The Institutional Racism Behind Getting to Proficient
It's been a great day so far and it's just 10AM. I had the pleasure of reading to my daughter's 3K Pre-School class and received an overwhelming applause from the cutest group of kids imaginable. All of them displayed mastery of social emotional skills along with phenomenal language development. They haven't been formally assessed yet but leveraging my knowledge of assessments and early childhood development, I can ballpark that at least 80% of the class would be considered "Advanced Proficient" if they were to take a standardized assessment.
Hence, the dilemma. As the Managing Partner of Yardstick Learning, I've had firsthand experience working with high needs urban schools, parochial schools, as well as extremely affluent public and private school systems. The achievement gap across these socioeconomic groups is well documented, but no one ever seems to focus on the "expectations gap". The education reform community is more influential and powerful than ever before and the national lens has been focused on low income communities and getting all kids to proficient. However, in affluent communities, setting the bar to all children getting to proficient would result in the termination of everyone in the district including the board. The expectations in affluent communities are far greater than getting to proficient and instead focus on AP exam scores, Tier 1 college admissions, and "Advanced Proficient" percentages.
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Hence, the dilemma. As the Managing Partner of Yardstick Learning, I've had firsthand experience working with high needs urban schools, parochial schools, as well as extremely affluent public and private school systems. The achievement gap across these socioeconomic groups is well documented, but no one ever seems to focus on the "expectations gap". The education reform community is more influential and powerful than ever before and the national lens has been focused on low income communities and getting all kids to proficient. However, in affluent communities, setting the bar to all children getting to proficient would result in the termination of everyone in the district including the board. The expectations in affluent communities are far greater than getting to proficient and instead focus on AP exam scores, Tier 1 college admissions, and "Advanced Proficient" percentages.
More...