Do Failing And Affluent Schools Exist?

Oh boy, what a loaded question! I read this blog, and looked over her information, and I think she's saying they do not exist. But I think Martha Infante's blog entry is missing the point she's trying to make: rich kids are doing well regardless of school culture, and kid's home lives do affect school performance in enormous ways. Instead, biased readers will use her information to share the wrong conclusion and state that "Affluent communities can do it, why can't everyone else!"

In Connecticut, the State Department of Education is starting to shift focus from the yearly results, to our new vertical scale scores. The Department wants everyone to begin to focus on growth each year.

Connecticut has been using the Connecticut Mastery Test to test for quite a while now, over twenty years, and we are on fourth generation of test revisions. Ten years ago, classroom teachers began complaining (I and my grade level were very vocal) that students were arriving below grade level, and regardless of how much they improved in one year, we were not going to show the growth. So a new system, the Degrees of Reading Assessment (DRA) was adapted from an Australian reading program, First Steps in Literacy. We began to measure the students' reading level, and 'behind the Curtain' we teachers record and observe and focused our instruction based upon each student's instructional level. While it is a one-on-one performance test and it isn't perfect, we teachers crow about growth, and that's what should be getting our attention.

I mention this, because Martha's post does not measure student growth from year to year. This is what teacher effect and influence is all about. And, dear reader, remember; I as a teacher can have a great influence, or not, but I am merely a multiplier effect, not a cause of learning. The student has to be looked at, as well. Good learners will improve ALOT with good instruction, and they will improve mildly with mediocre instruction, and they will dwindle with bad instruction. But they do not decline because of instruction. Outside influences (divorce, home-life, accidents, death, fears, or truancy) are the ones that make a student's learning regress.

I mention all this because of two reasons: (1) Look at individual teachers, not schools to find the lack of learning progress, and (2) Are these superstar kids being pushed to excel, or are they merely being asked to complete objectives?

Affluent school parents are happy and impressed with their schools, but their students could do so much more than is being asked of them! The children come in, so ready to learn, that truly excellent teachers must push these students to the edge of their ability and understanding. Like we do in our "sixth year of failing" school, everyday.

I am very proud of the work we do in Stark School, and I will put almost every colleague up against any teacher from any affluent district, and I know who will help any student improve the most! I do have to say, though, that coordinating staff efforts and keeping everybody focused on our school goals, is extremely important as well. Teachers are not islands of excellence, and cannot be an island. Using the broad scope of year to year learning is important to sharpen, but noticing specific individual learning success is important daily. Principals watch the big picture, and Assistant Principals watch the step by step process, and everyone lends a hand in progress. Minute to minute.
-Peter


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/martha-infante/failing-public-school-education-reform_b_803368.html