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Dear TNLI National:

Many thanks to TNLI Mason Fellow Megan Garnett for leading our February national listserv discussion on “How to Bring Our Schools Out of the 20th Century.”

Please welcome TNLI San Francisco March moderator Julie Alderete.  San Francisco chose the article: "Can Educators Close the Achievement Gap? An interview with Richard Rothstein and Kati Haycock," by Holly Holland.  NATIONAL STAFF DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL.  WINTER 2007 VOL. 28, NO. 1.

You can access the 6-page article at:  http://www.nsdc.org/publications/getDocument.cfm?articleID=1356

Please join us in supporting Julie in getting this March discussion off to a great start!

-Ellen, Peter, and Jenn

Hello there!  The San Francisco TNLI chose this article for a few reasons.  First of all, it is a question that grabs your attention right away: "Can educators close the achievement gap?"  I have worked in low income school districts for the past 6 years and my first response to this question is, "If we can NOT close the achievement gap....what am I doing here?"  If you begin "to talk about the impossibility of getting poor kids to high levels of achievement...you  begin to convey a belief that you think the children's capacity is limited and that you think they are essentially worth less than other children."  It is also offensive to all of the teachers who are dedicated serving the less fortunate populations.

The article is set up through an interview process, with Richard Rothstein and Kati Haycock.  Richard boldly asserts that "American schools have been given an impossible job...the influence of social class characteristics is probably so powerful that schools cannot overcome it."  On the other hand, Kati asserts that if schools continue to provide "consistent and rich curricula and instruction," achievement levels will be raised for all students.

Rothstein goes on to describe how he feels many states are meeting the growing demands of NCLB....by lowering their definitions of proficiency.  Rothstein claims that this year, both Mississippi and Kansas dropped all short-answer questions from their tests in an effort to reach their proficiency rate goals.  Haycock contends that a big part of the problem is that we are "assigning the kids who come in behind to teachers who have less of everything; less education, less experience, and less actual skill."

I will never forget a time when I was eating breakfast in a hotel lobby.  The most recent test scores had just been published and a couple behind me began to discuss the highs and the lows.  I heard the woman say to the man, "Well THOSE are not good teachers. IF they could get a job anywhere else, don't you think they would?"
I had been serving a low performing school district for three years: conducting home visits, daily tutorials, and even Saturday school sessions (all unpaid of course), and somehow I was to blame?
It was the first time that I realized that many people assume that I am working in a low income neighborhood because my skills do not compare with that of other teachers in more wealthy areas.

So what do you think?  Can educators close the achievement gap?

If new, inexperienced teachers are the ones answering the call, how can we support them more, and create more stable work environments with less turnover?

How much energy at a school should be spent on things that are outside of their direct control, like health care, social services, and daily nutrition?

What more can we do as teachers?

What can we learn from the past?

I look forward to reading what you all have to say about the article!

Julie Alderete
San Francisco
3/2/07

While Rothstein and Haycock make a number of salient points about closing the achievement gap, I found Rothstein’s position to be more compelling. He seems to be focused on the whole picture of the educational achievement gap and its correlation to wider issues such as lack of health care, mobility and transience within school districts and the great disparity between poor and middle-class children’s access to early education. He doesn’t seem to disagree with Haycock on the need for high-quality teachers, teacher support and professional development, but fears that “by proclaiming that schools alone can solve these problems…we remove the responsibility from the public sphere of addressing other problems” and that “what we’re doing is taking all political pressure and all moral pressure off the public to deal with any of these other issues.”

I was also struck by the fact that Haycock did not respond to Rothstein’s multiple comments on the lack of early childhood educational opportunities for children from low-income families. Don’t pre-school aged children need access to “high-quality” teachers just as much as school-aged children?

I do, however, agree with Haycock on the perils of low expectations for low-performing students. I also think that our starting point as educators is to look to schools and school leaders that are succeeding in closing the achievement gap. The schools she describes as having been successful are ones in which there seem to be multiple sources of funding and resources as well as both strong leadership and professional development. This is what all schools need! But I believe the second necessary piece in addressing the gap is what Rothstein describes as teacher experts finding ways to make their voices heard. Becoming policy advocates is exactly what we are trying to accomplish as teacher leaders and affiliates or members of TNLI.

