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As RamenAddict mentioned, very few schools have teachers teaching all AP classes as their class load (there will be exceptions for Science and Tech dedicated magnet schools that admit only AP students).
Most teachers classes will be a mixture (and not every teacher teaches an AP class anyway) in a comprehensive school.
My class load one year had two AP classes (World History and Psych), two multi-level classes (those are ones where regular and SPED are together) and three mixed ability regular ed.
The AP World class was every day, the AP Psych was every other day, the US History multi-levels were every other day as were the three regular World Histories.
That's a pretty decent summary for what I had experienced. And I usually found teachers to be quite reasonable about what level(s) they taught. Except for one, who came to me one year and told me that she should teach all 7th grade gifted life science classes (instead of a mix of 3 classes of GT and 2 of reg ed, or the reverse). I asked her what her special qualifications were that she should be the only teacher in the building to have all GT classes. Her response: "I'm the oldest teacher in the building". She lost that one. But it was interesting that I eventually realized (with the help of our SPED chairperson) that the teacher in question was almost certainly Asperger's.
That certainly is needed. I'm not sure that indoctrination is making the schools fail though. I think it's lack of parental support for the learning process. Sounds nice, but how do you then evaluate who's teaching and who is learning.
I agree with you here.
We are well past the era where any organization or profession gets to say, "We're doing great. You can take our word for it". In my school system, principals got evaluated every third year, and a major part of that evaluation was a parent survey. Did I wish that didn't exist? Sure. But while I did quite well on it, I always learned something from it. It helped me improve my performance.
In education, we all need to listen. For the 13 years I taught I always gave students an evaluation form at the end of the year. They had to put their name on it, but -- particularly since it was done AFTER report card grades had been submitted -- I never found that held them back (LOL). I always learned a lot, with the best example being a kid who wrote: "When it comes to discipline, you always say but you don't do". I happened to see that kid a few weeks later out in the community, and I asked him what he meant by that. He said, "Mr. Victor, when some kid is being bad in class, you always threaten to punish him, but you never actually do". I worked on that and never forgot the advice.
Standardized testing can be a similar tool. For example, once I became principal, one year my assistant superintendent used the data to point out to me one puzzling result for our school. When our SPED kids were tested in elementary school, they performed at a certain level. Then at our school their performance level dropped down noticeably. Then after two years, when they went to high school, their performance level picked back up. Same kids, with their data tracked through 3 levels of education. For several years in a row. I had a good sit down meeting with our SPED department and showed them the data. First, just our SPED student data compared to our reg ed kid's data. Their response: "Well, Victor, they're special ed". Okay.
Then I showed them the data for just the SPED kids over elementary, middle, and high school. And, I got data from a middle school comparable to our own (where there was no dip), and suddenly, without any more direction from me, our SPED teachers got to work and took a hard look at what they had been doing and developed strategies to address the issue. Within two years our data showed marked improvement...and that meant kids were learning more.
To me, the biggest question that needs to be asked about standardized testing is -- is the test testing what is really important? Is the test based on the curriculum? Are teachers following a well-constructed curriculum. If all those things are true, that's not teaching to the test.
Perception has changed, but... maybe school quality has not really declined?
Oh, it has declined...drastically.
Read any news feed. Young adults can't form sentences that make sense anymore. They can't spell. Basic English is lost.
Kids are not held back when they fail to meet expectations at any given grade level, AND THEY GRADUATE not knowing how to read, write or do basic math! Of course quality has declined! Reading, writing and math are the very foundation of education, but young people slide all the way through school not mastering any of it.
Expectations are lowered to accommodate the slowest kids all the way through, so by the time they reach the end they actually know very little. This country is humiliated when it comes to education.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sunset inn
Oh, it has declined...drastically.
..., so by the time they reach the end they actually know very little. This country is humiliated when it comes to education.
Then an employer or higher Edu is stuck with them
$20/hr for what? (Sitting on their thumbs and waiting to be told what to do, as they have been successful at doing for 12 years.)
