Great Expectations
The last time it happened was a little over a year ago. I was coaching a cadre of new teachers, and one of them--a Teach for America "corps member"--and I were talking about the first day of school and the tone she hoped to set in maintaining an orderly classroom. I'm not worried, she said confidently. I have high expectations for them--and I'll make that very clear.
Oh, honey, if only it were that easy, I thought.
Using "high expectations" as touchstone for building an effective practice is essential, but wholly insufficient, in changing a classroom/building/systemic culture. The speechwriter who crafted the "soft bigotry of low expectations" meme for George W. Bush deserves a faux-reformy bonus, for embedding in the national consciousness the totally fictitious implication that teachers don't perceive potential and opportunity for their students in poverty. That the problems inherent in educating poor children lie with feckless, uncaring educators.
This concept is in direct contrast--to put it politely--with reality. From an award-winning colleague who teaches first grade in a Detroit public school:
Oh, honey, if only it were that easy, I thought.
Using "high expectations" as touchstone for building an effective practice is essential, but wholly insufficient, in changing a classroom/building/systemic culture. The speechwriter who crafted the "soft bigotry of low expectations" meme for George W. Bush deserves a faux-reformy bonus, for embedding in the national consciousness the totally fictitious implication that teachers don't perceive potential and opportunity for their students in poverty. That the problems inherent in educating poor children lie with feckless, uncaring educators.
This concept is in direct contrast--to put it politely--with reality. From an award-winning colleague who teaches first grade in a Detroit public school:
My recent experience with district tests: DPS has developed a series of pre/post tests in each curriculum area to measure student growth. They are also a major factor in our evaluations. The tests themselves this year have been a nightmare. Believe it or not (ha!) they were not ready in the