I've been a little flip about the AYP thing. It's only my second year-- none of my kids have reached the point of testing, so I guess I naively thought it wouldn't filter down to me. But it has. As part of the requirement for not meeting AYP, NCLB says, since we're a Title 1 school, we must offer school choice to our students. So, parents are allowed to ask to have their child moved to a better performing school in the district. And in our school of 150 students, 7 have decided to take advantage of this. In my class? 4!!!
I am losing 4 of my 15 kids. I'm so upset-- at first I didn't mind when I thought I was only losing 1. She bothered me anyways. :) But 4?? The other three are so good-- I never have to talk to them, they always complete their work, and they're the sweeeeetest kids. So I'm bummed about this. I feel like a failure-- although I realize it doesn't really reflect on my teaching-- but it's still a little insulting for me.
I go above and beyond what is required for K-- we do writer's workshop, guided reading, literacy centers... the list goes on. I work really hard with these kids-- all but 2 students were reading fluently and writing 3-4 sentence stories last year. The 2 who weren't were special needs, so they were a little behind, but even they got the routine and the idea of it. So I guess, I feel like I work hard, but parents don't see that. Instead they're running scared... :( Bummer. I guess I'm kind of hoping that they get to their new school and find out that, really, the classroom they were in was pretty good. But then again, I guess it's more about the big picture-- no matter how well my class was doing, there is still the chance that 1-5 were underperforming. It's just a tough call.
On the positive... only 8 days til the official test. 7 til I test on my own!!!
1 comment:
You are correct...as soon at those parents get settled into their new schools, they will find out that there isn't much variability between schools. Most of the teachers will be following the same curriculum or programs supported by your district. And there are good and bad teachers in every school, even in those that make AYP.
The problem here is not you, your district, or the parents. It's NCLB, but don't get me started on that one!!!!
Let's think of it this way...with 11 students, each of them will get more individual attention and you will be able to make an even greater impact!
Keep up the good work! Your students are lucky to have such a dedicated teacher to lead them. Don't let politicians that have never stepped foot in a classroom bring you down!
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