Everyone deserves better, especially the students.
I just watched a documentary on the history of public education, from a professor at a major university.
In this, he states it is a "system of indoctrination that is now politicized."
He is also now developing home schooling programs for parents of K-12, among other alternative solutions.
I also reside one block from our school district headquarters, where right now; dozens of teachers are protesting curriculum.
People, we are in big trouble on this very important matter; something needs to be done about this educational crises.
Read any news feed. Young adults can't form sentences that make sense anymore. They can't spell. Basic English is lost.
Kids are not held back when they fail to meet expectations at any given grade level, AND THEY GRADUATE not knowing how to read, write or do basic math! Of course quality has declined! Reading, writing and math are the very foundation of education, but young people slide all the way through school not mastering any of it.
Expectations are lowered to accommodate the slowest kids all the way through, so by the time they reach the end they actually know very little. This country is humiliated when it comes to education.
This has always been true to some extent. The question is, have the percentages of illiterate grads grown in the last generation. What are the percentages, and how do they vary from state to state?
I just watched a documentary on the history of public education, from a professor at a major university.
In this, he states it is a "system of indoctrination that is now politicized."
He is also now developing home schooling programs for parents of K-12, among other alternative solutions.
I also reside one block from our school district headquarters, where right now; dozens of teachers are protesting curriculum.
People, we are in big trouble on this very important matter; something needs to be done about this educational crises.
Can you provide a link?
I don't understand what he means by a "system of indoctrination that is now politicized."
I think there are major problems with our education system. Many kids graduate without ever having read a entire book for example.
[quote=Sunbiz1;54806731]The short video was somewhat distressing to view, as it confirms why the majority of this country thinks the Federal Reserve is actually an entity of the Federal government.
No dude. You (and I guess a majority of this country too) have a view that is exactly 180 degrees backwards from the REAL reality. And here it is:
The Federal Reserve is a privately owned bank, as are all the central banks around the world in 99 percent of all countries, and they are tied together in the Bank of International Settlements, which is the mother brain of the global central banking system. And the IMF, which is the lending arm of the private bankster system.
The US Federal Government is now actually an entity of the globalist central banking elite, as is the government of pretty much every other country on earth.
The bankers own the governments. They make the rules because they own the gold. Not the other way around. And the leaders of the governments act as gopher boys carrying out the economic policies of the private banksters. Not the other way around.
These banks have shareholders. But not just anyone can be a shareholder. You have to be INVITED.
The fiat currency system is the lynchpin of control for the banksters.
Until it is done away with, NOTHING WILL EVER CHANGE.
We are permanent slaves to the debt currency tyranny.
I just watched a documentary on the history of public education, from a professor at a major university.
... He is also now developing home schooling programs for parents of K-12, among other alternative solutions.
...
People, we are in big trouble on this very important matter; something needs to be done about this educational crises.
Scary.... A Prof creating Home Schooling programs for parents... probably more like the rough equivalent of public schooling done in the home - Covid Style... That worked out well
There are many excellent Home Schooling programs and curriculum (for the last 40+ yrs).
Before the 1980's the Home Schooling programs were also quite effective, because many people have effectively been doing this for generations.
I can think of a lot of damage a Prof (in Education) would do to home schooling success.
Crises in education? Yes, the USA has a lot of them at the moment. (It's nothing new). The USA divisiveness and condescension doctrine became more prevalent in about 2010, and we've quickly gone downhill in social unrest, which has flowed into our schools.
Good luck out there.
Success's and alternative resources are plentiful.
I just watched a documentary on the history of public education, from a professor at a major university.
In this, he states it is a "system of indoctrination that is now politicized."
He is also now developing home schooling programs for parents of K-12, among other alternative solutions.
I also reside one block from our school district headquarters, where right now; dozens of teachers are protesting curriculum.
People, we are in big trouble on this very important matter; something needs to be done about this educational crises.
That is one person’s opinion.
Bigger question is why would you allow one person to frame your whole outlook on such a complex topic?
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