https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Mon, 25 May 2026 22:10:35 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher/page/2#post-2525924 Fri, 15 Apr 2016 10:19:01 +0000 lawbee11 2525924@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@matador84: Done. Thanks! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher/page/2#post-2525877 Fri, 15 Apr 2016 09:41:53 +0000 matador84 2525877@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@lawbee11: wall me and i can look and give you more detailed info. :-) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher/page/2#post-2525874 Fri, 15 Apr 2016 09:39:32 +0000 lawbee11 2525874@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@matador84: Ok so I looked up the accountability ratings. The school we're zoned to got "yes" on all 4 indexes and 4 out of 5 distinctions. A school near us that is rated better on greatschools got "yes" on all 4 indexes but 0 out of 5 distinctions. So would you say they're equal or maybe even ours is better? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher#post-2525768 Fri, 15 Apr 2016 08:32:17 +0000 matador84 2525768@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I couldn't agree more (also an educator here). Greatschools is one of the worst indicators for what you might actually get in a school.</p> <p>In Texas school accountability reports are available to public but I don't know if I've ever met anyone outside of education who has looked at one. It measures campuses in 4 areas:<br /> 1. Are students in grades 3-5 passing state tests<br /> 2. Are students in grades 3-5 making progress yearly on their tests.<br /> 3. IS the school closing the gap between economically disadvantaged students and not AND gaps between sub-populations<br /> 4. Are students ready for postsecondary education (measured by advanced levels on tests)</p> <p>Really, it is a very smart accountability snapshot! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher#post-2525737 Fri, 15 Apr 2016 08:12:52 +0000 looch 2525737@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@JoyfulKiwi: Thank you for this, I have thought about your post the last few days and I am struggling to come up with some way to give back to the local school system. I feel I need to, but I don't know what's appropriate at this point. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher#post-2525735 Fri, 15 Apr 2016 08:11:26 +0000 looch 2525735@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@808love: That's interesting, I didn't know that much about the process, so thank you.</p> <p>With this particular school, I do think they deserve it...they turned an underperforming elementary school into a science magnet and they basically closed the achievement gap, but on the flip side, they have enrolled way too many kids. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher#post-2525227 Thu, 14 Apr 2016 16:06:40 +0000 ShootingStar 2525227@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@petitenoisette: Your prison architect reminded me of my high school. We read this Ayn Rand book in English class and the teacher asked us if we thought it was designed for form or function. Everyone kept debating it because was both ugly and not functional :silly:. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher#post-2525124 Thu, 14 Apr 2016 14:42:17 +0000 808love 2525124@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: as for Blue Ribbon Schools, I was told by our school admin that there is a lot of paperwork and write ups but it doesn't necessarily mean the school did anything better than others. Only schools who want to go through the paperwork are nominated. Meaning you need to make a teacher or support staff or admin available to prioritize the writing of the lengthy report (over students and faculty instructional needs) to submit application and jump through hoops for the process. Again this was told to me by our principal when he decided not to do it over 15 years ago and I didn't fact check but I am just letting you know that Blue Ribbon is not what it sounds.</p> <p>And I would not like the playground situation you mentioned earlier. We had an issue with that at my daughter's preschool and I was not happy!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher#post-2525114 Thu, 14 Apr 2016 14:33:35 +0000 808love 2525114@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@petitenoisette: lol at your prison architect comments! I see there is a lot of money to be made in education -particularly in making new curriculum- but your comment about privatization for profit was new insight to me. That should have been a no-brainer as I see it happen in the cost of private preschools all the time. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher#post-2525068 Thu, 14 Apr 2016 13:58:33 +0000 JoyfulKiwi 2525068@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs Green Grass: thanks for this. I taught public elementary for a long time and I cringe when parents say they base their school choice off of something like greatschools. It really means little to nothing about what a child's personal experience will be in that school. </p> <p>@looch: it stinks to hear that your district is so messed up. A parking lot playground is a big no. And you're totally right that things only change when parents demand it. I can't fault you for opting out of the broken system, but passionate parents like you are desperately needed there to affect change. It's a real catch-22 in districts that are so far gone - the parents who would do the most good don't want their children to go through that environment. </p> <p>@Mrs. Lion: I don't think broken schools are a myth. I've worked in seriously messed up places, where kids aren't being served well, and the administration supports awful policies that hurt learning. And I know their are far worse places in our nations public education system. That said, I do think "failing" schools are over-blown &amp; people label a school as "bad" when it's really just fine (I think this happens a LOT). I'm not a huge fan of charter schools for many reasons &amp; I'm passionate about quality public education for every child. I think it's not too big to fix, just very complex and damn hard to make it better. