Foundations and Current Issues of Early Childhood Education/Chapter 1/1.2

Bridging the Student Achievement Gap in Public Schools: Who’s accountable?

Accountability

With the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law in full swing, all public schools are accountable more than ever for students’ progress throughout their K-12 school careers. There has always been academic imbalance among poor and middle-class black and white children. The stakes are high for all public schools. With this in mind, “creative” methods have to be in place to reach those students who are not grasping what they need in order to be productive adults. There are millions of dollars being allocated each year by the federal government to school districts in order for them to achieve success with low-performing students or else face heavy penalties for not meeting certain benchmarks or goals. The NCLB law also requires states to separate out their test scores by race so officials can track and try to narrow achievement gaps between groups of students. The NCLB law was designed to help the public school systems close the learning gaps between students, regardless of race, gender and social economics. The accountability lies with all who work with children in a public education setting. This includes custodians all the way up to the superintendents of each school district in the U.S. This reform has to start within the students’ homes, too. It cannot just be an educational reform. Parents and the like have to do their part in order for their children to be productive adults who one day can stand on their own two feet. It has to be a team effort in order to bridge the achievement gap that is holding so many back.

Why the Achievement Gaps?

According to the Teaching Commission’s report, Teaching At Risk: A Call to Action, “the U.S. job market is so scientifically and technologically based that math and science knowledge is critical for the health of our economy.” The report goes on to say that “stagnant math and science performance in schools shortchanges our students’ future and endangers our prosperity and our nation’s security.” In addition, the NCLB reform believes that because teachers are not as qualified as needed to teach math and science, they do not teach those subjects effectively. Furthermore, students do not get taught what they need in order to compete with such a competitive world. (Paige, 39). Richard Rothstein states that “the achievement gap can only be improved with social and economic reform.” (2004, p. 19). He suggests that children who are not submersed in literature or who do not converse properly at a very young age more than likely will see gaps early on in their elementary years. There are several more contributors of low achievement, especially from children who come from lower-income families. These lower-income families are forced into living with poorer housing conditions than that of middle or higher income families. In addition, the lack of stable housing goes hand in hand with the lack of proper health care.

Lower income children are also at a greater risk of asthma because of smoke and other like factors that surround them within their homes.

These health issues result in several absences from school throughout the school year. (2004, p. 21). Those missed days of critical instruction can never truly be made up. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the “digital divide” is still a significant and consistent problem within our state’s diverse school populations. It was noted that “by far, more white children than black or Hispanic youth continue to access the Internet and use computers.” (Virginia Journal of Education, p. 5) These gaps are, of course, smaller during the school day where most schools have assess to multiple computers connected to the Internet. But home computer use is still a great problem “with about 54 percent of white children using the Internet at home, as compared with 27 percent of black children and 26 percent of Hispanic children.” (2006, p. 5). The NCES also stated that the “level of parental education, family income, and two-parent families are all correlated with higher computer usage rates.” (2006, p. 5). As one can see, the task of “bridging” the achievement gap is a monumental task. Without a doubt, it will take consistent and systematic strategies to revise and repair our current status of disparity.

Strategies to Close the Gaps

Many strategies and “fix-it” programs have helped over the years, but more reform needs to be implemented immediately before the achievement gap gets any wider. A current Newsweek magazine article suggested that one way to “close” the gap is to have longer school days in those states that are not presently doing so. For example, it was noted that children in Memphis, Tennessee get about five weeks less schooling than children in Houston, Texas. (2007). The good news is that the federal government is addressing this problem nationwide, and hopefully they will come up with the funds to pay for the extra cost of this proposed plan in all states that have shorter school years. In addition, the NCLB law directs states to track and to analyze each student’s progress by use of benchmark tests results. This data allows teachers and administrators a chance to formulate intervention strategies a lot quicker for those who are not meeting the criteria or benchmarks set by their school districts. (Morgan, 2007). Another practice that is used by some schools across the U.S. to narrow the achievement gap is a practice known as “narrowing the curriculum.” This practice is where schools reduce instructional time spent in science, history, art, etc., so that instruction can be focused on math and reading only. (Whelan, 2006). Schools are forced to be creative with how they remediate struggling students. Remediation can range from pulling students out of class to creating single-gender classes to help improve learning for male students who typically score lower on achievement test. Some of the most interesting studies are those that credit early childhood education as the key to student success in the future. It is reported that “nearly 20 percent of the children entering kindergarten in South Hampton Roads are not ready to learn.” (Fernandes & Shaw, 2006). The push is on for more government money to be invested in pre-kindergarten. The subject has gotten the attention of Governor Timothy Kaine of Virginia. He stated in Fernandes’ & Shaw’s report that “he plans to include a significant amount of money for early education next year.” He also stated that if “you solve the readiness gap, you solve the achievement gap.” (2006). Recently, the Virginia Education Association (VEA) received a $20,000 grant from the National Education Association to help restructure state education policies and create initiatives to help close student achievement gaps. There are two topics of focus for the VEA, “bring Virginia’s teacher salaries up to the national average and to help secure funding for statewide preschool programs.” VEA’s president, Princess Moss, was adamant about what it would take to close the state’s achievement gaps.

