As many of you know, 99 percent of the time I seek out the "radical middle," where we can find common ground, agree and move forward together. In the case of the new federal mandates for Totem and Tulalip, I have reacted with some passion and anger. Why?

Punished for Being Poor: At bottom, the federal government is punishing us for being poor while the state legislature refuses to uphold our state constitution which requires ample funding without regard to race and caste. Our state constitution boldly places a higher value on education than any other state, whereas in practice we are 42nd in the nation in funding our schools. Worse, we continue to widen the gap between rich and poor -- allowing rich districts to provide up to $1,000 more per pupil for instruction than poor districts.

No Vote of Congress: Now the federal government is singling out those very schools and communities that have been denied the higher funding allowed for richer districts. And they are doing so without a vote of congress, with no advance notice, without consideration to progress made, and with the use of retroactive data.

Gains at Totem and Tulalip: In 2009 Totem and Tulalip made as much or more progress than any school in Marysville. Totem showed large gains in reading (10%), writing (9%), science (9%) and sixth (9%) and eighth (8%) grade math. Tulalip has been implementing math recovery (along with Everyday Math) advancing grade by grade, through 4th grade so far. Third grade math scores (first WASL year) advanced 13 percent in 2008 and a bit more in 2009. Fourth grade scores advanced 22 percent in 2009; in fact, fourth grade scores advanced by 20 percent or more in reading, writing and math.

Teachers and principals at Totem and Tulalip have been working every bit as hard as teachers across the district and are committed to make a difference for every child. I would be proud to have my child attend those schools.

Is that enough? Certainly not. The future of our children depends on our finding better ways to create more success for all children. Staff at Tulalip and Totem have been incredible in working through their anxiety to move forward in thinking about how we can use this opportunity to promote more student success.

After reading on her own last weekend an article about 90/90/90 schools (90% free/reduced lunch; 90% students of color; 90% meeting standard on state assessments - including several in Washington State) a Tulalip staff member said "I know we can do this at Tulalip. If other schools have done this, we can do this."

And similarly, a Totem staff member said, "We now have more urgency to continue the work of 'transforming' Totem Middle School. We fully believe in the task; we are fully engaged in the work; and have a vision of student academic success at Totem. We have an opportunity to come together and work to create a wonderful new Totem Middle School."

We Can't Blame Parents: Our parents, all of our parents, care deeply about their children and want them to do well in school. We serve all students, take them where they are and work diligently to achieve our mission of 100 percent proficiency in reading and math, on-time graduation and readiness for college/career. This is not the fault of the student or the fault of the parents.

Overcoming Poverty: Poverty creates a grossly unequal playing field. We know from research in nearly every community that test scores correlate more closely to poverty than any other factor. Students come to school with between 3000 and 5000 words of vocabulary. ELL students may come to school with less than 1000 words of English vocabulary. Words are the tools for reading. Poor students, through no fault of their own or their parents, come to school with less vocabulary and greater learning needs.

However, we know much more today about how to overcome the handicaps presented by poverty. We have powerful instructional strategies that can make a huge difference in making up lost ground. But for teachers and principals to learn and implement these tools takes time, a lot of resources, and a strong commitment to change. Poor schools and districts often find these things hard to come by. The reality is that all students can indeed learn, given time--additional time where needed to make up learning gaps.

Teaching Challenges: Teachers in poor schools teach to a wider range of student needs. They care deeply about all children and seek that just-right balance where they can push hard enough to help students catch up while not pushing too hard causing the student to give up. Finding this just-right level of learning for every student is easier when students start school at similar levels and more challenging when a teacher works with students at many different levels. This is work that teachers embrace with energy and passion. However, it is work that takes incredible skill, lots of motivation, and dedicated persistence over many years.

Each Grade at Standard: Learning gaps for a fifth grade student or an eighth grade student are usually not closed in one year. We must find ways to identify those gaps in kindergarten and catch each and every student up by the end of each grade. Otherwise, gaps that begin in kindergarten and grow a bit each year become too large to close quickly in later grades.

It's Working: At Tulalip our math partnership with Tulalip Tribes and the Native American Center is paying dividends. We started in kindergarten and advanced one grade each year as students moved through the grades. Third grade reading was up 13 percent in 2008 and 4th grade was up 22 percent in 2009. At Totem we have invested in literacy training. Thanks to the hard work of teachers, we saw a 14 percent increase in 6th grade reading scores. Those students have now moved to 7th grade, as has the literacy training for 7th grade teachers. All students can learn when we give them enough time.

Federal Funds Will Help: The additional federal funds will help pay for extending the school day, providing more tutoring, summer school, and more training for staff. These are all good - things that will give students more time to learn - things that we have been doing to the extent of our limited funding. We as a district have invested heavily in literacy and math materials as well as extensive training in literacy and math. We have partnered with the University of Washington to seek out expertise. Teachers participate in monthly training and classroom demonstrations. Administrators visit classrooms regularly to learn with and from teachers what works best for improving learning.

We Can Do This! Are we doing enough? Obviously not. Our children are depending on us to give them a brighter future. As administrators and teachers, we must challenge ourselves to learn even more, do even more, and figure out even more than our colleagues in richer districts. Yes, we must ask more of our students and parents. But we must take the lead in figuring out how to do more with less, to close more gaps for more children more quickly.

And we will do just that: Redouble our efforts to close learning gaps and create successful learning for every student in Marysville schools.

blog comments powered by Disqus