Private school note...... (Dallas, Plano, Coppell: best school, universities, quality of life)

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by biafra4life

That is true...although how would you suggest DISD go about improving the scores of kids from single parent families where there is no culture of academic success? We all know that the parents are the biggest drivers of children's success (or failure) in school. This is the burden that DISD has to bear that none of the suburban districts have to deal with.

I agree with you but you can't help all the kids of stupid people all the time. That's a sickening notion but it's true IMO.

I'd:
Before the first day of first grade for the next incoming class tell everyone expectations are going up. Show up, pay attention, do your homeworks, study and get ready for life. Have the parents show up - if a parent can't have him/her sign a document stating they've read about the new way of things.

Quitely Plano did this a number of years ago and it undoubtedly worked.

Kids have to understand that school matters. They need to know there is a, more or less, 1:1 relationship between future income and academic success. They need to know and understand that education is the great equilizer.

We have a severe problem in Texas shared between all of us. For reasons no one seems to really understand blacks and Hispanics at embarrasing rates harbor disdain or at best apathy towards education. SAT and graduation numbers paint this sad picture clearly we've got to fix this now.


Quick to fixes if I could wave a magic wand.....
1. Everyone must speak English all the time in all classes with a few exceptions like foreign language study. For example math taught in Spanish is idiotic, enabling long term undrperformance.
2. Re-center studies around math, science and technology etc. Far less so social studies, literature, phych etc. The private schools do this with thunderous success. I'm not saying eliminate the later just show time and talent preference to the former.
3. Empower local administrations the power to fire bad teachers. At Goldman Sachs the bottom 5% of performers are fired every year. More than that by me at my company. Why shelter failures by allowing them to fail some more at the expense of our kids?
4. Hire more technical pros. - enough nonsene about teaching certificates.
5. Start weeding out underperformers in about 9/10th grade like some European countries.
6. Wipe away the anti-capitalism tilt instilled over the last 25/30 years.
7. Rates schools with a statewide test but truncate the bottom 1/3 of performers regardless of reson and not count special needs kids at all for these purposes.
8. Force teachers to take continuing education classes. Docs, dentists, architects, engineers etc. have too why not teachers.



At a time when we are competing with the best and brightest from China, Europe, Japan etc. we can't flop around much longer.


----phone post sorry for the typos.

[lpepping]

Originally Posted by EDS_

Quick to fixes if I could wave a magic wand.....
1. Everyone must speak English all the time in all classes with a few exceptions like foreign language study. For example math taught in Spanish is idiotic, enabling long term undrperformance.

Totally agree.

Originally Posted by EDS_

2. Re-center studies around math, science and technology etc. Far less so social studies, literature, phych etc. The private schools do this with thunderous success. I'm not saying eliminate the later just show time and talent preference to the former.

Agreed and it seems some schools are already doing this.

Originally Posted by EDS_

3. Empower local administrations the power to fire bad teachers. At Goldman Sachs the bottom 5% of performers are fired every year. More than that by me at my company. Why shelter failures by allowing them to fail some more at the expense of our kids?

I am all for this except how do you determine what a bad teacher is? I recall when I was in school how some classes (usually non-honors classes) were filled with lazy kids who would not do the work no matter what you did and the admins wouldn't help either. What is a teacher to do in these situations?

Originally Posted by EDS_

4. Hire more technical pros. - enough nonsene about teaching certificates.
5. Start weeding out underperformers in about 9/10th grade like some European countries.

So are you saying they should send the underperformers to an alternative school? Maybe a vocational school?

[jennifw]

Originally Posted by EDS_

8. Force teachers to take continuing education classes. Docs, dentists, architects, engineers etc. have too why not teachers..

They already do this. Teachers have quite a number of professional development days that aren't just hanging out in their classrooms. My sister teaches the G/T programs for another region in Texas (not Dallas area). She teaches teachers to teach the G/T material and is slammed busy from the time school gets out until it starts back up every summer. My other sister just did 3 days of continuing ed on ESL this week.

[Lakewooder]

Well you are going to have to stop caring about the drop out rate - because the tougher you make it the more kids are going to quit (conundrum!). Also the drop-out rate (or completion rate) is currently figured the in the ranking stats.

So you have a school get tough and it will be AU and AYP. And somebody will start a thread on City-Data condemning it!

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by Lakewooder

Well you are going to have to stop caring about the drop out rate - because the tougher you make it the more kids are going to quit (conundrum!). Also the drop-out rate (or completion rate) is currently figured the in the ranking stats.

So you have a school get tough and it will be AU and AYP. And somebody will start a thread on City-Data condemning it!

It's time to cut the fat and educate those who want to be educated. The balance can go to VO-tech and become plumber's helpers, ditch diggers or wire pullers. They should be told in first grade and every grade after, "suck it up and try hard or go to work". We are ruining our collective futures by wasting time and effort on those who do not care.