She stated “that children of color and poverty [need to] have access to highly qualified teachers and a high-quality preschool.” (Allen, 2007).

In another study done by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), they found that “children who attend high-quality preschool enter kindergarten with better pre-reading skills, richer vocabularies, and stronger basic math skills than those who do not.” (Kanter, 2007). Needless to say, federal and state governments have to “step up to the plate” and fund these programs that have been proven by research to work. Our future is at risk.

Sidebar “Education would be much more effective if its purpose was to ensure that by the time they leave school every boy and girl should know how much they do not know, and be imbued with a lifelong desire to know it.” Sir William Haley

Conclusion

Without structure and direction, children of all ages will fail to meet the basic standards of education. It is clear that an educational journey begins with a quality early childhood education, and should be provided for all 4 year olds, not just a select few. The “buzz” word in educational circles is that a good education begins with a quality preschool. The benefits of an “early start” in school are enormous. Judi Hornbeck, Director of Elementary Education for Dare County Schools, stated recently that “preschool is not just academics. It’s social and emotional preparation. They know how to take turns, to wait in line, to share, and to have a friend.” (Davis, 2007). What a great start to “life” his would be!

References

Allen, T., ‘Digital Divide’ Remains a Significant Problem, Virginia Journal of Education, December 2006: 5.

Allen, T., VEA Receives Grant to Fight Achievement Gaps, Virginia Journal of Education, January 2007: 5.

Davis, K., (2007, March 9). An early start: Program that preps children for kindergarten is new in Nags Head. The Virginian Pilot, Hampton Roads, B3.

Education: Learning Takes Time. Newsweek Periscope. Retrieved March 4, 2007, from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16610015/site/newsweek/.

Fernandes, D.& Shaw, M., (2006, May 11). Early education plays key role in economic future, experts say. The Virginian Pilot, Hampton Roads, B17.

HeartQuotes: Quotes of the Heart. Retrieved March 10, 2007, from http://www.heartquotes.net/Education.html.

Kanter, B., Why Preschool Matters, Parents, February 2007: 64-68.

Kenney, B., Schools Narrowing Their Curriculums, School Library Journal, May 2006: 17.

Morgan, N., Federal law’s benefit found in the details: Requirements for analyzing student data seen as a plus. The Virginian Pilot, Hampton Roads, B21.

Paige, R., (2004). No Child Left Behind: A Toolkit for Teachers. Jessup: U.S. Department of Education.

Rothstein, R, (2004). Class and the classroom. Annual Editions: Early Childhood Education, 06/07, 18-22.

Questions/answers

Directions: Choose and circle the BEST answer for each question.

1. Who is accountable by law to ensure that “No Child [is] Left Behind? a. state governments b. local school districts c. teachers/principals d. all of the above

2. Based on research, which income group is at a higher risk for lower achievement? a. low-income families b. high-income families c. middle-class families d. homeless families

3. What is the “digital divide?” a. a popular computer game b. computer access for all with Internet access c. a digital camera program for the computer d. computer access, including Internet, for a select group of users

4. Nearly _____________% of children in Hampton Roads are entering kindergarten who are NOT ready to learn. a. 55% b. 20% c. 45% d. 30%

5. What would NOT be the BEST way to improve achievement gaps in public schools? a. allot major funds to high schools for the remediation of students b. implement more high quality preschools in elementary schools c. allot funds to secure highly qualified teachers d. allot funds for mentoring/tutoring for low-income children

Answers: 1) d 2) a 3) d 4) b 5) a

Essay question

If you could do one thing to improve the achievement gap(s) in public schools, and money was not an issue, where would you begin?

If I could do just one thing to improve the achievement gap(s) in public schools, I would start with the implementation of mandatory preschool. With the research that has been done on the benefits of preschoolers going to school all day, five days a week, there is no reason not to implement high-quality preschools in all elementary schools. One of the most famous studies done on preschool research is the High/Scope Perry Preschool Study. The study’s author, Dr. David Weikart, conducted a forty-year study on the benefits of preschool on children that lived in poverty. He, along with other preschool researchers, has found it very beneficial to invest in the preschool program because of the long term benefits for our “future” as a society. In other words, if we, as a society, will invest and allot “major” funds for high-quality preschool programs, there would be a higher return on “our” money with less crime, less remediation in K-12, less welfare dependence, and the like. The research also shows that there would be higher achievement scores, and a higher quality of life with those who attend preschool. It is a known fact that living with poverty also means living with poor or no health care services. With this in mind, I would implement “visiting medical teams” that would provide everything a child would need in terms of medical care and locate it right in the school. These medical teams would make it possible for all children to be seen, reducing the days absent from school. In addition, I would implement a need-based program that would allow every student a computer, with filters, to take home on a loan basis. The computer loan program would be very much like the way textbooks are handled each year by schools. With these types of programs in place, it would not be long before we, as a society, would reap the benefits of our initial investment(s).