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Anyone who criticizes should offer a better alternative, or at least try. The following are suggestions offered by an ordinary citizen non-educator who happens to believe that better education is the best hope for our children and our community’s future.

The evidence is clear: Richmond’s educational achievement levels are not up to where they should be; they are not up to state averages, and they certainly are not up to what we want them to be. That is not to say that there is not good teaching and learning going on in Richmond Community Schools. There is, very much so. Many kids, properly prepared and motivated, get as good an education here as they can get anywhere, setting records we can be proud of. But we can’t be proud of the general level – the ISTEP and SAT scores, the graduation rates.

And the dropouts – where do they come from? Why don’t more kids take advantage of a good education that could help them have a better life? Well, there are many causes, most of them rooted in economic obstacles or cultural attitudes that do not fully support education. But these are part of the problem, not the answer. We have to stop using problems as the answer. As for the dropouts, their personal bottom line is simply – they do not like school. They say it’s boring, irrelevant, unnecessary to their future, and furthermore, they can’t keep up with their studies, even if they thought they were worth the effort. However, it all goes back to poor or failing literacy. If you can’t read well, nothing in school is going to be very interesting.

Third grade is where the rubber hits the road. Richmond Community Schools has done its job in trying to eliminate the barriers in pre-school deficiencies, even a visionary attitude in starting an Early Childhood Education center and beginning full-day kindergarten when other districts were crying that they couldn’t afford it. Those efforts are helping but we’re still a long way from doing the job of making sure that Every Third Grader Reads. Enter “Social Promotion” – a device to sweep the problem under the rug and one that is generally discredited. But consider the alternative – retention in grade – that’s not good either.

Hurdles Become A Wall

Imagine the trip in school from kindergarten to third grade as a low hurdles race. Training and work on improvement is continuous and progress is tested along the way and at the end of each grade — until the third grade. Suddenly there is a high wall for the hurdle, and the wall is marked “No Social Promotion.” How is the at-risk student going to surmount that high wall and avoid retention? No way under present conditions. So we have been inventing special doors and escape routes around the wall. There will always be a need for professional judgment – and should be — as to whether Susie and Johnnie are close enough to passing (maybe with a little extra help) to allow them to go on to the next grade. But apparently large numbers are still slipping through and never really catch up. How many? We don’t know, because the data are not there to measure results. We’re “working at it,” but not getting the job done for sure, as Policy 5410 envisioned. Somehow, a strong-enough follow-through is missing.

So, IF we believe that the goal of “Every Third Grader Reads” is crucial to the success of every student, what are we going to do about it? Here are suggestions for a 4-part plan to deal with the problem – No, not just to “deal with” but a plan to get the job done.

1) School leaders must make a commitment. No more “dealing with” or “giving special attention to” or “trying to” or “we’re doing the best we can.” We need a clear recognition that neither social promotion nor retention is the answer, because both are severe, life-changing decisions and neither one is in the best interests of the child’s future. Therefore, a firm commitment must be made to solve the reading problem at the third grade level – to avoid a host of unfortunate problems down the line if not corrected. To accomplish this it then becomes obvious that there is a need for massive intervention, innovative measures, no holds barred – whatever it takes. Somebody’s new teaching plan is not the final answer (although some may be needed as part of the answer). Only a firm commitment will get us there.
2) A complete data base is needed. Personal anecdotes are helpful. Folders are nice. PECs are supportive, but – if we are serious – we need every child’s record in a comprehensive data base, and the software to provide a complete background and continuous update, with appropriate breakouts to report on categories of remediation for analysis purposes. Professional judgment calls are necessary, but analysis cannot be done without measured results, and results cannot be measured without good data. The reporting format should be designed so all stakeholders – teachers, administrators, parents, school board, and the public – can see where we’re going.
3) Better oversight is needed. Even some of the original plans of Policy 5410 are not being followed by all schools. The game plan must be clear to all involved. In this type of situation, organizations are best served by adopting some form of both a “vertical” and “horizontal” (or longitudinal) oversight. For instance, at the third grade point of decision to promote or retain, all decisions at the local level should be reviewed by higher authority before final approval – to assure uniformity of the process from one school to the next and adherence to overall policy. After the necessary judgment calls authorizing promotion, a longitudinal checkpoint is needed a year later (possibly every year) to see how they are working out. Measuring results is the only way to judge progress.
4) Community Involvement. This is related to Suggestion 1 above, but goes further. In the final analysis, this is more of a community problem than a school problem and has many threads reaching into the fabric of the community. To gain support at all levels, RCS must tell its story and the need for urgent action, along with the potential benefits in the future (of which there are many) for everyone who lives here and especially those working in economic development.
In addition, there is a very specific type of community involvement necessary to make the program successful, namely parental support. We talk a lot about parental involvement, but almost all attempts end up in frustration, especially with families who need it most, and this is arguably the most serious problem in education. With a total commitment to this project, we now have the leverage to elicit direct and effective parental involvement. Since breaking the back of illiteracy at the third grade will undoubtedly require an innovative, all-out summer school program, it will only be effective if the parent(s) are strongly in support. This can be accomplished if representatives of RCS are delegated to visit every at-risk child’s home and talk with the parent or parents personally, delivering the message, such as: “Your child is going to fail third grade and be retained for another year in third grade – unless you make sure he/she attends summer school. We cannot promise a promotion, but attending this special school is the only chance your child has to earn one.” A severe message? Yes. But that’s where we are with that child – and we have to tell the parent(s) that they are responsible for the child’s success in school and their future. Don’t you think that approach will get the parent’s attention? It should, and it is necessary – for the child’s good. And, remember, teachers cannot teach children who are not in school.

* * *

So there are four suggestions on how to cure a “leak point” in our educational system and how to lay the groundwork – actually, how to create a dramatic change and foundation for a constantly improving and rising reputation for education here where we live. Of course, others in the community may have alternative methods to accomplish the same objectives. Fine! — please offer them.

Invest Now or Pay Later

Some will say that any such “all-out” program will cost too much. Yes, it will cost something, but not a disproportionate amount. Mostly, it’s a matter of community resolve. We should always return to the starting question to ask ourselves: How important is it to make sure that every child gets the best education? Put in financial terms, an equation accepted by most educational researchers states that if remediation is not accomplished in the early grades, it takes approximately seven times the cost to do it later on. And, of course, we rarely do it successfully later on. That’s why we have “lost generations” of older kids who did not learn to read well as third graders. Then, as we know, they become the highest indicator of teenage pregnancies, drug use, welfare dependency, and criminal incarcerations. — a real cost to the public over the life of the dropout that has been estimated as high as $500,000 per person.

But maybe you still think this is all too much trouble. O.K., but then you need to tell me we don’t want or need to be one of the best school systems in the United States.

Isn’t it time to move beyond “working on” the problem and doing whatever it takes to solve it? Isn’t this the time to do it?

– Vic Jose

Vic Jose :: Sep.01.2007 :: Uncategorized ::

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