A Fresh Approach?

By Tom

The next time your car underperforms, try this: Gather your friends and neighbors and issue a statement criticizing your car. Spell out its shortcomings as well as your expectations concerning its performance. Patiently allow it twelve years to reach those expectations, but make it clear that you will be voicing your disappointment at every opportunity. If it complains, silence it. Tell it that it has only itself to blame for its condition. Point out other cars that are doing just fine. You could even get David Brooks to say something menacing, like "Getting rid of the worst 6% of our nation's cars is one of the best things we could do to improve our nation's transportation system." If your car has the gall to ask for some additional funding in order to make the needed repairs, you could snarl, "More money!? We've been trying that for years! And look what it's gotten us! A broken-down car!"

You could try that approach. Or...

You could take you car to a smart mechanic. And then listen carefully as she explains the underlying problems affecting your car's performance and the steps that need to be taken to get it working again. Then you could curse quietly to yourself when you see how much the repairs are going to cost. And then you could cancel your next war with Iraq vacation, do the responsible thing and fix your car.

We tried the first approach for eight years. It didn't work. If anything, the achievement gap in our schools is even greater. 

We'll soon have a new president and a new Secretary of Education. Arne Duncan is touted as a middle-of-the-road kind of guy. A reformer who's also friendly to the teachers' unions. Perhaps, but one thing's for sure. Duncan understands what it's really going to take to close the achievement gap. He's endorsed the Economic Policy Institute's comprehensive approach to fixing our educational system and get all of our nation's students on the right track.

There's three things you should know about that document. First of all, it's long and not very exciting. 80 pages. No pictures. Get yourself some strong coffee before you open it up. But you should definitely read it.

The second thing you should know is something you already know. According to this report, there actually is a real difference between advantaged kids and disadvantaged kids. We need to admit it before we can fix it. The differences include such things as prenatal health care, postnatal health care, nutrition, parental literacy, early learning opportunities, extra-curricular activities like music and dance lessons, after-school care, family vacations, and other enriching experiences, like trips to museums and science centers.

When I get third graders in my classroom who come with vastly different backgrounds in terms of the factors I just listed, there is going to be an achievement gap. One that's hard for me to close. Because learning requires a student to connect new concepts and ideas to those already in place, it's no surprise that those students with the most experiences and prior learning are the ones who get the most out of new ideas and experiences.

Finally, the bottom line is huge. Apparently we need to spend $15,000 each year on each disadvantaged children in order to give them the same chance of success as their middle-class contemporaries. That's about $300,000 per kid, from conception through their eighteenth birthday. According to my math, if there's roughly 13 million disadvantaged kids in this country, it's going to cost almost $4 trillion to give them a decent education.

And that's a lot of money. No wonder the last guy decided on the other approach.

Comments

[Tom]

Darmen-
My information comes from the Economic Policy Institute's website: EPI.org. I know you're being facetious, but hang onto those great lesson plans!! Everyone in your class needs your "A game." The EPI considers effective teachers as the most important factor in the mix. The point is, though, that there are many other factors that influence a child's chance at being successful, and if we're really serious about closing the achievement gap, we need to work with those other factors. That said, I wouldn't expect the EPI's document to become the Obama administration's education policy. I think Mr. Duncan supports their approach in principal, and I think that belief will drive his approach to the reauthorization of NCLB. Beyond that, though, we'll have to wait and see.

[damen]

Love the analogy you have going on here!

You mentioned the comprehensive approach to education and say that our new Secretary of Education, who by the way was a former professional basketball player in Australia (nothing to do w/ my question but…) anyway, you say that Duncan endorses this comprehensive plan. Where does this information come from? What does it mean to “endorse a plan”? Are we coining the new catch phrase for the future educational philosophy that will be enacted over the next 4 – 8 years that will all be based on this research paper? Eighty pages is pretty thick, but in scanning the rationale laid out in the introduction of the 19-year life cycle document, it seems to claim that the environment a child is raised in at home is more important than education they receive at school, when addressing the achievement gap. Interesting thought! So, in my class… there are students who are going to learn despite my innovative and engaging instruction – I should just guide them and let them excel on their own. Then there are those who will struggle to achieve no matter how many hours I put in lesson planning. To reach these students I need to teach there parents how to parent or take the kid to a museum myself. I guess I need to read further to find out. As it turns out, there really is no big question to be answered here just a thought.

Did we just buy a new hybrid / electric car that will be written into the auto industry bail-out plan? Or, did we inherit Uncle Larry’s old T-bird with its nice paint job and stereo only to find out, 100 miles later, that the bottom is rusted out. Maybe this time we can get a car fax before we buy the next car!

Did I mention I love analogies!

[stu wittwer]

I noted that the first week of my teaching career the staff meeting was about kids in the hall. 32 years later the almost last staff meeting I attended was about kids in the hall. We sure are stuck in our ways. I would like to see kids progress/pass according to skills mastered rather than by age. I'd like to see millions and millions of dollars and time given to early education--first thru 4th grade. We had a staff program that focused on D-E students with attention, support and saw results. I enjoyed the ''fresh approach''. stu in Taos, NM

[Travis A. Wittwer]

I think the car should also be sent to a special garage with other poor performing cars.

Or twenty Porches, Mercedes, and assorted fancy cars can form a steering committee (HA!) and create a basis for how they think the problem should be solved, using their paradigm, and their expectations of what is possible, because, "hey...look at me. I am doing fine."

Tom, I love your posts.