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By extrapolation, the US has more poor children than the entire population of Finland. Somewhere between 20 and 25% of US children live in poverty, which puts our number of poor children around 10 million or more. These children are not evenly distributed around the country. Many are in what used to be more or less officially red-lined zones designed to contain their specific populations. As golfgal says, if we removed these zones from our tallies, our numbers would soar. The entire test-score-based school evaluation models seem designed to target the schools of poor children for closure. It's hard to look at the sequence of events and not conclude otherwise.
Another point: Why do we have poor schools in America? It is one thing to have schools for poor children. It is another thing entirely to have poor schools. Our 10 million poor children, if they lived in a third-world country, would qualify for US aid relief. Ours just get a few TFA temps in each school.
By extrapolation, the US has more poor children than the entire population of Finland. Somewhere between 20 and 25% of US children live in poverty, which puts our number of poor children around 10 million or more. These children are not evenly distributed around the country. Many are in what used to be more or less officially red-lined zones designed to contain their specific populations. As golfgal says, if we removed these zones from our tallies, our numbers would soar. The entire test-score-based school evaluation models seem designed to target the schools of poor children for closure. It's hard to look at the sequence of events and not conclude otherwise.
Another point: Why do we have poor schools in America? It is one thing to have schools for poor children. It is another thing entirely to have poor schools. Our 10 million poor children, if they lived in a third-world country, would qualify for US aid relief. Ours just get a few TFA temps in each school.
I believe SES is probably the leading indicator in student outcomes. I teach in a high SES district that ranks high in graduation rate and state test scores. Successful parents often have successful children. I teach kids who come from homes where they are introduced to books at an early age, where they have grown up using computers and where daddy WILL take the car away if grades are not high enough by the weekend.
I had to laugh at one student I had last year. He came into my room Friday morning asking if there was anything he could do to get his grade up because there was a dance that weekend and his girlfriend was threatening to break up with him if he lost the car because of his grades. There's a lot of peer pressure to do well in where I teach even if it is so you have the car for a date with your girlfriend. I let him turn in an assignment late (for late credit) that pulled his grade up in time for the dance. The amount of power these parents have over their kids is amazing. They don't buck their parents. They know the car, their phone, their clothes and their next vacation are on the line.
The flip side is drug use but you have that in any school. The drugs are just different. A lot of drinking goes on on the weekends and I hear that crack is one of the drugs of choice. If you judge a school by a high graduation rate and high ACT scores, we're rocking it. If you judge us by drug use, we're probably right down there with everyone else....but we don't talk about this. It might tarnish our image.
Don't confuse "administration" with "administrative".....the bulk of the US school budgets go to pay salaries and benefits, period. The administrators, even at the most top heavy districts, make up a very small percentage of those dollars. The administrative part of a school budget or the operating costs, cover salaries, benefits, and costs for actually running the schools. Building funds are a different pile of money.
"Shuang Wen Academy is a small, public elementary school in Chinatown featuring a rigorous dual-language program in English and Chinese.
If you look at the school's track record, the reason families of all races are clamoring to get into this school becomes clear.
Out of 1,200 New York City public schools, Shuang Wen ranked number three in math. And almost 97 percent of the students passed the reading test, compared to the city- wide average of only 33 percent.
CHOU: To us it's really not something we are -- in American culture, we say we are very proud of. But in Chinese culture, we say it's nothing. We should have done this.
LOTHIAN: High expectations are typically the norm for Asian American children. But when you consider the demographics of the community served by the school, the accomplishments stand out even more.
CHOU: We are Title I school with 70 percent population under poverty level. The majority are labor workers -- a lot of new immigrants. They're working at the restaurant or garment factories."
I would agree. IME kids from high SES households value education more than kids from low SES households on average. However, you can be from a low SES household and value education and have good results. It's just not typical for parents in low SES households to teach their children to value education.
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 03-12-2014 at 06:13 PM..
Don't confuse "administration" with "administrative".....the bulk of the US school budgets go to pay salaries and benefits, period. The administrators, even at the most top heavy districts, make up a very small percentage of those dollars. The administrative part of a school budget or the operating costs, cover salaries, benefits, and costs for actually running the schools. Building funds are a different pile of money.
That article said administrators make the same salary as the teachers.
That leaves a lot more money to go to the classroom.
i remember when i was in school, the whole day revolved around smoking dope, all my friend thought about was getting high. twenty years later those same friends all they do is smoke dope. there was no learning in school, they was glorified baby sitters.
now those i hung out with, today most are truck drivers, stone off their butt, while driving.
I got away from them 19 years ago, i wish it was earlier. want see what your future going be, look at your friends.
That article said administrators make the same salary as the teachers.
That leaves a lot more money to go to the classroom.
Not really... our kids went to a big district. In their high school, for example, there was a principal and 2 vice-principals and an athletic director. The combined salary difference in these individuals vs the highest paid teachers was maybe $50,000 extra. Sure, that seems like a big number but in reality that is one more teacher for the school. It's less than .1% of the actual school budget......
Not really... our kids went to a big district. In their high school, for example, there was a principal and 2 vice-principals and an athletic director. The combined salary difference in these individuals vs the highest paid teachers was maybe $50,000 extra. Sure, that seems like a big number but in reality that is one more teacher for the school. It's less than .1% of the actual school budget......
Austin Tx is a big district. They have 70 administrative employees making over $100K.
Their titles are Directors or Executive Directors and they work at the district level.
The District superintendent makes near $300K.
And this is in Texas where teacher salaries range from $36-$50K (1-30 years).
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