I agree on some levels. Transient students and absenteeism is a huge
problem at our school. How can you teach someone who isn't there, and
who comes in and out of school 3-4 times a year?

However, a few teachers at my school get stellar testing results out
of kids who you wouldn't think could perform well on AIMS. These
students, like many of yours probably, have little to no parental
support, are learning English, living in poverty, etc. So it can be
done, although I'm sure it was extremely difficult.

Some schools have started the traditional route, where parents are
required to sign contracts. Maybe that is the way to go along with
parent education. Even going as far as requiring parents who live in
government assisted housing to volunteer in their child's school, and
tie in school attendance/behavior to that, otherwise they are out of
luck for housing.

Of course you can't look at just test scores, but I think it's a
pretty good indicator. Maybe there were extenuating circumstances,
but maybe the teacher wasn't doing their job? Or maybe that teacher
had to make up 2 years' growth because of an ineffective teacher the
previous year? I think you have to look at the test scores and find
out why they were bad, to know what you can do next time.

On 11/02/09, Another competent teacher wrote:
> It IS a joke. I have taught in the best of schools and worst of
> schools and I have always been and am a consistent teacher. In
> the best school, students under me Met or Exceeded on the AIMS,
> in the worst, they did both but had more Meets and Approaches
> than anything. It depends on WHO you are teaching.
>
> In the best school, we had all the resources needed and strong
> parent support (which many parents don't GET the influence they
> have on their kids, positive or negative), and in the worst
> school, it lacked parent support and the kids knew it and
> unfortunately, as fickle as kids are, they behave based on their
> feelings that come from their relationships, or lack thereof, at
> home.
>
> It matters to a small amount of children/youth whether or not
> they get support from a teacher in all areas. Most kids look to
> their parents for approval and interest and unfortunately, WE
> have to clean those messes up.
>
> One of the biggest contributors to low scores, in my opinion,
> based on experience, is there are so many transient families
> because they're moving around looking for work, which results in
> many children moving from school to school and what do you get?
> BROKEN EDUCATION. Then those kids are expected to do well and
> pass the AIMS, and who gets the worst of it...teachers or those
> students? It's a double negative.
>
> Nobody (at least those who have the authority to make decisions
> and run the schools) wants to look at that and other
> contributing factors, such as lack of kinesthetic resources,
> parent accountability, etc.
>
>
> On 10/31/09, it's a joke wrote:
>> I feel it's a joke to only look at test scores and then judge
>> whether or not a teacher is a "good" teacher. First off,
>> kids are going to do whatever they want to do with a test.
>> If they want to screw off and randomly choose answers, then
>> they are going to do it. If a student gets nervous during a
>> test and blanks, there is nothing we can do about it.
>>
>> Something I learned when I used to tutor for a major tutoring
>> company is this: You cannot GUARANTEE A CHILD BUT you can
>> guarantee the program (or teaching as in our case). If the
>> student pays attentions, focuses and has the support they
>> need to at home and at school, then YES they will be able to
>> test well and obtain good grades. If ANYTHING is lacking,
>> then of course they won't test well or get good grades!
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 10/31/09, ??? wrote:
>>> I consider myself and grade-level team strong teachers, but
>>> our benchmark and AIMS scores don't seem to reflect it (we
>>> all tend to cluster around the same scores). Seems like
>>> the same thing every year no matter where I go (3rd-6th
>>> year teachers). I love what I do, but every year I feel
>>> like I work sooo hard (time, effort, energy, emotion - as
>>> we all do)....just to get these low test scores. What are
>>> everyone's experiences - do only the good teachers really
>>> get great scores???

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