Had a disaster of a meeting with DD's teacher which really escalated to a horrible place.

I have been having issues with DD's teacher concerning reading this year. She is in 2nd and the district doesn't do GT only high ability. DD was placed by the HA coordinator with this teacher based upon conversations we had at the end of last year concerning DD's level and expectations.

DD took the MAP test at the beginning of the year and did great. Her winter test showed negative growth and she retook the test in late January and only showed 4 points of growth when her average for the year should be 12 points.

The teacher had not really done any reading with DD up to that point reading at a level much lower than MAP's suggested lexile and we let it go because DD is pretty quick to catch up and we were not sure what would be coming for the rest of 2nd semester. Many teachers start slow and gain a ton of growth by the end of the year.

Now the test is only a few weeks away and DD's teacher still has not read at her level and is instead wrapping up the year with Junior Great Books and Jacob's Ladder which have selections far below DD's reading level. In some cases 5 or 6 levels down.

The teacher has basically gone the whole school year doing nothing in DD's RIT band and I am really starting to worry. DD's reading has slacked off and I find her going back to books she read last year with no motivation to read like she had before.

So I called a meeting with DD's teacher. I asked what DD was reading at her level because the selections were too easy and I felt it was affecting her reading and motivation. The teacher immediately shut me down accusing me of "personally attacking her" just because I mentioned this fact. No voices were raised, nothing. She continued to act very upset because I told her there was no way DD could pass her MAP test without direct instruction at her level and this teacher just kept saying she was not doing well because she had been reading "too high" before. When I told her DD was afraid to take the MAP this spring and was constantly asking me if the test would be this week and could I write a note to excuse her from it, the teacher did not believe me. DD is aware that the MAP test is much more difficult than anything she has done in class this year and dreads it which is a drastic change from the beginning of the year when she had done well.

Now the year is ending on a horrible note. DD feels bad about herself and is shutting down from reading, is afraid of testing, the teacher blames me and acts like I'm a hostile tiger parent, and nothing will be solved as it's too late in the year.

I'm really thinking of leaving this school next year. It just seems so dysfunctional to me. I don't see how I can live down the reputation she will most likely spread about me just because I asked a simple question about what DD was doing to help her at her level.






Last edited by shifrbv; 04/11/16 07:31 AM.