Report card time again and again we are supposed to be fortune tellers. We are supposed to look into the future and determine which kids will pass the regents and which ones will fail. It is only November and we are supposed to make a decision that will impact on the rest of their high school career.
Mr. AP wants great statistical results. He says that is how the school is rated and numbers are all that matter. Most of the teachers in my department are afraid to have failing grades and the wholesale dropping will begin soon. Kids from the two term algebra class will be put in four term classes. Geometry and trig kids will be put in business math and other non regents subjects. I hate doing this. The kids deserve a chance to improve. They deserve a chance at passing and if they fail, they should have the option of repeating the class. If they don't continue the course now they may be out of the loop that will lead them to an advanced regents diploma.
I don't know how my students will do in the end. I have some very weak kids that probably should be dropped but dropping them seems like I am giving up on them.
I'll probably end up having the worst statistics in the department again but, that's life. I don't have a crystal ball that will allow me to see June's results now. I only have my two eyes that see the students in front of me. I have to look at them and make a decision that is right for them.
4 comments:
I am so glad that when I went to high school (back in the dark ages of the 1960s) that the emphasis was not on school data. I was the student who sat through the first quarter of geometry clueless. I listened. I did my homework (mostly wrong). I came to class everyday. Yet I had no idea what was going on. I got a 14 on the first quarter exam.
Mid second quarter everything clicked and it suddenly made sense. I got a 95 on the second quarter exam. My teacher, when he handed back the second quarter exams, said 'when I went to put the mark into my book and saw your name I recorrected the exam'. He had a hard time believing I had improved so much. But I did.
If this had been today and I were in Packemin, with a teacher other than you, I would have been relegated to a lesser math class. Sometimes a child can improve.
Sound like more class rearranging than necessary. We don't do hardly any of that. Maybe that's why your results are so good. But isn't this really tracking. At least wait on most until February. Or maybe better selection in August ? I don't know.
We do wait for Febraury but programs are based on 2nd MP. Educationally sound, ya think?
I was moved to post my request on this page. Our jobs as teacher is part teacher of students and a big second part is dealing with the farce of workplace politics with stats-crazy supervisors.
Your page's whimsy is an inspiration.
Which workplace TV environment does your school evoke? Room 222? Sgt Bilko? Hogan's Heroes? To vote and see the other options, see my blog at http://nycityeye.blogspot.com.
Look forward to your vote and comments.
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