Same in Same out: Why we can’t make up the black student achievement gap

The Schott foundation rolled into town to let us know how poorly the school district is doing educating black males. If this sounds familiar, it because the heritage this or the coalition that or some other group rolls into town every six months and says the exact same thing. Listen education groups I think the city and district get it.

I get a little frustrated with these various groups or organizations because the truth is we aren’t just failing black males, we’re failing white males and quite a few other students as well. Our statistics are abysmal, shocking and you would think would want to lead people to action, which leads to a few of my other frustrations.

All these community leaders and activists and whoever they get to pass for educators only have the same tired old ideas. We need early literacy programs, mentors and to get our best teachers into our worse schools. Friends we have been doing those things for about a decade now and despite our school board chairperson, Brenda Priestly Jackson’s assertion this will eventually bear fruit they haven’t thus far and there seems to be no indication that if we continue to do the same things we won’t continue to get the same disheartening results. It’s almost enough to make you question their motives and if they really do care.

We need to change how we do things and I think that change has to see us get back to the basics, that we somehow lost. We need discipline in schools; if a kid acts up he gets a consequence for his behavior and remember for a consequence to work it must be meaningful. We need to put in safety nets like social workers to provide wrap around services and counselors to get to the root of some of our children’s problems. So often when kids act up or fail at school it has nothing to do with school, instead having to do with what is happening elsewhere. We need to have more than a one size fit’s all curriculum. We need to bring back trades and skills and to make the arts a priority, preparing every child for college isn’t working; we need to prepare them for life instead. Let’s make summer school mandatory for some students but please let them have a PE or art class or both too so they don’t hate it. We can’t continue to overwhelm kids and just fill their schedules with classes they don’t enjoy; many kids have eight classes, with not one elective, also why are kids taking eight classes at a time a full time college load is four classes. Is it any stretch to think if a kid is overwhelmed or thinks school is nothing but drudgery they won’t do well? We need to stop blaming teachers for the ills of society and allow them to teach, to encourage them to use their best practices and to be honest I wouldn’t care if a teacher used the Vulcan Mind meld to get the information across as long as they were successful and neither should any body else.

Mentors are great, busses for after school learning activities and discipline are better. Early reading initiatives are fine until they lose those gains because they tune school out because they are overwhelmed or don’t enjoy it and finally we already have many of our best teachers in our most struggling schools. They are the teachers who have chosen to be there because they love the kids not because they have been bribed to do so.

If we keep doing things the same way, keep coming up with the same solutions that obviously aren’t working, then we’re going to keep getting the same results.

The, heritage this, the coalition that and the Schott foundation don’t get it but that doesn’t stop them from calling press conference after press conference does it?

Chris Guerrieri