Joshua Raymond
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On the article Rochester High School Students Earn Honors at Recognition Assembly
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On the Blog Post How Substitute Teaching Taught Me to Be a Parent
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On the Blog Post What to Do on Your "Day Off" at Disney
Joshua Raymond
9:48 am on Wednesday, May 1, 2013
ReplyJohn McKay, hopefully we'll see this and similar blog entries featured on the front page under Local Voices instead of tucked away where no one sees them.
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On the Blog Post Elementary Spelling and Word Study
Joshua Raymond
9:09 pm on Sunday, April 28, 2013
RH Mom, when we approached our daughter's teacher this year, she was very accommodating and tested her on the rest of the words for the year. After she passed, her teacher now provides a separate word list. It has been great!
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On the Blog Post Elementary Spelling and Word Study
Joshua Raymond
10:56 am on Wednesday, April 24, 2013
ReplyMelissa, thank you for this insight into how spelling and word study are used in your classroom. This is very helpful for parents in understanding what methodologies their children will encounter.
One technique that we saw Colleen Mestdagh use at Meadow Brook Elementary that we thought was phenomenal was allowing students to choose words at their level from a list of words. Students would be matched up with a student of similar ability and give each other the spelling test instead of the teacher providing the same words for each student and giving the test to the entire group.
Is this technique or a similar one currently extended to classes where both spelling and word definition are tested? How is differentiation currently provided for students at different lexile levels? Thanks!
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On the Blog Post Oh No – Not Again!
Joshua Raymond
4:32 pm on Monday, April 22, 2013
Another example is cyber schools. When the cap on cyber schools was increased, six ISDs joined together to create a cyber school to retain students and not lose them to competitors.
My preference would be for Michigan's public schools to be proactive regarding this instead of reactive. We would prefer - and expect - solutions from our local public schools, not blocking of the solutions we propose to fix this problem. There are groups of parents of gifted learners ready to help schools create world class gifted programs while keeping down costs. If you call on us to help make our schools better, we will gladly be of service!
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On the Blog Post Oh No – Not Again!
Joshua Raymond
4:32 pm on Monday, April 22, 2013
But I'm cynical. I don't think this is about "cherry-picking" the inexpensive students. I think this is about high test scores and not providing gifted services. If gifted students leave the traditional public schools for highly selective schools, traditional public schools lose top scorers. When MEAP scores are an important factor in attracting families to the district and school of choice students, schools do not want to lose these students. When state government ties money to standardized test scores, it is even more important to keep these students in your schools.
But the real financial bonus comes by not providing gifted services. At that point the school can take the money from services not provided and shift it to other areas. As long as it is not financially or situationally feasible for parents to home school their children or place them in private gifted schools, traditional public schools can get away with this. However, if the law were to shift either requiring these services or allowing competitors, traditional public schools usually reactively shift policy to meet these needs.
One example is full-day kindergarten. Most public schools were at half-day kindergarten receiving full funding for each student. Once the state prepared to mandate full-day kindergarten for full-day funding, schools quickly changed to full-day kindergarten. Mandating gifted services would be a magnitude shift of similar proportions.
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On the Blog Post Oh No – Not Again!
Joshua Raymond
4:31 pm on Monday, April 22, 2013
Since it has been established that properly educated gifted students are not the cheapest students, who are the students that a charter aiming at profit would want? These would probably be the average to above average students that require no additional services (gifted or otherwise), won't take many AP classes, and won't be involved in many extracurricular activities. However, these aren't the students that could be chosen for these "globally competitive" schools under last year's bill, HB 5923. (Section 586) The students in these highly selective schools will need specialized services and classes. The only way a school, charter or traditional public, would make significant money off of gifted learners is by not providing gifted services, a situation that currently exists in many public schools. A group of parents starting a gifted charter school would not find it acceptable to allow that charter school to not provide gifted services.
If gifted students could be educated for less money, Oakland ISD could be the authorizer for gifted charter schools and return the additional money to the student's home school district, similar to how the VLAC operates. This would have minimal financial impact on the school district while providing the education these students need. There could be multiple gifted charters across the ISD, solving transportation issues. The VLAC was a very creative way of meeting the needs of cyber students while keeping local districts happy.
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On the Blog Post Oh No – Not Again!
Joshua Raymond
4:31 pm on Monday, April 22, 2013
You also mentioned the actual cost of providing education for certain groups of students. A proper selective school for gifted learners could not be done on the cheap. Roeper runs about $20,000 for elementary. Steppingstone is $15,000. Emerson is $17,000. The Davidson Academy of Nevada also spends about $17,000 per student. These schools provide outstanding education for gifted learners. We would not be looking to have this degree of gifted education, but parents and g/t experts who would be running this school would be making sure each and every dollar is wisely spent and not just funneling it to some corporation.
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On the Blog Post Oh No – Not Again!
Joshua Raymond
4:31 pm on Monday, April 22, 2013
ReplyDr. Markavitch, thank you for your response.
I appreciate that there is no constant cost per student. My objection arises when a group of students (high ability) are not receiving the education they need because of "lack of funding", but this lack of funding is caused by having shifted their funds to other students. Unfortunately, parents in traditional public school districts are at the mercy of district administration if they will institute supports for gifted students. After four years of working for change, my district is beginning the planning stages of putting in some supports, but it has been many years of frustration for parents and students and some districts in the Oakland ISD are not even to that point. What do you suggest parents do whose gifted children are not having their needs met?
Since you oppose these schools that would be created to meet the needs of gifted students and private and home schools are not feasible for many families, what will you do to help meet the needs of high ability students in the ISD? We need you to help be part of the solution instead of blocking a solution. If traditional public schools were meeting the needs of gifted students, there would not be parents seeking these charter schools. I don't think Grosse Pointe and Livonia are worried about people starting g/t charters there.
We would love to have your help, but please don't stand between our children and having their academic needs met.
Joshua Raymond
4:38 pm on Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Congratulations to these students and those from Adams and Stoney Creek on their successes!