Is The Achievement Gap a Middle Class Issue

An interesting article about the fact that the achievement gap is becoming a middle class issue.

A recent study (PDF) by Sean Reardon of Stanford University finds that the achievement gap between the upper and middle classes is bigger than the gap between the middle class and the working poor. This should give pause to those who dismiss education reform as something that affects other people. If you're middle class, you're on the losing side of the achievement gap.

Should we grade Parents? Not really

Huffington Post asks this question.

For me, I never think of a child from a challenging home life as needing that home life graded. I'm not sure what grading parents would do, nor how I would go about doing it as a teacher. And honestly, I've worked with very few parents, even ones that struggled to meet the needs of their child, that I couldn't find something that I thought they did well. So I think I couldn't support grading parents, as for too many parents, they are already wary to work with schools and teachers due to the parents own poor experiences in school. Worrying that they will be graded poorly will just increase their negative view of the school. While I think grades might make some parents more involved, for many, I think they will likely be turned off.

Florida Lawmaker Wants Teachers To Grade Parents

How do we make smart cool?

Recently, I was watching the Legislative Conference of the Congressional Black Caucus on
C-span. This panel based discussion made up of emerging black political leaders, many of whom have roles in the Obama administration. I was drawn in quickly by the program and was struck by Michael Blake,
Associate White House Director for the Office of Public Engagement's thoughts on motivating students. He speaks of a paradigm shift and the idea that especially leaders in the black community need to help set the tone for making 'smart cool.' Teaching students to reach beyond just sports and entertainment.

What can we do in our own communities, schools and classrooms to push this shift along, all the while recognizing the many kind of smarts a student can be gifted with? Can smart be col?

Mr. Blake's talking points begin at minute 53:00.
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/EmergingPo

School: Everyone begins on a different starting line

I see it every year in my classroom. I can tell you on the first day of school a lot about a child just by spending a short amount of time with them. Usually it is evident which children have summer birthdays and which went to a pre-K program and which have older siblings. No one likes to prejudge, but it is a social cue that comes with our innate humanness.

We do not all begin school in the same place, therefore even just at the end of the first full year of public school many black and brown children are already at an extraordinary disadvantage from their white peers because the experiences, language and styles of parenting they may have had, has influenced their abilities in school. The Harlem Children's Zone recognizes this race through school that leave many kids never able to catch up and continually fall behind grade level expectations. They are embracing education in a ground breaking way and following the 17,000 children in the 100 block radius of Harlem from birth to college graduation. Their offerings of formal education for each step, along with social services outreach, parenting classes and health and nutrition services. Even with such services the Geoffrey Canada, director and CEO of the program, still notes the disparity of achievement and a fight against a nationwide race through school which leads to the eventual drop-out of students of color that cannot keep up.

http://www.hcz.org/about-us/video-faqs

Clearly early childhood support is critical in eliminating the racially predictable achievement gap. This means reforming many of the ways that early childhood education and the primary years grade K-3 are taught. Giving up unethical practices that may be "fun" or something that has "always been done" but is not directly tied to student learning certainly should be the first step. Being creative with our time and integrating social curriculum and combining it with literacy and math skills has become a norm. What are the next steps that we can take to set the tone for amping up the early years so that our black and brown students may begin to align in a more parallel way with their peers of other races?

What does this say about Minnesota?

Yesterday, I posted a link to a study that shows that Minnesota is falling behind the rest of the country in the achievement gap. Then, we have this study that shows that Minnesota students are some of the best in the country on 4th grade Math tests. Also, we have one of the most equitable funding systems in the country, and having been a teacher in Chicago Public Schools, I can attest to that. So which is it? Are we failing our low income and disadvantaged students are are we succeeding? I think we have a long way to go, but it's encouraging to see that we are still succeeding by some measures.

Minnesota Schools Receive Praise

Black Boys lagging in Public Schools

Here's a report, although lacking a link to the original research, that supports other research that shows black boys are significantly lagging behind in test scores. Interesting reading. What kind of school system do we have in this country if 12 percent of 4th grade black boys are proficient in reading? 12 percent? Really?

black boys lagging badly in school