Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Advantages of Tier I vs. Tier II vs. Tier III

I think it all depends on the circumstances of your specific school district, and perhaps even the individual school, as well as what "Tier III" really means. In our district we don't have "Tiers" (as far as I know), but we do have large divisions between Title I (as defined by the US Govt) and other schools. The Title I schools do get services and $ targeted specifically to them that our other schools don't get, but the $ and services are going there for a reason - the Title I schools face huge challenges. Large percentages of families who are poor is just one challenge (kids coming to school needing clothes, food etc), attendance, crime, as well as in some cases unmotivated school staff who would rather be teaching in other schools where the kids are there every day and in a better overall mindset for learning. My friends who teach in the Title I schools say that in their opinion the biggest challenge (and brick wall preventing student success) is lack of family (parent) support - the percentage of kids with parents who have time (or motivation in some cases) to be sure there kids are staying on track, keeping up with school, reading outside of school, staying out of trouble etc is just really really low compared to what the reality of students' lives outside of school is in our non-Title I schools. And many of the students who's parents *do* care still don't have parents home after school etc because they are from single-family homes or parents are working 2 jobs etc just to stay afloat. I suspect my friends would think you were crazy if you asked for a zone exemption where we live specifically to go *to* a Title I school because you were thinking your child would have better resources or be some kind of "treasured commodity".

polarbear

I know what you mean regarding fairness. There are times when I feel a bit bad about the money spent over the last two years to allow DS to accelerate in math.

There is also a big difference betweeen a school that is on the rise and one that is on the decline even if they both have the same "score" technically.

I suppose the devil is in the implementation. Typically, there are more aides in classes with special needs kids, who are theoretically available to help with all the kids. If nothing else, the ratio of kids to adults tend to be lower, which may also help with maintaining control in the classroom if that were an issue.

I am glad to hear that your DD got what she needed, particularly at a public school on the "wrong" side of town. It just goes to show that sometimes people and attitude can make a huge difference.

I can see your point that in most cases, it wouldn't make sense to seek out a Title I school. Interestingly, we had the option of three magnet schools, all with excellent magnet programs, but each designated a different tier. We turned down seats in the Tier I and Tier III Magnets and accepted the seats at the Tier II Magnet. Interestingly, I concluded that the Tier II school not only had the best Magnet Program (particularly for my children) but was actually a better school overall. In our case, it is likely that our Magnet is at the high end of Tier II and the scores are on the rise as well. The Tier I Magnet appears to be a bit on the decline (so perhaps the low end of Tier I) and also had the advantage of being all Magnet students (rather than Magnet within a neighborhood school) so essentially excludes almost all problem students. To me, this suggest their "scores" should be higher than the other schools instead of about the same as the Tier II Magnet. For what it is worth, my DS was very tempted by the Tier III Magnet (also Magnet within a neighborhood school) due to its unusual program (including integration of technology) and originally had that Magnet as his first choice.

Maybe this happens in other districts, but in ours the ratio is the same in all the schools whether they are title 1 or not. Or at least they say they are trying to keep it the same. The only difference that I really see is the intervention programs for reading/math. DD has 26 kids in her third grade class and no aide. Last year in second it was the same number. Some of the best performing schools actually have a lower ratio just because they are small schools and some grades hardly have any kids. So there might be one third grade class in the school with only 16 kids in the class. DS started the year at DD's school and had 23 kids in his first grade class (no aide). He switched to a non-title school and has 22. And for whatever reason the new teacher seems to have a lot more time to spend with him, so he's doing better in the non-title school.

I don't think that I would request an exemption just to go to a school because it was Title I, no. However, I would not rule a school out for being Title I, which many people do. My son is being better served at his very poor, Title I school than my daughter was at her "high performing," in-demand charter.

The other positive, we've found, is the parents who also have chosen this school are more like us than the tiger parents queued up for the "traditional" school with "good numbers" in a "nice" neighborhood.