Do all public schools in Illinois teach the same curriculum? (activities, kids)

[Vosges]

Originally Posted by Careless

Actual question (ok, I don't remember the exact names and numbers, it's been a few years) my daughter was asked on homework one month into kindergarten in Glencoe: "If Bob is 68 inches tall and Jane is 5 inches shorter than Bob and Fred is 11 inches taller than Jane, how many inches are the three of them combined?" They were also reading The Boxcar Children at that point.

Now, this was the highest level of differentiation they had, only 3 of about 100 students were in this mini-class, and the three of them spent most of their time bored to tears in the regular class, so it wasn't perfect on a few levels. But it certainly was challenging for them.

Impressive! This could make me move to glencoe. There is NO differentiation in Wilmette.

[damba]

Originally Posted by Vosges

Impressive! This could make me move to glencoe. There is NO differentiation in Wilmette.

Wow, that surprises me a little. How about middle school at least?

[flamadiddle]

Originally Posted by Taco1234

But wait! Illinois is the greatest place on earth and Atlanta sucks ... maybe the schools in GA weren't so bad after all?

Atlanta does suck and wild horses couldn't drag me back to that hell hole. The suburban school district we were in back there was heavily Asian, which may account for the more advanced curriculum.

Regarding the people, atmosphere, culture, food, etc., Illinois is a much better place than Georgia!

[Czem]

Originally Posted by Vosges

Impressive! This could make me move to glencoe. There is NO differentiation in Wilmette.

Avoca offers differentiation and a gifted program (if you don't want to move too far!)

I don't know how long ago his child was in Kindergarten, but nothing like that currently exists in the Glencoe elementary schools (I can't speak for middle school). There is no gifted program and very little differentiation. My daughter is in 1st grade and they will not do anything for her despite the fact that she was identified as HG and is way ahead of her peers (ex: she's reading at 5th grade level). All the kids have to work at the same pace and level. They do have separate reading groups but since no other children are reading at the 5th grade level my daughter has been placed in the 2nd grade reading level group. I very nicely asked the school to give her more challenging work, give her more challenging books, even send home more challenging work if they couldn't manage the differentiation during the school day... anything they could do to keep her engaged I would be very grateful for...and they declined all of my requests. As a result, we plan to move to a school district that offers differentiation and a gifted program.

[damba]

Originally Posted by Czem

Avoca offers differentiation and a gifted program (if you don't want to move too far!)

I don't know how long ago his child was in Kindergarten, but nothing like that currently exists in the Glencoe elementary schools (I can't speak for middle school). There is no gifted program and very little differentiation. My daughter is in 1st grade and they will not do anything for her despite the fact that she was identified as HG and is way ahead of her peers (ex: she's reading at 5th grade level). All the kids have to work at the same pace and level. They do have separate reading groups but since no other children are reading at the 5th grade level my daughter has been placed in the 2nd grade reading level group. I very nicely asked the school to give her more challenging work, give her more challenging books, even send home more challenging work if they couldn't manage the differentiation during the school day... anything they could do to keep her engaged I would be very grateful for...and they declined all of my requests. As a result, we plan to move to a school district that offers differentiation and a gifted program.

Wow. I am shocked that D25, feeding into NT eventually, has nothing for her. Truly, the time for that school to seize the day and properly address her needs is NOW. Property taxes aren't exactly cheap there either(!)

[Czem]

Originally Posted by damba

Wow. I am shocked that D25, feeding into NT eventually, has nothing for her. Truly, the time for that school to seize the day and properly address her needs is NOW. Property taxes aren't exactly cheap there either(!)

Although D35 is a small district, I find it hard to believe our situation is unique which is why I was surprised at the resistance from the school. We are paying exorbitant property taxes for a school that probably has the resources to, but does not want to, address our child's needs. Many high-performing districts (for example, Deerfield, HP, Libertyville, Barrington to name a few) seem to offer differentiation and gifted programs and I wonder why NT feeder districts don't offer them (minus Avoca).

[Careless]

Originally Posted by Vosges

Impressive! This could make me move to glencoe. There is NO differentiation in Wilmette.

And then they fired the differentiation teacher at South (k-2) and didn't replace her. Really not sure what to do with school. Between my problems with Evanston/Kennilworth/Winnetka as a child (my parents kept moving us in search of the promised land of challenging public school) and our problems with our daughter's education, it seems like the only time everyone was happy was with New Trier math in junior high.

I don't know how long ago his child was in Kindergarten, but nothing like that currently exists in the Glencoe elementary schools (I can't speak for middle school).

She's in third grade. Yeah, they just fired the differentiation teacher a couple of years ago. It's been very frustrating.

[Rhino4401]

Originally Posted by Careless

And then they fired the differentiation teacher at South (k-2) and didn't replace her. Really not sure what to do with school. Between my problems with Evanston/Kennilworth/Winnetka as a child (my parents kept moving us in search of the promised land of challenging public school) and our problems with our daughter's education, it seems like the only time everyone was happy was with New Trier math in junior high.

She's in third grade. Yeah, they just fired the differentiation teacher a couple of years ago. It's been very frustrating.

Originally Posted by Czem

Although D35 is a small district, I find it hard to believe our situation is unique which is why I was surprised at the resistance from the school. We are paying exorbitant property taxes for a school that probably has the resources to, but does not want to, address our child's needs. Many high-performing districts (for example, Deerfield, HP, Libertyville, Barrington to name a few) seem to offer differentiation and gifted programs and I wonder why NT feeder districts don't offer them (minus Avoca).

I figured Glencoe would have the resources, and will, to accommodate kids who are way ahead. This is disappointing.

[GoCUBS1]

Find out if your school has a Gifted & Talented pull-out program - not all districts have this, but the curriculum can be 2-4 grade levels ahead, depending on district. Then, research if/how your kids can be qualified for it. And be prepared to advocate strongly for them.

If this does not work, look into private schools.

[GoCUBS1]

Originally Posted by Czem

Although D35 is a small district, I find it hard to believe our situation is unique which is why I was surprised at the resistance from the school. We are paying exorbitant property taxes for a school that probably has the resources to, but does not want to, address our child's needs. Many high-performing districts (for example, Deerfield, HP, Libertyville, Barrington to name a few) seem to offer differentiation and gifted programs and I wonder why NT feeder districts don't offer them (minus Avoca).

That is disappointing. We chose Barrington because of the gifted/advanced track and have been very happy with it. Overall, the high school doesn't rank at the levels of e.g. New Trier, but since I know what my kids have been doing in the gifted program, overall rankings don't matter much to me.

FWIW, before we moved to this district I pulled my son (2nd grade) out of his reading class (1st period) every day in order to partially homeschool him because the teacher was ineffective and he wasn't challenged. I have a flexible work schedule so could do this and, importantly, the Illinois school statutes support partial homeschooling and virtual schooling. By the end of the year, his reading scores had jumped significantly. He qualified for all gifted programs (reading/math) at the new school and has been on a fantastic path ever since - now looking at top colleges.