Finally, in response to “how much energy at a school should be spent on things that are outside of their direct control, like health care, social services, and daily nutrition,” I don’t find I have much choice at my school site. I am intimately involved in issues related to all of these areas on a daily basis.  Because we are provided with so few supports on site in California elementary schools (no nurse, extremely limited counseling services), we are forced to take on the roles of nurse, social worker, nutritionist, etc.  Again, I think of Rothstein and the urgency of his call to address larger issues of inequalities.

Holly Link
San Francisco
3/4/07

The Achievement Gap is not a difficult problem to understand. What to do about it is a major problem. Any "significant" solution must come from leadership. I agree whole-heartily with the statement, "our starting point as educators is to look to schools and school leaders that are succeeding in closing the Achievement Gap."

I do not agree with any argument that there's a shortage of money. The Federal Reserve is not burning it. The issue of Achievement Gap correlates with world food shortages. There's no shortage of food in the world, there's a major problem with distribution. There are major distribution problems with closing the Achievement Gap: money, finding highly-qualified teachers, infrastructure (buildings and equipment), families (homes, food, jobs), neighborhoods (libraries and universities, recreational facilities). Have I left anyone out?

This problem will not be solved until everyone is involved in finding a solution. It's not a shame to be rich - it is a shame to die that way.

Mike Bonnie
Milwaukee
3/5/07

Thank you TNLI SF for picking such an interesting article. I felt like I was listening to their debate.   Somewhere in the article Kati talked about how we need to mentor new teachers to keep them in the field. Has anyone heard of research on the BTSA program in CA and if it is indeed being successful in keeping teachers? Just curious.

One issue I think they left out is the affective piece of education. A really critical issue is how we get kids to buy into academic success and motivated to achieve it.

I also thought it was interesting how Kati was so quick to use one example of how a single educator dealt with the mobility issue and acted as if it would be a quick and easy fix for everyone. I agree that we need to be finding our own solutions to issues such as this because if we don't, no one will, but I think she is oversimplifying.

Alison Merlo
Sacramento
3/5/07

Hey Alison,

In regards to your BTSA questions...I successfully finished 2 years as a BTSA teacher to clear my credential and now I am serving as a mentor for another teacher.  Unfortunately, BTSA is more of a paper intervention/support system than anything else. Like many educational programs, the organization is not what is should be.  For instance, as a mentor teacher, I am being trained at the time I am supposed to be offering guidance and assistance to my teacher.  To be truly effective, the training period needs to take place in the summer before so that after we are assigned to our new teachers we actually know what to do.  I feel very fortunate because I have been on both sides of the program, and with that perspective I was able to better prepare my teacher for the final requirements.

All in all, the program has great intentions, but I don't see it having any lasting effects on teacher retention.  More support needs to be given on site to new teachers, and teacher prep programs need to focus less on educational philosophy and more on practical strategies and interventions that teachers can actually use.   

Julie Alderete
San Francisco
3/6/07

Hi all,

Just to chime in on this month's reading before the month ends... (with Spring Break!)

This article provides some exciting banter between two esteemed know-it-alls. The  problem with many of these debates is that they mask an important underlying fact that  we often don't want to accept, or get so emotional that we forget: they're both right!
 
In education we are often side-tracked by such debates, as in whole language vs. phonics,  or new math vs. new-new-math. It's not one or the other; it's both. It's balance!

The last part has Haycock saying thus: "In the end, I doubt that Richard and I have horrible disagreements about the policy end, even though we have a tendency to focus on what separates us rather than what unites us."

This "tendency" is exactly the problem. Don't let the media, politicians or other educators attempt to pit us against each other. When we debate, let's acknowledge the balance that we are ultimately trying to achieve to better the education of our students.

Note: You can access the 6-page article at:

http://www.nsdc.org/publications/getDocument.cfm?articleID=1356

Peter Hippard
San Francisco
3/16/07

Hi everyone,

I agree with you 100%, Peter.  In my past professional experience the educators that impressed me most and, in my experience, are trying to approximate their teaching to "the answers" are the ones that stress balance.

I also confirm your observation about long lead discussions in education: whole language vs. phonics, homework vs. no homework, monolingual vs. bilingual education.  What has been the result?  The pendulum keeps swinging back and forth endlessly.  What I am most curious about is that this discussion doesn't only prevail between policy makers and educators where there are obviously different interests like you are saying, Peter, it prevails amongst educators themselves and I wonder why?   How come we haven't found the "formula" to teaching after such a long time practicing it?  At least we should be in the stage of discussing the nitty gritty aspects of teaching rather than not agreeing on the basics...why is that?

Klaus Uebelacker
San Francisco
3/17/07

Hello everyone, and thanks to Klaus for helping me not feel like a lone voice in the wind!

Why, oh why do we constantly swing back and forth? I am tempted to suggest that it goes back to the human ego. That voice in our head that tells us, "you're right! You've got the answer!" Educators work hard to find what works best. Then, so many want to trumpet it to the masses, perhaps sell their curriculum in the form of books, lectures, and seminars. There's a lot at stake. There's money, travel, and other rewards; there's that old ego stepping out with its huge footprint.

Saying that one is only partially correct, or that other points of view have validity is not so easy. In some ways, we could say that we are victims of the political process writ large, that the same forces that pull Democrats and Republicans apart instead of closer together pit educators of differing opinions into antagonizing camps of left and right.

Yet, there are many of us here, trying to keep the center, maintain the balance. We must struggle to put our egos aside and help everyone do better. We're like the rising tide that does not intend to lift all boats, yet it is so.

Peter Hippard
San Francisco
3/18/07

The balance that strikes me as important in the article is families' and teachers' ability to work together toward the academic betterment of the child. Based on my experiences teaching in a low performing school, when teachers and parents are on the same page and working together and understanding each other progress occurs, but when one or the other is not doing their part progress stalls.

I have three students in my class this year that rarely arrive before 10 o'clock, and these are the focal students needed to keep us out of program improvement status. When they do come to school, they often sleep in the office because they are so exhausted they can't keep their eyes open. They never show up in proper clothing or with homework. One student missed language arts 37 times. In every case, the parents know they should do better, but they are overwhelmed with single parenthood, long working hours, and kids who have stopped listening to them and watch television all night. I don't think we need to address every ill in society before we can succeed, but we do need the very minimum: students arriving on time with a full night's sleep and maybe someone who will see if homework is in the backpack.

I know we are not the only school with these problems, and I would like to know how Kati Haycock would address them. She mentions a parent liaison, which we have no money for. I believe we can do better and attack the root causes of poverty in our society. I don't want to take the parents to court; I want real structures year after year which will help all of us succeed in our mission to raise achievement not just on tests but in all ways.

Jacob Strohm
San Francisco
3/25/07

Great post Jacob.

I agree that the parent component cannot be understated. Parents must provide the basics for their children to succeed in school: get them to school on time with food in the tummy, homework in the backpack, and to let their kids know that they are loved and looked after.

Okay, here's my outrageous comment for the day. You all can tell me how off base I am and it won't hurt my feelings.

Teachers and parents are the two big parts of the success in the education equation. I bet that if you lined up all the teachers and all the parents in this country and compared which side had more incompetent and negligent members it would be the parents.

True there are plenty of poorly performing teachers, but we do have to follow some standards. Parents? There is no standard, only child protective services. We in the classroom can only beg that parents fulfill their end of the deal.

May every child be loved and cared for from birth to (at least!) graduation day...

Peter Hippard
San Francisco
3/27/07

As someone who has worked as a classroom teacher in the elementary schools for the last seventeen years, I can say that I understand the frustration of teachers and the concern over lack of parent involvement. I also think that we need to consider that today's society is far different from the one that we grew up in. Many parents are working two jobs and do not get home until after the children go to bed or leave prior to their children getting up. We are also dealing with more culturally diverse populations. Many parents due to culture will leave the area of education up to the teacher because in their culture this is what is expected.
 
Where I agree that the job of closing the achievement gap needs to be shared by parent and teacher, I do have to say I do not think it is that parents are unwilling to help do this, but rather they are not sure how they can help. I believe it is our job to always be the advocate for the child and share with the parents the positive successes of the child first, what we have done as teachers and a school next and the " here is what we can do as a team" last.  I have also learned that meeting frequently with my English Second Language Parents, with a translator and when they can meet makes a big difference.
 
Yesterday I had two consecutive meetings with two of my Hispanic children's parents. This is our second meeting this year. I also learned once I obtained records from out of state that previous test scores had never been explained to one set of the parent in their language to detail their child's struggles. They were more than willing to listen to how they could help. This child has been in our school district for one year and the records arrived a few weeks ago from the other school district in another state, because me and an office assistant continued to persist that the records be sent. In this case it is the lack of paperwork and communication between other education systems that has failed this child. I believe we also need to look at how we communicate with other previous school systems nationally on transferring information to close the achievement gap. Especially for our children with high mobility rate. School districts need to provide records for these kids automatically and provide the translators and services teachers need.
 
There are many parents who do look over their children's work and support their child's welfare and development in helping to close the achievement gap. We need to be careful as to not say that parents are not doing their part. There real questions are has the information been communicated to the parents in an effective manner? If parents are not able to assist their children due to language barriers, what can we do to help assist them?
 
It all breaks down to one thing, effective communication.
 
Kelly Ayers
Fairfax County, VA
3/27/07

Hi All,

I REALLY appreciate Kelly's comments in defense of parents.  It has been my experience that teachers often resort to blaming parents for the achievement gap without realizing and appreciating what parents must contend with outside of schools.  In addition, some parents have been oppressed by schools and often carry that oppressive history with them.  It should come as no surprise that some parents may feel marginalized by schools (which are systems, by the way) and may find it difficult to believe that schools can communicate anything positive about their children.  As teachers, we need to be careful not to perpetuate the "blame the parents" game.

Dr. Sheryl Conrad Cozart
George Mason University
3/27/07

Can educators close the achievement gap?

To answer that question directly...yes, I believe that children placed at-risk due to their home environment, have a good chance to succeed and sustain that success IF every year, beginning in preschool, these children have the best teachers and the opportunity to form relationships with caring, supportive educators.  One reason is we love kids and they do spend the majority of their day with us.

The parental role is key, but I'm sure all of you have seen some of your most at-risk grow a lot in one year without parental involvement.  We've also witnessed some of these same children move on to the next grade, unfortunately assigned to a weak teacher who does nothing but blame the parents for not being involved.   Consequently, little or no growth is made that year.  

These children, many of whom are placed at-risk following conception, might struggle their whole lifetime.  Research shows that if these children aren't prepared for kindergarten, they are already 2 years behind when they reach first grade.  Rather than play catch-up year after year, they drop out mentally, then physically.  If these children have a string of weak, unsupportive teachers they will not likely succeed.  
Fortunately, research also shows that after attending high quality preschools these children are, not only prepared for kindergarten, but also able to meet or exceed state standards.  Many go on to graduate high school, pursue a post secondary education, and obtain higher salaries than the children not prepared for kindergarten.

Can good educators close the achievement gap?  Yes.    

Sherlynn Aurelio
Wilmington, DE
3/28/07

Never would I want to blame the parents, because I consider them such a vital piece of the picture.  Parenting is difficult in the best of circumstances and as a society I think we should have many structures in place to support them. Programs like offering free meals, after school homework help, and free school uniforms ease the burden of parents.  Let's go one step further and make our urban schools community centers where teachers and parents work together to meet the needs of the children. Let's have free after-school sports, community dinners, evening childcare, tax help, and adult education. I don't like the idea that we can do it with or without them. As a society, we must do what it takes to help people and especially families living in poverty. But this takes money. I fear that the next step after saying we can raise scores despite outside circumstances is to say we don't need to spend the money to correct the circumstances.

Jacob Strohm
San Francisco
3/29/07

Hello all - Jean Anyon's Radical Possibilities features extensive research on the history of public policy development that would inform this discussion. It is probably too lengthy for one of the monthly readings but it would be a good spring break read (assuming of course that reading research is your preferred spring break activity :-) Unlike a previous book of hers, Ghetto Schooling, this new book has a more hopeful tone and lots of great cases of school-community partnerships.

Cheers,
Pia Wong
Sacramento
3/29/07