Last March, I had the good fortune to attend the ASCD Annual Conference in Orlando, Fla. One session that provoked a great deal of thought for me was Lessons to Close the Achievement Gap, presented by Prof. Joseph Murphy of Vanderbilt University. According to his research, some children are so far behind their peers before the first day of kindergarten that 50 percent of the achievement gap can be traced to these critical developmental years before school begins. Murphy attributes another 25 percent of the gap to learning lost during summer break. At first I was taken aback by his findings, but as I reflected on my experiences and spoke with other educators, I no longer felt so surprised.
As an optimistic, hardworking, and passionate educator, I want to think that our stellar teachers can be the panacea for the achievement gap, but I don't believe we can do it alone. It takes a village to raise (and educate) a child. Policymakers and school administrators need to look at this data and think about how we can best meet such challenges.
Some strategies Murphy deemed effective were extending the school year and school day and providing rich early education opportunities for children before kindergarten. As I reflected upon this, I began to question why our schools are structured the way they are. Are we so afraid of change that we must maintain an academic calendar that best suits an agrarian society? How much of this resistance to change is driven by not wanting to lose the two-month break during which families travel, teachers recuperate, and kids gain new experiences and autonomy at summer camp? Would fewer high-quality educators enter the profession if the school day or year were extended, and could we afford to put considerably more financial resources into a longer school day or year?
Also, how much difference would these reforms even make if the biggest achievement gaps occur before students begin kindergarten? Why does free public school begin in kindergarten (with the exception of project-based initiatives such as Head Start) if research reveals that ages 0–3 are such formative years for our children? Finally, should we employ dramatic changes solely in high-poverty areas that show the greatest gaps?