Need help understanding Portland Public School districts and school choice (IB, immersion, etc)

[Nell Plotts]

I think the most important determinates for academic success are parental involvement and peer group. Class size can be an issue in the early years. When I was a kid 30 in a classroom even in the early grades wasn't unusual BUT the schools didn't mainstream special needs children. Special needs children need more teaching time and since there is a fixed number of classroom hours something has to give.

[oldtintype]

Not all special needs kids are mainstreamed and for those that are it's a good thing for all involved. The hiding people away thing from the past should never have occurred. When you were a child they didn't even legally have to provide an education for special needs kids and most were institutionalized. The ADA and IEPs, FAPE, etc. haven't been around that long. I've worked at a school and it's not like special needs kids are huge numbers in the class. It's one or two if that based on my experience. And just because a kid has an IEP doesn't mean they're majorly disabled.
I'd hate to think that educational problems are being blamed on special needs kids. It's things like common core and teaching for the test that are the problem in my opinion.

[Yankeemama]

Originally Posted by oldtintype

Not all special needs kids are mainstreamed and for those that are it's a good thing for all involved. The hiding people away thing from the past should never have occurred. When you were a child they didn't even legally have to provide an education for special needs kids and most were institutionalized. The ADA and IEPs, FAPE, etc. haven't been around that long. I've worked at a school and it's not like special needs kids are huge numbers in the class. It's one or two if that based on my experience. And just because a kid has an IEP doesn't mean they're majorly disabled.
I'd hate to think that educational problems are being blamed on special needs kids. It's things like common core and teaching for the test that are the problem in my opinion.

You just made my day, Oldintype! Thank you for such positive input. My son is in a contained Spec Ed class with a few hours of mainstream kinder, with his aide. There are a few boys with him that are also on the Autism spectrum. My son is thriving and the kids in his kinder class really enjoy playing with him. Many are glad that he is finally talking to them in sentences. Thank you again for your input because Spec Needs kids seem to be the new scapegoat!

[turquoise1]

Amen. Special needs are hardly the problem.
That's wonderful to hear that your son is doing so well, YankeeMama.

[Nell Plotts]

It's not that special needs kids are a problem, the problem is that school systems aren't staffing adequately to meet the needs of all the children. I think every child should have a written educational plan so that parents and teachers can set goals for each student and that teachers have enough classroom support to help them achieve those goals. I think too often the schools just pile on the teachers.

[Yankeemama]

Originally Posted by turquoise1

Amen. Special needs are hardly the problem.
That's wonderful to hear that your son is doing so well, YankeeMama.

Thank you, Turquoise! We have had wonderful teachers and aides helping him. We are so thankful!

[nagrommm]

We just moved from Portland but had our daughter in Spanish Immersion at Bridger Elementary. It's not west side and I can't speak specifically to Westside schools but I can speak to the immersion. I suppose we were lucky because we bought a house in a neighborhood (east Tabor) that fed into a school with a new spanish immersion program. That made the lottery system much easier as we were in the neighborhood so transportation was a non issue. As far as I understand, siblings of children already in the programs get priority (or did when we were there last year). We were very happy we chose the program, but it's not for everyone. Fortunately, it sounds like you have lots of time to find out if it would be a good fit for your kid. The immersion programs are capped as far as class size so while the neighborhood kindergarten class had 35 kids in it, spanish immersion had 24. You won't get an immersion class with 35 kids. Also, you can't get them in after kindergarten without special circumstances, such as they are a native spanish speaker or you are moving from another similar program.

We moved this summer to a different state and are looking at moving to another one this summer. Just so you know, nobody anywhere is totally happy with their schools so you might as well ignore the greatschool rating and take test scores with a grain of salt. We've found that narrowing down your choices and visiting the school is the best way to see if it's the right fit. It seems that kindergarten roundups are soon? Good Luck!

[khyron]

Originally Posted by nagrommm

Just so you know, nobody anywhere is totally happy with their schools so you might as well ignore the greatschool rating and take test scores with a grain of salt. We've found that narrowing down your choices and visiting the school is the best way to see if it's the right fit. It seems that kindergarten roundups are soon? Good Luck!

Thanks, we still have several years to go...but I'll keep the luck if you don't mind.

I don't place all that much weight on metrics, especially extremely silly ones that attempt to compare schools across borders (regions, states, whatever) that don't even use the same measurement tools. I'm more interested in what opportunities are offered, what the faculty I meet are like, what other parents think and what the facilities are like when you visit them.

My root question was just how the #$%^& these lotteries work, and I think my answer is pretty much that we're not even going to try that stuff at all. I just have no interest at all in getting psyched up for something I can't actually make happen through any amount of my own effort or planning. I'm just not that kind of person.

I'd be more interested if the kindergarten entry to these immersion programs were based at least partially on a skills test like the other grades appear to be, but the idea that complete and utter random chance is what allows some students to take such dramatically different paths through the same school? That's patently absurd. Instead we'll look for more concrete, predictable factors to base a neighborhood and school choice on.