Statistics & School Days

I realize that despite my vow to post often, I have not been very prolific with this site! Again, I do *think* about blog-worthy items all the time, but very rarely do they seem to make it online! My last blog was started in July and finally finished and posted in August! Need to try harder to express myself on the page. :)

This week was very exciting and strange at the same time for our family. We became a family with a "school-aged child", namely Thalia, who started Kindergarten on Monday. After fretting and fussing about which school she would attend ever since January, we took the "default" option and sent her to our neighborhood public school, Beard Elementary. I must have toured and contacted about a dozen private schools in town, but in the end, we took the simplest option, which was also the cheapest one! Just a few weeks ago, our school was named 'Exemplary' by the TEA based on Accountability Ratings, and that has gone a long way in reassuring me that my kid is not going to a mediocre, overcrowded school. She is going to an 'exemplary', overcrowded school!!! Certainly, test scores do not present a complete picture of what a school will be like, but as one who works in the K-12 standardized testing industry, I consider them to be very important indicators of school success. At the same time, I was the slightest bit suspicious about the Accountability Ratings this year across the board because in 2005, our district had 0 (as in absolutely none) Exemplary schools, and this year, it has 6. Last year, our neighboring district, with similar socioeconomic levels across the neighborhoods, had 1 Exemplary school; this year, it has 11. Are Texas teachers 'teaching' the Test? And is that a bad thing? Regardless, I find a certain amount of comfort in the numbers.

As for Thalia's non-statistical, real-life experiences in Kinder? She had a GREAT week! She was escorted to school, as were the other 175 Kindergarteners, by her family (me, Dylan and Carys). We all walked to school from her friend Isabella's house located very conveniently across the street from Beard. They were so cute walking with their heads together in conversation, while we parents and siblings followed behind! We dropped the girls off at the Cafeteria, which felt a trifle hot (I learned later in the week that the AC is shut down every weekend). Everyone sits at their assigned classroom tables to read quietly the 3 books they are asked to bring from home. What an excellent idea! Thalia had eagerly picked out 3 favorite books the night before, and it has become part of our night time routine now to choose the next mornings books. We left her reading her book and sitting quietly in her chair, while other kids around her fussed and cried as their parents left them behind. I was really proud of my brave little Kindergartener, especially as she did not even know anyone in her class yet (Isabella was assigned to another homeroom). Mrs. G., her new teacher, greeted us as we arrived and lined them up to take them to their new classroom. The whole deed was done without any tears from me or Thalia, which suprised me greatly! I expected to get at least a little misty-eyed, but I didn't! Thalia most favorite part of her 1st day was going through the cafeteria line at lunch. We "practiced" ordering what she wanted to eat beforehand, based on the online lunch menu, and I explained the options she would have. Getting to choose which fruit or vegetable or milk (strawberry, chocolate or white) she could eat greatly impressed her! She met a girl in her class who "sat next to me at circle time, had her cubby next to mine, and took her nap next to me" but couldn't remember her name! We've since discovered it is Morgan, and Thalia thinks she will be her 'new best friend.' And finally, Thalia was even picked on by a big, bad boy on the 1st day! He grabbed her name tag as her class was walking by in the hallway, and Thalia fell on her bottom and cried. Poor thing! A walk to the drinking fountain with her teacher revived her. What a rite of passage! Thalia finished Week 1 with 5 'Excellents' on her take-home Behavior Chart, so we are definitely off to a great start!

Thalia is not exactly new to the idea of "school", having been in early childhood programs and then pre-school since the age of 15 months, but our entry into public school (REAL school!) has been quite a change for us. For 4 years, "school" started at 9 am, and not necessarily on time! Now, our day begins before the sun rises, and that is a tough one for all of us! Also, I have been used to being on a first-name basis with teachers and staff at the private pre-schools we've attended and walking freely around the building. Not anymore! The level of communication with a public school teacher who is in charge of 22 or more kids at once must necessarily be different from our pre-school teachers (3 per 18 kids). I rely now on emails and hand-written notes passed through my kid's backpack. To walk around my daughter's school, I am first interrogated by the school secretary, and must sign in twice (2 different lists) and surrender my driver's license. I know this is all for security reasons, but still, I miss the intimacy and informality of our previous school!