How are students assigned to classes?

[aslyn]

I am really just curious how students are assigned to their teachers and classes for the school year? There has to be more behind it then choosing names from a hat lol

I guess I started thinking about this since my dd was assigned to a class where the only other person she knew was the other kid in her grade that spends his whole day in the resource room with her. Like they intentionaly kept them together because the only time they are in that classroom is for homeroom everything else is through the resource room.

my ds on the other hand was put into a class where he knows nobody. Not a single student that rides the bus with him or was in his K class is in his 1st grade class. He is on a higher reading level than the rest of the class and is in reading group with only 2 other kids. Surely there is some reasoning behind this?

So what's the secrets? And FTR I am in no way shape or form going to send in a special request for them to be put in any specific classes with any specific students..really I am just curious..although I am secretly hoping my son gets dd's 2nd grade teacher next year because she rocks!

[KCMichigan]

It may vary by area but when I was teaching here are a list of ways we placed students into the 'next' classrooms in order of importance: The prinicipal had the final say and sometimes would 'adjust' classrooms

1. gender

2. equal number of students

3. teacher/student learning style match (as suggested by the grade level teacher that had them from previous year)

4. Spec needs (equal in number per class, but tried to keep students that may go to speech or resource room together for scheduling)

5.  Ability (often kids that are really high or really low in reading or math will be placed together to ease ability grouping)

6. Division of certain students- some kids just dont do well together so we tried to keep some combinations apart 

7.parent requests- this was last consideration, but if no reason not to honor the request it was done

6. left room for move-ins transfers or late registrations (which is why often the numbers/genders are not equal at the beginning of the year

Our teachers met at the end of the year and made teacher suggestions for the following year based on personality, teaching style, gender, spec. needs, ability, etc. The principal then took that list and divided them by gender and equal numbers. Then- as needed- the kids were placed per parent request.

Hope that helps, every area may have a different 'formula'--but that is how it was done in our area.

[aslyn]

Interesting! Thank you! I always wondered why I got the teachers that i despised the most LOL

[One_Girl]

In some schools in our district the principal does the placements randomly and in others they go by what the teachers recommend in the grade they are finishing.  When teachers recommend it they tend to base it off of who should be separated in class next year and who really needs a certain style of teaching.  The principal has final say and changes it depending on parent requests if necessary.  If you like the second grade teacher then I think you should request her for your son, that is a common thing here.

[whatsnextmom]

Our district calls it "class balancing" lol. Parents can submit a request form. You can't name a teacher but you can describe your child and the sort of teacher they need (strict, nurturing, ect.) Teachers usually try to make their classes equal... similar amout of boys to girls, similar amount of high-achievers to resource, ect. Some classes are special. Like my DS is currently in a 4/5 combo. For that class, only the most independant workers were slotted. Sometimes they have GATE clusters or they may want to put all the kids who need the higher math curriculum in one class. In our district, class placement isn't random. The teachers meet together and go over the list purposely placing the kids.

[ollyoxenfree]

Originally Posted by KCMichigan 

It may vary by area but when I was teaching here are a list of ways we placed students into the 'next' classrooms in order of importance: The prinicipal had the final say and sometimes would 'adjust' classrooms

1. gender

2. equal number of students

3. teacher/student learning style match (as suggested by the grade level teacher that had them from previous year)

4. Spec needs (equal in number per class, but tried to keep students that may go to speech or resource room together for scheduling)

5.  Ability (often kids that are really high or really low in reading or math will be placed together to ease ability grouping)

6. Division of certain students- some kids just dont do well together so we tried to keep some combinations apart 

7.parent requests- this was last consideration, but if no reason not to honor the request it was done

6. left room for move-ins transfers or late registrations (which is why often the numbers/genders are not equal at the beginning of the year

Our teachers met at the end of the year and made teacher suggestions for the following year based on personality, teaching style, gender, spec. needs, ability, etc. The principal then took that list and divided them by gender and equal numbers. Then- as needed- the kids were placed per parent request.

Hope that helps, every area may have a different 'formula'--but that is how it was done in our area.

These are the kind of considerations that applied in my kids' elementary schools. Now that they are in high school, I think it's mostly a lottery/numbers game of trying to get schedules to co-ordinate. 

I have noticed that balancing gender seems to be given low priority compared to trying to get a good mix with personality, behaviour and academic ability. There were a few classes with a really noticeable gender imbalance (like a class of 23 but only 8 girls). Balancing behaviour and academic ability seemed to be more important.

