Journal 6

Mind the Gap: The Key to Equal Achievement by Pedro Noguera
Edutopia February 2007

In this article Pedro Noguera writes about the challenge facing public education today: no underprivileged child left behind. Noquera makes a very intriguing statement: the concept that American schools have never been expected to educate all children. The author proposes that before the No Child Left Behind Act, it was accepted and expected that some children would fail. Although I knew that the educational system failed, in fact, continues to fail, many children, I never imagined that this might be both expected and acceptable to some.

Pedro Noguera believes that the focus on state-mandated exams leaves little time for exploration in the classroom or the development of critical thinking skills in students. In addition, he feels that schools are also called on to solve the many social issues of their underprivileged students, as well. Despite all of this, Noguera ultimately believes it is the will of the individual educators that closes the education gap for underprivileged children.

Noguera goes on to cite some specific strategies are evident in the schools where all children succeed including, "a commitment to engage parents as partners in the educational process, a plan that details explicit roles and responsibilities for parents and educators, strong instructional leadership focused on a coherent program for curriculum and instruction that teachers support and follow, a willingness to evaluate interventions to ensure quality control and a commitment to finding ways to meet the nonacademic needs of poor students."

Questions:
1. If I, as a teacher, am willing to accept my role in student accomplishment, how can I get my colleagues and administrators to follow suit? According to Noguera, it is very important that everyone on the campus believes strongly in closing the achievement gap and that particular strategies must be in place to support this goal. All administrators are feeling the pressure to educate all children and exploring models of successful schools and communicating with peers will open the door to positive change.
2. How can I encourage more parental involvement in my classroom? The first step to increasing parental involvement is to put yourself in the shoes of the parents of your underprivileged students. You must understand what the barriers are that are stopping them from becoming more involved and then tackle those barriers one at a time. Cultural views and personal experience color many people's impressions of the educational system and it is important to acknowledge this before trying to overcome it.