Slipping through the Cracks
Yesterday, I was discussing with my neighbor her reasons for pulling her son out of Alchesay High School and enlisting him in an on-line charter school instead.
Her basic reason: He was getting straight A's and not learning a single thing. And, as she put it, he's not a genius, so obviously there was something awry.
Since he started the on-line school late, he signed up for algebra (which he took here last year) rather than geometry (which he'd be too far behind in). And he's currently got a C- in a class that he took last year!
This story is indicative of the problem within education here on the rez (although I do not know the cause). Every year, teachers struggle to get their kids up to grade level, and every year, teachers fail. We teach at grade level or below, failing our students who are far below grade level and failing our students (few though they are) who are above grade level. It's not surprising that a high percentage of the few Native Americans who make it to college end up failing or dropping out.
And how does standardized testing help? It only forces us to feel the pressure to teach to grade level, treating each student as a standard when what we really need is training in differentiated instruction and individualized assessment (how much did your student learn and develop?). Accountability is all well and good. But standardized tests only aggravate the problem, helping to ensure that reservations remain places of poverty, squalor, drug abuse, and hopelessness.
Her basic reason: He was getting straight A's and not learning a single thing. And, as she put it, he's not a genius, so obviously there was something awry.
Since he started the on-line school late, he signed up for algebra (which he took here last year) rather than geometry (which he'd be too far behind in). And he's currently got a C- in a class that he took last year!
This story is indicative of the problem within education here on the rez (although I do not know the cause). Every year, teachers struggle to get their kids up to grade level, and every year, teachers fail. We teach at grade level or below, failing our students who are far below grade level and failing our students (few though they are) who are above grade level. It's not surprising that a high percentage of the few Native Americans who make it to college end up failing or dropping out.
And how does standardized testing help? It only forces us to feel the pressure to teach to grade level, treating each student as a standard when what we really need is training in differentiated instruction and individualized assessment (how much did your student learn and develop?). Accountability is all well and good. But standardized tests only aggravate the problem, helping to ensure that reservations remain places of poverty, squalor, drug abuse, and hopelessness.
posted by Jessica at 12:33 PM
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