who gets to decide class placements?

[Roadrunner]

Does anybody know how they put together classes at PS? So is it a K teacher or a 1st grade teacher that will decide which teacher my Ker will get next year?

[Element]

Last year, dd's K teacher said she was allowed no input regarding placement for grade 1. However, dd did end up getting in the class she wanted, so I wonder if the K teacher had a little input after all. Sorry, I'm not much help!

 

ETA: My ps-teacher friend (different school) said the principal decides placement in her school. With 150 kids/grade, that seems like a lot of work for the principal!

Edited May 11, 2012 by Element

[Sneezyone]

At DD's school (and at previous schools she's attended) they send home a sheet in the spring asking about re-enrollment and the social/academic needs of the child. Parents are discouraged from requesting specific teachers but are encouraged to mention things their child may need/benefit from/want to avoid in terms of peer groups, teaching style, or classroom environment. Then during the late summer, each grade-level of teachers along with the principal gets together to form class rosters.

[Roadrunner]

The principal decides. They'll balance the skills as judged by the testing done at K sign-up and the genders in each class as best as they can. In my area, you can request placement in inclusion, noninclusion, with a teacher who is good with visual learners, kinesthetic, who never yells, yada yada....students that have specific needs (fm mike, special ed push-in, fluent reading group) will be clustered.

 

So teachers don't get any input? :001_huh:

[Riverland]

When my dd was in public elementary, it was a mix of parent/teacher/principal/counselor input. I'm sure the policies vary for each school.

[ApronMama]

In my experience, the teachers say they get no input, but in exceptional cases they do. Usually they will make a recommendation for particular students on each end of the high performance/low performance spectrum, for kids who need to split up for discipline reasons or just to make sure one teacher doesn't get all the challenging kids. I've also found that really involved parents get a little more say.

 

Supposedly, at our school, the kids are grouped into classes but not assigned to a particular teacher. But then I think things get moved around a little right before school starts.

[Roadrunner]

So there is some hope that my younger will end up with the same teacher as his older brother? This teacher is so extraordinary! I bet the principle will put his daughter with her next year.

Thanks everybody. I thought maybe, just maybe teachers had a say.

[msk]

At DD's school (and at previous schools she's attended) they send home a sheet in the spring asking about re-enrollment and the social/academic needs of the child. Parents are discouraged from requesting specific teachers but are encouraged to mention things their child may need/benefit from/want to avoid in terms of peer groups, teaching style, or classroom environment. Then during the late summer, each grade-level of teachers along with the principal gets together to form class rosters.

 

That's what happens at my daughter's school too, except that this sheet only gets filled out when kids first enter the school; if a child's needs change before the next grade year, parents have to ask for an update sheet. The teachers try to spread out kids with different challenges so that one class doesn't end up with more than its share of kids with similar kinds of behavior issues (like an inability to sit still for 10 minutes) feeding off each other. Something the principal once said seemed to suggest they also do this so they don't run into problems with specific teachers becoming "trendy" and getting requested by all the highly-involved volunteers and PTA parents, leaving most classes with very low parent support and one class with tons, but that was implied and not openly stated.

 

Where I live, this can vary a lot by school-- they all choose their own methods, there's no set district or county standard for making these decisions.

[slackermom]

At our school, a list that follows the school's assignment policy is generated by the principal during the summer, and then about a week before school starts the principal presents it to the teachers to go over the list and tweak it as needed. Some kids are already on the principal's radar for various reasons, and those kids are more likely to be specific matched with a teacher from the beginning.

 

We have 2 classes for each grade, and the general philosophy at our school is to mix it up each year, so in 1st, about half the kids will be from the same K class, and half will be from the other K class. This process of remixing continues each year. They try to split up kids with a history of not getting along. They try to balance the boys and girls evenly. Our school doesn't cluster kids by ability (they actually try to give each teacher an equal load of issues), but some kids do travel to the other class for a reading group, and roughly equal numbers of kids get pulled out of each classroom to attend classes with certain specialists together.

 

I know other schools in the district that do just the opposite of what I described. One nearby school keeps the same kids and their teacher together for 2 years at a time. Another splits the boys and girls into separate classes.

[Lecka]

I don't know how kids get placed in K.

 

My son started K with an IEP for speech, and I am sure they looked at how many kids were coming in with an IEP from pre-school services and assigned them in some way.

 

We are allowed to fill out an information sheet about our child.

 

However -- my son received placement into his current 1st grade. He was recommended for his teacher by his K teacher. She is the one who is the best for his level of reading. He is doing extremely well with her and I am pleased!

 

Other parents have told me that the teachers sit around with an index card for each child, and put them into the next grade's classes. My son was probably separated from another boy he was in K with. They will separate kids they think are playing too much together at the expense of their social skills. But, I know parents have requested that their child stay with a friend and it has happened. In my son's case -- on all sides we think it is good they were separated so they could branch out -- they can still play plenty.

 

They don't allow teacher requests, so I think sometimes people will write on the info forms things that will be directed towards a certain teacher, and I think that works a fair amount of the time.

 

We are military, and my son's school is 20% military. This year and last year both there are 5 kids in his class with a military parent. So -- I think they must look at that as well. I think it is good -- it is good for the military kids not to be the only one in a class with a deployed parent.

[PhotoGal]

When I was a teacher, the principal asked the grade level teams to get together and make evenly placed classes (about the same number of high achieving/struggling/behavior issues/etc.). We were NOT supposed to decide which class went to which teacher. But, the head teacher of my grade wrote names on them anyway. :confused:

 

They told the parents that they had no say, but really if parents requested a teacher by asking the principal, they generally got what they wanted. I'm guessing most principals don't do that, but ours definitely did.

