The Edutopia Poll
by Sara Bernard
With the advent of the No Child Left Behind Act, pressure to close the achievement gap between poor, minority, and urban students and wealthy, nonminority, and suburban students has been placed even more heavily on schools. A recent editorial in the New York Times, however, highlighted the idea that perhaps there is only so much schools can do. Factors in students' lives, such as family income and parental involvement, do not originate in classrooms and cannot always be solved by what goes on in the classroom.
On the other hand, few would argue that schools should simply throw up their hands: Teachers and school administrators can do (and already do) a tremendous amount of work to improve student performance. Which of the following strategies do you think will do the most for underserved student communities? We're interested in your opinion.
Where is the necessary mentoring?
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on March 13, 2008 - 05:00.
Parents need to be interested and involved but many students need more attention than parents and the school can give. Where is the mentoring that used to come from the old quote "it takes a village to raise a child" we are all involved.
Decrease the achievement gap
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on March 13, 2008 - 02:53.
Family involvement and education for uninformed parents is the way to go.
Closing the achievement gap
Submitted by R. Marie Groshong (not verified) on March 12, 2008 - 14:36.
We must treat children fairly, not equally! Children come to school presenting unequally, that is not all are the same. To be fair to one child means that the treatment for education may be different from another child, thus, not equal! No Child Left Behind is a political joke!
A Few Good Ideas...
Submitted by Lillian Perry (not verified) on January 23, 2008 - 20:51.
More attention to middle schools and tweeners.
Gender specific classes in (at least) math, language arts, and P.E.
Later starting schools. 7:30 is too early for middle schoolers to begin a school day.
Traditional year schools. Single Track Year round schools are just plain silly. What's the point?
Tweaking curriculum maps so that they are more conceptual, and not 'a mile wide and an inch deep'.
Mastering the basics (basic facts & times tables, spelling bees).
The use of technology, i.e., audio books (I PODS), to increase a love for reading.
Utilizing the tested and research proven strategies available in NCLB.
Union teachers having more respect for the law - NCLB.
Achievement Gap
Submitted by Bryan Wilkins (not verified) on November 29, 2007 - 11:51.
If you want good teachers to work in ghettos, gang infested areas, broken down and poorly maintained schools, almost no resourses in those areas, well guess what, pay in those areas will have to be greatly increased. Would you teach in a place like that for the same pay or more you could get in a nice sleepy 'burb? Graft and corruption in many large city areas like LA drive out the good teachers. Lots of jobs in the 'burbs and small cities that pay well and teachers are not blamed for or expected to cure every social ill.
Until the government steps
Submitted by jhl (not verified) on November 28, 2007 - 17:58.
Until the government steps in and takes total control of the family and home, there appears to be little we as educators can do to completely close the gap. I fight illiterate and uneducated "young" single mothers daily who do not understand why their children need to behave in class or make a consious effort to learn. Unfortunately, these parents pass on those beliefs to the children I am attempting to teach. Please, please tell me how to combat this growing epidemic!
By the way, no, I do not believe the government needs to take control of the family and home . . . I was merely trying to make a point.
I believe that what will
Submitted by Mahala Archer (not verified) on September 21, 2006 - 17:36.
I believe that what will most close the achievement gap is a commitment by all stakeholders (students, parents, teacher, administrators, community members, state officials, and national officials) to make a strict commitment to a standards-based educational system. If we define what all kids should know and be able to do and hold these high expectaions for all our students, then we are truly creating an equitable system where all students will receive an appropriate education. As a result we will prepare our students for their lives ahead. We have seen time and time again that when we have high expectations, students will meet them. We need to follow through on this promise to them and provide that high level of rigor that they require.
The ONE thing that will most
Submitted by Christine Akers (not verified) on August 29, 2006 - 17:48.
The ONE thing that will most close the achievement gap is the interaction and involvement of parents. Teachers and schools CANNOT do it alone. If the parents aren't involved, the kids will have an almost impossible chance of succeeding.
The wars in education are
Submitted by Bonnie Bracey Sutton (not verified) on August 30, 2006 - 14:20.
The wars in education are unending, but they used to be subject specific, you know, hands on vs memorization, whole language vs phonetics, and or physics last or first. Right now, under this administration , we are stuck in NCLB land, and actually all of the states have been left behind. What do I mean? Just as there is no one way to teach reading, or math or english, the trap of no child left behind is that many are not making it.
We could talk about specific groups of people, children with disabilities, children of minority origin, children who are gifted, but any real teacher knows that all children are not the same.
One of the most interesting advantages technology gave to us, was the ability to differentiate instruction and to bring resources forward that were beyond one person's scope , perspective, or level of content learning. No one party or government agency can corral all of the initiatives that are going on under some mythic umbrella of NCLB or anything else. We work at education. At this point, we are being worked over. There is little respect for teachers in the national media.
I wonder if Margaret Spelling has ever taught? I wonder how many people who are crafting these visions, know the real playing field.
There is something about having the experience and knowing that children are individuals , and that there are a variety offactors that create the possibility of learning , that makes a difference.
One of the funniest things I ever did , was to invite a few CEO's to my real school, to actually have to be in front of a class. A few were terrified about presenting, but some were up to the challenge. I earned a lot of respect that day from those guys. Teaching is an art. One of the most successful was a theoretical physicist. He could teach science to anyone at any level. I used to hold my breath as he introduced himself over technology to audiences that I barely knew while I was working in demonstration, but he KNEW how to teach, he knew his subject
and the children saw me, but looked right at him and responded. This was science, this was physics. There is also an S in STEM. Science is significant in our lives.
Furthermore, as one of the people in a part of this notebook said. There is a T in STEM... there is, there is. and there is also a respect and training that must be given to teachers and educational professionals so that they can accomplish the task of teaching.
. The divides come with the territory, we don't create them. As one of my mentors used to say under her breathe. We don't make the kids, we don't make brains. What we do is to try to find a way to make things happen so that children will learn. We lead them to learning.
Bonnie Bracey Sutton
While PBL will take us part
Submitted by Martha Eldredge Heck (not verified) on August 30, 2006 - 13:23.
While PBL will take us part of the way there, we must integrate subject matter so that students see the relationships in the subject matter. Students need to see how the arts, literature, math and science fit together into historical context. This, enhanced by PBL will enable students to see the relevance in what they are learning and will "stick" because it will be immediately applicable.
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