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Post by title1parent on Apr 14, 2006 22:14:10 GMT -6
This leads to the most obvious observation where NVHS students are MUCH MORE prepared for college than Harper students who took the same classes (by title). And this is where some of the issues occur within our own SD. Those of us in the areas of the SD that have some of the urban students coming into our school see those discrepancies and that is where the "bridging" of these students is so important. Everyday Math and the 6+1 Writing Traits are just 2 areas that are new to these kids when they come into the ES. And understand that when a new ES student comes into the SD, he/she may also have older siblings in MS or HS. And then these kids are also at a disadvantage. I just wish I had the time to help tutor some of these kids at the ES that I see everyday.
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Post by cantretirehere on Apr 15, 2006 10:55:41 GMT -6
I just wish I had the time to help tutor some of these kids at the ES that I see everyday. Some years ago one of my kids was having trouble with a certain section in math. I knew that I could easily spend some time with him after school and get him through the rough spot. When I was discussing the problem with the math teacher, she said that there were about 5 kids in the class struggling with the same section. I offered to come in during the math class and be an extra hand to get these kids through that section (either in the class room or in the LMC) or perhaps just form a small study group after school in the LMC. I figured that if I'm helping my kid learn this part and catch him up, that I could help the other kids as well. She turned me down. I don't understand why sometimes some of the schools' teachers and/or administrators are so against having parents help out with some of the more academic aspects of the school day. It seems that it is fine with them if you come in and cut paper, hang decorations on bulletin boards and do fund raisers, but if you volunteer to do something more substantial in the learning environment, they dig their heels in. In my instance, I had 4 years of college math under my belt. I probably had more advanced math education than the teacher did. I think I could have handled teaching some 5th grade accelerated math to a few kids for a few weeks. Also at that time I was in employment to the district as a substitute teacher, so again, it wasn't as if they didn't already have a background check on me. Our district has some highly educated parents that are willing to help out voluntarily at the schools in more than just a 'busy work' capacity. The district is missing out on a huge untapped valuable resource.
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Post by gatormom on Apr 15, 2006 11:12:59 GMT -6
CRH I think that all depends on the teacher. I have been assigned plenty of busy work by teachers, but I also have done a lot of "small group" work including one-on-one in the classroom with a child who does not get a particular concept.
I agree with you, some teachers are missing a valuable resource by not tapping into the parents who can help. In my experience, that is usually the newer teachers.
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Post by title1parent on Apr 15, 2006 11:44:48 GMT -6
Our district has some highly educated parents that are willing to help out voluntarily at the schools in more than just a 'busy work' capacity. I agree. At Gombert, we have really tried to get parents involved. And it seems that the drop off year is 2nd or 3rd grade. I also agree with Gatormom, it depends on the teacher. Some may just need you for a room party or field trip. My husband just went in and did a Civil War Soldier presentation for our 5th grade classes as a culminating activity. We also have 2 programs that originally started at McCarty when many in our attendance area attended there. One is Super Science for 2nd and 4th graders, and the other is Awesome Art for 1st and 3rd grade. Both have a set curriculum that allow parents to come into the classroom and do mini lessons that tie into the current classroom activities. This has been great in tapping into parent involvement. I have been involved in Super Science for 6 years now.
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Post by jenrik2714 on Apr 15, 2006 13:00:58 GMT -6
Why is Gombert having a hard time getting parents to help?
I know I try to help when I can, but I work during the day....I have spoken at Still's career day last year and so has my husband.
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Post by cantretirehere on Apr 15, 2006 14:41:50 GMT -6
CRH I think that all depends on the teacher. I have been assigned plenty of busy work by teachers, but I also have done a lot of "small group" work including one-on-one in the classroom with a child who does not get a particular concept. I agree with you, some teachers are missing a valuable resource by not tapping into the parents who can help. In my experience, that is usually the newer teachers. This was a long time teacher who actually recently retired. She taught the last 2 of my 3 children and I had substituted for her class before and she told me later that I was one of the best that had ever subbed for her. So I don't know what the problem was. Maybe she thought the start-up to getting these kids going with me was going to be too much of a hassle of something, oh well. For the most part my experience has been that the teachers don't want the parents in the classroom at all, except my kids' kindergarten teacher. But it has been a while since my kids have been in elementary so maybe things are changing now.
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Post by gatormom on Apr 15, 2006 17:20:07 GMT -6
I guess it all depends on the teacher. My son's 5th grade teacher really didn't want parents in the classroom, many moons ago. My daughter's 5th grade teacher, just the opposite. I could come in every day and she would be happy. I am helping with math this year. My son was at McCarty until 4th grade and then started at Gombert. In all those years, I would have to say there were only a couple of teachers who didn't use me in the classroom in a productive manner.
We have so many children who come to this SD totally unprepared for our curriculum, it really helps to have parents who can sit and work with anyone who is lagging behind on a concept. I have had to work with a few on long division this year, kind of hard when you are barely able to multiply.
