At the beginning of each year teachers receive a class list of their students. The teachers in each grade level usually have about the same number of students in each class.
The teacher with the fewest number of students gets prepared to receive the first transfer. By transfer student, I mean a student that comes from another school after the school year has already begun.
Most teachers are not very excited about getting a transfer student. It can be especially hard for lower grade or primary teachers. These teachers typically have everything labeled and special instructions for parents and students to follow. They spend much time at the beginning of the year training the students and parents how the classroom routines and procedures work. When a new student comes in, the training must take place again. In addition, more labels and folders must be made.
Teachers also must be concerned about the child’s history. The child’s previous class may have been ahead or behind where the teacher presently is academically speaking.
As a general rule, it is better to get a student who has moved rather than one who has just transferred schools. When a family physically moves to a new house then the reason for the children to transfer to a new school is often more legitimate than a child that does not move houses.
In most cases children who transfer to a different school in the county without moving to a new house, transfers due to problems at the old school. It may have been that the child stayed in too much trouble or that the parents were dissatisfied with the teacher. Either way, the troubles typically follow the students.
I am not opposed to students transferring from one school to another. I do not treat transfer students any different from the other students. However, I think that parents should think about the true problem and try to solve it instead of moving away from it to a different school.