The key to addressing gaps in achievement among students is to strive for equity, not equality—a point emphasized by many educators at ASCD's 2005 Annual Conference and Exhibit Show.
Imagine, for example, that a workshop facilitator asks all those who are wearing glasses to remove them in an attempt to distribute resources equally among all participants. Is this equitable? Clearly not, said Eleanor Renèe Rodriguez, an education consultant who works to ensure that educators understand why seeking equality often fails to provide equal opportunity. "We need to treat our students equitably," asserted Rodriguez, who is coauthor of the book What Is It About Me You Can't Teach?
Students from different cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups need different types of support to promote their learning, presenters said at the session, Using Creative, Enriched Instruction to Advance African American Students' Achievement, sponsored by ASCD's African American Critical Issues Network.
Rodriguez
Rodriguez's copresenters, educators from Maryland's Charles County Public Schools, agreed and shared snapshots of their efforts to provide such equitable opportunities for learning. John Cox, the district's assistant superintendent of instruction, noted that Charles County schools have a high minority population and many of these students come from families in poverty. Children from middle-class and poverty environments "are not coming to us equal, and we've got to address it openly," he asserted. "We have to acknowledge that these kids are behind" and provide resources based on need to help them move up. For instance, the district's summer academies provide extra learning time in reading and math. And if the students don't show up for the summer classes, Cox said he and other staff members drive to their homes and pick them up to emphasize the importance of attendance.
Cox
Understanding Blended Cultures
Boosting minority achievement is a focus area for Charles County schools, stated Rosie Kelley, an instructional specialist in the district's Office of Minority Achievement. As a result, the district requires all employees to take a course called Diversity and Blended Cultures, and Kelley is one of the instructors. In working with teachers, she encourages them to consider wait time, to help students use standard English, to use mind maps with students, and to employ appropriate technology tools. District officials also promote minority participation in enrichment and advancement classes.
The district also fosters parent involvement and specifically strives to empower African American males by providing workshops for fathers and their sons. "You'll be surprised to learn what that can do—father and son working together," noted Minnie Reynolds, director of the Office of Minority Achievement.
Kelley
Reynolds
Taking a Multifaceted Approach
Enriching experiences are important for students, because “education is often the only way to end the cycle of poverty,” noted Valerie Collins, an education consultant speaking at a panel session, Improving Achievement for Students in Poverty: A Forum. Specifically, she said, educators should
- Build relationships with students.
- Provide a curriculum that is challenging, rigorous, and standards-based.
- Hold those students to high standards.
Although teachers get frustrated with students who make no apparent effort to learn, "a student's attitude is no excuse," asserted Collins, coauthor of the ASCD book Literacy Leadership for Grades 5–12.
Other strategies that work well to improve achievement are community outreach, safe and healthy school environments, and parent involvement, noted another panelist, Tim Waters, chief executive officer of Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL). "Schools need to pay specific attention to parents who are hard to reach," he said. Waters and other McREL staff are conducting a rigorous analysis of what is working well in high-performing, high-needs schools.
Collins
Waters
Caring Comes First
With high-needs students, teachers need to reach out and show they care, noted Belinda Williams, a researcher and author of the ASCD book Closing the Achievement Gap: A Vision for Changing Beliefs and Practices. "Children who experience poverty or are racially or culturally different experience isolation," Williams explained during the forum. And that isolation often continues as they are placed in tracks that limit not only what they learn but also the expectations of what they can achieve. Instead, Williams asserted, teachers should distinguish between a student's potential to learn and the learning a student brings to school and demonstrates on test scores.
The reform movement needs to be reframed to match what we know about learning and human development, Williams said. "Culture is not just heroes, heroines, and history," she pointed out. "Culture is about the daily influence of children."
To influence children via effective classroom instruction, educators need professional development that is embedded, engaging, and ongoing, Waters said. For example, educators benefit from collaboratively sharing best practices and jointly examining student work to align their assessments.
Williams
Principals and teachers should use every interaction with a student as an opportunity to build understanding of that individual and her talents, Collins said. "Many times, students become passive and withdrawn because they don't believe you are going to allow them to use their strengths," she noted.
Recognizing individual talents can generate new motivation, agreed Dennis Littky, director of the Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center in Providence, R.I., and coauthor of the ASCD book The Big Picture: Education Is Everyone's Business. "It's not about certain kids being bright. It's about finding out what that brightness is. We're all smart in a different way."
Indeed, it is important to educate the whole child, not just increase reading and math scores, noted Eduardo Rivas, administrative director of the Office of Performance Improvement in Florida's Miami-Dade County Schools. If educators use test scores as the only measure, he asked, "Are we trying to narrow the achievement gap or are we trying to narrow the testing gap?"
Littky
The Language of Learning
Economic hurdles are not the only barriers to equal learning opportunities. Many teachers who find themselves teaching students with limited English proficiency discover that they are not adequately prepared to help these students, said Eliana Rojas at the session sponsored by the ASCD Hispanic/Latino-American Critical Issues Network, Building Worldwide Partnerships in Education. "School is not working well enough for enough students in the United States," said Rojas, a Chilean native and director of the bilingual program at the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut in Storrs.
To improve learning for students with limited English proficiency, Rojas recommended that teachers
- Create learning communities.
- Team teach with a language specialist.
- Educate students for a global society.
- Network with international education communities.
Rojas
The Personal Touch
At the same session, Tony Townsend of Florida Atlantic University reviewed statistics showing learning gaps between U.S. students and those in other countries. He succinctly identified the actions needed: "If we really want to focus on student learning, we have to focus on the student," he said. Townsend, an Australian native, is chair of the Department of Educational Leadership at Florida Atlantic University's College of Educational Leadership in Boca Raton.
For real learning to occur, teachers have to connect with students, Townsend said. "Unless it happens in the student's head, it hasn't happened." To get into their students' heads, he explained, educators need to change the curriculum and how it's presented as well as the classroom and how it's managed.
"No Child Left Behind, on average, will have zero impact on student learning," he said, because "NCLB does not change the conditions under which students think." Unfortunately, Townsend said, many educators today are valuing what they measure instead of measuring what they value.
Start with feelings instead, Townsend advised, because students will remember how they felt about what was said more than they will remember the actual words.
Townsend
For more about conference presentations that addressed achievement gaps, check out ASCD's Annual Conference blog at http://ascd2005conference.blogspot.com and leave a comment.
For more about conference presentations that addressed achievement gaps, check out ASCD's Annual Conference blog at http://ascd2005conference.blogspot.com and leave a comment.