2 ms·

I don't accept it as a given that the only way to address tracking is to slow some kids down. Like what if we tripled the number of teachers?

sokoloff 6y ago
I don't think school funding is a significant driver of this. If a group of kids (in loose alliance with their parents) are more focused early on scholastic achievement, those kids will tend to continue to focus more on it (and believe they’re good at it) whether you have 30:2 or 30:6 student:teacher ratios. There's a lot more influence on students and their outcomes coming from outside of school employees than inside it. The kids are self-tracking at least as much as the school is formalizing it. You could have pretended there wasn’t an advanced math group, just like you can not officially keep score in soccer. The kids still know.
- mlyle 6y ago
  If you don't have low ratios and tracking, you end up targeting the 33rd percentile and seeing: * Where the lower-third of the class gets with instruction with slightly too difficult material and not quite enough coaching. * Where the middle-third gets with excessive coaching on slightly too easy material. * Where the upper-third gets on their own with little help, occasionally bored by and impeded by the path of the overall class. This is somewhere affluence matters-- if you have parent volunteers showing up and hanging out to intensively coach (under the teacher's direction) the lowest readers and to challenge / help higher readers pick out books... it makes a big difference on how well class time is used. The teacher can aim square for the middle. And the stronger kids get some enrichment and opportunity for further growth. Why the 33rd percentile? Because a classroom with 1/6th of kids not getting it at all and 1/6th kind-of getting it.. is infinitely more workable than a classroom with 1/4th not getting it at all and 1/4th kind-of getting it.
  - sokoloff 6y ago
    I agree that involved parents is a massive lever on achievement. I suspect there’s 100x more parental involvement and targeted enrichment activities outside of school than inside of school.
    - mlyle 6y ago
      Most parents just let their kids crank on whatever academics are, and maybe help with a difficult assignment or two... even in affluent schools with involved parents. But having a couple parents show up to reading time and teachers' aides... makes such a big difference in K-1.

sokoloff 6y ago

I don't think school funding is a significant driver of this. If a group of kids (in loose alliance with their parents) are more focused early on scholastic achievement, those kids will tend to continue to focus more on it (and believe they’re good at it) whether you have 30:2 or 30:6 student:teacher ratios. There's a lot more influence on students and their outcomes coming from outside of school employees than inside it. The kids are self-tracking at least as much as the school is formalizing it. You could have pretended there wasn’t an advanced math group, just like you can not officially keep score in soccer. The kids still know.

mlyle 6y ago
If you don't have low ratios and tracking, you end up targeting the 33rd percentile and seeing: * Where the lower-third of the class gets with instruction with slightly too difficult material and not quite enough coaching. * Where the middle-third gets with excessive coaching on slightly too easy material. * Where the upper-third gets on their own with little help, occasionally bored by and impeded by the path of the overall class. This is somewhere affluence matters-- if you have parent volunteers showing up and hanging out to intensively coach (under the teacher's direction) the lowest readers and to challenge / help higher readers pick out books... it makes a big difference on how well class time is used. The teacher can aim square for the middle. And the stronger kids get some enrichment and opportunity for further growth. Why the 33rd percentile? Because a classroom with 1/6th of kids not getting it at all and 1/6th kind-of getting it.. is infinitely more workable than a classroom with 1/4th not getting it at all and 1/4th kind-of getting it.
- sokoloff 6y ago
  I agree that involved parents is a massive lever on achievement. I suspect there’s 100x more parental involvement and targeted enrichment activities outside of school than inside of school.
  - mlyle 6y ago
    Most parents just let their kids crank on whatever academics are, and maybe help with a difficult assignment or two... even in affluent schools with involved parents. But having a couple parents show up to reading time and teachers' aides... makes such a big difference in K-1.