Class discussion on Achievement Gap - 1/26/07
"What It Takes To Make A Student" article in the New York Times Magazine, November 26, 2006.
What's the role of a school in a democratic society?
Social institution
Margaret Spellings and Bush are attempting to close what they have termed the "achievement gap".
They are locating the debate in two places:
academia - causes
school - cures
In response to the Spellings/Bush approach, we are challenged to reconstruct the debates and develop alternate questions.
Hart and Risley ask what causes "achievement gaps"?
They looked to what was happening at home.
The ways parents interact with a child. One observation found was that the more a parent converses with a child, the more positive a child's future will be.
Concerted cultivation v. accomplishment of natural growth
Knowledge v. intentions
Children and adults are not rewarded for "natural growth". The skill sets that are off the "achievement" radar.
The ability to negotiate is a skill set that is highly rewarded.
Article regarding No Child Left Behind Act, NYT, 1/25/07
What are the most salient debates?
Who are the players?
Signals?
Terrain?
Tropes? Images?
No Child Left Behind Act slipped in under the radar. The premise and promise is to have every child "proficient" by 2014.
Who does that include?
What types of schools?
What does "proficient" mean?
What are the standards for proficiency?
What defines failure?
Is the education system complete under this definition of proficiency?
How much more complete does the educational and social system need to be in order to provide the possibility for children to achieve this level expected of them by the federal and state standard?
