My mother-in-law, who has a background and degree in education, has been helping me weed through the pros and cons of where to send Isaac to school next year. So ya'll know I interviewed at our church to work there as a teacher and enroll the kids. I have even filled out Isaac's enrollment packet and was all set to go there this week and write the check for registration. I was told I wouldn't hear anything about whether they would be offering me a position until May, which is really no big deal to have to wait- that is the story of my life! However, about a year ago we got a letter from the Department of Human Services saying that Isaac is eligible for enrollment in public Pre-K, since he was a foster child. As of Sept. 07, all children who are in foster care or who were ever in foster care would be eligible. Now here is the catch, the other children who are eligible have to fall under certain categories- economically disadvantaged, do not speak English, or have a parent in the military. This means that for the most part the other children in his class would come from families of low-economic status, and another catch here is that only certain public schools offer Pre-K because it is on a needs basis for that particular area. Which means the schools located in prominent towns do not offer the program. These schools also all have ratings of "Exemplary". Where our apartment is located happens to be the school district I grew up in, so that gave me some hope. However, the elementary school that is in our zone is rated "Academically Average". Now here is another catch- the Exemplary "elite" schools all have racial dynamics of like 85-97% Caucasian. Ours is 33% white, 12% African American 9% Hispanic and a whopping 46% "Other." I contacted the school and have driven by, it is surrounded by nice neighborhoods. The secretary was very nice and explained to me that Isaac would be in a class with mainly Spanish speaking children but that the curriculum and instruction is all in English. The "Other" includes Asian children and Middle Eastern/Indian. So the point there is that if he were to go to an "Exemplary" elementary school or the private church preschool, he would be with all white children once again. If he goes to the "Average" school, he will be in a rich cultural environment- and one that we do not have to pay $300 a month for. I honestly do not enjoy teaching as much as I do parenting, and with having Isabel part-time I have enjoyed doing that so much more than being in a classroom.
My mother-in-law made a good point that even if the school is academically average, Isaac is surrounded by a family of educated people, and he would not lag behind in the long run. Maybe it is more important for his sense of self at this age to be around children of all different races then to be with children who are the top of their class. And he is only 4. He has a whole lifetime of achievement, isn't childhood about being a child? He has so much fun with children and is such a social being.
The part that is disappointing to me were some message boards I went on about this school. The school is only 3 years old, so the place is nice and well-kept, but there were some commenters who were of the upper-middle class bracket that felt their children were too "good" for this school based on the socio-economic breakdown. Yikes. As harsh as that sounds, those were some of the honest feelings Billy and I had. I would not want Isaac to be in an "inner-city" school where behavior problems run rampant and the academic bar is set really low, as well as the school being run-down. With our resources, I just wouldn't feel right about that, but I also don't want to err on the side of being a snob. When school desegregation happened in the 60's, the theory of "separate but equal" did not hold up. The "white" schools were clearly better. They had better school equipment, better supplies, better playgrounds, everything was higher quality. We think those times have come and gone, but they have not. I saw a TV program where a camera crew compared a "white" school to a "black" school across town and the differences were shocking. This was filmed a year ago. I just don't want to be in a place where we fall into this trap. Whatever school Isaac goes to, I want to be involved. I plan on joining the PTA and having a voice. I will be volunteering when I can, I will make sure I have a good pulse on what is going on there. If we had white children, we would not even be having this discussion. They would most likely grow up going to the "Exemplary" schools. But would that have really been best? Maybe we should question the status quo. When nobody questions it, things just go on being the way they have always been. And we all know where history has taken us with that!
So Thursday night we are going to the school's open house, where we will have a chance to tour and meet the Pre-K teachers and administration. I'm sure we will have our answer soon after that.
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3 friends commented!:
Hey Laurie,
Here is my two cents as a teacher in a public school. For preschool, I don't think the state accountability rating really makes much difference in terms of what kind of education a child receives. However, once a child gets into the higher grades, there is quite a bit of difference in the quality of the education the child would receive at an "academically acceptable" school versus a "recognized" or even "exemplary" school. It is not because the quality of teachers is different. It is because, in general, the students at these schools do come from families that have the time, knowledge, and/or resources to help them academically, so the teachers have to spend a TON of time tutoring and re-teaching, which unfortunately takes time away from the students who are "on grade level" or advanced.
If Isaac is academically strong, he might be frustrated by the slower pace of learning that goes on in a school that is on the low end of the rating scale (there are only 4 ratings, so acceptable is not really as "acceptable: as the term might imply. The ratings are: not acceptable, acceptable, recognized, and exemplary). On the other hand, some children are stressed out by the very high academic expectations placed on children in the "exemplary" schools.
I really could care less about the accountability ratings, as they are based soley on TAKS scores and I am highly opposed to judging success of a student by a standardized test. However, the reality is that the state of Texas gives a lot of weight to these ratings, and teachers at schools with lower ratings are under a TON of pressure to pull those ratings up...I honestly don't know what I would do if it were my child. Now that I am "on the inside" of the education world, I ponder what I will do for my own children's education pretty frequently.
Blessings to you as you pray over this decision.
I was a teacher in an inner-city school (middle school) and I hear you. Our school here is very diverse and pretty good, so it's not a huge concern, but we'll have to monitor it. I, too, want my child(ren) to go to a diverse school, but the previous poster is right on about the education. I worked so, so hard, but it was frustrating for my advanced students. No matter what I did, I could not go fast enough through the curriculum due to distractions. You really do a ton of remediation. Plus, sad to say, the advanced classes at our school were, you guessed it, more Anglo than the classes I taught, but still more diverse than some of the other schools around. So maybe there is an OK school that has advanced classes? That way he can have the diversity and still have the instruction that he needs. It really is a tough call. But you're right to take it one class at a time, and to not worry about the preschool. Parents who are involved have a lot of say in their kid's public school experience!
After reading this I thought, "oh, we should go to our open house too!" called to double check about us going to the open house and they said not to come! I am bummed and kind of mad because we weren't going to drill them we just wanted to check the place out. So, I'm already starting off w/ a bad taste in my mouth as far as public school goes. This has been such a hard thing for me. A concern is the length of class time for a 5 year old. If public school, it won't be the exemplary but is diverse.
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