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My youngest brat went to Northwest Tech, which is a magnet school. He received over 50k in scholarship money, and is now attending the CIA in New York. (The 50k almost paid for the first year). His education was very good. My eldest graduated from Shadow Ridge, where I found the education to be acceptable. The difference was probably in the student, but also in the teachers.
They gave the teachers at the magnet more leeway to mentor and to tweak their classes to the individuals they had in class. They also had the ability to toss out the troublemakers. We should expand the magnets.
My youngest brat went to Northwest Tech, which is a magnet school. He received over 50k in scholarship money, and is now attending the CIA in New York. (The 50k almost paid for the first year). His education was very good. My eldest graduated from Shadow Ridge, where I found the education to be acceptable. The difference was probably in the student, but also in the teachers.
They gave the teachers at the magnet more leeway to mentor and to tweak their classes to the individuals they had in class. They also had the ability to toss out the troublemakers. We should expand the magnets.
The problem is that the toss outs come back to regular school, continue to fail, and those teachers blamed for being bad teachers. I don't mind this student population; actually, I prefer it. Anyone can educate the kids who take education seriously. But blaming the teachers who deal with the most difficult students is like blaming the oncologist because his or her mortality rate is higher than a dermatologist. Not that you do that, NLVgal, but that's what ends up happening.
My son went to ATEC. At the time it was the number one school with a Blue Ribbon designation (still is, I think). I had to have a conference with my son's math teacher and I couldn't believe what I was hearing. He was one of the laziest, smuggest, most arrogant jerks I had ever met in the CCSD. He was an awful teacher; the stereotypical one that everyone thinks is representative of the profession, as a whole, that does it for a 6 hour workday with all that time off - except he actually does only work the 6 hours/186 days.
Magnets are successful because of the kids'/parents' expectations, for the most part.
I love these threads. Every time someone provides evidence that a first-rate, excellent education can be obtained by students in the CCSD, Scoop changes his line in the sand.
Every large district is "bad". But within a bad district are pockets of excellence where students are in the top in the nation. If Green Valley was a small, independent school district, it would be considered a great school district. Not because the teachers or administration are better, but because the quality of the parents and the emphasis they place on education would be greater.
Go through my old posts. I have ALWAYS said that exceptional students can break through the mediocrity at CCSD. Exceptional people will always find a way to shine -- much like a diamond in a vein of coal.
But please, continue telling us how CCSD is a great school system. I specifically want to know how CCSD is managing my tax dollars in the most efficient, productive way possible. I also want to know the reasons why Clark County is considered such an educational powerhouse nationwide. Let's see all these lists and studies that put us at the top of school rankings. Consider it a challenge.
Based on the post directly above, apparently only teachers get to call each other "awful."
Let's face it, you have been browbeating me for weeks because I had the "gall" to say that there are incompetent teachers in CCSD. All the while, you personally knew of one who you describe as a lazy, smug, arrogant, awful jerk. This speaks volumes about you.
I maintain that there are a few like him at nearly every school in CCSD. (And some schools have MANY like him.) I maintain that class sizes are too high and that funds are being mismanaged. I see the educational landscape of Clark County and say that we could do better.
But by all means, continue to get your knickers in a twist because someone thinks that CCSD should be run better and that expectations should be higher.
Go through my old posts. I have ALWAYS said that exceptional students can break through the mediocrity at CCSD.
Not ALL of CCSD is mediocre. There are exceptional programs, teachers, and students. In a district of over 300,000 students there is no way the entire district can be considered excellent, but it IS here. You are not an expert on education in CCSD just because you have gone to school and your wife is an ELL teacher any more than your wife is a gourmet chef because she's eaten a meal and her husband cooks for a living.
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I specifically want to know how CCSD is managing my tax dollars in the most efficient, productive way possible. I also want to know the reasons why Clark County is considered such an educational powerhouse nationwide. Let's see all these lists and studies that put us at the top of school rankings. Consider it a challenge.
I love the way you just make **** up so that you never have to admit you are wrong. No one, especially me, is saying this.
I'm not going through all you posts to dredge up this ongoing, ridiculous diatribe of yours. I've done that before with you and all you do is move the goal posts. I'm sure it works others in your life, but not with me.
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Based on the post directly above, apparently only teachers get to call each other "awful."
For those of you that don't know, the above statement is an allusion to another conversation that Scoop and I have had where felt he should be maligning teachers, in general.
I have worked 15 years in this profession and my graduate degree is in mathematics education. I am far more qualified to assess another mathematics teacher than you. But to be fair, I would not consider myself an expert in how to make a roux. I'll leave that to the experts who actually work in a kitchen.
Many people have had issues with a bad teacher - myself included. If the teacher is a bad teacher, however, most are unlikely to paint all educators, or an entire district with the same brush.
Keep it up, though. I love it when you do this. Those who are long-time members of this board remember the things you said.
Keep it up, though. I love it when you do this. Those who are long-time members of this board remember the things you said.
