I have worked in an inner city school for the past eleven years....We have repeatedly been labeled as a "failing" school....WHAT is the problem?....I work with dedicated, educated colleagues who give 110% daily....We have participating in data driven instruction for a few years now....ANY program that we are told to teach, is completed to the best of our ability...I refuse to believe that it is OUR teachers
that are part of the problem.....In reality, we can not do it alone, though it feels as if we are indeed....There is a noteable absense of parental involvement in our community....I average seeing 4-5 parents on Back-To-School Night each year, and I teach FIRST grade, when you would think that the parents would WANT to meet the teacher....Bookbags are rarely cracked open to view important correspondance from the school....Yet, when there is to be blame cast for the reasons for the student's failing, the teachers are the first to have the finger pointed at them.....I understand that "It Takes A Village" to guarantee our students success....
I would like your thoughts on the "reasons" for this learning gap, and WHAT measures need to be addressed to recify the situation.
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I honestly feel that the learning gap is only going to get wider unless teachers, particularly those like ourselves who teach in an urban setting, are given more resources and our children are given more needed services immediately. A prime example, I had one student this year who had already been retained in first and was reading well below grade level. She began receiving tutoring twice a week and little progress was made. Two months before the end of the school year, she began receiving intensive one-on-one instruction every day for 30 minutes as a Tier 3 intervention for a month. She made significant progress and went up 4 levels. Just think where she would be now if this intervention would have taken place at the beginning of the school year. With that being said, if more of our children could receive that intensive instruction consistently and as soon as they are "identified" it would be very beneficial in helping to close that learning gap. But, we constantly hear there is not enough staff or funds. It really is not fair to the children. Our school system seems to be more reactive than proactive and only until the problem becomes too huge do we seem to get any help.
ReplyDeleteParents also have to be more accountable for their child's education. THey have to be active participants and build a partnership with the teacher/school. It cannot just fall on the teacher's back. The load is too much for one person to bear alone.
Gosh, what a topic for discussion...You have definately fueled my interest. To first address the learning gap, I think that everyone needs to work together in a system that is functioning effectively. When parents, teachers, students and administration are working effectively, I do believe the gap can be narrowed. However, it takes resources, dedication and students who are willing to learn. Unfortunately, in some districts, this is not the case, and the gap is widened. The instruction we received through the Leading and Learning Center shows how gaps can be narrowed but through collaborative teaching throughout the schools and the district as a whole. This is extremely hard to achieve and you need parental support and student willingness for success. I also think Connecticut is too CMT driven. For months leading up to this non-differentiated assessment, it is the only focus of teachers and of a district. In closing, if you label a school a "failing" school which is comprised of "failing" teachers and "failing" students, how does anything get any better? We all know as educators that positive reinforcement yields the best results, it seems the government needs to reminded of that as well.
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