Quiver0f10 Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 http://www.kansascity.com/news/nation/story/947434.html At first I was thinking it was dumb, but then I thought this is basically what we home schoolers do. I would love to see it be successful, but I don't know if I agree with state run standardized testing to prove what they know, but atleast it's a start. What do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
athena1277 Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 I think it sounds like a good idea. Of course it could totally bomb and leave the kids worse off than before. Hopefully that will not happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebeccaS Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 The idea intrigues me. I would have loved it when I was in school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klmama Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 I think it sounds like an interesting approach to fixing a failing school district. My biggest concern would be that they allow children to attend the appropriate level of each core subject, rather than forcing a child who reads better to be in a lower level because his math scores weren't there yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffeefreak Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 When I was in 5th grade, I had a teacher that ran her classroom like this. She kind of ran it like ACE where we had folders and we worked, "at our own pace." It sounds good in theory, but it won't work. Public schools are failing largely in part to parental failure. Parents expect the public schools to do everything and take no responsibility for their kid's education. Simply shifting kids around will help maybe for a time, but unless parents make sure kids are doing their homework, studying for tests, sleeping, eating and attending classes, nothing the government tries will help the public schools. I have a lot of friends that have their kids in school. They work as hard as I do and that's why their kids are succeeding in school. They go through the work that comes home, they contact teachers when the child makes a bad grade to find out where the problem is, and they go the extra mile to make sure their kids don't fall "in between the cracks." It's not a bad idea, but until parents get involved and engaged, the system will always fall short. Of course, that's my two cents. Feel free to disagree:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delighted3 Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 but if I was a parent, my concern would be having say 4th or 5th grade or older students who are behind with 1st or 2nd graders who are ahead at the same level. The maturity level is a big issue in my opinion. You never know what things a much younger child could learn from an older, more mature child, especially considering the huge mix of moral values there are in a public school. Not to mention the size difference and the bullying that could occur. JMO, Joy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggie Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 Public schools are failing largely in part to parental failure. Parents expect the public schools to do everything and take no responsibility for their kid's education. Simply shifting kids around will help maybe for a time, but unless parents make sure kids are doing their homework, studying for tests, sleeping, eating and attending classes, nothing the government tries will help the public schools. I have a lot of friends that have their kids in school. They work as hard as I do and that's why their kids are succeeding in school. They go through the work that comes home, they contact teachers when the child makes a bad grade to find out where the problem is, and they go the extra mile to make sure their kids don't fall "in between the cracks." It's not a bad idea, but until parents get involved and engaged, the system will always fall short. Of course, that's my two cents. Feel free to disagree:D Very true. I agree 100%. Another issue is the true motive the schools have for doing this. To hide failing kids? It doesn't look good to have too many kids failing a grade. Or is it to make sure no kid feels bad about failing? Not that I'm cynical;), but the schools have to cover their back sides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 Wow, I will be very interested in watching this! This is exactly what I have said I would love to see schools do for years! I really hope it works. When I was 10, I transferred into a Colorado school district, from Oregon, for the last 3 mths of the school year. The teacher said they were going to have to bump me from 5th grade to 7th grade to keep me at the level I was already at. The principal told them the only other solution was to pull me from school and let me 'level out' with the other kids. That is what my parents did....they didn't want a 10yo, 7th grader :0/. We fortunately moved before school started in the fall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audrey Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 http://www.kansascity.com/news/nation/story/947434.html At first I was thinking it was dumb, but then I thought this is basically what we home schoolers do. I would love to see it be successful, but I don't know if I agree with state run standardized testing to prove what they know, but atleast it's a start. What do you think? My first reaction is to be shocked that the ps system would consider such a radical change. They are notoriously stuck in a rut. :glare: It sounds like it could be a good way to go, but I'm skeptical. I'd need to see more details, and even then I'd still be skeptical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela H in Texas Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 Well, I don't like their METHOD but I'm glad they are doing it. I don't like the testing once per year and that determining the level the student is in the whole next year. Also, I'd like to know what they plan to do with extremely advanced children and those who are very late bloomers (or extremely behind for whatever reason). I have one of each and it seems like the school would still have trouble meeting those children's needs over the long haul. In the town we lived in in Louisiana, they tested kids going into pK, K, and 1st grades for placement. They wouldn't allow a child to skip Kindy, but they could grade skip as necessary otherwise. I really liked that system generally. They also didn't seem to have an issue with multi-age classrooms. But again, the issue is that there is a limit they could do with kids like mine and they (especially late bloomers) end up lock-stepped at some point. I guess we'll see how it goes. I have always said my perfect school would allow kids to advance at their own pace.....and in an asynchronous manner (the article didn't really discuss that but what about the 8yo able to handle 6th grade math who is barely sounding out words?). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted January 16, 2009 Author Share Posted January 16, 2009 It definitely has it's good points and it's bad. My oldest Dd wondered what they would do with older kids who were behind or younger ones who were advanced. Would they have 8 year olds with 15 year olds? Be interesting to see how this works out once it's actually in place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snickerdoodle Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 I just found this: http://www.sbsadams50.org/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snickerdoodle Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 I don't think the real story is the part about getting rid of grade levels as much as it is the implementation of standards based education (Outcome based education). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sara R Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 This is basically the way schools used to pre-1930 or so, before social promotion became prevalent, right? They are confusing the issue by calling the grades "levels" instead of grades. But grades used to mean academic level, not an age. I think this is a good idea. If you are educating masses of people, it works best if you are educating people together that are on the same level. If you mix up a bunch of different levels in one class, some kids are going to be bored and others will be overwhelmed. Hopefully they can overcome some of the social objections. Perhaps they could group students by age within each "level." In other words, the students who are old for their grade could be in a class together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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