Tuesday, April 15, 2008
The harm in pulling 'smart' kids out of class
From the RoundTable blog
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Beth Rhodes
Rhodes is a doctoral student in social work and political science at the University of Michigan.
Although I no longer live in Roanoke, I have been following The Times' coverage of the precarious state of Roanoke City Public Schools in recent years. I graduated from Patrick Henry in 1999 and credit the school system -- and my teachers in particular -- with fostering an educational foundation and love of learning that enabled me to thrive at Georgetown as an undergrad and pursue doctoral studies at the University of Michigan.
So how does one reconcile my experiences with reports of school safety issues, poor performance on standardized tests and abysmal graduation rates? My high school days predate the implementation of Standards of Learning and No Child Left Behind; teachers were able to creatively convey information and focus on developing the skills necessary to succeed academically.
My brother, a 2007 graduate from another area high school, knows very little about World War II because "that wasn't on the SOLs, so we didn't study it." Regardless of how preposterous I believe the tests and accountability standards are, the school system has little control over the decisions of legislators.
What administrators do have control over is the system's policy of "tracking" students, however explicit or implicit it may be. From third grade until graduation, I shared classrooms with the same group of students. There was some attrition and a few new faces when we transitioned from elementary school to middle school and then to high school, but my classmates were overwhelmingly white, middle-class students whose parents were highly involved in their education.
In a school system with as much racial and socioeconomic diversity as Roanoke's, how could that be? "Gifted" students were pulled out of regular classrooms and put into the PLATO program beginning in third grade; admission decisions were made based on second-grade test scores. Middle schools separated kids into "honors" and "academic" tracks, with little interaction between the two groups. The segregation was magnified in high school with the addition of programs like the Governor's School and advanced placement classes.
I am the first to recognize my own role as the beneficiary of the extra resources, integrated curricula and high-quality teachers allocated to the advanced programs. But perhaps the cost to the students who were not given those opportunities outweighs the benefits. How would it feel to the third-grader who knows she didn't get into the "smart" class? Doesn't she deserve the unique learning environment that PLATO seeks to engender?
Studies have repeatedly demonstrated that students who know they are deemed less intelligent or less capable than some of their peers perform worse than students who are not aware of distinctions. Lower tracks come with lower expectations on the part of teachers, administrators and the students themselves.
Tracking in the elementary and middle schools generally occurs across all subjects, regardless of individuals' abilities in particular areas, and it separates students both academically and socially. By the time students arrive at high school there is certainly a need to assign classes by ability, but assignments are made on a subject-by-subject basis based on students' past performance.
The problems continually chipping away the credibility of the city's high schools and decimating the morale of teachers, however, begin long before students enter ninth grade.
If we did not teach students there is a limit to their ability to achieve academically at such a young age, maybe high school dropout rates would improve. If we did not separate students socially and academically beginning in elementary school, maybe high schools would be more integrated and the atmosphere less contentious. If we gave all students the same opportunities to succeed, maybe more of them would choose to do so. If we changed patterns of resource allocation to give more to students from disadvantaged backgrounds, maybe we could overcome some of the disparities perpetuating the achievement gap.
I know problems plaguing Roanoke's schools and public education in general are much more complex than my idealistic portrayal. In essence, the schools are a microcosm of society; the difficulties are reflections of larger trends and inequities. I also realize that all parents, including my own, want the best for their children. They want their children to have the freedom and support to excel and if separating kids by ability facilitates the ideal environment, they will fight for it -- and they do.
But I believe it is time for someone to fight for the students who lose role models and friends to the "smart" classes and internalize their exclusion as confirmation of their own deficiencies. Second-grade test scores are not good indicators of students' future academic potential, and we should not judge future potential without giving them an equal opportunity to develop intellectually and learn to believe in their own abilities.