[blizzard_babe]

Gender imbalance is sometimes on purpose. At one school I worked at, in one grade, there was a teacher who just ROCKED at teaching boys. The crazier and more stereotypically "boy-ish" the better. She had a combination of Zen-like inner peace, boundless energy, and no qualms about going out onto the playground with a bucket of chalk and some water balloons to work on spelling and vocabulary (I'm not entirely sure what the rules of the game were but it involved throwing water balloons at words). She ALWAYS had more boys than girls. I never heard any of the girls in her class complain, though. :D

[nola79]

Interesting thread. I've been wondering about this lately. I actually had to switch my child this year from one teacher to another. The class he was originally in was just NOT a good fit whatsoever. OP, I would not hesitate to request a certain teacher for your son. I wish I had done the same and avoided all the drama.

[blizzard_babe]

Originally Posted by nola79 

Interesting thread. I've been wondering about this lately. I actually had to switch my child this year from one teacher to another. The class he was originally in was just NOT a good fit whatsoever. OP, I would not hesitate to request a certain teacher for your son. I wish I had done the same and avoided all the drama.

My mom worked as a school secretary and she said that anti-requests (requesting to NOT have a certain teacher) were, many years, more frequent than requests.

[nola79]

Originally Posted by blizzard_babe 

Originally Posted by nola79 

Interesting thread. I've been wondering about this lately. I actually had to switch my child this year from one teacher to another. The class he was originally in was just NOT a good fit whatsoever. OP, I would not hesitate to request a certain teacher for your son. I wish I had done the same and avoided all the drama.

My mom worked as a school secretary and she said that anti-requests (requesting to NOT have a certain teacher) were, many years, more frequent than requests.

You know, that funny because I know for sure there is one teacher next year I don't want, but I didn't think I could do an anti-request. lol

[aslyn]

I am not sure that I would do a request for DS next year. I loveeee the 2nd grade teacher dd had but in all fairness I don't know any of the others. I haven't liked either of his teachers thus far, it would be nice to have one that I don't feel like I am pulling teeth to talk to; however DS has loved them both so who knows it could be just me!

[blizzard_babe]

Originally Posted by nola79 

Originally Posted by blizzard_babe 

Originally Posted by nola79 

Interesting thread. I've been wondering about this lately. I actually had to switch my child this year from one teacher to another. The class he was originally in was just NOT a good fit whatsoever. OP, I would not hesitate to request a certain teacher for your son. I wish I had done the same and avoided all the drama.

My mom worked as a school secretary and she said that anti-requests (requesting to NOT have a certain teacher) were, many years, more frequent than requests.

You know, that funny because I know for sure there is one teacher next year I don't want, but I didn't think I could do an anti-request. lol

Well, if there are three teachers (Mr. A, Mrs. B, and Ms C), you can always phrase your request, "I'd like to request Mr. A or Ms C." ;-)

[ChristaN]

Although many of the things mentioned earlier apply in our schools, the attempt to place kids of similar ability in the same class definitely does not.  They intentionally attempt not to place most of the very high ability or low ability kids in the same class but rather to distribute them evenly among the various classes.  The reasoning I've heard is to make it less of a challenge for the teachers and so that one teacher doesn't look better b/c s/he has all of the high achievers.  That, of course, doesn't generally benefit the students...

Often our local schools will track younger siblings with the same teachers their older siblings had as well assuming that it is easier for the teachers and parents b/c they already have an established relationship unless, of course, it was a particularly bad fit the first time around.

[marieangela]

My boys only have two different classes for each grade level.  So, they will always have someone they know in their classes.  My second grader only has two or three children that he's never had class with before.  Most of his friends from kindergarten were in the other 1st and 2nd grade class, but he has made new friends and still sees the ones that aren't in his class anymore after school and at soccer and such.  I'm not sure how they figure it out at our school, but the high achievers (my 2nd grader is one of them) seem to be spread evenly between classes.  I hadn't considered requesting teachers.  There is a male teacher for 2nd grade that all of the boys love and my ds hoped to have him, but got the other teacher.  He is over it already and likes his teacher just fine.

[aslyn]

Originally Posted by aslyn 

I guess I started thinking about this since my dd was assigned to a class where the only other person she knew was the other kid in her grade that spends his whole day in the resource room with her. Like they intentionaly kept them together because the only time they are in that classroom is for homeroom everything else is through the resource room.

