To think that there is any one simple solution is ludicrous. Sure, there are some bad teachers, sure, there are some bad administrators. There are also bad parents and kids who live in conditions that hinder their ability to learn. We can't address only one of these issues. They ALL have to be looked at.
I have two kids who are two years apart and who went to the same elementary school. They only had one teacher the same. My daughter's experience was wonderful. She's very bright, her teachers recognized that and they gave her many opportunities to excel beyond her grade level. She got 8th grade vocabulary words in lieu of 4th grade spelling, for example. She was encouraged to spend a lot of time doing Accelerated Reader and Accelerated Math on the computer, at her own level. My son, who actually IQ tests higher than her, is bored out of his mind. His teachers all say he's the brightest boy in the class, but doesn't always do all his work. He's the kind of kid who, if bored, will find things to do like .. create his own "science" experiments. It just isn't appropriate in school to try to see how thick of a paper clip his scissors can cut or what things he can mix together to use like glue, etc. However, only one of his teachers ever gave him anything to do above his grade level. He was in 3rd grade that year, in a 3/4 split class and that teacher gave him the 4th grade work after he finished his own 3rd grade work. She's the only teacher that never had trouble with him being bored, not turning in assignments, finding "non-productive" activities to busy himself with, etc.
I do know that it's tough for a teacher to try to meet the needs of each individual student at their grade levels, but there are programs in place in our schools to do it.. the AR and AM mentioned above. My son isn't given time to work on these things and isn't allowed to do them when he finishes his regular work while my daughter was encouraged to do it. So yes, two kids, same school, very different experiences.
Our state test is called the MEAP (Michigan Education Assessment Program). We can look up any school's results, compare among school districts, etc. Within a district, demographic data is given. The data is given in two ways, one including special ed and then separated from special ed. The ONLY factor that made a difference in our school.. a statistically significant difference, was not race or gender, but was poverty level. The kids who fell below poverty level could not pass this test. Is this because their parents are probably uneducated and therefore, are living below poverty level? Or, perhaps those kids aren't getting good nutrition? Or good sleep? Are they more sickly because they possibly don't have heat or electricity?
There are so many factors that it could be. The teachers unions in Michigan are probably stronger than in most states, because ALL unions are so strong here. They also get paid a lot more than in most states. Most of the teachers I've encountered were excellent. My son has a mediocre one this year. He got really messed up in 1st grade and in 4th grade when, due to maternity leaves, he had super incompetent long term subs who had no control over the classroom. The second grade teachers the next year were appalled and very upset that all the kids in that one class were so far behind. Over 70% of them hadn't learned to read. My son makes his numbers really strangely because they never worked on that. Yeah, he can make them, but to watch him do it, it looks very odd. Anyway... neither of the long term subs that were awful got hired by the school district full time, so that was good. However, it's tough to get back a 5 month loss of learning. Thankfully, my son was reading at 2nd grade level at the beginning of 1st grade, so he wasn't behind.
My mom and I both did a lot of things with my kids to enhance early learning. But then, I was trained as an Occupational Therapist and child development was my focus. So yeah, I was doing reflex testing on my babies before I ever fed them for the first time, just to make sure
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There's an old saying "It takes a village to raise a child" and I fully ascribe to that. A parent can't do it alone, neither can a teacher. And, I typed a lot of words to get to that point.
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