Stop the blame game over achievement gap
We need to invest in programs that help students learn and succeed, not argue about who's responsible for failure
Debates about the shortcomings of K–12 education in the United States typically focus on identifying who or what is to blame for the achievement gap — the lower standardized test scores and high school graduation rates among students of color and those living in poverty. Often these discussions are not only misguided but also ignore strategies that lead to success in school, even for children who are living in poverty, discouraged by racism and inequality and stressed by family and community dysfunction. We need to learn from and replicate these initiatives instead of blame and shame schools, teachers and communities for gaps in achievement.
Students from low-income and minority backgrounds live with stress that affects individual learning and classroom behavior. For example, a study designed to identify stress in New York schoolchildren after 9/11 found that “the students’ sense of threat or insecurity stemmed not so much from terrorism as from exposure to violence, inadequate housing, sudden family loss, parents with depression or addictions and so forth.”
Similarly, researchers recently screened students at four high-poverty schools in Los Angeles and found that 8 in 10 experienced at least three traumatic stressors — such as shootings, food insecurity and fights in the family — in the previous year. About 40 percent of students reported symptoms that school counselors said required treatment.
Stress bubbles up in schools in emotional reactions ranging from explosive rage to tuned-out depression. One disruptive child can derail an entire classroom. What’s a teacher to do with a whole classroom of stressed children?
Turnaround for Children, a nonprofit that addresses students’ social, emotional and behavioral needs in high-poverty schools, offers two strategies: Connecting high-risk students to the individual help they need and changing the school climate by training educators.
Connecting students to resources is not a radically new idea. It’s key to the community school concept, which links students and families to resources ranging from counseling to in-school dental clinics to help for parents in finding jobs. Despite its successes, this concept has not been widely implemented. The vast majority of children with mental health needs do not get support and services.
Turnaround for Children works with schools in New York City; Newark, New Jersey; and Washington, D.C. In these schools, connection to mental health resources and social services happens quickly, usually within three weeks of initial screening. Getting help quickly allows students turn their attention back to learning.
At the same time, Turnaround trains teachers and school administrators to recognize stressed and disturbed children and provides educators with the tools to respond to students’ needs. A full-time Turnaround coach helps teachers plan and learn strategies to de-escalate and redirect student misbehavior. This has made schools withTurnaround programs “calmer and more productive, with fewer problem behaviors,” according to the organization’s website.
Arguing about whether poverty and the economic system are more to blame than teachers and the school system only diverts attention from helping students learn and succeed.
Mentoring is another effective strategy. Friends of the Children, a national charity that provides early intervention, stands out among the thousands of mentoring programs because of its successes helping vulnerable kids.
Freddie’s story shows the effectiveness of mentorship. At 6 years old, she lived in a New York City housing project, fought with classmates, dissed her teachers and had trouble focusing in school. Then a mentor from Friends of the Children entered her life. For the next 12 years, mentors spent time with her every week. They supported her through the death of her mother when she was in seventh grade and through graduation, with honors, from the Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics. She is now a successful student at Syracuse University.
Half of the kids mentored by Friends of the Children have a parent in jail. About 85 percent were born to a teen Stop the Blame Game Over Achievement Gap | Al Jazeera America:
