Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education
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Schools on "The List"
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Author:  Sara_Marshall [ Tue Apr 03, 2007 1:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Schools on "The List"
I recently attended a seminar about teaching at schools placed on "The List". This list is comprised of schools that are low performing and under threat of closure if they don't reach standards. The seminar was led my Ms. Smyth of Hertford County schools and she relived her experience from entering a school her first year that was on the list, to moving to a more affluent school, to moving back to a different school on the list. She claimed that working at the affluent school was, in fact, easier, but she was not needed as a good educator. At the schools on the list she felt like she was needed and she was making a difference.

So my question is, should there be some sort of mandate to push our excellent educators to work in schools on "The List"? Or, does anyone believe that these teachers should be with the more affluent, "more intelligent" students who also need their expertise?
Author:  Amanda_Duncan [ Tue Apr 10, 2007 3:29 pm ]
Post subject: 
I also attended the "Schools on the List" seminar. I can only speak from my own experience because different people are driven to teach for different reasons. Personally I would prefer to teach at a school on "the List" or schools that may not be high achieving. On a trip two summers ago I visited Raleigh Charter High, truly an amazing school with a great program and students who want to learn. While there I visited a math class were the teacher used common techniques and didn't seem to challenge the class (of course this is only for one class period of one day so I can not make a true judgment on this teachers education style.) It was this point where I realized that the students at this school were going to achieve even if they have some teachers who aren't so great, these students were mostly self-motivated and therefore they didn't need the greatest teachers just a chance to access the information and interact with other self-motivated students. I want to be able to change student's lives for the better, I want for students to remember me as a powerful influence on their well being not just as the person who taught them U.S. History. I think that teachers who want to have a great impact should go to schools where students need to impacted. Should there be an incentive for teachers to move to these schools, I hope not, because the only incentive that really matters is the rewards that these educators should find within themselves.
Author:  Chelsie Alfaro [ Wed Apr 11, 2007 5:41 pm ]
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I think that there should be some sort of incentive for educators to teach at these schools. Do I think it's right that people need to be bribed in order to help these low performing schools? No, I don't. Realistically speaking however, I know that these schools will continue to fail getting the new teachers they need in order to get off the list. Not every education major is in it for the students, there are many people who look at Teaching as an easy job. Even if we know this is far from the truth.

Most of us agree that teachers should be able to look at the progress their students are making and find all the satisfaction they need. However, a little incentive goes a long way... these schools aren't finding the teachers they need without it.
Author:  Brooke_Newsome [ Wed Apr 11, 2007 10:12 pm ]
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I would say that incentives are almost necessary to get teachers to work in schools that are on "the list". People think you are crazy if you want to go teach in an inner-city school or a poorer school. I do think that educators are needed in affluent schools but the schools on 'the list' obviously need help. I think that Teach for America programs where there are incentives to teach in inner-city schools are great. But the problem I have found with them is most of them you cannot be an education major, you have to be of a different background. The theory being that regular teachers will just apply to work directly in the school system in the inner-city if they have the desire to teach there. Well I think that is a great theory but in reality no matter how much an individual might want to teach in an inner-city school, unless they have some support from someone or an organization the liklihood of them actually doing that is slim.
Author:  Robby Raeford [ Thu Apr 12, 2007 12:44 pm ]
Post subject: 
I know I can't be the only one who thinks that the entire concept of "The List" is backwards and immoral!

Seriously, how can anyone think that it makes sense to WITHDRAW funding from a school that is performing poorly? At risk of closing? How about pumping in more funding so that the school can afford to bring its educational standards UP? This is so backwards to me that it is baffling! Where are these "incentives" going to come from if the schools on the "list" are at risk of closing? They probably aren't going to come from the same government program that is putting these schools at risk.

I can only see the No Child Left Behind program as a method to push this country towards privatized education. The free market already works to make the rich richer and the poor poorer, so how is the free market going to help education in this country? I guess I could answer that if I made six figures a year, but alas, I do not.
Author:  jessie_carrigan [ Thu Apr 12, 2007 2:39 pm ]
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I totally agree with Robby. Why can't we give these schools more funding so that they can pay for the education they deserve? I myself would teach at a needed school if I wasn't so unsure that the government would shut it down! I think it is so ironic that the No Child Left Behind is what it is called because what about the children that cannot afford being sent to another school? What if families want their children near them and go to school instead of being sent away from them to go to a better school? Should the parents have to move too? The No Child Left Behind is leaving these schools behind. They are simply running away from the problem! Fix the schools that need our help! Don't cut their funding off and shut them down!
Author:  Angela Terry [ Thu Apr 12, 2007 2:47 pm ]
Post subject: 
So I agree with Robby, I don't understand why there is a list. If the government feels it needs a list then they should be using the list to improve the schools on it, not shutting them down. By shutting down these schools you are going to send kids to other schools which will become over crowed and in the end be the same as the school that was closed. I think the money for the school systems should be spread out evenly through all the schools regardless of their rank on the list, with the ones who need the extra support to actually get it. With the way things are going now this will not happen. I agree with Jessie also, why have the No Child Left Behind program if all it is doing in the end is screwing things up and making the education system worse?
Author:  Brandon_Fiedor [ Thu Apr 12, 2007 6:46 pm ]
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I think that all students, regardless of race or financial standing, need our help. However, the truth is that all the "good" teachers are taking the "easy" jobs at affluent schools thereby perpetuating the racial/ethnic gap in education and really throughout all of society. Sadly, I think the only thing left to do is to encourage educators to go into lower-class classrooms through financial incentives.
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