Yes: I said that I know teachers who cannot teach their subject matter. And you went ballistic over that.
The sad thing is, I'll bet we agree on 95% of the issues facing CCSD. But for some reason, you and a few others point to the handful of success stories and say that things can be great in Clark County. Of course things can be great in Clark County -- for the bright students with two PhDs for parents. Exceptional people usually find a way to be exceptional. Meanwhile we still lead the nation in high school drop-outs. And if we could reduce class sizes in the "poor" neighborhoods, we could lower our drop-out rate.
The exceptional students tend to leave Las Vegas and the drop-outs tend to stick around. This is one of the big reasons why Las Vegas is the way it is. Improving education would pay dividends throughout the valley.
Let's face it, you have been browbeating me for weeks because I had the "gall" to say that there are incompetent teachers in CCSD. All the while, you personally knew of one who you describe as a lazy, smug, arrogant, awful jerk. This speaks volumes about you.
Oh no you don't. My issue with you is the way you hold yourself up as the only person who can properly evaluate the quality of education a student can get in the CCSD.
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I maintain that there are a few like him at nearly every school in CCSD.
Every school does. Even those snooty, so-called prestigious schools that you think have something better to offer. CCSD has harder working teachers than just about any other place in the nation. If you switched faculty at Deerfield, or similar, with any CCSD school, achievement would go down; not up. It's a tough, tough gig and those elitist teachers wouldn't be able to handle it. Why do you think they are there? If they could be fighting the good fight and taking the credit, they would. They don't work at run-of-the-mill public schools because they can't. They don't have it in them.
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(And some schools have MANY like him.)
Which ones?
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I maintain that class sizes are too high and that funds are being mismanaged. I see the educational landscape of Clark County and say that we could do better.
Well now, that's groundbreaking. No else has ever said that.
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But by all means, continue to get your knickers in a twist because someone thinks that CCSD should be run better and that expectations should be higher.
Awww, knickers in a twist. How quaint. It's right up there with put on your big girl shoes. I guess you told me.
The fact of the matter is that I have always maintained that the district should be run better. The difference is that I actually know how to do it.
We can talk about higher standards, but in the context of this thread, it's just a meaningless soundbite.
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Originally Posted by Everdeen
source!
I'm still waiting. You made up an out right lie and I'm calling you on it.
Yes: I said that I know teachers who cannot teach their subject matter. And you went ballistic over that.
Yeah, because you don't have first-hand knowledge. You have second hand knowledge from an non-math teacher. And we have no context for this opinion, either. She doesn't teach math, but she's in a math teacher's classroom assessing the teacher's ability? For all we know, it could have been me. I've made mistakes. I would sure hate to think that a passer by would make a judgement on my ability to do math on a small snippit of information in a subject that they not even experts in.
And to set the record straight, you said that you personally knew that there are math teachers in the CCSD that cannot add fractions. No way, Jose. To pass the mathematics Praxis test for math teachers, not only must the teacher be well versed in ratio operations, but far exceed simple fractions in their understanding mathematics content of which understanding fraction operations is paramount. The only way to circumvent that is either by teaching SPED, ELL, or being a sub. With some of the ancillary positions that I have held in the district, it is far more likely that I would run into a secondary math teacher that doesn't understand fractions than most people even in my own department, much less any other teachers.
1) I do not hold myself up as the only person who can evaluate CCSD. I am just one of MANY who think that CCSD isn't managed as much as it is mismanaged. CCSD is like Mt. Everest -- it gets progressively worse the higher one goes.
2) The teachers at the snooty schools also get paid considerably more than the teachers at public schools. The snooty schools are able to attract the best and brightest students (and yes, the most wealthy -- I wish it was all merit but it isn't). They also attract the best and brightest teachers. I have attended classes in schools at all levels except for "the very bottom." And in general the best schools have the best teachers.
3) So we finally agree that there are incompetent teachers out there. That's progress. I say that we have MORE incompetent teachers than other school systems because this city is less ethical and doesn't value education as much as other cities. So now that we agree that there are incompetent teachers in CCSD, how do we show them the door? They can come make roux with me instead. Fine dining isn't a particularly important career. I only affect the people who eat my food. Teachers affect everyone in their community (and the planet). The parents who routinely come here and ask if they should move to Las Vegas for the educational opportunities deserve to know that the valley has major problems when it comes to education. One of the biggest problems isn't fixable -- peer group. Teachers can only do so much. They can't change the make-up of Las Vegas.
4) Made up an outright lie? You're the one defending "first-rate education" and CCSD. Which statement do you think is more true: "A handful of students reach the highest echelons of academic achievement because of CCSD." OR "Despite attending a CCSD school, a handful of students reach the highest echelons of academic achievement." The only schools that are making positive news are the magnet schools -- they're drawing on the best and brightest, just like my "snooty" schools. We should expand the magnet program so that the bright kids (particularly the bright kids in the poor neighborhoods) have the best possible chances). As for everyone else, keep reducing class size until the drop-out rate improves.
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