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My family and I will be moving to Raleigh (from New York, yes another group of Yankee's). Our daughter will be attending first Grade at Adam's Elementary.
How is the school? Do they push the kids to hard to learn to quickly so that their generation can overnight reach the test scores of the Asian Kids?
Do they dump a ton of work on the kids?
Is their even a recess anymore?
How are the teachers?
These are questions I'm asking because here in NY, my daughters current elementary school is pushing to hard and to fast. She's got a math book the size of an 8th grade Science book. It wasn't like this for me when I went to 1st grade 22 years ago, yes I know times change,..but when a first grader is being scolded for not putting periods at the end of sentences, is much. They can't even spell period, they're just learning to write sentences.
I don't know if it's just me but it seems like education now is just about "tests" no real learning. All my daughters teacher talks about is "test scores...I want her to pass this test....pass that test.......and when she takes this test". Even my daughters Kindergarten teacher was the same way. In Atlanta, my daughters Kindergarten and Pre-k teachers didn't spazz out about tests.
Anyway...I compared the test scores between my daughters current elementary school and Adam's. Of course Adams destroyed my daughters current school (I'm not one of those New Yorkers whom think no school system in America is better than NY, I will be the first to admit the opposite.) Which makes me think "If my daughters current school is pushing this hard, with these low test scores, how much hard will Adam's Push? Especially since they have a much bigger school and better test scores."
I'm not familiar with Adams, but it's county schools here so it's pretty much the same curriculum. I will tell you, as someone whose kids are at one of the top performing elementary schools here, that there is a big focus on the tests in our school. BIG focus. However, they give them an online study guide and TBH it really helped my kids learn the material in general. I'm not so big on tests being the end-all and be-all, but the bottom line is if kids are ready for the test, it means they know the material.
I see you live in Elmont - we moved here from a neighboring town, highly regarded. The curriculum here for K-1 is definitely behind what we did up there - they learn the same things here, but definitely not as much emphasis on a ton of homework etc. Much less emphasis on writing in K and 1, but just as much on reading. The older grades, 2 and up, I see no difference between here and NY. My kids have the same amount of work here that they got in NY, possibly even more in the older elementary grades. And believe me there was just as much emphasis on the tests in that district.
Wake County teaching similar things is comforting. When I transferred from Uniondale school system to Atlanta school's my NY classes were not being taught yet in GA or they didn't have anything similar.
So I had to spend a semester taking classes that I already passed in NY. But the next year, I was "on the same page" as my classmates. Of course my mother wasn't happy about them screwing with my time.
My family and I will be moving to Raleigh (from New York, yes another group of Yankee's). Our daughter will be attending first Grade at Adam's Elementary.
How is the school? Do they push the kids to hard to learn to quickly so that their generation can overnight reach the test scores of the Asian Kids?
Do they dump a ton of work on the kids?
Is their even a recess anymore?
How are the teachers?
These are questions I'm asking because here in NY, my daughters current elementary school is pushing to hard and to fast. She's got a math book the size of an 8th grade Science book. It wasn't like this for me when I went to 1st grade 22 years ago, yes I know times change,..but when a first grader is being scolded for not putting periods at the end of sentences, is much. They can't even spell period, they're just learning to write sentences.
I don't know if it's just me but it seems like education now is just about "tests" no real learning. All my daughters teacher talks about is "test scores...I want her to pass this test....pass that test.......and when she takes this test". Even my daughters Kindergarten teacher was the same way. In Atlanta, my daughters Kindergarten and Pre-k teachers didn't spazz out about tests.
Anyway...I compared the test scores between my daughters current elementary school and Adam's. Of course Adams destroyed my daughters current school (I'm not one of those New Yorkers whom think no school system in America is better than NY, I will be the first to admit the opposite.) Which makes me think "If my daughters current school is pushing this hard, with these low test scores, how much hard will Adam's Push? Especially since they have a much bigger school and better test scores."
Thank you for your help in advance.
I can only tell you my experience: 1) I have a neighbor who teaches K at Adams and loves it. Also, the school qualifies for extra support for the kids, so there's a good system in place for kids who need help.
As for the schools in general, when my daughter moved here she was way behind in 1st. She was incredibly lucky to have a teacher who helped her catch up, as well as a good reading teacher to pull her out and help her. She did great. She is now in a charter school, though, and I can tell you the curriculum is NOT the same as elsewhere, at least not in Wake. My 4th grader and 6th grader are learning much of the same stuff (that is, the charter school is WAY MORE challenging). I would think that with the resources Adams has, between support services and AG services for a gifted child, you'll be fine. The real key is going to be teachers and the principal, and we've had the good and the bad.
Our school assignments are Yates Mill ES for traditional and Adams ES for year-round. When our son was entering K, we visited Adams and were impressed with it. We were going to choose Adams, but 2 things changed our minds: Adams was 4 miles farther from our house than Yates Mill (12 mi and 8 mi, respectively) and all of the other kids in the neighborhood decided to go to Yates Mill.
My two sons went thru Adams and my wife and I were very pleased with their education there. Good teachers, good admin. staff. I highly recommend it. Placement there is much sought after in Cary. Year round calendar is the venue.
My kids are in 1st grade and 3rd grade at Adams. I'm extremely pleased with the school, teachers, and administrators. While the End of Year testing is a big deal in Wake County, it doesn't really impact the 1st grade classroom. Of course, your child's teacher will be the biggest influence on their stress level, but my experience with all the teachers has been great. About 1-2 years ago there was a satisfaction survey and Adams had something like over 90% of parents were very satisfied with the school.
As to your other questions: yes their is recess and specials like music and art. For my 1st grader, there is about 20 minutes average of homework each night Mon-Thurs (including reading). That will go up every year, but pretty reasonable for 1st graders.
My son attended Adams for his last two years of elementary school, and we loved it. The principal (Doug Hooper) and assistant principal (Laura Walser) are both awesome and very involved with and committed to the kids.
My kid had some rough academic times prior to his ADHD diagnosis; he had aged out of his IEP at the end of second grade, and his third-grade teachers (at a different school) were a JOKE, so that year was lost completely. Once we were at Adams, though, his fourth-grade teacher jumped on his issues and got us set up with an SST, which remained in place through the end of fifth grade, giving him a much better transition into sixth.
Adams ES
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