What do you know about the finances of your students families? (principal, counselor)
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On forums, I've read extensively about how much teachers know about the finances of their students families, especially with relation to low income families. Teachers know about who is low income and who does not have resources at home. It's inferred that they can adjust their teaching practices accordingly.
I'm wondering, is this true? Are teachers provided list of names of who is on free/reduced meal status?
I am highly doubtful that teachers know very much about the financial condition of their student families. I honestly don't know the financial status of others in my neighborhood. I know the image they try to portray but not how they are actually doing. I have no idea how my coworkers are doing financially either.
Sure, I'm sure there are a few kids that you can safely assume come from wealthy families, and a few kids that you can tell come from poor families, but isn't it true that the majority teachers have no clue?
I'm wondering, is this true? Are teachers provided list of names of who is on free/reduced meal status?
It's usually available on whatever database of past records/scores the school district uses.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tiredtired
I am highly doubtful that teachers know very much about the financial condition of their student families.
Financial status and free/reduced lunch don't always coincide. We have families that are not truthful on their applications, and families who don't/won't apply, even though they would qualify.
I work in a district where the percentage of students receiving free/reduced meals is so high that the district now provides meals for all students, relieving the paperwork and burden on the employees who had to certify each student. While a few of my students come from families not classified as low-income, the vast majority are on the full span of government aid programs like EBT cards for food, Medicaid, Section 8 housing, etc. Thus I assume that the family finances of my students have led them to being recipients of these programs.
The strange thing is that the students don't understand that these programs are for poor people. They are quick to tell you that they aren't poor, but they don't get that really, "low income" is another word for "poor".
On forums, I've read extensively about how much teachers know about the finances of their students families, especially with relation to low income families. Teachers know about who is low income and who does not have resources at home. It's inferred that they can adjust their teaching practices accordingly.
I'm wondering, is this true? Are teachers provided list of names of who is on free/reduced meal status?
I am highly doubtful that teachers know very much about the financial condition of their student families. I honestly don't know the financial status of others in my neighborhood. I know the image they try to portray but not how they are actually doing. I have no idea how my coworkers are doing financially either.
Sure, I'm sure there are a few kids that you can safely assume come from wealthy families, and a few kids that you can tell come from poor families, but isn't it true that the majority teachers have no clue?
I am provided with a list of students who are on free/reduced meal status.
And in my (former) system the only school based person, outside of the Counselors, who are allowed to know who is receiving FARM is the Cafeteria Manager. Not even the Principal.
It was a pain registering kids for the AP test because, as AP Coordinator, I had to verify each kid who checked on the test form that they received free meals. The College Board lowers the test fee for those kids, which really didn't matter to the kids because the system (meaning a grant from the Gates Foundation) paid for the tests.
I just took the kid's word when I filled out the paperwork for testing.
I am provided with a list of students who are on free/reduced meal status.
In my (former) district, they stopped giving out lists maybe 15 or 20 years ago. Occasionally, a parent would accidently return the form in the child's school bag but the last time that happened to me was about a dozen years ago.
Quote:
Originally Posted by North Beach Person
And in my (former) system the only school based person, outside of the Counselors, who are allowed to know who is receiving FARM is the Cafeteria Manager. Not even the Principal.
.
I'm not even sure that the counselors had access to the list in my (former) district. Only the cafeteria manager had the list.
On forums, I've read extensively about how much teachers know about the finances of their students families, especially with relation to low income families.
Teachers are not given lists of students on free/reduced lunch status in my district. I think the social worker knows, but other than that it would only be a guess on my part. We have about 825 students and 6% of those are on free/reduced lunch status. The school doesn't serve breakfast and all students go to lunch, so again I could only guess.
On forums, I've read extensively about how much teachers know about the finances of their students families, especially with relation to low income families. Teachers know about who is low income and who does not have resources at home. It's inferred that they can adjust their teaching practices accordingly.
I'm wondering, is this true? Are teachers provided list of names of who is on free/reduced meal status?
I am highly doubtful that teachers know very much about the financial condition of their student families. I honestly don't know the financial status of others in my neighborhood. I know the image they try to portray but not how they are actually doing. I have no idea how my coworkers are doing financially either.
Sure, I'm sure there are a few kids that you can safely assume come from wealthy families, and a few kids that you can tell come from poor families, but isn't it true that the majority teachers have no clue?
You'll have to ask those claiming to know the nuances of their student's families financial status. I've never read a post here where a teacher claimed to know the individual financial information of each student's family.
There was a time when a teacher would have a list of free/reduced lunch students but everything is computerized now. Not even the lunch cashier need know today. The only thing I know about free/reduced lunches in my school is the percentage of students receiving such services is very low. Now I do know which students will work after school to make extra money. I sometimes hire them to wash lab glassware. If a family has a particular need, often we'll know because the school will take up collections.
That said you can deduce a lot about a person's finances by where they live. Statistically speaking most of us are within one standard deviation of average for our neighborhood. We like to think we're unique but we're really just varying shades of average.
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