Well, we just got back from the open house. It was good insofar that they're very proactive in making it "a challenging experience for every student no matter their ability". That is a great sign. If nothing else, when speaking to them down the road--not now but later--we can reference the fact that is part of their mission statement.
However (you knew there was a however right
) the are certainly focusing on helping the lower end. As someone who has a special needs Uncle, I sincerely think that's great and those children need help. But there was very little discussion about challenging the children on the upper ends (even though it was in the mission statement). Without getting political, I think this is part of the problem when you don't use a metric that shows all student's growth during a year. The metric that was shown was how much better this school's proficiency level is when compared to the state. Our school is great by that metric. If I was a school administrator and that was my primary metric, then where would I focus on my efforts on? The people not making their grade level proficiency. Ugh.
Stepping off of the soap box now. Sorry for the distraction, nothing to see here
Got to meet the teacher (I was impressed) but didn't get a chance to do introductions. Saw DS's desk. He didn't tell us he was student of the day! Also got the sense that it's still an usual thing for a typical first grader to be reading. Got to meet the librarian and we had the chance to warn her that she might get asked for certain books... She was a bit stunned but I think it's okay to start getting them comfortable with DS and his current level.
At any rate, can't wait until Friday AM. Our teacher seems "with it" so I am hopeful.
JB
