Higher Standards and Santino (Michele Kerr)
Michele Kerr is a math teacher at Kennedy High School in Fremont, CA. She also wrote about teaching English in an previous guest post. This post comes from her blog.
A couple years ago, an administrative vice principal (AVP) walked into my classroom and asked, “I’m checking up on previously ELL [English Language Learners] students who were reclassified English proficient (RFEPed) to be sure they are getting enough support. What can you tell me about Santino?”
“Santino? He’s doing well. He’s gotten either a high F or a solid D on every test so far, which is a big step up for him.”
“Really. I guess we have different notions of what ‘doing well’ is.” She raised her eyebrow, refrained from sneering, made a check on her clipboard form, and walked back out before I could respond, which was probably a good thing.
Santino, a junior in my geometry class, was passing all of his classes at that time. He had finished his sophomore year with a sub-2.0 GPA, still higher than his freshman year. Ultimately, that AVP would determine that Santino’s upward