“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me…”
Emma Lazarus’ famous words are carved at the base of the Statue of Liberty, one of the greatest – if not THE greatest – symbols of American freedom and the American dream. This is the basis of everything we stand for as a nation – that we will take those who have been disadvantaged and give them opportunity equal to that given to the majority of citizens in this country.
Sadly, NCLB works contrary to this ideal when it allows parents to move their students out of “failing” schools – at the expense of the district – to other schools that are making standard. This might seem like a non sequitor, but it isn’t.
The
parents who are knowledgeable enough to navigate the system are most
likely to have kids who are making standard. Moving the successful kids
out of the struggling schools will definitely not have a positive
impact on the school’s scores. In fact, it would be removing the
positive role models, cooperative learning, and peer collaboration that
can be so helpful for the strugglers. The rich schools will get richer
and poor will get poorer.
If
you look closely at the majority of schools that are not making AYP,
you will find that they are chock full of the people Emma describes in
her anthem: the poor and the masses of immigrants here to find their
own version of the American dream.
Just
because a school is not making AYP, it doesn’t mean that the teachers
and curriculum there are not of the highest quality. It just means that
there are students there who, for one reason or another (language,
attendance, family circumstances) just aren’t quite ready to pass the
test. Let me introduce you to a few students from my school who failed
the WASL.
There
is the 22-year old African boy who lies about his age because he never
had the opportunity to go to school in his native country.
There is the foster child, who is at her third school this year.
There
is the Mexican girl who is forced to stay home three days a week to
babysit her young siblings because child care is unaffordable.
There
is the fourth child of the single mom who has to work three jobs to
support her family and doesn’t have time to help with homework.
There are the Ukrainian twins who have only been here for a year and a half and still struggle with the language.
None
of these kids has ever been a discipline problem, nor have they ever
kept the other kids from learning or achieving. Rather, they have
enriched the cultural diversity and world views of the other students
at my school. I’m pleased to say that parents in my district are
already beginning to move their kids back to their home schools when
they realize that the education is really no better at the “successful”
schools. Hopefully, more parents will soon recognize that the problem
is not with the schools, but with the legislation.
LOL
She is “teh awesome.” What’s not to like about competent people who are secure enough in themselves that they don’t operate as a bundle of nervous energy? I’ll be sorry to miss the next meeting with her. I must be elsewhere, but I know that we are in good hands with your group at the helm of a project. Rock on!
Oooh!! Tell me more! I went to your blogspace, hoping to see more on your meeting! I’d love to get your impressions!
Met your Boss Lady today. 🙂
Kim, great post. Also, nice reply to the science goddess.
I would never dream of using my kids as tutors/student teachers, but I love that I have my lowest/neediest kids mixed in with my highest kids. The lower kids who have acquired off-task classroom habits through the years stick out like a sore thumb. The high kids set the standards of behavior in my classroom and the less able kids have no choice but to follow the culture of that class.
I am assuming that’s what you meant by “role model.”
Science goddess, your comments brought forth an ironic guffaw as just yesterday, I was pleading mightily that my administrators stop considering going to an inclusion model for honors for the very reasons that you mention. However, I would also argue tooth and nail that we keep the honors program at our school and not move those kids to the school in the district that has the highest test scores to boost their achievement even more.
My intention is not to use high achievers as teaching tools, but as cultural examples. I was at a school that went from 30% free/reduced to 60% in a ten-year period. The native intelligence of the population didn’t change – just the achievement level and academic culture.
I swear, the older I get, the more gray area I see (maybe that’s what’s happening to my hair!).
I agree that the legislation needs a long hard look. Here’s my big but:
“In fact, it would be removing the positive role models, cooperative learning, and peer collaboration that can be so helpful for the strugglers.”
Children are not teaching tools.
It’s been my experience that the teachers who cry out the loudest about the need for role models in their classrooms tend to be the weakest among the bunch. That is not a comment about you personally, only a reflection upon the groups of teachers that I have actually worked with and seen in action. How many kids have lost interest in school because they are viewed as being sources of remediation for their peers as opposed to learners who also deserve to be pushed forward? “We can’t have an honors class because Mrs. Such-and-So thinks the low kids benefit from seeing high-performing peers model good study habits.” If every child should have access to a rigorous curriculum—that includes the ones who are already at standard. If I were a parent whose child was being used by teachers as a tool for role modeling, I wouldn’t hesitate to move my child somewhere that would respect him/her as a learner. That isn’t taking something away from other kids, that is ensuring mine has equitable access, too.
What you have just described is a case study of classic American dichotomy. Lazarus’ poem (equality) vs. choosing a passing school for your child (freedom of choice.) How to balance?
And the argument continues…
Great post