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Post by rew on Apr 15, 2006 18:02:23 GMT -6
NV on Oprah.... Crains has a couple of articles....Apparently CPS is planning to open four Outward Bound high schools in 2007, funded, in part by the Gates Foundation..... And the Gates Foundation has awarded CPS with a $960K grant for a teacher training school. If anyone would like to read the articles go to www.chicagobusiness.com and search Gates Foundation, or Chicago Public schools.
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Post by title1parent on Apr 17, 2006 7:35:28 GMT -6
Why is Gombert having a hard time getting parents to help? We have a lot of working parents, or we have SAHM with younger siblings and cannot come in to volunteer. I believe it is a choice. Like our PTA.....same group running it. I am leaving after next year. Been on the PTA Board forever. Someone needs to step up to the plate.
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Post by cantretirehere on Apr 17, 2006 8:29:16 GMT -6
In the past our neighborhood formed a babysitting club and moms took advantage of it to volunteer. Besides the babysitting club, the SAHM with younger siblings basically just take care of each other's kids so that they can take turns going in to the school to help out. I think that the dual income or single parent one income situations actually hurt volunteering more than the SAHM with younger sibling situation. Kudos to the SAHMs who have given up the 'extras' so that they could stay home with their kids and help out at the schools. Kudos to the working moms who still find a way to help out at the schools.
Editted to add: Dads too!
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Post by momof3 on Apr 20, 2006 13:37:28 GMT -6
I believe rew mentioned the grants from the Gates foundation, and I thought this article did a good job of explaining what they are to be used for. I think the Gates Foundation is far more productive than JJ and Oprah - this money isn't for the pools and such, it's for the curriculum.
City dropouts target of grant Gates fund awards schools $21 million Chicago Tribune (IL) April 18, 2006 Author: David Mendell, Tribune staff reporter Estimated printed pages: 3
With many high school dropouts saying they left school because they felt unchallenged in the classroom, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on Monday gave $21 million to the Chicago Public Schools system to establish a more rigorous curriculum in city high schools.
Initially, 14 high schools will be targeted for a new core curriculum. Each school will be given a small menu of curriculum options to choose from, in the hope of shaping classroom instruction along more specific and consistent subject lines in English, math and science throughout the system.
All too often, educators say, an algebra class in one Chicago school is dramatically different from an algebra class in another. The money is a key part of a so-called high school "transformation project," an effort by Chicago school officials to stem high school dropout rates and better prepare students for college.
Only 54 percent of freshmen eventually receive a diploma, according to a study by the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago. Of those graduates, 47 percent go on to college, and many Chicago students then need remedial classes to learn things that should have been mastered in high school, officials said.
Tom Vander Ark, executive director of education for the Gates foundation, said too little attention nationwide has been paid to offering high school students a rigorous curriculum. That leads to woeful college preparedness and untenable dropout rates, particularly in challenged urban schools.
Students, especially dropouts, consistently tell researchers that they are bored in school, and this is an effort to provide a more challenging classroom experience, officials said.
"I could kick myself that five years ago we should have paid more attention to curriculum," Vander Ark told the Tribune editorial board on Monday.
Across the country, students "basically build their own curriculum, and so they build the path of least resistance to get them out of school. Then they get bored, and half of them in our urban areas drop out," Vander Ark said.
As part of the effort to revitalize the city's high schools, officials are designing a new set of high school curricula scheduled to take effect in 14 schools in the 2006-07 school year. It will be broadened to 30 schools in 2007-08 and between 50 and 60 in 2008-09. The district has 93 high schools.
The transformation initiative also provides parents with a score card to gauge the performance of each high school in the city, adds more instructional coaching for teachers so they are teaching the same coursework throughout the district, and places more emphasis on recruitment of high-quality principals.
The project is part of an intense high school focus that also includes the district's Renaissance 2010 initiative, in which low-achieving schools are closed in favor of opening new, independently run schools across the city. The district already has opened 22 new smaller high schools and plans to add 30 more over the next four years.
School officials want to increase the graduation rate from 54 percent to 70 percent by 2010. As Renaissance 2010 attacks low-achieving schools, the transformation project aims at revitalizing the broad swath of the city's middle-tier schools.
"I think this is a truly historic day, not just for the Chicago Public Schools and the city, but for the country," said Arne Duncan, CEO of the district, who predicted Chicago's high school effort would be studied nationally.
The Gates foundation has invested more than $65 million in the Chicago Public Schools and $1.3 billion nationally, Vander Ark said.
"The impact of this grant will be long-lasting," Mayor Richard Daley said in announcing the gift at Crane High School on the Near West Side.
Crane will be one of the initial 14 schools to participate in the curriculum changes. The others are: Bowen Environmental Studies Team High School, Carver Military Academy, Chicago Military Academy at Bronzeville, Clark Academic Preparatory, Dunbar Vocational, Dyett High School, Fenger Academy, John Hope College Preparatory, Kenwood Academy, Wendell Phillips, School of the Arts (South Shore campus), Moses Vines Preparatory Academy at Orr Campus and George Washington.
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