Do teachers pick their students for next year?

[tonilea]

I substitute and this week I was working in kindergarten. The guidance councelor was working on next years first grade class. Teachers were suggesting who would be a good teacher for a particular child and which children should not be in the same class. So, they definitely have input here.

I also know that the teacher who registered DS for kindergarten requested him (as did at least one other teacher) and got him.

 

[golfgal]

I hate to think the kids are divide by learning ability. Wouldn't you hate to have a kid in the low learning ability class

Wouldn't you hate being the one kid in class that can't keep up with anyone else vs being right on target with everyone else in your class. Which one would make a kid feel worse??

Our kids' elementary schools had the previous year teachers work with the next year teachers to develop class lists. They tried to keep kids that didn't get along--or got along too well--apart, not to have too many troublemakers in one room, etc.

 

[happygirl]

Wouldn't you hate being the one kid in class that can't keep up with anyone else vs being right on target with everyone else in your class. Which one would make a kid feel worse??

Our kids' elementary schools had the previous year teachers work with the next year teachers to develop class lists. They tried to keep kids that didn't get along--or got along too well--apart, not to have too many troublemakers in one room, etc.

As a parent, I wouldn't want my child "labeled" like that

 

[Inigo]

In our district, the grade level teachers and next year teachers, along with the principal, come up with the class lists for the next year. Parents can request, but it's not guaranteed.

I will admit I picked my kids teachers all the way from K through 8th grade. (Our 7th and 8th had team teaching, so I requested certain teams, not just certain teachers.) I always got my requests. I explained why I wanted a certain teacher when I spoke to the principal, and the involved teachers. Since I'm licensed to teach, and have been extremely active in the schools, I was pretty sure which teachers would be best for my kids. Sometimes I didn't request for my kids to have certain teachers, but I requested that there were certain teachers I did not want my kids to have. I always got those requests approved too.

One year, I really wanted a certain 1st grader teacher for DD, but I requested DD not be put in her class. She's a phenomenal teacher, but she's also DS's best friend's mom. I thought DD needed a teacher who wasn't a family friend. She would have probably been fine in that class, but I wanted this teacher to continue to be "Michael's mom" to DD instead of "Mrs. N."

 

[Plantlady]

It sounds like all schools are different, and the OP should just ask at her school.

At the school I work with, all of the kids that are covered under special education (be it gifted, or learning disabled) are not grouped together. Since all of those kids have a harder time in the classroom, they are placed with the teacher that will best understand them. They are also pretty spread out, throughout all of the teachers in every grade.

Thanks to no child left behind, none of them are going to fall below their classmates. Paras are there to help. They are in every classroom, making sure that everyone understands.

I can't imagine filling one class with gifted, and one class with learning disabilities. I can't even imagine that is legal, since kids that are serviced in our special education classrooms can't even have their photos taken, because it will discriminate against them.

 

[krcit]

At my kids school the current teachers work with the principal and support staff to place kids. You aren't suppossed to request teachers but you can request NOT to have a teacher if you've had prior experience with them. I have a good relationship with a lot of the teachers at the school(been there for 8 years so far, have 4 to go) and I can usually 'suggest' who I'd like for my kids but I usually don't. My ds has a LD though and I send a letter requesting certain qualities in his teachers and so far, so good.

 

[englishteacha]

I teach middle school. They way it's SUPPOSED to work, the 6th grade teachers create the homeroom groups for 7th grade, and the 7th grade teachers create the groups for 8th grade, and so on. None of us get any say in which group we get. There are always parent requests for certain kids to be with certain teachers (we teach them all, so it's not a big deal whose homeroom a kid is in), and the lists get skewed after it's made. I have the 5 most challenging boys in my class, and we joke that I got them because I made someone angry...what happened was that the boys were put in 5 different classes, and when other people wanted to be moved here or there, the boys got shuffled into one room. The principal doesn't really know the kids like the teachers do, so when he's on his own in the summer and a parent comes in with what seems like a valid reason for a move, he tries to make it happen. Moving one kid results in 2 being moved, because for the numbers to be balanced, you can't add a kid to a class without taking one out. In our school, the kids see several different teachers during the day, but travel as a group from class to class. If 2 kids are really rowdy together, they're together all day, and drive us all nuts!

 

[aprilgail2]

At our school the reading teacher places all the kids for the next year- there is an inclusion class in some of the grades but not the grade my daughter is in. I have requested a teacher from 2nd grade up and have always gotten who I requested. I just put in the request for next years teacher last week. I know that the year my daughter was going into 2nd grade her kindergarten teacher and her first grade teacher both wrote in her file that she should be seperated from this one little boy that was a monster- she had had enough of him as he was with her from preschool-1st grade and he did everything from body slamming her to crushing her hand between two desks. They must look back at those notes too because she has not had him for the past 3 years!

 

[HsvTeacher]

At our school the Teachers from the current grade and the next grade collaborate together to choose a balanced class for the next year. They base it on ability and personality - what kids work well together and what ones do not etc. Administration has the final say.

We parents can make REQUESTS but they are not guaranteed.

This is exactly what we do at my school. In fact, I need to divide my students tomorrow.

 

[daisyduck123]

I teach 1st grade in a public school.

At my school, the teachers, principal, & reading teachers (we have two) all work together to group the children. I have already seen my class list for next year....it doesn't look too bad. I am usually given some of the children in Special Ed. because I am repeatedly told that I have "a lot of patience".