The education reformer holy grail is to reduce the income/racial academic achievement gap and to attempt to achieve this goal they have tried different strategies to try to make it happen with little success. Bill Gates is the poster child of the education reformer organizations and he has tried various strategies, none of them have worked. First, it was the small school movement which he admitted failure. Then it was cameras in the classroom that was to be used to identify good teaching that was shot down like a lead balloon. Next, was advocating charter schools and blended learning which has been a disaster where it has been tried, including New York City. Finally, his new emphasis is on "teacher quality" which is a major part of the program of high-stakes testing to evaluate teachers. However, many states have retreated from using test scores to evaluate teachers (New York State) or are eliminating it all together like Seattle Washington.
The primary reason that the education reformer organizations can't seem to significantly narrow the income/racial achievement gap is their failure to address the poverty issue. Nationwide 42% of children who live only with their mother are living in poverty and instead of trying to eliminate poverty by keeping families together, promote safer communities, and have financial and food security. Its easier to lay the blame on the lack of "quality teachers" for poor student academic achievement.
Now we have a 10 year study done in San Diego California that tried mightily to narrow the income/racial achievement gap by hiring more teachers of color, increased teaching professional development, and better teacher certification practices. The blueprint can be found here. The result has been disappointing, the ten year study showed only marginal progress and in some cases no progress in narrowing the academic achievement gap. .
The reason that none of these programs have worked is the failure to address the poverty issue and as long as the education reformer organizations ignore the 800 pound gorilla in the room and that is poverty, blaming teachers or the schools will not result in any significant improvements in narrowing the income/racial achievement gap.
20 comments:
That 800 pound gorilla is why the elephant, with Trump riding it's back, is going to win the next election. No one is stating the obvious for fear of offending someone. When someone states an obvious truth, that is skirted time and time again - it sounds wonderful. Stating the problem is the first step. If the federal Department of Education can't even do that, how will they solve this profound problem? The reality is even more disturbing - the objective isn't to educate, it's to give the façade of education. That's why Bill Gates or any one else, with enough power and/or money, is welcomed into the fold -as long as that gorilla is ignored and that façade is maintained.
Professor Diane Ravitch has made the case for poverty being the reason for the education gap for years. Because of this, she has become marginalized in the education community where in it's easier to blame the teacher. Check out her blog -lots of interesting stuff. Just google her name.
Though poverty contributes to education problems, consider that many chinese families are living with multiple generations in one house, with little cash...as in BUSTED....but the kids exceed standards regularly.
Poverty makes a bad situation worse, but there must be something else.
Hmmmm, what could it be......?
While I agree that poverty is a factor, there is no way that it is the only and/or determining factor. As the previous post suggests there have been countless numbers of impoverished families whose children have made significant progress, moved into the professions, trades, stable jobs. Could parental expectations, home-based support and levels of engagement with families be a factor? Dr. Ben Carson's mother showed us that consistently asking about school work, reading or pretending to read work, encouraging writing can make a difference. And, if a parent wants support, most schools and teachers are ready and able to assist.
8:09,
Poverty doesn't deal with just money. I remember years ago being in the South Bronx while Mother Theresa was meeting with Princess Diana. Someone asked Mother Theresa her reaction to the poverty in the South Bronx and she said the poverty that was more evident there was the poverty of spirit. Many very poor Asian families put all their resources into tutors for their children so they can gain acceptance into a specialized high school. They know the way out of (monetary) poverty is through education. Ignorance, complacency and entitlement is the poverty of spirit I see. That maybe almost impossible to change.
While I agree that poverty is a factor, there is no way that it is the only and/or determining factor. As the previous post suggests there have been countless numbers of impoverished families whose children have made significant progress, moved into the professions, trades, stable jobs. Could parental expectations, home-based support and levels of engagement with families be a factor? Dr. Ben Carson's mother showed us that consistently asking about school work, reading or pretending to read work and encouraging writing can make a difference. And, if a parent wants support, most schools and teachers are ready and able to assist.
Talking about poverty again - you mean all that social justice crap?
Hmmmm, pulling the race card? Another Trump voter chiming in.
Anon 8:50
Some social justice issues are important but MORE's restorative justice plank as well as coming up with a teacher quota system to get more minority teachers in schools is a non-starter.
Anon 8:34
The factor is that the Chinese family has males who head their household and that makes a real difference.
Its hysterical to read the same 4 or 5 people complaining and writing on this blog all the time. There are approx 75,000 teachers but somehow the suggestion on this blog is that ATR's are getting screwed, Mulgrew is the problem, poverty blah blah blah, etc. I am a proud UFT member who will watch Mulgrew win 73% of vote no sweat. ATR's are literally sitting in the library at my school watching NetFlix on their laptops making 100K. Ive got 5 classes of 30+ each and Im literally staring at these ATR's who make more than me, sleeping. Then I read on here about how bad it is. Let me tell you something Chaz, it doesn't seem that bad. Yes the morale is terrible but after talking to these people, doesn't seem like they are stressing it. In fact Ive been told that the day they step back into a classroom with the possibility of having a schedule like mine, that will be the day the retirement paperwork gets submitted. What a joke! Same headlines same waste of time. There will be no changes in this system while DeBlasio is in charge which is fine by me. Either way its fine because Im a survivor. If it was different id adapt. If I was an ATR, Id adapt. Id watch NetFlix in the library all day too. This blog is hysterical. ).0005 of the teacher population whining. Scrubs!
