Question 2: What is the role of the basics of education
in closing the achievement gap?
In policy discussions about the
Achievement Gap and related issues, we often focus on the new ideas. But please notice the strategies for addressing the
Achievement Gap, such as Complementary Learning,
or tackling
the dropout crisis, etc., all include a basic ingredient. Effective Schools.
What is an effective
school? One simple definition: It is a school that has
·
high
expectations
·
quality
teaching
·
focused
resources
and these are applied to help each student succeed.
One SOTA student, who dropped out and came back for her degree, testified to the Board about the qualities students look for: teachers that care, an engaging, rigorous curriculum and a safe environment.
These are the old ideas, and
they are difficult to do well. But
that’s the job. None of the other
ideas work without effective schools. If a school district decides to make it a top
priority to tackle the achievement gap, it needs to keep a relentless focus on
effective schools. A district needs to
avoid defining the achievement gap in a way that sidesteps the basics. Read more about that here.
One example of a school that is
making progress by focusing on the basics is