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher#post-2524894 Thu, 14 Apr 2016 12:14:17 +0000 petitenoisette 2524894@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Lion: Totally agree with your take on charter schools and the quasi-myth of failing schools. I think it all comes down to making people believe schools are failing so that they can be privatized and more money can be made off of our students. First they make money off of the standardized tests that can "prove" they're failing and then more off the new private schools to replace them...but I digress...</p> <p>@Mrs Green Grass: Your "bungalow" looks just as nice as my regular classroom! Actually, yours may be nicer and you have more windows than I do. Thank you, prison architect. (My school was literally designed by a prison architect and has the looks and functionality to prove it). @808love: I also was in a bungalow in 6th grade! I thought it was fun and felt kind of "special." </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher#post-2524892 Thu, 14 Apr 2016 12:13:25 +0000 looch 2524892@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Lion: I meant from a national perspective. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher#post-2524875 Thu, 14 Apr 2016 12:03:42 +0000 Mrs. Lion 2524875@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: Maybe. Our system is huge and they have found ways to make it happen. I think because we are such a booming area the people here back in the 90s really made quality schools a priority, and they have tried to maintain that since. It was a huge draw for our area. Since then, our state took a nosedive in education funding (long story) but we are hanging on. And we are lucky that we are the capital and have more revenue to fund schools, so our local board and county commissioners have done a lot to supplement what the state has cut. Things can be done, but it has to be a priority, and it sounds like that isn't the case where you live :( </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher#post-2524853 Thu, 14 Apr 2016 11:50:54 +0000 looch 2524853@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Lion: It's not all terrible. The elementary schools are mostly fine, it's the middle and high schools where you begin to see the gaps in achievement.</p> <p>But, if you think about it, the goal of public education is that everyone receives the same education, regardless of where you live. That's the bigger issue at play, rather than a school being good or bad. The system is just too big to have that be a reality, you know? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher#post-2524593 Thu, 14 Apr 2016 09:29:00 +0000 Mrs. Lion 2524593@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: I get the impression from your posts that your district has some serious issues :( I would be SO pissed if the kids didn't have a legit playground to play on. At our school the portable classrooms are just regular classrooms and nobody cares. They don't interfere with any of the 3 playgrounds at the school, or the fields, or the track. I think what you are seeing is not really the norm in other places. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher#post-2524420 Thu, 14 Apr 2016 07:40:37 +0000 looch 2524420@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I am kind of surprised at all the portable love on this thread! It's really unacceptable in my area and I purposely chose to not apply for the lottery to the school with the most portables, even though it's a Blue Ribbon School. Sounds crazy, right? The reasoning is that those portables are on the grounds of what used to be the playground. The kids play in a fenced in parking lot that is literally right on the main road. No. Just no.</p> <p>My view is that if parents continue to accept that, the school board and the town feels no need to change it. And they've shown that time and time again as that school gets removed from the list of improvements. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher#post-2524295 Wed, 13 Apr 2016 22:16:43 +0000 Mrs Green Grass 2524295@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <br /><p><i>This comment has been deleted by the original poster.</i></p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher#post-2524058 Wed, 13 Apr 2016 17:25:27 +0000 808love 2524058@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Lion: I would too. Now that I am remembering, I had a portable when I was a sixth grader and we loved it. Felt more like a mini home as a student. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher#post-2524012 Wed, 13 Apr 2016 16:27:38 +0000 Mrs. Lion 2524012@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our portables are super cute too :) Not as much light as I would like, but our teachers have the freedom to paint them however they want and they are super cozy. I almost got to move into one one year and I was excited! :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher#post-2523982 Wed, 13 Apr 2016 15:56:12 +0000 808love 2523982@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I don't have a problem with portables either. The sixth graders move out of the main building and into the portables after fifth. Kinda like a promotion. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher#post-2523969 Wed, 13 Apr 2016 15:48:53 +0000 Happygal 2523969@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs Green Grass: we call the "learning cottages here." I really like one of mine--it's well decorated, cozy, and clean. I've liked overlapping from our speech pathologist, OT, and PT staff and learning from them. Some of my other trailers are stinky, moldy, have animals living in them, are far from the school, and not at all welcoming. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher#post-2523959 Wed, 13 Apr 2016 15:43:06 +0000 raspberries 2523959@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@catlady: That's good to know! I'd figured that out after doing some digging around, but I feel like it's not clear (or fair, for that matter. It'd make more sense to call them Improvement Levels or something, instead of designating consecutively high-performing schools a lower general level if they don't have much to improve.)