Thursday, July 24, 2008

Teach for America seeks to close the educational achievement gap

By Christine Marie Denison of Street Zine

During my senior year at Austin College I was busily preparing applications for graduate and law schools when I learned that Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach for America, would be coming to campus as the recipient of the 2006 Posey Leadership Award. As I researched Teach for America in preparation for Kopp's arrival, I was particularly struck by the organization's mission to close the educational achievement gap that exists between economically advantaged and disadvantaged children by placing high achieving recent college graduates in Title I schools. Growing up, I attended both magnet and private schools, but I had volunteered as an after-school tutor in a struggling Dallas public school. The disparity between the quality of the education that I received and that of the children with whom I worked was staggering. Most of the children were frustrated, apathetic, and unprepared for the following grade.

With majors in Political Science and Spanish and no formal coursework in education, I was initially unsure what I could do to help alleviate the injustices that I perceived, other than by volunteering my time. Teach for America offered me the opportunity to join a movement of idealistic college graduates whose mission was to begin working towards narrowing the achievement gap and affording greater educational opportunities for all students.

After joining Teach for America and attending an intense summer institute, I was excited to finally have my own classroom. As a 5th grade bilingual science teacher in the Rio Grande Valley, I was initially undaunted by the fact that more than half of the students at my school had failed to pass the state mandated science test the previous year. I set out to improve the school's poor academic record with energy, enthusiasm and creative lesson plans. Unfortunately, not all of my students were immediately on board with my plan. I quickly realized that in order to successfully teach my students, I had to learn more about their backgrounds and gain a better understanding of how that affected their academic performance. Many of my students had already repeated at least one grade, and thought of themselves as the "bad kids." It became clear that one of the most significant things that I could do for my students was to get them to change their perceptions of themselves and that of their future prospects.

Along with serving as a teacher for my students, I also became a coach, counselor, advocate, parental figure and friend. Through the strong relationships I formed with my students I was able to push them to achieve daily personal goals. As my students became more invested in the success of the class, and more confident in their own abilities, their academic performance improved dramatically. As a result, my students were the top scoring bilingual team in the school and were even able to achieve test scores which were higher than many of their English proficient peers.

Serving as a teacher has been the most challenging endeavor I have ever undertaken. However, my students' perseverance, in spite of many obstacles, inspires me to continue working relentlessly to help afford underserved children every opportunity possible to be academically successful.

Returning to Dallas, it is apparent that children living in poverty face the same challenges throughout the state. Such challenges often prevent students from graduating from high school and realizing their full potential. However, there are certain education reforms that would ensure that all students receive an excellent education, regardless of the economic circumstances in which they grew up.

First, early childhood education should be available for all families who are unable to afford it. Many children living in poverty enter Pre-School and Kindergarten developmentally behind other children and are unable to catch up before first grade.

Second, high quality teachers should be recruited aggressively, trained rigorously, and have access to strong support systems through the campus and the district administration. Often teachers become "burned out" after the first few years of teaching because they do not receive adequate professional development and become frustrated with a bureaucratic education system.

Finally, schools would benefit from the creation of a comprehensive set of national standards that would define specific learning goals for each grade level and subject area. Student mastery of these standards should be measured by implementing high-quality, aligned periodic assessments that would accurately track student progress nationwide. Currently, many states have weak standards with content gaps across grade levels and use inaccurate assessments to track student progress. Students who are children of migrant workers or who move often would also benefit immensely from the implementation of a set of national standards.

Educational inequity affects not only children living in poverty, it affects all of us. I will remain a life-long advocate for underserved children because I know that the ultimate prosperity of America depends on the success of all students, not just a select few. Once you are exposed to the injustice that exists in our educational system, it is impossible not to act. If you feel similarly, I encourage you to become involved with your local public school as a tutor or volunteer. Also, to learn more about how you can be part of helping to close the achievement gap by bringing Teach For America to Dallas, visit www.teachforamerica.org.

Pegasus News content partner - Street Zine

Christine Marie Denison is Assistant Director for Children and Youth programs at The Stewpot.

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