AISD Going Downhill? (Austin, Leander, Abbott: apartment, home, neighborhood)

[cheeva]

https://www.austinchronicle.com/news...ollment-goals/

Enrollment dropped from around 82K to around 74k in the last 5 years. Meanwhile, the Austin metro grew from 1.9 to 2.2 million.

Ouch.

[TheBigRig]

AISD has been at the bottom of the hill for quite some time.

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by TheBigRig

AISD has been at the bottom of the hill for quite some time.

Decades ago.

[verybadgnome]

AISD has both high performing schools that prepare students for college and very low performing schools where teachers baby sit as much as they teach. I have seen no evidence that having a disciplinary system based on equitable outcomes has benefited the school system as a whole, but that type of realization is not politically palatable in the current environment.

[Austinite101]

Originally Posted by verybadgnome

AISD has both high performing schools that prepare students for college and very low performing schools where teachers baby sit as much as they teach. I have seen no evidence that having a disciplinary system based on equitable outcomes has benefited the school system as a whole, but that type of realization is not politically palatable in the current environment.

To be very blunt, wealthy kids will almost always outperform kids from poor areas. The majority of the disparity has nothing to do with teacher quality or "disciplinary" systems.

Obviously there are cases both ways, but probably 80-90% of the time you could guess how "good" it is based on the average family income.

[verybadgnome]

Originally Posted by Austinite101

To be very blunt, wealthy kids will almost always outperform kids from poor areas. The majority of the disparity has nothing to do with teacher quality or "disciplinary" systems.

Obviously there are cases both ways, but probably 80-90% of the time you could guess how "good" it is based on the average family income.

I think the disparity starts at home with AWOL or dysfunctional parents and the resulting behavior problems that then become the school's problem. You know there are family issues when the grandparents are raising the kids, which happens more often in lower income areas. A societal problem that starts within the nuclear family to which there are no easy answers. Manipulating the disciplinary systems to show more equitable numbers just masks the problem at the expense of the students who don't misbehave. I agree the teachers are not the problem since they don't necessarily make the rules or oversee the home life of students.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by Austinite101

To be very blunt, wealthy kids will almost always outperform kids from poor areas. The majority of the disparity has nothing to do with teacher quality or "disciplinary" systems.

Obviously there are cases both ways, but probably 80-90% of the time you could guess how "good" it is based on the average family income.

AISD refuses to implement educational policies that would help the poor. They insist on "teaching to the whole child". The systems that work they refer to as "drill and kill"

They chase away good teachers by allowing bad student behavior because of fears of the school to prison pipeline. This is a relatively new concept which says that certain minorities get suspended more (probably because of racism) and this creates a direct pipeline to them going to prison. To break that cycle progressive are creating policies which say that the problems are dealt with in the school rather than via suspension.

This means teachers and students have to deal with the problem kids who are now emboldened because they receive no punishment. This is similar to the no penalties for stealing that results in mass brazen thefts.

[ScoPro]

Y’all are nailing it right on the head.
It pretty much starts in the home, but of course in this day & age there are so many more external influences that can derail a kid’s path while they mature.

I have great admiration for today’s teachers & support staff who are faced with a plethora of challenges every day.
The ignorant non-educators who spew the old bs mantra, “…those who can’t….teach”, don’t have a clue what they are talking about. And most of them wouldn’t last a full semester in today’s inner city schools.

[Need4Camaro]

I don't have any involvement with AISD or any ISD in the metro area but I have had conversations with riders who have moved students to charter schools some as far out as Leander while living in Austin proper.

[ashbeeigh]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

I don't have any involvement with AISD or any ISD in the metro area but I have had conversations with riders who have moved students to charter schools some as far out as Leander while living in Austin proper.

Charters take funding away from public schools making the public schools go downhill even faster and further. I will not start a debate of Greg Abbott’s crusade for educational freedom/choice, but to say the least I hate it. I’m out of the school world these days, but if I had kids I’d send them to my neighborhood school and support that school 500%. Of course, I would find a school that would fit the very special and specific needs of my child, teachers, sped support, extracurriculares, etc. That’s just a thought experiment since I don’t have kids though. Fwiw, I would 1000% send my children to the schools my apartment is assigned to.