Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments what a "great" school....

A friend in a "great" school in a "great" neighborhood , who specifically bought her house because of this particular school has a DD7 same age as my DS so, both going to 3rd in the fall got all 3s and 4s "great" right well the girl can't spell work, doesn't know isn't is Is not etc. You catch my drift. Anyway, seems to me a "great" school gives "great" grades w/o merit !!!!!!!!!!!

Yikes! Scary!

But even in situations that aren't so absurb like that, it is disappointing to know that a lot of the time we are not going to be able to rely on word-of-mouth regarding a particular school/teacher's reputation, beacause even if the place/person truly is "great" for other students, it might be no fit at all for our dc...

Clay's point is good: fit is personal, between that child and that program. We too find that reputation doesn't tell the story.

I'd also say you can't judge a school by what one child is doing. What if the child you're looking at has an LD? In that case, they may be doing an OK job educating her, but she just started with some deficits and is running at a different pace. Or they may really be slacking.

DeeDee

Perhaps because "work" is on the grade 3 spelling lists. I kid you not. I just looked it up and on 2 different spelling lists for 3rd grade is the word "work" and other words similar in complexity.

http://www.all-about-spelling.com/spelling-list-for-3rd-grade.html

OH ... and "isn't" is on the list as well so maybe that is when she will learn the concept of it.

My DD's school teaches spelling words such as "Baccalaureate" to 1st grade which I was shocked to learn but the teacher said it was on par with 3rd grade level. I don't know what 3rd grade school she is referring to if "work" and "isn't" is part of the generic lists out on the internet.

K'sMom -

Wow. This reminds me about something I read somewhere regarding at-grade proficiency, etc. that was questioning how it is we determine what should be learned at each grade. How do we know what grade-level proficiency looks like, anyway? Because content experts decided so. But what is their criteria? Some of it makes sense, some if it is somewhat (or completely) arbitrary. Some of it make ssense in a cummulative way, but not necessarily regarding order. Take many of the well-regarded homeschooling math products, for instance: they often teach completely different things at the same level, though eventually they all end up in or about the same place.

It makes me wonder what our kids are really supposed to learn, why, and when. For instance, here's one thing that seems bizarre to me -- though I'm sure many parents disagree. Social studies in the early grades seems to be in large part indoctrination on patriotism. I'm more of a "Love America (or whatever country you may be from). But love her wisely. Work hard to cure the faults under which she labors..." than a "Love America - period" type person. I want my kid to learn the skills to be discerning FIRST and then learn about the people/events.

I totally agree with you on content experts and how they come to their conclusions. If anyone has documentation on this I would love to read it. From milestones, anyway, I know it is the average of kids at a certain age to meet the given milestone. Is curriculum decided in a similar way?

As for social studies, don't get me started on this one! We have a major issue right now in the state of Texas and it is scary! A select few of the extreme right side have determined that we are not teaching 'appropriate' material to our children in public school and have managed get legislation passed that changes Texas textbooks. If we weren't planning on sending our DD to private school we would definitely be doing it now.

Very good question and something I've been pondering about a lot lately. Especially after reading this blog: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn (especially the blogs about math and reading). It really makes you wonder if setting strict age criteria for learning certain materials does more harm than good (and probably many on this board have kids that just flat out don't learn things according to a set age criteria).

Oh, and social studies scares me... I remember how "fluffy" everything I learned was. Thank God I had a good AP History teacher in HS that introduced me to The People's History of the United States! This is definitely going to be on my daughter's reading list as soon as she's able to understand it.

Also, it's funny because DH is not American so it's always interesting to hear how he learned history growing up. It really makes you question what you "know".

If anybody finds any articles about why kids learn the material and certain ages in school I'd LOVE to read them, so please post them!!!!!!!!!

I totally agree. In fact.... I have heard "What a great teacher..." and was excited to get that particular one when in turn, our experience was totally different. Not awful, but I have since learned that i form my own opinions of what makes a good school, a good teacher etc. as every child's needs are different and what works for one will not work for another etc. Our local PS is "excellent" according to state (which doesn't take much to make exclellent" but certainly not excellent by my standards. I went to tour it and left there and called my DH and said "I wouldn't send my dog there! NO WAY is that an option!" It was SAD!

As for the Texas thing..... sadly, we heard that news way over here across the country because most of our textbooks come from texas. So what affects texas, affects MANY MANY students! SAD SAD SAD!

Very true bh14. Lots of people have laughed at Texas cooking the textbooks but don't seem to understand that Texas is a huge state with huge buying power and in the end affects many states and their textbooks. I still don't understand how such an extreme approach could be not only considered but passed! And it's not like the teachers sat quietly through all of this. They were in outrage.

I heard about one teacher that taught that America won its independence from Spain.

It is being told around the neighborhood here at the beach. Someone's grandchild had her.