Availability/Accessibility of Tutors as an example of a class divide

Article: Some Tutors Are Shouldering a Wider Load

By ABBY ELLIN

Published: December 14, 2012

Instead of just helping a student catch up, a new sort of tutor has taken on duties of therapists, personal assistants and even parents.

 

I'm posting this article because it reminded me of a common argument that's made in urban education, which is - "The parents aren't doing enough.  Families need to do more and get more involved in their children's education."  But according to this article, it seems like the parents at the other end of the socio-economic spectrum aren't doing more - they're in fact doing less.  The only difference is that they have the money to pay somebody to pick up the slack for them.  Again, another example of a class divide in the success of students in schools and in higher education.

Original Article: Please Stop Using the Phrase 'Achievement Gap'

Here is Camika Royal's original article on the phrase "achievement gap".

ARTICLE: "Please Stop Using the Phrase 'Achievement Gap'

Here's the beginning of her piece...

Recently, I've been more and more troubled with the phrase "achievement gap." I was a 1999 Teach For America corps member and recently, in my occasional work with the organization, I've begun to share my concerns about what this concept suggests.

Because of America's racial history and legacy, the cross-racial comparison that holds up white student achievement as the universally standard goal is problematic. Further, the term "achievement gap" is inaccurate because it blames the historically marginalized, under-served victims of poor schooling and holds whiteness and wealth as models of excellence. And, as with all misnomers, the thinking that undergirds the achievement gap only speaks of academic outcomes, not the conditions that led to those outcomes, nor does it acknowledge that the outcomes are a consequence of those conditions.

I'm still mulling over what I think about her comments, but here's one quote that I thought was really powerful: "Words count because they indicate place, position, and power."

Stop using the phrase "achievement gap"

Blogpost: "Camika Royal Responds to Critics"
(via Diane Ravitch's blog)
Camika Royal, a historian of education and Teach for America alum, write a provocative post in which she called on people to stop using the term “achievement gap.” In her original post, she said the term is offensive and demeaning and explained why. The post generated many responses. I invited Dr. Royal to respond to her critics, and she does so here.

I haven't read Camika Royal's original post about the term "achievement gap", but here are the two quotes I found particularly striking from her post here:

The first quote...
This is why when people suggest the difference in test scores between Whites and Asians is an “achievement gap” that supposedly disparages Whites, thus disproving the argument of Anglo-normativity, it does not. Even within the comparison of White and Asian students’ test scores, Whites’ test scores are seen as normal and Asians’ high test scores are seen as exotic and exceptional, hence the model minority myth. Both the so-called achievement gap and the model minority myth are racist constructs.

and

The second quote...
This messiah complex compels top-down reforms and resists partnerships with parents and listening to communities because these reformers truly believe they know best. Education reform fueled by martyrdom and the messiah complex is missing the mark. One of my mentors, Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings, said recently, “Catching up is made nearly impossible by our structural inequalities.” In agreement with her and with you, Dr. Ravitch, I believe that until education reform corrects structural inequalities teeming in under-resourced, historically marginalized communities, education reform will continue to fall short of its goal.

How Washington, D.C., Schools Cheat Their Students Twice

ARTICLE: "How Washington, D.C., Schools Cheat Their Students Twice"by CALEB ROSSITER
Kids who fail their courses go to phony Credit Recovery classes. No wonder so many high-school graduates are at or near a fifth-grade level.(Originally on WSJ.com, via Diane Ratvitch's blog)

I see this phenomenon in my school too!  Personally, I'm not convinced that computer-based lessons are actually able to teach students to fully understand content.  I'm not saying that any teacher is better than a computer program - there are definitely a lot of bad teachers out there who essentially just babysit the students - but in terms of actual learning (by which I mean comprehension and not just being able to click the right answers on the "assessment" at the end of the program), I just don't see how a computer program can help students reach their full potential.

Beyond Black and White in the Mississippi Delta

ARTICLE: "Beyond Black and White in the Mississippi Delta"

by Gene Dattel

In three small-town Southern elections, community and trust trumped race.
This op-ed doesn't really delve into any real issues, but I thought that the way the author articulated the following comment was nice:

Each of these towns experienced the civil rights movement. They also experienced mechanization, which displaced the black labor force. When the promise of the civil rights revolution was challenged by the realities of deindustrialization, hope was replaced by disappointment and disillusionment. The moral clarity of the struggle against legal segregation was replaced by de facto segregation and self-segregation — a problem hardly unique to the South.

It reminded me of the conversation we had last week, where Ann was talking about how students don't think about all the reasons behind the surface "reality" of what their observations.  Similarly, I think that when people talk about problems rising from racial discrimination, they often don't think about how class/the economy compounds/compounded those issues.  The article I posted before about the housing market also speaks to this point.