</p> <p>If anything, looking up all of this information has shown me how little I know about schools in my area - and how sad that I can basically judge the performance of a school based on the affluence of the neighborhood it's in. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher#post-2523944 Wed, 13 Apr 2016 15:28:47 +0000 catlady 2523944@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@raspberries: Apologies if you already know this, but be careful if you are using the "Level" to evaluate schools and/or school systems in MA. The Level is based on "narrowing gaps" which means that schools that were lower-performing schools to begin with have an easier time scoring high. Schools that are already high performing don't have much of a gap to reduce. I just looked in my town and one of the historically best elementary schools is Level 2, but it is in the 90th percentile when compared to other schools. One of the worst schools is actually ranked Level 1 because they have done a great job recently of "narrowing gaps" but it is 39th percentile in performance.</p> <p>Just wanted to point this out because I have definitely heard people assuming that Level 1 is the "best" but actually some of the very best schools in our state are Level 2. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher#post-2523926 Wed, 13 Apr 2016 15:11:14 +0000 Mrs Green Grass 2523926@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: I'm retiring from the "portable" I've been in for the last 10 years and it's older than me. We call them bungalows, then they don't sound quite so wrong. It's super normal here though, a percentage of just about every school is bungalows at every level. But all kids do have seats and all teachers have a classroom.</p> <p>I definitely care most about teachers and peers, then programs, and far last is facilities. (Facilities minus tech which is essential: proper bandwith, wifi, access to computers...no need for fancy smart boards etc., but internet and computers are essential). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher#post-2523921 Wed, 13 Apr 2016 15:08:02 +0000 Mrs Green Grass 2523921@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Happygal: Absolutely! That's kind of along the lines of higher socioeconomic status will score higher. That doesn't mean the teachers are better or even good, just that the kids came in with a rich academic background already. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher#post-2523814 Wed, 13 Apr 2016 13:52:48 +0000 Mrs. Lion 2523814@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: I think you definitely have some very valid points about things that need to change! We have portable classrooms too (we call them cottages) and they are very standard here because our area grows far too fast to build schools, but our district does make an effort to build new schools so it isn't the same as what you are describing. I guess my point is just that, from the outside on paper a school can sound like it is failing, but if you actually walk into the school you might see an atmosphere that is loving and thriving, despite the lack of funding. In those cases I think it is reasonable to send your kids to those schools, while you simultaneously fight for adequate funding. This may not be the case in your specific area, but I think in general I hear a LOT of "my school district is awful" comments, and I have a hard time believing that in all of those cases the school district is actually as awful as it is described. I think the media has created a mentality where people in general believe the schools are failing, and this is a huge fear for parents because they love their children and want them to have the best, so they jump on it without really understanding what really makes a good school in the first place. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher#post-2523792 Wed, 13 Apr 2016 13:41:19 +0000 looch 2523792@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Lion: Fair points. To me, a broken system is one where there aren't enough seats for the kids that live in the towns and they're sitting in portables, where a new school hasn't been built in over 40 years, and a large number of kids have to be sent outside of the district at the expense of the taxpayers because the system doesn't have the resources in place to provide them a fair education.</p> <p>And the schools in wealthy areas have their fair share of issues as well. There's a huge problem in the surrounding towns with recreational drug use. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher#post-2523787 Wed, 13 Apr 2016 13:36:10 +0000 Happygal 2523787@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs Green Grass: good points. I'll add that what you can find on paper about a school is still just a starting point. I've worked in schools that are ranked very high (rich, affluent populations with top notch state test scores), but observed many classrooms in these top schools where I would NOT want my daughter to be a student for a variety of reasons. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher#post-2523784 Wed, 13 Apr 2016 13:34:46 +0000 Mrs. Lion 2523784@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: I am coming at this from a very privileged and idealistic place, because I happen to live in a place where all of the public schools in pretty much our entire state I would be fine with my kids being in, and I recognize that other places have different challenges and many people have a different experience. I just question what a lot of people call a "broken" public school. I don't think, overall, that the system is as broken as people claim it is. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fyi-on-schools-from-a-teacher#post-2523763 Wed, 13 Apr 2016 13:25:19 +0000 looch 2523763@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Lion: I agree in theory, but when I was actually faced with the decision of what to do for my son, you bet I put him in every lottery I could think of, and then some.</p> <p>The problem for me is that yes, everyone deserves a fair and equal education. But when the system is broken, the kids that are in the schools are the ones that go through the growing pains when transitions occur and I didn't want that to be my son's experience. </p>