Fulfilling the Promise of Equal Opportunity

 

During this campaign there has been quite a bit of talk about how students of color do not do as well in our school district as white students. I have had conversations with friends and supporters about this issue as well as parents of color preparing to send their children to private school by the end of elementary school.

 

What Problems Are We Trying to Address?

 

There are a multitude of problems some people call the “Achievement Gap” and others call the “Opportunity Gap”.  The fact is we have students below grade level who struggle from Kindergarten onward, other students who do well to a point and then begin to slowly decline, and other students on grade level and capable of exceeding grade level expectations but not provided the opportunities. We see the beginnings of this last issue in the middle schools with racial disparities in math placement and at CHS with huge disparities in the number of students taking Honors and AP courses. Despite an Equal Access policy that removes formal barriers to taking upper-level courses, many children of color are not being encouraged to participate in the incredible opportunities that CHS offers. 

 

There Are Many Causes

 

We have lots of data, but it is not clear we have the right data or that we’re looking at existing data in the right way. We need to look at the progress of each individual student over time in meeting and exceeding curriculum standards and going beyond those standards to achieve their full potential. In doing so, we need to look at more than test scores. 

 

We need a consistent process of monitoring year over year the degree to which we are succeeding with each and every student. We need to use the measurements provided by the state but also seek to achieve a three-dimensional view of every student. Our approach to measurement needs to be consistent regardless of Board and or Superintendent changes.

 

I want to know what percentage of struggling students have made progress up toward grade level and whether their trajectory is adequate to get there in a reasonable amount of time. I want to know what percentage of students capable of honors-level work are opting instead to “play it safe” and why. For all these measurements and more, I want to know if there are patterns by school, by grade, by subject and by demographic group. This shouldn't require expensive systems or take years to implement. 

 

What Are The Contributing Factors to Underachievement

 

• Impacts of Poverty: Our district is home to many economically disadvantaged families and it is well-known that a disproportionate number of our struggling students come from these families, even while it is also true that not every economically disadvantaged student struggles, and not every struggling student comes from this segment of our enrollment.
   

• Teacher Bias and Low Expectations: While explicit racial bias is hopefully rare, there is clearly a culture of low expectations for students of color, especially those who are economically disadvantaged and for classified students. 
   

• Student Belief Systems: Students have a role to play in overcoming what is many times a lack of self-confidence and other times a lack of ambitious goals.
   

• Teacher Overload and Resulting “Coping” Strategies: Teachers have an incredibly challenging job that causes many of them over time to cope by prioritizing which students they can most readily help and focusing primarily on them.
   

• Lack of “Cultural Competence”: Successful teacher engagement with all students requires understanding each of them as unique individuals and being able to make their parents feel like full partners in their children’s education. This requires looking beyond differences of race, national origin, religious affiliation, neuro-divergence or socio-economic class. Formal training in Cultural Competency can help eliminate misconceptions that some teachers may bring with them, but this needs to be augmented by daily instructional leadership that provides effective reinforcement.
   

• Systemic Bias in Math Tracking in Middle School: Numerous reports by parents indicate that the process of selection for the accelerated track in math has multiple flaws that deny many students the opportunity to work up to potential.
   

• Lack of intensive encouragement, scaffolding and supports: As noted at the September Board of Education meeting by the student reps to the Board as well as members of the public, there is a lack of trust among some students that the system is able and willing to support them if they take the risk and opt for more challenging Honors-level work. Students need to know that instructional support is available in a variety of venues to prepare them for an upcoming Honors-level coursework, that teachers in those courses will provide added support  if needed rather than urging them to “drop down a level” and that extra help and encouragement is available beyond the classroom. 

 

What We Need to Do

 

New Jersey’s mandated Tiered Intervention Model is only one of many prongs of the strategy we must pursue to address achievement issues. It is a structural solution that looks good on paper but can easily fail unless infused with the right elements. We need:

 

• Instructional leaders in every school who command the respect of their teachers, who inspire them to believe that all children can succeed and who convince them to never give up on trying to help every child
   

• A Board and central leadership who:
   

  • adequately fund the provision of the one-to-one tutoring specified by Tiered Intervention;

  • ensure that special education services are fully-resourced and delivered effectively from day one of every school year; and

  • bring our school facilities up to par and keep them there to ensure safe and healthy environments conducive to learning
     

• Teacher-leaders in every school at every grade level who have demonstrated the ability to empower struggling students to believe in themselves and make progress back toward grade level 
   

• A system of checks and balances in middle school math placement that prevents what appears to be continuing bias in that process
   

• Intensive assessment and necessary intervention for students who transfer in from other districts
   

• More persistent outreach to parents of struggling students to make them full partners in our efforts to help their children succeed
   

• Repeated and persistent efforts at CHS to encourage all students to work up to their full potential, ensuring they have the scaffolding (prerequisites) and ongoing support to ensure they will succeed if they take the risk of opting for more challenging courses. We must ensure that teachers of Honors-level and AP courses encourage students rather than urging them to give up and drop down. The foundation of these efforts must be a new culture of trust that the Board’s student reps and others have pointed to as currently lacking.  

 

A common theme in all of this is that teachers must be able to see each child as an individual and be persistent in looking for the key to unlock their inherent potential. The district must  provide teachers with the systemic support that enables them to do so. That means a special education system that functions efficiently and effectively. It means instructional leadership and support that helps teachers at every turn. It means school facilities that are up to par and not a distraction from classroom learning. It means schools where no one tolerates bullying of any kind.

 

The Importance of the Intentional Integration Initiative in Addressing Achievement Issues

 

Some voices in our district describe the Triple-I as a costly effort that, despite the best of intentions, has failed to have any positive impact on student achievement. They argue that we should scale back or eliminate the Triple-I and instead use the money spent on Triple-I busing to fund more teachers to address achievement issues.

 

I disagree with the notion that Triple-I is unimportant. I think it’s an essential effort, although not adequate by itself, to address some of the challenges we face. We need to take all of the measures listed above in all of our elementary schools to realize the benefits that Triple-I enables.

 

We all agree that the problems we face are not unique to South Orange and Maplewood, but we also know that some districts do a much better job and that a small number of schools across the country have done an amazing job in meeting achievement  challenges.

 

Summary

 

The history of failed efforts to address underachievement here and around the country demonstrates the folly of relying on some single initiative to address some single assumed cause. It is important to take all steps necessary while knowing the efforts won’t be easy and most cannot be accomplished with the stroke of a pen.

 

We need to ensure that our hiring, evaluation and tenure decisions are consistent with achieving the needed transformation of approaches. We must address the epidemic of bullying, accelerate the planning and funding for critical facilities work and restore a transparent and timely budget process to enable the Board to make rational fiscal decisions informed by full public input. More importantly, the Board needs to set the tone for the overarching change in school culture and climate necessary to enable and sustain a school system where all children realize their full potential.