Clemmons Middle (schools, racism, educational)

[NewDad]

Originally Posted by Paper

Just using cold, hard facts my friend

Do you really think that there is nothing wrong with a school that scores a 4 out of 10 on a very reliable schoalstic website and doesn't meet MANY of its adequate yearly progress goals set forth by the state of North Carolina

Wow.

Frankly, my child deserves better than that.

Native or not, the facts are the facts.

Please provide the source for your statistics.

[Paper]

Originally Posted by NewDad

Please provide the source for your statistics.

Sure!

Here is where you can find out that Clemmons Middle School is a “Priority School”, meaning only 50%-60% of the students are at grade level At this website, you can also see how Clemmons Middle School did not make AYP (adequate yearly progress), as it only met 25 out of 33 goals:

http://www.ncreportcards.org/src/schDetails.jsp?Page=2&pSchCode=350&pLEACode=340&pY ear=2007-2008


It has not met AYP for at least two years. That is sad.

Here is the link to the GreatSchools site:


http://www.greatschools.net/modperl/browse_school/nc/2767

I certainly don’t want to get into a battle here. I only want to help others (like myself) who are relocating. When somebody says that their school is great, I want to have the facts to back it up. I take education very seriously, so “just ok” is not good enough for me.

Maybe things have changed since your children have attended the school?

I am sorry that I am not a native, but that does not make these facts any less valid.

[arbyunc]

Paper, I posted on another thread about this, but I think it bears repeating. I've had two kids go through Clemmons Middle, and I can confidently say that if anyone lets the school's scores alone affect their relocation decision, they're making a big mistake. CMS scores are brought down significantly by the mix of students. I'm making no comment about that, other than to say all kids need to be educated, and all schools have a responsibility to provide an environment where the kids can reach their maximum potential. If many of the kids come from family situations where education is not a priority, is that the school's fault? No, but the schools just try the best they can to make sure the successful kids get what they need, while not losing sight of the kids who may need extra help or alternate teaching approaches to succeed. So the school may be very effective at both goals, but the overall test scores may not indicate that. As someone said earlier, a "bad" school can provide an excellent experience for average to high-performing kids, and I truly believe CMS does this.

[Paper]

Originally Posted by arbyunc

CMS scores are brought down significantly by the mix of students..

I agree with you 100% on this. The Hispanic population is more than 6X higher than it was in 2001 at Clemmons Middle School Clemmons Middle School, Winston Salem North Carolina / NC school information and ethnic makeup )


Again, my children are Latino. I have no problem discussing this matter. Having parents that are not involved in the education of their child (because they won't/ don't have the tools to adapt) will indeed pull overall school scores down. It is not fair to the rest of the students

BTW, arbyunc, I enjoyed your post. Thank you for taking the time to reply to me.

[arbyunc]

Paper and others, just wanted to add an update to this thread. A new middle school, Flat Rock Middle, is set to open this fall. This school will take many of the Parkland High-bound students from Clemmons Middle, leaving CM with mostly Clemmons students bound for West Forsyth High. I would think this will result in higher test scores for Clemmons Middle in the future, for those of you who are hung up about such things.

I want to be careful about this issue, though. There are plenty of great kids in the Parkland district, but it's a fact that the socio-economic mix is much different than West Forsyth. In a perfect world,I wish we had better ways to tackle the inequities in test scores such that kids in all schools performed better. While I know the powers that be are trying to improve things everywhere, unfortunately the "lesser" schools often don't get the resources they need to overcome some of the challenges they face. At any rate, I don't mean to disparage Parkland at all with my comments, but simply to inform. I just wish we didn't have to worry about finding "good" school districts in our society--ideally all schools would be great, no matter where they are located. Pipe dream, I know...

[NewDad]

Originally Posted by Paper

When somebody says that their school is great, I want to have the facts to back it up. I take education very seriously, so “just ok” is not good enough for me.[/font]

Maybe things have changed since your children have attended the school?

I am sorry that I am not a native, but that does not make these facts any less valid.
[/font]

I don't have facts to back up my opinion. I personally know several teachers there and the principal personally.

you being a non-native means those are the only facts you have to go with.


Clemmons Middle and Jefferson Middle are surrounded by different majority/minority groups and income levels of the student families. This will in fact have an impact on scores.

To put it simply, if you switched the faculty and administration of these two schools you would probably end up with the same results.

[the 7 oh 4]

1st of all...Clemmons Middle School is NOT even in Clemmons. It is in Winston-Salem off of Fraternity Church Rd...which draws in some kids from Southside W-S...I am sure that is where the hispanics are coming from....Schools in Clemmons "proper" are Excellent. Clemmons is the nicest suburb in Forsyth County. Watch out for Davie County Schools...the High School is horrible and over crowded. They put more emphasis on sports than education. My brother & family live in Bermuda Run West (Advance - Davie County)...but choose to send their kids to West Forsyth High School in Clemmons...due to being 10 times better.

Good Luck!

[Paper]

Originally Posted by the 7 oh 4

1st of all...Clemmons Middle School is NOT even in Clemmons. It is in Winston-Salem off of Fraternity Church Rd...which draws in some kids from Southside W-S...I am sure that is where the hispanics are coming from....Schools in Clemmons "proper" are Excellent. Clemmons is the nicest suburb in Forsyth County. Watch out for Davie County Schools...the High School is horrible and over crowded. They put more emphasis on sports than education. My brother & family live in Bermuda Run West (Advance - Davie County)...but choose to send their kids to West Forsyth High School in Clemmons...due to being 10 times better.

Good Luck!

Thank you so much for your input. I really appreciate it

NewDad--Thank you as well!! The fact that you are taking the time to give me your opinion tells me that you care about your area and that you are "good people"

[DeaconJ]

A good student will be successful and thrive in any school he/she attends. The test scores and ratings for an individual school don't have any effect on a motivated student...especially considering that a low performing school still has the same dedicated staff.

[Paper]

Originally Posted by DeaconJ

A good student will be successful and thrive in any school he/she attends. The test scores and ratings for an individual school don't have any effect on a motivated student...especially considering that a low performing school still has the same dedicated staff.

The probelm is, the staff is so worn out trying to deal with the low performers, especially in this climate of No Child Left Behind It is getting more and more stressful to be a teacher and will continue to do so.

I would rather my children attend a school where there are minimal issues and teahcers can focus on teaching.