[eloquacious]

I never had a choice in which students I taught. Short of getting one boy expelled, only to find him back in my class six months later because someone on our end had failed to dot their I or cross their T, and of course the transfer school had no interest in keeping him. :-/ (I should mention that I taught in an urban middle school closed the year after I left because it had been on the "persistently dangerous/violent" list five years in a row.)

[Little Nyssa]

Before DD went to kindy, I met both teachers at the open house. I liked them both. I found out afterward that they met afterwards and their own perceptions of which parents they had 'bonded' with did figure into what class the children went into. I think they also try to balance genders, and issues, based on the input from preschools.

I felt like I could have a good relationship with either, but it was the crackerjack genius K teacher who chose us! I am grateful but I surely did not expect it.

 

She also makes recommendations about which gr 1 teacher would be a best fit for her K students.

[Lecka]

We did put the name of the pre-school attended before K, and while I don't think they got any input from them, I think they might have tried to mix up the pre-schools between classes.

 

The kids from my son's pre-school were spread out, not clustered in one class.

 

When we lived in military housing, there were 4 pre-Ks (2 morning and 2 afternoon) and they had a policy of separating kids from the same street in general, so they would have more social opportunities.

[lorisuewho]

When I taught kindergarten it was half day.

Step one: The transportation director told us who was coming in the morning and who was coming in the afternoon.

Step two: All the incoming children were screened for basic fine motor skill, etc.

Step three: We took the information from the screening and put it on blue or pink index cards, indicating boy or girl.

Step four: The counselor, the teachers, and the principal sat around a table and we dealt out the cards, trying to get an even mix of girl/boy, high/low, behavior issues, etc. And yes, the teachers definitely had a say in who went to what teacher. We could say, "I'd like to have so and so because I had the sibling, or I know that mother," or whatever.

Step five: The principal revised the list as she/he saw fit. Changes might be made based on parent requests or other information we were not privy to.

[ChristineW]

At our school, the teachers definitely have input. Next week, DD5 will be attending the welcome to kindergarten day. The teachers will observe the kids at story time, at the coloring table and play a game with them to assess personality and skills. Parents also fill out a 2 page questionnaire.They try to balance the classrooms evenly and parents have NO say over which teacher they get. Parents can tailor the questionnaire hoping to get a result but no input beyond that. Then in later grades the teachers meet and divvy up the kids. Again, parents are not allowed to make requests. However, our kindy teacher strongly encouraged us to visit the first grade rooms at Open House to "get a feel for the different classrooms" so I think that parents might have a little bit more pull than the "official line."

[jenbrdsly]

It depends on the school. At one school I taught at the school secretary decided (crazy!!!!). At another, the teachers 100% made the decision based on the best needs of each individual student.

 

It can often come together as a crazy puzzle. These two kids need to be in the no-peanut class. These two kids need to be separated. These two kids should be together.

 

Oh, and we also use to divide the "problem parents" so nobody ended up with too many! :tongue_smilie:

[EKS]

Oh, and we also use to divide the "problem parents" so nobody ended up with too many! :tongue_smilie:

 

:lol:

[Beth in SW WA]

:lol:

 

:iagree::lol:

[kubiac]

Oh, and we also use to divide the "problem parents" so nobody ended up with too many! :tongue_smilie:

 

 

Wait, now I'm dying to know: What are the most common offenses of "problem parents"?!!

[jenbrdsly]

Oh my gosh I could write a novel about that one. Let's see... parents who are too pushy, parents who are flakey, parents who go behind teachers' backs, parents who say one thing and then do another, parents who raise a stink about a no-peanut policy, parents who never help, parents who help way to much, parents who email you several times a day, parents who expect you to take phone calls in the middle of the day when you are supposed to be teaching, parents who don't think you are spending enough time on (fill in the blank), and parents who are just plain crazy.

There are generally at least one or two "problem parents" in each class. I have a sinking suspicion I might be one of them, so I give really nice gift cards to Norstroms at Christmas each year. I'm sure nobody wants to have a parent in their classroom who also has an educational blog. :)

[Roadrunner]

Oh my gosh I could write a novel about that one. Let's see... parents who are too pushy, parents who are flakey, parents who go behind teachers' backs, parents who say one thing and then do another, parents who raise a stink about a no-peanut policy, parents who never help, parents who help way to much, parents who email you several times a day, parents who expect you to take phone calls in the middle of the day when you are supposed to be teaching, parents who don't think you are spending enough time on (fill in the blank), and parents who are just plain crazy.

 

There are generally at least one or two "problem parents" in each class. I have a sinking suspicion I might be one of them, so I give really nice gift cards to Norstroms at Christmas each year. I'm sure nobody wants to have a parent in their classroom who also has an educational blog. :)

:lol::lol::lol::lol:

I see several parents almost on a daily basis chatting with teachers. I was always sooooo curious what they talk about so much. Really, what can you possibly have to say to a teacher every.single.day. My DH always laughs and feels sorry for "poor cornered" teachers.

 

I realize I just have to sit with fingers crossed all summer. I saw my son's 1st grader teacher yesterday (the same one I am praying to get for my Ker) and she gave me a hug and said she was hoping to get the younger brother next year (I swear I haven't mentioned anything at all. Nothing. She brought it up). All I could say was "do you know how much I love you", which set off laughter and a very awkward moment. I desperately need social skills. :blink: