Whatever It Takes
"Are you willing to do whatever it takes to ensure each child succeeds?"
Recently, Highline School District (the district I work in, just south of Seattle) conducted something of an audit around their devotion to equity. The question above was among many considered by the "auditors" in determining the commitment of the district's staff to equity.
That this question was considered by such a group strongly implies that equity is only served when school personnel answer yes. Six years ago, when I was just beginning my journey into teaching, I probably would not have found anything disagreeable with that notion. Today, I find it repugnant.
In the 2009-2010 school year, my school's on-time graduation rate was just over fifty percent. The overall rate was just over sixty percent (adding the students who graduated in five or six years). On Thursday, I began discussing a few of the causes of the vastly inferior quality of education often offered in low-income urban schools in comparison to their wealthier suburban counterparts.
If every staff member in a school like mine truly attempted to do whatever it took to make sure each child found
Recently, Highline School District (the district I work in, just south of Seattle) conducted something of an audit around their devotion to equity. The question above was among many considered by the "auditors" in determining the commitment of the district's staff to equity.
That this question was considered by such a group strongly implies that equity is only served when school personnel answer yes. Six years ago, when I was just beginning my journey into teaching, I probably would not have found anything disagreeable with that notion. Today, I find it repugnant.
In the 2009-2010 school year, my school's on-time graduation rate was just over fifty percent. The overall rate was just over sixty percent (adding the students who graduated in five or six years). On Thursday, I began discussing a few of the causes of the vastly inferior quality of education often offered in low-income urban schools in comparison to their wealthier suburban counterparts.
If every staff member in a school like mine truly attempted to do whatever it took to make sure each child found