Delaware is aiming for a three-tiered diploma system that is dependent on standardized test scores. The highest diploma is "distinguished," the next "standard," and "basic" takes the bronze (literally). The standard opposition immediately surfaced; as Joanne Jacobs notes, testing critics want to "kill the messenger":
Fifty years after the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed school segregation, Delaware is poised to give three-quarters of its black, Hispanic and low-income high school graduates the lowest of the state's three new diplomas.
They are slated to receive "basic" diplomas while the majority of white and more affluent graduates are getting "standard" or "distinguished" diplomas under the state's three-tiered diploma system.
"Though physically they are integrated, it's a public policy that's been put in place to resegregate our schools. That's the effect of this new policy," Wilmington City Councilman Theo K. Gregory said.
"It sorts them to the bottom again," said Melva Ware, a specialist in urban education at the Delaware Center for Teacher Education at the University of Delaware.
I suppose it would be rude to point out to Ms. Ware that it is the student's ability, not an outside force, that "sorts them to the bottom." This Scarecrow-like belief that is is the diploma itself, and not the ability behind it, that opens doors for students is seen time and time again. When 75% of Delaware's minority students are expected to bottom out on the state standardized exam, why can't those who allegedly speak for those minorities focus on why that might be, rather than rushing to ensure that those students receive diplomas that might be meaningless?
It's all about self-esteem, I suppose:
"Eventually, with a good study, they will find it furthers the aura of separation of these kids when, ultimately, you want them to feel that they are just as good as their counterparts," said Hector Figueroa, education director for the Urban League.
As Joanne points out, "They're not just as good, of course. Not in reading, writing and math." And Delaware teacher Dave Huber has plenty to say (his comments are in bold, the article he references in italics):
Didn't you just know the 'ol self-esteem motive would be brought into this sooner or later?
The diploma disparities are stark. And they raise troubling issues for a state that imposed some of the highest academic standards in the nation on its schools but, given the numbers, has apparently failed to educate many minority and low-income students well enough to meet those standards.
What about troubling issues like poor home life? No discipline? No father around? Total apathy and disdain for education? Don't dare bring these up, of course, or be included in the crowd exemplified by Wilmington Councilman Theo Gregory:
Gregory, the Wilmington councilman, is less forgiving. He said that lingering racism in the schools has made black children victims of integration. They sense they are not wanted, and it hampers them academically, he said. Not only are steps not being taken to include them, steps are being taken to exclude them."
I cannot adequately express how utterly ridiculous and wrong-headed this sentiment is. I've been teaching in these schools for 13 years now, and was educated in the very same schools. If anything, New Castle County teachers go out of their way for minority students moreso than white students, looking to advance them into higher level classes, counseling them, and even overlooking misbehavior more often (and make no mistake -- black students are guilty of misbehavior much more often than their white counterparts -- I suppose Gregory would blame this on "lingering racism," too).
[State School Board member Claibourne D.] Smith and others criticize Delaware for not doing more to get certified math teachers in every middle school math class. They say that black, Hispanic and low-income students often get unqualified teachers, in part because of low expectations for such students.
Like Gregory, Smith is clueless. Every middle school in Delaware I know of operates on a "team" system where the four core subject area teachers share the same group of students. In this system, the math teacher (as well as each core subject teacher) teaches the honors students, the grade-level students, and the below grade-level students. There is no unqualified teacher "reserved" for the low-achieving students!
Personally, I agree with Joanne that giving some students "basic" diplomas is not unfair - but failing to give those students the skills they need, regardless of diploma status, is (and some quoted in the article, like Senator Sokola, get it right). How the critics, though, can natter over the unfairness of the color of a sticker on the diploma, while ignoring the opportunity for an honest discussion about the achievement gap, amazes me.
I mean, would you want THIS guy in charge of educating and motivating your kid?
Robert Andrzejewski, head of the Red Clay school district, said the system will not motivate students as legislators insisted it would.
"One of the worst things you can do to kids with low self-esteem, who are often of low-income anyway, is show them failure," he said. "So many of those students have experienced failure in their lives and there comes a point when they decide they have to save face for themselves, and, unfortunately, that may mean they drop out."
The only way to avoid showing kids failure is to not challenge them at all.
Posted by kswygert at April 26, 2004 05:03 PM