Serve the Children Better, Give Them the Resources They Need

Diane Ravitch was interviewed this morning on NPR's Morning Edition. Formerly a supporter of charter schools, standardized testing, and No Child Left Behind, she recently reviewed the data and found that these programs she had advocated for simply weren't working. You can hear the 5 minute clip, or read the transcript, in this brief interview highlighting her new book, Reign of Error.

Here are a couple of highlights from the interview:

"The reason we call them bad is because they're serving disproportionate numbers of children with disabilities, because the charter schools don't want them. They have disproportionate numbers of children who don't read or speak English because they're foreign born. And the charter schools don't want them either. So we're getting the public schools overloaded with low performing children and then calling them failing schools. And that's wrong. Are there bad schools? If there are bad schools then the people whose feet should be held to the fire are the superintendents, the administrators, the people who run that system. It's their job to identify the schools that are really bad schools and to change them. And then give that school the small class sizes it needs, the guidance counselors it needs, the extra resources it needs so that it can serve the children better."

"American public education is a huge success. Test scores have never been higher than they are today for white children, black children, hispanic children and Asian children. High school graduation rates have never been higher than they are today for all of those groups. Our schools are not failing. They're very successful. Where there are low test scores, where there are higher drop out rates than the national average is where there is concentrated poverty. Now we cannot, obviously, wipe poverty out over night, but there are many things we can do to make school a stronger equalizer than it is today. One of those would be to have reduced class sizes in the schools that serve the children of poverty. Another would be to have universal pre-kindergarten. We should have a strong arts program in every one of these schools because children have to have a reason to come to school other than just to be tested. … The kids we're trying to help the most are getting the least." 

Become a Volunteer

One of the district's goals for the past several years has been to close the achievement gap among its students. Towards that end, although every school gets a set amount of money per pupil in the school, a small additional allotment is given per pupil for those considered at risk. Students who traditionally have struggled more include students with learning disabilities, students coming from low income households, and students for whom English is not their primary language. The additional money that schools receive is often used to pay for additional paraprofessional support, an extra counselor, a staff worker that tries to improve attendance issues, and other types of support professionals whose goal is to help those struggling students catch up with their peers within the district.

But if you compare the additional support one at risk child receives with that money to the additional support an average student in the district receives through other means, you'll start to notice some discrepancies. A hypothetical comparison can help to make this plain.

Let's imagine the daily life of the average Poudre School District student. They're woken up in the morning by either their parent or an alarm clock. They eat breakfast and head for the bus. They have a similar day at school as any other kid, although if they're in a school on the south end of town, they're much more likely to be in a classroom with a lot of volunteer support (which means they not only get more one on one time, but they're also learning from a teacher who is more relaxed because she has more assistance from parents and community members). When the student gets home, they might have a snack, and often there's a parent around encouraging the student to work on homework. That parent is also available to help answer questions about the homework and add additional examples as needed until the child understands what needs to be done to complete the assignment. After a nourishing dinner and some relaxing time with family, the child is directed by the parent to go to sleep so that the student will be well rested for the following day at school.

Now let's imagine the daily life of the average at risk PSD student. The family might not be able to afford an alarm clock or the parent(s) in the house simply haven't seen the need to purchase one. Because the parent works two jobs, or is depressed because he or she is out of work, or is passed out from the evening before, there's no one around to wake the student and make sure the child makes it to the bus in time. The child might still get to school, but will be tardy and will have missed educational time. It's likely that they also didn't get breakfast and they missed the "Free or Reduced Lunch" breakfast that they could have gotten if they were on time. They have a similar day at school as any other kid, although the teacher is often overwhelmed with the needs of the students in the classroom, has very little volunteer support, and has the added burden of undiagnosed students with learning disorders that disrupt the classroom and require more time spent on discipline that you might see in other classrooms in the district. When the student gets home, they might have a snack of chips or a candy bar. Because the parent(s) is depressed or working multiple jobs, no one encourages the student to do homework, nor is there any help with that homework if it's needed. After fending for themself for dinner, the student watches TV and goofs around to late at night when they finally realize they're tired and put themself to bed.

The difference between the achievement levels in these two students is quite likely to be starkly different. One student is receiving additional support all day long. The other struggles to get additional support, even while at school.

There's not a whole lot that can be done about a student's home life (unless the home is unsafe). But there's a lot that could be done to change the student's experience at school. All it takes is for the community to identify high needs schools, then inundate the schools with volunteer support. If enough people get involved, then the weight doesn't fall heavily upon any one person. Volunteer shifts can be as little as one hour all year, to a couple hours every week. Work can be as simple as making copies for a teacher, or as rewarding as taking aside a student who is struggling with reading to help them sound out syllables.

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to make a huge difference in a classroom. Sometimes just walking around, checking a student's work, and praising them for a job well done can motivate a kid to work harder the rest of the day. It let's them know that they're on the right track and that someone cares. You don't have to know algebra or pre-calc to make a huge difference in a kids' math scores. Many of the district's at risk students enter kindergarten without a basic sense of numeracy. In other words, just sitting with them and teaching them how to count to 100 can be a huge advance in their learning. And the more support these students get in elementary school, the more likely they'll be rock stars in middle and high school.

If you would like to volunteer with the Poudre School District, here's the process you need to follow:

1. Register with Share It! Click on the "click to register" button under the "Individual Parent or Community Volunteer" banner on the right side of the page. The school will need to do a background check on you which they'll redo every few years. It's a means of being sure that students remain safe.

2. When you give information about volunteer opportunities that you'd be interested in, select a specific school to get updates on. Volunteering in just one schools means that you'll get to know the staff and the students better and will become more a part of their community. This will have benefits not only for the staff and students, but for yourself as well as you gain a school family.

3. You should start receiving updates both for district wide needs and for needs associated specifically with the school you signed up with. Select opportunities that look good to you and follow up with them. If you write to a teacher or volunteer coordinator and don't hear back, keep pestering them. They're probably very busy, but that doesn't mean they don't want your help!

4. If you have a skill that you'd like to share, but you don't see any notices for help that seem to match, go in to the school and talk to the principal or a secretary and see if there's a way you could offer your services. Sometimes you have to push a little bit. Again, this isn't because your help isn't wanted, it's because sometimes teachers and staff are so maxed that things fall through the cracks. Don't give up if you don't immediately get the response you were hoping for.

If at any point you need help with the volunteer sign up process, talk to Cyndi Gile, the Volunteer Coordinator for the district.