Entry #27 - March 22, 1999


"An outpouring of expressed concerns from parents, teachers and other groups does seem to have had an impact on provisions for low-achieving students."


Great news in the paper today -- our support workers' strike is over! The tentative agreement reached by the mediator has been accepted by both the school board and the union membership. Will we ever be glad to see our folks back on Monday! I'll bet it takes a couple of weeks to get things back to normal. Even the students will likely express their appreciation -- they have been most unhappy with the bathrooms, and with having to eat lunch outside in the cold. Maybe we should throw a welcome-back party? I just may suggest it!

We have now had a more detailed look at the new program for secondary schools, which is still a work in progress, apparently. It isn't clear what distinguishes the "Academic" and "Applied" tracks (which are both supposed to be at grade level and have the same high standards), and the actual content of the courses is still under development.

When we elementary and middle-level teachers feel we're having unrealistic expectations foisted on us, we can pause for a moment and sympathize with our secondary colleagues, who will have to start teaching in September with only the outline for the first two months of the year's work! Textbooks have been contracted but they will not be ready, and teachers will not have seen them before school starts.

Since it's still not clear how the academic "streams" differ from each other, it is hard to advise our eighth graders who must submit their option sheets to their high schools soon -- for courses and levels that have still not been written! Talk about "winging it." I can't see how the implementation of this new program will proceed smoothly with so much unfinished business, but political agendas, not educational ones, are clearly driving the process. Suggestions or cautions from teachers are usually represented as "whining."

On the other hand, an outpouring of expressed concerns from parents, teachers and other groups does seem to have had an impact on provisions for low-achieving students. It is still not clear what support services and alternative programming will be available for them, but they will be allowed to take courses in learning strategies, basic language, and math skills for credit after all.

Rumor has it that more courses are being written at a more basic level in various subjects to address the needs of slower learners. There are also supposed to be "transition" courses for students who want to upgrade from the "Applied" stream to the "Academic" stream. No one has any real idea how this is going to work out in practice -- I guess we will have some "discovery learning." to do. But at least we are not proceeding with the fiction that all students are going to achieve at the same rate.

It's one thing to assert that all students can achieve at a high level -- I would affirm that, guardedly, as long as we add, "but not all students will achieve at the same level in all areas, and not all will be able to achieve without significant support, adaptations or modifications to their program." We are not producing widgets, and wide individual variance in abilities, task commitment, rate of maturation and other factors is stubbornly resistant to change.

I'm all for having high expectations and open-ended goals, because students are full of surprises! Not to mention the fact that some kids who struggle with basics in one area may be tremendously talented in another. I get nervous, though, when I hear talk of "all kids meeting the standards" without some realistic recognition of diverse needs and our obligation to support learners at ALL levels, whether they "meet the standards" or not. Those who don't NOW may be able to do so LATER if we can keep them constructively engaged, building basic skills, and expanding their base of knowledge and interests.

Speaking of diverse needs, we had a productive conference at school about one of my Grade 8 students who had previously expressed very unrealistic aspirations in his high school choices. This is a boy who once had severe behavioral difficulties but has made tremendous strides in that area, and now is a popular member of his class. Academic work, however, has not been his strong suit, and he is disinclined to put in the effort required to do better. So when he expressed the intention to go into the university-prep track next year, I was at a loss for words.

Fortunately, in the conference with his mother and homeroom teacher we discussed his strengths and we all came to the same conclusion -- he will be much happier, and less frustrated, in a more tech-oriented course. Somewhere he can do auto body and shop work as well as academics. His mom knows how frustrated he gets, especially in written assignments, and his homeroom teacher and I looked at each other and laughed, "If you get certified as a mechanic, you'll make much more money than WE do!" We agreed to go visit some of the schools that offer tech programs and see what looks best for him. His big concern, it turned out, was that his friends would not be going there -- but we persuaded him it was an opportunity to make a whole bunch of NEW friends (especially girls, whom he has just discovered).

Beginning next fall, all students in Grade 7 and up in our district will be required to complete an "Annual Education Plan." We aren't sure exactly what this is supposed to be, but it will reportedly focus on both long and short term academic goals, and involve students in goal-setting and evaluation. This sounds very positive to me, as one problem I frequently face is students' complete lack of awareness of how their achievement compares with expectations for their age and grade, and their lack of knowledge as to what will be required in the future.

More participation in the whole process is bound to increase kids' sense of ownership of their own learning, which is something critically needed at our school at least. Too many seem to feel that learning " just happens," it isn't something you MAKE happen.


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