In light of all the talk in education today about the complex factors contributing to the achievement gap, many teachers may doubt that they can do much to ensure success for poor and minority students. All the strategies in the world will not help to close the achievement gap if you don't believe it can be done.
Fortunately, we can point to numerous schools that have no achievement gap between economically advantaged and disadvantaged students or between minority and non-minority students. In hundreds of low-income, high-minority schools across the United States, most students succeed on standardized tests.
During the nine years that I have traveled throughout the United States giving workshops, conducting research on best practices, and visiting model schools that promote high achievement for all students, I have observed several basic strategies that many successful schools have in common.
Emphasize Reading Skills
In schools that have closed or eliminated the achievement gap, teachers have a basic commitment: getting students to read. Common sense dictates that students cannot pass standardized tests that they cannot read. Teachers in model schools use the following strategies to increase the emphasis on reading for at-risk students.
- Make a commitment to follow the schoolwide reading program even if you did not choose it.
- Early in the year, establish an atmosphere in which students support one another's reading efforts.
- Start every class by asking your students to do some type of reading.
- Oprah had her book club. You should have one, too. Teachers in every subject should list 10–12 books that they have read and enjoyed that students can read for extra credit. The books need not deal directly with your specific subject area, as long as they make students think. Teachers who use this strategy generally require that students complete and turn in all regular work before they begin the book reports.
- Provide students with motivational books or books about role models whom they may find interesting.
Teach Higher-Order Thinking Skills to All Students
According to the Third International Mathematics and Science Survey, U.S. students whose scores place them in the bottom quartile are very good at doing the basics. That's why they are in the bottom quartile: That is all they can do. Why? Because their teachers assume that they are not capable of doing more. Schools that focus on the basics for at-risk students perpetuate a never-ending class of bottom-quartile students. You can use the following strategies to promote higher-order thinking skills for at-risk students.
- Prepare many open-ended, probing questions about the material you teach. Do not rely on questions off the top of your head.
- When questioning students, increase wait time to give students time to adequately process and share information.
- Throughout the room, post examples of challenging questions with the types of responses you expect.
- Consistently model the responses you expect by the way you answer students' questions.
- Teach and consistently incorporate into your questions words that have been shown to trip up at-risk students on standardized tests. Some of these words include analyze, infer, trace, explain, and contrast.
Routinely Reteach
In extensive research with at-risk students, I have discovered that one of the most pernicious problems that they have to overcome is the inability or unwillingness of their teachers to review material that the students missed, particularly on quizzes or tests. My own years in the classroom, as well as conversations with hundreds of teachers across the United States, indicate that most at-risk students do not “get it” the first time.
In model schools, individual teachers have established a system to automatically reteach information using a different approach or strategy. Here are some ideas.
- Routinely conduct a daily review for four to five minutes.
- Use a variety of teaching strategies to present the lesson.
- Check for understanding immediately, again varying your technique.
- After major tests, have students correctly answer all the items that they missed. Ask them to work in small teams to answer various sections of the test and report to the class. In addition, select questions that most students answered wrong and reteach the content, using the test as a teaching tool.
Make At-Risk Students Participate
Teachers who call only on those who raise their hands are neglecting the students who need to participate the most. Several random systems of questioning can help you make sure all students stay alert and involved.
- Start calling on students randomly early in the year. It takes effort on the teacher's part, but it ensures attention.
- Use the “fishbowl” technique. Put students' names in a bowl and draw them at random. The name then goes back in the fishbowl. A variation used by veteran teachers of younger students is the “Popsicle stick” strategy: Students write their names on Popsicle sticks and the teacher reaches into the pile and grabs one at random.
- Maintain a checklist of names to ensure that you call on every student each day. Or give students their own checklists to prompt them to answer a certain number of times in each class.
- Combine the first three methods to ensure variety and to keep students on their toes.
Require Students to Speak and Write in Complete Sentences
How can we expect students to write good paragraphs and sentences on quizzes or for standardized tests if they use incomplete sentences every day? Here are ways to get students in the habit of using complete sentences.
- Require students to use complete sentences on all assignments.
- Have students answer verbal questions using complete sentences.
- Post examples of complete sentences.
- Establish an incentive system for using complete sentences until doing so becomes second nature to everyone.
Get Students Emotionally Involved
The best learning takes place when people are passionate about the topic. Model teachers use these methods to involve students emotionally.
- Ask students how they feel about what you just taught.
- Use humor in the presentation.
- As often as possible, demonstrate the passion that brought you into teaching.
- Frequently use quotes from great people.
- Ask students to memorize quotes from great people.
- Regardless of what you teach, from time to time read or recite poetry about overcoming adversity. On any given day, some student needs to hear it.
- Use positive examples of students' past successes to generate an “I can do this” feeling.
- Include in your curriculum people, events, experiences, and perspectives that reflect the cultures of your students.
- Incorporate students' experiences into their assignments.
Patience and Caring
Closing the achievement gap is a process with many components and steps. No single step, activity, or workshop alone provides the final answer. We as educators did not get into this situation overnight, and we won't get out of it overnight. We must demonstrate patience and persistence.
These specific strategies can help. But one factor is more essential to closing the achievement gap than any strategy or technique: establishing a good relationship with every student. As the saying goes, “Kids don't care how much we know until they know how much we care.” Once you demonstrate caring, you can then take your teaching to the highest level: inspirational teaching.
You can be the reason some student gets up and comes to school when his life is tough. You can be the reason some student “keeps on keeping on” even though her parents are telling her that she can't succeed. You can inspire your at-risk students. Remember that as long as you are a teacher, even on your worst day on the job, you are still some student's best hope.
