My school has not made it off the list. We’ve been on it for years and now we have arrived at the last stop, restructuring.
Why haven’t we made it off the list? Is it our failure? Did our mentoring program fail us? Or is one year too short a time to make changes? Would replacing the staff help or hurt? Is it impossible to make it off the list, given our demographics (large numbers of children who fall into one or more of these categories: poverty, special ed, African American, Hispanic, English Language Learners)?
What will the Prince, our kind and well-meaning principal, do with this information? What will he tell us at the beginning of the year? Will he tell us, as he has each preceeding year, not to worry about it? Or will he get serious, set standards, hold teachers accountable, and start fighting?
And how am I going to let go, emotionally? My summer is draining away rapidly, I still have things to cross off my summer to-do list, and I feel like I’m about to go over a waterfall.
Elbows, knees, dreams 
Are there steps to making it off the list – year one you do this, year two this – so that progress toward the goal is recorded? It seems that the same process we use for kids would be used here but it is unchartered territory for me. I do hope you can find a way to let go or to at least let the burden be a shared one. After reading your posts this past week, I can hear that you have the heart and mind we need in early education.
There are steps to follow, and I know we have done some of them. I think the staff and administration have been reluctant to face facts, however, and have been resistant to change. Also, I don’t think the district has done much to support us — or to force us to change.
I’m doing okay in my room — I know I am — but since I became a mentor teacher last year, the whole school’s problems feel like my problems. I have to get better at setting boundaries for myself. There is only so much I can do, or change, or fairly take responsibility for.
Thanks for the kind words; they are much appreciated.
(((Hugs))) You have it right, there is only so much you can do. The rest is up to the principal and the other teachers. You cannot shoulder the responsibility for for this. Even as a mentor there is only so much you can do. Ultimately it is up to each individual teacher to carry their weight.
I wish you a peaceful and productive school years.
Enjoy your last few weeks of summer.
NCLB is going to have to change. 100% by 2013……… Average improvement each year (at least in our district) has to be around 12-13 %, each year, and every year, year after year– until 2013. And it is absolutely insane that failing to achieve in ONE single demographic or group makes the whole school fail–for the whole year– no matter how good you were. And thats how much we failed to make adequate yearly progress by — one demographic group, too low of a percentage of 16 kids — forget the other 900. Let them come in and take over the school. Lets see them do it any better, and when they don’t, what are they going to do?
we just found out that we didn’t make it either. we met 28 out of the 29 requirements, and missed that last one by 2% in one subgroup. (still a higher than last year when we did make it). so close, but it doesn’t matter for the list printed in the paper. it’s the most demoralizing feeling, to have the ‘failing school’ stamped by your name.