The Dropout Nation Podcast: Challenge Achievement Gaps
On this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast, a Webinar I conducted for Students For Education Reform leads me to offer some important reasons why now, more than ever, we must focus on stemming achievement gaps. Contrary to what some may think, we must address the gaps of literacy, opportunity, teacher quality, and practices that has condemned 1.2 million sixth graders alone (and, according to the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress, millions more) to the educational, economic, and social abyss.
You can listen to the Podcast at RiShawn Biddle’s radio page or download directly to your iPod, Zune, MP3 player, smartphone, Nook Color or Kindle. Also, subscribe to the podcast series. It is also available on iTunes, Blubrry, the Education Podcast Network, Zune Marketplace and PodBean. Also download to your phone with BlackBerry podcast software and Google Reader.
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[...] this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast points out, achievement gaps aren’t limited to just a smattering of poor black and Latino [...]
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[...] before then, No Child clearly stated that the nation would no longer tolerate As noted in this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast, the law’s Adequate Yearly Progress provisions helped shine a light on the low quality of [...]
Cap Lee
189 days ago
Agreed that focus should be put on reducing achievement gaps as soon as we know what they are. They are NOT determined by an artificial test score for many reasons. Go here for some of those: http://www.wholechildreform.com/nclbtestingnotvalid.html
Actually those who are chasing the test scores are taking kids like lemmings to the sea, away from real learning into an artificial form of success. Thus leaving kids unable to generalize information only leaving them to regurgitate it.
Until we change the system away from the one, developed during slavery with that agenda, into a system that respects the intelligence and abilities of all kids, will we truly be doing great damage to those kids we are trying to help.
A system must take kids from where they are, not promoting them with a D- and not pushing them so far behind that they can’t catch up. We must realize that kids are not as the Stepford Kids, educatioanlly pure. That once they start demonstrating proficiencies, being assessed based on what they can do, a whole new group will rise to thew top. However, if we succeed at closing the testing gap, we will fail by turning kids into mindless robots without a lick of common sense.