[hsw]

Presumably anyone building a house in PrestonHollow assumes need to opt for pvt schools and incls that in calc vs total costs of similar house in HP where public schools may be more acceptable

And given plummeting costs of computing, communication and self-education, most savvy parents and kids realize any formal "education" is simply a brand purchase

Already, most of the top engineers at Apple or Google or top traders at hedge funds or Goldman are those who are products of mediocre public suburban HS (often inferior to Plano)....but who figured out how to get in to a Stanford CS or Wharton Finance...and entered elite careers in tech or finance (and some even attended crappier state engineering undergrads or dropped out of college)

As a parent, no matter net worth, would be rather troubled if had a rugrat who "needs" StMarks (and hefty "donation" checks) to get into Stanford CS and more "push" from Daddy to gain entry to competitive jobs in software or some hedge fund trading desk

Probably far more efficient, in lieu of pvt K-12, to hand one's kid a $40K/yr check to invest as one educates own kid about business and markets and life...far, far more educational than any private HS

Even the moron kids of famed rich guys run out of steam quickly despite Daddy's help if lack own productivity vs truly competitive careers and industries (esp where one sometimes faces really smart, aggressive trust fund kids like Bill Gates)....but the dumb, lazy kids can always come home and work in Daddy's family office (but not sure schools/college "brands" matter much to those in that lofty net worth bracket)

Really sad is when middle-income parents risk a lot on pvt K-12 for kids who end up attending mediocre colleges and entering economically and intellectually weak careers...an amazing waste of scarce resources...a vicious cycle perhaps consistent w/economic underachievement of parents and weak DNA/ethos of kids...

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by lpepping

I am all for this except how do you determine what a bad teacher is? I recall when I was in school how some classes (usually non-honors classes) were filled with lazy kids who would not do the work no matter what you did and the admins wouldn't help either. What is a teacher to do in these situations?



So are you saying they should send the underperformers to an alternative school? Maybe a vocational school?

1. I don't know precisely how to determine a bad teacher. But I do know how to determine flops at my company. Teaching pros can do it. We've all had teachers to were to pissed-at-the-world to be around kids. We've all had teachers who had mentally checked out years ago. We've all - hopefully - had a number of great teachers.

2. Yes Vo-tech, trade-school etc.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by jennifw

They already do this. Teachers have quite a number of professional development days that aren't just hanging out in their classrooms. My sister teaches the G/T programs for another region in Texas (not Dallas area). She teaches teachers to teach the G/T material and is slammed busy from the time school gets out until it starts back up every summer. My other sister just did 3 days of continuing ed on ESL this week.

I'm glad for her she sounds like the kind of pro we need more off.


A sister in law is an elementary school teacher around here. What she takes as continuing education is not remotely close to what I'm talking about.


The proof that many teachers know their level to technical skill is too low is proved every time someone mentions serious testing. Kids are forced to take and pass tests why not teachers?

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by jennifw

They already do this. Teachers have quite a number of professional development days that aren't just hanging out in their classrooms. My sister teaches the G/T programs for another region in Texas (not Dallas area). She teaches teachers to teach the G/T material and is slammed busy from the time school gets out until it starts back up every summer. My other sister just did 3 days of continuing ed on ESL this week.

No question about it schools should be judged on how well their top 50 maybe 60% perform. With exceptions for sure the balance don't care.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by hsw

Presumably anyone building a house in PrestonHollow assumes need to opt for pvt schools and incls that in calc vs total costs of similar house in HP where public schools may be more acceptable

And given plummeting costs of computing, communication and self-education, most savvy parents and kids realize any formal "education" is simply a brand purchase

Already, most of the top engineers at Apple or Google or top traders at hedge funds or Goldman are those who are products of mediocre public suburban HS (often inferior to Plano)....but who figured out how to get in to a Stanford CS or Wharton Finance...and entered elite careers in tech or finance (and some even attended crappier state engineering undergrads or dropped out of college)

As a parent, no matter net worth, would be rather troubled if had a rugrat who "needs" StMarks (and hefty "donation" checks) to get into Stanford CS and more "push" from Daddy to gain entry to competitive jobs in software or some hedge fund trading desk

Probably far more efficient, in lieu of pvt K-12, to hand one's kid a $40K/yr check to invest as one educates own kid about business and markets and life...far, far more educational than any private HS

Even the moron kids of famed rich guys run out of steam quickly despite Daddy's help if lack own productivity vs truly competitive careers and industries (esp where one sometimes faces really smart, aggressive trust fund kids like Bill Gates)....but the dumb, lazy kids can always come home and work in Daddy's family office (but not sure schools/college "brands" matter much to those in that lofty net worth bracket)

Really sad is when middle-income parents risk a lot on pvt K-12 for kids who end up attending mediocre colleges and entering economically and intellectually weak careers...an amazing waste of scarce resources...a vicious cycle perhaps consistent w/economic underachievement of parents and weak DNA/ethos of kids...

Way to cynical for reality.