when you said heterogeneous classes could work. The more I have researched it and dug into what is happening at my son's school, the more I realize that is not the problem. There is no homework and class assignments are often "draw a picture about the book we're reading." Or write a paragraph and draw a picture about a scientist. Clearly not 6th grade assignments. I haven't seen the type of assignments my son is getting since 3rd grade. I've brought enough attention to this to bring the school board to my son's school and to have the classrooms monitored. The resulting meetings with me were tearful exchanges with administration. I wasn't the one crying. The problems at this school are so deep rooted. Do the teachers really believe they are teaching at the appropriate level? Do they give these assignments because it's easier to grade a picture than an essay? I had the opportunity to look at the county curriculum and I found that very little is being followed. Very little work has been done and what has been done is busy work. This is horrible. We pulled the records from last year and the 6th grade students actually went backwards in their test scores. How long has this been happening? I feel so bad for the new principle. She is new to the school and new to the position. Things are being done to get my son out of this horrible situation, but I'm concerned about the other 900 children at this point. I will talk with the school superintendent again on Tuesday. I have to say they acted quite quickly when I wrote them. Thanks to all of you I was able to be very thorough in explaining what was happening at my son's school. This is utterly shocking and unconscionable. I've heard of teachers like this but I'd never experienced it myself. This team of teachers all have 30 or more years experience individually.
To their credit, several teachers and administrators have thanked me for being the whistle blower. When I asked other parents to fight it with me, they stopped talking with me. They only wanted to complain about it, but when I said we should take action they abandoned me. My son learned something. One person can fight for something and make a difference if they really believe in it. This school is a long way from being on track, but it has started.