Isthmus Take Home Quiz Week 5
Isthmus #5
1. What more can the schools do to address the achievement gap? And is it acceptable for the gap to still be so evident by high school?
We must focus on the gap in learning experiences that children face before they even enter kindergarten. We can increase teacher training, provide smaller classes, and set high expectations. But we have to look at the total picture for those children who are not succeeding.
Public schools should be the “great equalizer” in our society, but they cannot do it by themselves. What goes beyond an educational response? Certainly, one has to deal with the socio-economic, cultural and environmental causes of low achievement, namely: culturalism, racism, poor health, inadequate housing, unsafe streets, and lack of job training. Our schools cannot succeed unless the city, county and state work together to take on the insidious nature of poverty and its resultant effect on the most vulnerable members of our society – the children of poverty.
The Schools of Hope Project in Madison is a great example of community involvement in closing the achievement gap. It started as a civic journalism project by Channel 3, the State Journal, and the United Way. Over the past ten years, it has evolved into a major contributor towards closing the third-grade reading gap. Currently the three main players remain involved, the UW School of Education has added its expertise, and both MTI and MMSD are enthusiastic. A Vista grant and hundreds of community and Vista volunteers have supported the project, which now also has a middle school math component.
Our school district must plan for the future by starting at the early grades, but this does not mean that we can abandon our efforts at the middle and high schools. Many low achieving students enter our schools at the higher grades, so we must provide high-quality learning experiences with appropriate intervention for all students, including those who struggle, regardless of age.
2. What should the Madison school district do about four-year-old kindergarten? (No more than 300 words.)
2100 kindergarten children entered Madison Schools in 2007, with 42% of them living below the poverty line. Of these, 525 came from family/friend daycare, which is not regulated and does not properly prepare these youngsters for school. The sooner we reach these children with quality early education, the sooner they will be able to attain grade-level expectations in our K-12 classrooms.
Children of poverty enter school with less than one-tenth the vocabulary of their middle-class peers. Today’s research overwhelmingly indicates that the earlier we reach children, the better chance they have to succeed. Education should begin at age 4. United Way’s funding for high-quality preschool programs is certainly important. So too is the recent innovation of the “Play and Learn” and pilot projects like the one at Vera Court, that include credentialed teachers working with day care providers. The little known Family Literacy Program is working with children from birth to age 5, and with their families. Parents enroll in programs that boost literacy and parenting skills, while working with their children. Severe Federal cuts necessitated the recent citywide scrabble tournament fundraiser for this program.
Asking MMSD to inaugurate a completely public 4K program under the current constraints of revenue caps is not realistic. At best, we must work towards a quasi public/private implementation. This will be something that has not been tried before, and many people will have to come to the table in order for it to work. If we all keep in mind the needs of our children, perhaps certain predisposed notions, about what can or cannot be done, will be left at the door.
3. What is an overlooked or seldom-discussed issue confronting the Madison schools? (Discuss in no more than 100 words.)
Substance abuse by a sizeable proportion of our students is an issue that has no cultural or racial bias – all ethnic groups and economic classes are involved; yet we never hear about it. At the very least, we must set up drug free campuses in all our High Schools. Right now, there is only one place in Madison that parents can turn to for help, the private Horizon School. Minnesota is light years ahead of us in setting up Recovery/Sober Schools to help these young people. We need to look to them for innovation in this area.
