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School issues in the burbs: no easy solutions
I returned to school yesterday. Happily, our district and our association reached a tentative agreement after many tough hours of negotiation.
While many of us at Springfield Township worried about our contract, other challenges faced our neighboring suburban Philadelphia schools. These controversies point to critical issues addressing many of our high schools–school safety and the achievement gap.
At Wissahickon, my former school district, students are protesting the mandated use of clear backpacks for students in school. The clear backpack rule was instituted in an effort to keep weapons out of school and to prevent incidents like the tragedy we experienced at Springfield last December. But how do we reconcile student rights in an era that requires vigilant protection of the students in our charge, even when we know that no strategy we adopt will be fool-proof? Should all students be inconvenienced? Is inconvenience justified for the greater good?
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At Lower Merion, a school district on Philadelphia’s wealthy Main Line, the Concerned Black Parents of Lower Merion and six district families, filed a class action lawsuit alleging discrimination. The families claim that school districts segregate black students into remedial classrooms from which few ever emerge. The parent group pointed to state testing (PSSA assessment required by NCLB) results as proof. According to an article in the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, "the longer black kids remain in the school district, the farther they fall behind their peers in testing."
This suit brings to the forefront achievement gap issues school districts cannot ignore.
Are our suburban districts relegating minority students to second rate educational programs? What are we not doing or not doing well enough? Can we–parents and teachers–work together to clearly identify contributing factors negatively impacting achievement? Are the high stakes assessments that currently drive our educational institutions adequate measures of learning and true predictors of success?
We must somehow find a way to act as local researchers as we address and attack often uncomfortable questions within our own learning communities. I sincerely hope that as we address achievement questions, we don’t undervalue so much of the learning the tests never measure.
For more information on proposed changes in the reauthorization of NCLB, read this article in today’s eSchool News.
Another challenging year in the suburbs.
Filed under: Uncategorized
About Joyce Valenza
Joyce is an Assistant Professor of Teaching at Rutgers University School of Information and Communication, a technology writer, speaker, blogger and learner. Follow her on Twitter: @joycevalenza
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