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Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Separating Twins in the Classroom
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
All right … this may seem an obscure education issue. But no school issue is too obscure for Get Schooled…
Should parents of twins have a say in whether their children are in the same class in school? According to this facinating story, Minnesota passed a law guaranteeing parents that right and Illinois is considering a similar measure. With almost 1 in 30 babies being born as a pair these days (!), according to the story, it seems this could be a sticky school issue, especially in affluent communities. (I think I read somewhere that Dacula is ground zero for multiples in metro Atlanta.)
The story says schools have traditionally separated twins entering kindergarten. Given the legislation, I assume some parents do not want this. I can see this being thorny when there is one popular teacher that all parents want their kids to get.
Any twins or twin parents out there? Triplets? Quads? Did you want to be in the same class with your twin? Any teachers or principals who have had twin parents wanting both children in the same class?
Consider the Block
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Block scheduling … the debate goes on and on. DeKalb dad and Get Schooled reader Ernest has been so patient in waiting for me to post about this issue, which has caused a lot of pain and turmoil in DeKalb.
Everyone wants to improve high schools, but many parents are now wondering if a 4 X 4 block schedule - for a primer on block scheduling go here - is the way to go.
Mainly, stuffing courses into one semester seems at odds with Advanced Placement courses. Teachers say the in-depth courses, especially AP sciences, cannot easily be covered in one semester, even with longer classes.
Other districts handle this a variety of ways such as pairing two AP classes together and offering them as yearlong courses or offering after-school tutoring, especially before the exam. In DeKalb, an attempt to pair the AP course with a similar “dummy” course and teaching both courses simultaneously initially caused confusion and sparked an internal investigation.
But AP officials say AP courses generally can be taught on a block schedule. The key is for teachers to understand they are not expected to cover all the material for an AP course. They are expected to teach some aspects of the curriculum in depth. The exam allows students to miss many multiple-choice questions, and puts greater weight on essays.
Still, many teachers aren’t convinced.
Last week, the state school board voted to require school systems using a block schedule to complete an extensive survey. Superintenent Kathy Cox said she wants to consider other factors than just test scores when evaluating the merit of block scheduling.
Let’s hear from those with block scheduling experience, either as a student, teacher or parent. Is it a do or a don’t? And if your high school is on the block … how do you handle AP classes?
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