Unity Hack 9:27 am:
It's teachers like you (assuming you are a teacher) that rather take the "Unity oath" than advocate for all the members.
Maybe, if you supported the other UFT caucus position in giving the ATRs a chance to teach their own classes and if they fail, then you can make your statement. Instead you trash all ATRs and that makes you as ignorant as the DOE and the media.
It's teachers like you that allows our disconnected union leadership to give us an inferior contract and treat some of their members as second class citizens.
It is not only poverty. Their culture has education low on their totem pole. And why work hard when you get handed everything for free?
Way to go Chaz on putting anonymous 9:27 In his place.
Anon 9:27,
I wish I could have a day watching Netflix. I get 5 and sometimes 6 periods a day, everyday since the second week of September. Yesterday I had a kid threaten me, the motherf--kin sub. Nothing was done with the kid - not even a detention. Tell you what, go to your principal and volunteer to be excessed. If you have more than 10 years in, he or she will jump at it. You'll eventually be one anyway, unless you're rated Ineffective - in which case you'll be terminated. All teachers with more than 10 years in have a target on their back, and that target gets bigger with each passing year. Have you ever considered the purpose of having an ATR pool - it's not so we can relax, it's so we will quit. What's Mulgrew doing about it? Nothing. Has he already signed off to extend the ATR provisions for next year? I realize your miserable, but everyone has their own piece of hell in this system.
Look at who fills the jails. Its the same in the school system. Trash. Sorry, but its the truth. They have no standards and we have come down to allow them to get diplomas with zero credentials, and zero work. Free breakfast, lunch, metro cards, free grades...And $250 pairs of sneakers, phones, bags and jackets. And they cant write a coherent paragraph.
Mulgrew is not in touch with the issues, he is just in bed with a DOE that does not know where they are headed. It is time for Mulgrew to go.
Really Chaz? It makes no difference when 75% of the children are not white? Imagine the reverse. Mostly white children in schools where almost all the teachers are not white. People would go crazy. That is called institutional racism and any union that ignore that issue is derelict. As for restorative justice -- the alternative is what? Suspend them so they can roam the streets?
Anon 1:40
First, if schools want the best teachers, the color of their skin should not be a consideration. Anyway our country has banned racial quotas and for good reason because its discriminatory and didn't improve education.
Second, restorative justice is a joke to most students who laugh at the fell good approach and lapse into continued misbehavior. The lack of school discipline is making our schools worse not better.
Stop looking at the situation with your rose colored glasses and see what's really going on in our schools.
Oh boy, 1:40 a.m. has not merely sipped the Kool-aid, they have upended the smiley pitcher and gulped it. What difference should it make what color the teacher is? The syllabus is the same. By virtue of the teacher having passed exams and having obtained their license to teach, one would assume they are qualified to teach. If students are unable to learn because of the color of their teacher, how on earth are they going to be able to interact with other people who are of different races than themselves? Their doctor has to be the same color? Their insurance agent has to be the same color? Their car mechanic has to be the same color or it's no good? I would say then that it's the STUDENTS who are racist. Are you going to trade them in?
Your "logic" has more holes in it than my colander. I love your new term--"institutional racism". Poor, poor kids have to have a teacher who is not of the same race as them. THAT'S why they can't learn. It has nothing to do with their cutting class, paying more attention to their cell phone than the teacher, not studying for tests, not turning in homework, roaming the halls when they should be in class. Nope. It's the race of the teacher.
A lot of students do not come from homes where they face discipline when they do wrong. I've had so many parents ask ME, "What can I do with him? He won't listen." Well, where were you when they were small and more amenable to learning what they can and cannot do? When it was time to teach them to respect their parents and other adults? Apparently that phone was off the hook. So now you offer up a kid who doesn't respect the word "No", who knows no limits, who's been allowed to pretty much do as they please. Telling them, "Bad boy, don't do that again" at this point is pretty useless. They will laugh at this pathetic late-to-the-party attempt at discipline, "restorative justice". What justice? They did something they should not have done--time to pay the price. Perhaps a different sort of very NOT fun suspension should be instituted. Be sent to boot camp school for the rest of the semester, for one. It would actually do them a world of good, to learn the discipline their parent(s) was afraid or negligent to teach. After all, every society--whether it's a school, a city, or a country--has rules and the sooner one learns their mores, the better the society functions, and the better the individual will be able to thrive in the environment.
Lets call it like it is-the failure of the Welfare State. 75% of these kids are bastards-no fathers. Who is impregnating these women, and where are they? How many kids do these men have anyway? They all keep collecting that check, and the "mothers" get more welfare the more bastards they create. And all Hillary can say is "lets make America whole again"...- and she gets 75% of the black vote with that, and probably will win the Presidency with that slogan. Bernie has no shot because he can't get more than 25% of the black vote. We not only need documentation of illegal aliens...we need documentation of this disaster in The Welfare State. The utter waste in tax dollars and human capital is mind boggling.
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