I was just surfing back and found this thread, thought I would update ;p

I did find out that my dd was kept with the boy because they have similar needs and it will be the exact same this coming year, and if neither of the families move they will prob be "together" until they finish high school lol

I did not end up requesting anyone for my son but with 4 kids my bet is one or 2 of them will end up with the same teachers somewhere down the road

[LynnS6]

In our school they look at the following:

# of boys and girls -- trying to keep a balance

ability level  -- trying to balance out high achievers and low achievers

kids who have known issues with each other

parent information on what kind of classroom would be best for their child (you can't request a teacher, but they do ask parents what kind of learner and what kind of environment your child would do best in)

trying to mix up classes from one year to the next so that you're not always with the same 25 kids

I suspect strongly it's in that order. There's some talk about doing more grouping according to ability this next year, and I'd really like that. Last year they switched classrooms for reading, and next year they aren't going to have the resources to pull out the lowest and highest achievers into smaller groups for more intense work.

It is a reasonable idea to get to know the teachers and let the school know what kind of teacher your child would do well with. I had a long meeting with the principal this last year about our dd because she's working at a level far above that of the average first grader, and I need to make sure that she gets someone who can handle her needs (and her personality) next year. Someone who's calm, creative and has thick skin, and is willing to put in a little extra work.

[Coral123]

I did an anti-request for this past year.  I basically told the principal I did not wish teacher XYZ for my younger child, and that if the principal needed more information I would be happy to give it to her.

My older child had this particular teacher and the year was full of problems, including an almost point blank refusal by the teacher to communicate.

There was no issues getting my request approved...if there had been I was prepared to make a big deal about it.

[meemee]

dont the teachers in your school change? in our school you have no clue which teacher is going to teach which class. so you cant make neither a request or an anti-request. we dont know our class and teacher assignments until two or 3 days before school starts (school full of v. v. competitive parents who put a lot of pressure on the principal so we are not allowed to make requests or antirequests unless there is an issue).

i know in our school teachers recomm. is key. and then the rest of the others follow. the teachers all know each other so  they look for the best fit. sometimes teachers also request students whom they would like in their class before the recommend. is made. 

there are no 'bad' teachers in our school that i know of. i realise now that i cannot predict how dd will get along with the teachers because she always gets along with the worst or the underdog. she got the stricktest teacher last year and it turned out to be one of her favourite teacher. somehow the teachers 'gruff' manner suited dd a lot. the teacher was a wonder with kids, terrible with parents. that was quite ok with me. 

oh and yes the tough kids are usually given to the teacher who can best handle them.

there are always 4 classes. dd so far has never had noone she didnt know in her class. for her i dont think that's possible because she has friends from each section. 

[StephandOwen]

Originally Posted by aslyn 

I did find out that my dd was kept with the boy because they have similar needs and it will be the exact same this coming year, and if neither of the families move they will prob be "together" until they finish high school lol

I, personally, would keep a close eye on this and make sure it's working well for your dd, and not just for the school. My ds is one of 4 kids at his grade level who are special needs and spends a significant portion of his day in the resource room. For Kindergarten they had 2 of these kids in 1 room and 2 of them in another room. For 1st grade they switched the kids/partners and put 2 of the kids in 1 room and 2 of the kids in another room. It worked okay in Kindergarten, because the other boy that was in ds's room didn't have a strong need for a para- just a little extra instructional help. But for 1st grade the other boy in ds's classroom had more significant needs and the school decided the boys should share a para. It did not work out well and my ds got the short end of the stick (and was placed in danger more than once because of this situation). The only reason I didn't pitch a bigger fit was because ds's teacher was an angel and really took ds under her wings. In May, however, we had a long meeting with the school about how we didn't approve of this.

I just heard a rumor, through the grapevine, that they are going to put all 4 of the kids in 1 classroom for 2nd grade in the fall. The problem lies in, each of these 4 kids has a para written into their IEP. So the school is trying to cut costs by giving 1 para to 4 students.... which will FAIL very quickly (1 person can't be in 4 places at once, obviously). The principal is avoiding answering my questions about it, so basically I have to wait for the first day of school and see if this is what happens. If it is, I'll be sitting my butt down in the principals office and refusing to leave until it's fixed.

Anyway, just my friendly warning that I would really make sure that this situation is working for your dd too. Just because she and this other child have similar needs, does not mean they should be in the same room every year (unless it's working well for EVERYONE involved).

[Emmeline II]

Originally Posted by meemee 

dont the teachers in your school change? in our school you have no clue which teacher is going to teach which class. so you cant make neither a request or an anti-request. we dont know our class and teacher assignments until two or 3 days before school starts (school full of v. v. competitive parents who put a lot of pressure on the principal so we are not allowed to make requests or antirequests unless there is an issue).

Ds' last elementary school (K-5) was huge (five K classes when he was there and a few more last year) and I did hear that his K teacher moved to 4th grade last year. But his new school (K-12) is the same size as his elementary; there only two classes per grade in elementary and the teachers seem to be fixed (as it was when I was in school).