Reply to 23 Baltimore City Schools Have Zero Students Proficient in Math

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What’s your issue with #2? They honestly need so much more to make that job worth it.[/quote]

They need to be paid all that money to do a good job teaching.[/quote]

Imagine kindergarten teacher #1: her students all come from homes where both parents are literate, 85%have college and 50% have graduate degrees. Their children have been to parks, zoos, museums, restaurants, libraries, and community classes and sports. Most of her students have been read aloud too since they were babies and their families have accumulated libraries in their homes with a selection of books they read together. The students are familiar with books and even have favorites.

And teacher #2: about a quarter of her students come from homes where parents are not literate in any language. Another quarter have basic literacy in a language other than English. More than half of her students’ parents did not attend college for any length of time. Their parents work double shifts during which time the kids are watched by extended family. They go on outings occasionally but have not yet visited a library or museum, and have not been in an organized group like a class or day care. More than half the students have not been read to and there are no books in the home. The students are largely unfamiliar with books and cannot handle one correctly (identify the cover, turn the pages in the right direction).

If teacher #2’s kids are not achieving the same as teacher #1 at the end of the year, you can blame the teacher, or you can look at the systemic issues that are causing students to enter their first day of their first year of school already woefully behind.  Obviously we need good teachers in Baltimore. But there is much more at work than “bad teachers.” [/quote]

Trying to teach kids to read when there aren't even basic needs met is a ridiculous threshold. We need more counselors, social workers, basic skills, IEP aides, etc. in classes. You also cant teach kids that arent in class. [/quote]

The hypothetical for teacher #2 didn’t say the kids “basic needs” weren’t met. [/quote]

Oh yep that's right the basic needs are met but everything else listed isn't with illiterate parents, parents who work multiple jobs, transient care, social and developmental skills not taught by daycare/preschool providers that at least have a certification but instead of with extended family who are either also working multiple jobs and likely sleeping or not working at all (see illiterate) or underemployed. They are unfamiliar with books. Their physiological needs may be met, albeit barely but you have to get safety met as well. Do you think these kids are in stable environments- meaning people, housing, dedicated income, water, and electrical bills paid on time, working A/C, working heat, clothes and shoes that fit and are for the appropriate season, etc? Are their schools happy and safe places to be?

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What would you recommend for those kids, if the adults around them are not providing for them?[/quote]

As stated in my original comment: We need more counselors, social workers, basic skills, IEP aides, etc. in classes. Or we need universal Pre-K. Or truancy. Or anything other than setting kids up for failure and acting like every kid/community has the same needs. [url]https://www.npr.org/2019/02/26/696794821/why-white-school-districts-have-so-much-more-money#:~:text=%22For%20every%20student%20enrolled%2C%20the%20average%20nonwhite%20school,than%20districts%20composed%20primarily%20of%20students%20of%20color.[/url]

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You are suggesting school-based replacements for the things parents are failing at (for a variety of reasons)?  I mean, I agree with this, but certainly this board has posters suggesting that schools can't do the entire job.  [/quote]

Schools cant do any job that they are remotely supposed to do when each kid is in crisis, effectively. Their parents are in crisis too. They are doing the best they can but we need community-level, decade-funded measures. [/quote]

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