This is a perfect description of Irvington educational philosophy as it pertains to the rapidly dwindling student "elite," i.e. the chosen few who are allowed entry into accelerated and Honors courses.

The kids have to gut it out.

If they can't gut it out, down they go.

They "don't belong."



As a direct result of my experience muscling our family's way through "accelerated instruction" here in Irvington, I have now stricken the word "challenge" from my list.

I don't want to hear "challenge" ever again.

I want to hear "teach;" I want to hear "learn;" I want to hear "assess." That's "assess" as in assessment for learning, not grading.

During our meeting with the principal — which was very good — we raised the question of Irvington's rationing of accelerated courses.

That's another story; I'll get to it later. Suffice it to say that the middle school plans to offer two sections of Regents earth science next year, out of 8 sections altogether. Compare this to the Pelham school district which, a few years back (and possibly still today) had everyone in 8th grade taking Regents science and earning high scores on the Regents earth science test. Irvington has 25% of 8th graders taking earth science and apparently our Regents scores for the kids who take earth science in high school aren't good, or so I'm told.

Spot the difference?

Anyway, Mr. Witazek said he'd already had parents in to discuss the issue with him (good); he also mentioned that he himself had taken earth science in the 8th grade because in his school everyone took earth science in the 8th grade.

He's going to have to spend some serious time figuring this out, because this year the SOP^* isn't operative, SOP being that parents wait until after their child has been rejected to complain. We're complaining now.

Since he couldn't promise anything at that moment, he offered the observation that, "All courses can be challenging." This was sincere; it sounds like spin, but it wasn't.

I swatted it back across the net anyway. Time is short. I can't spend any more of my child's middle years swapping edu-language with the administrators who are in charge of his education.

I said, "Everyone who wants to take earth science needs to take earth science. Just telling people that this course or that course is 'challenging' isn't enough. An earth science course is either a Regents course or it's not."

The thing I like about the new principal so far is that he has exactly zero problem with a statement like that. Although he uses a great deal of edu-blah-blah in his official communications with parents, he clearly seems to think that parents are within their rights not to want to talk edu-blah-blah face to face.

Then I delivered my stump speech:

I don't want to hear 'challenging' any more. We've had 'challenging' in Phase 4 math for a year now, and it's a nightmare. All it means is the parents teach the course. Anyone can challenge a child. Just pull something that's over their heads off the internet and tell them to go do it. Teaching a child is what's hard. We want our child to be taught, not challenged.'

He said, "I hear what you're saying," and he meant it.

Since that meeting we've seen tangible changes in the math instruction.

Solutions to the homework problems are given out; kids check their own homework in class. (To me this is preferable to having the teacher collect the homework and correct it at home. These kids are perfectly capable of correcting their own homework as long as the teacher gives them the answers, and this way they get much more timely feedback.)

Then Ms. K finds out who missed which problems and gives each child individual help on those problems. (I'm thinking that as matters improve she shouldn't have to do that as often, because the kids should be getting homework assignments pitched to their level of mastery.)

A couple of days ago she gave a quiz consisting of two problems of the type they'd had on the homework assignment.

This is fantastic progress; it's exactly what we all desperately need; and it's happening because of the new principal.

We are impressed and grateful.

I've mentioned in the comments section that we're thinking the principal's background is a help.

Previously he worked with a disadvantaged student population in Albany schools.

During our meeting he seemed almost stunned to be finding out that he's got parents reteaching courses at home. This widespread practice has become naturalized for us; when there's trouble in a class, people immediately begin to reteach the content themselves; if trouble continues the next step is to hire a tutor. Parents take both of these steps quickly. Unlike a school bureaucracy, we don't wait for "the meeting" to provide "services."

Many parents hire tutors from the same school their child is attending.

All of this seems normal to us.

It does not seem normal to a person who just got off the train from Albany.

So far, I'd say he's making progress in changing the tone and culture of the school. Here is a bellwether: some of you will remember my friend who was spending close to $200 a week on tutoring by a middle school teacher to keep her child from flunking 6th grade.

I talked to her a couple of days ago.

She is now spending half that and she's spending nothing at all keeping her other child afloat.

She may be heading towards dispensing with the tutor altogether.

All of this appears to be happening because of the new principal.

The district needs fundamental reform.

At a minimum, we need a laser focus on student outcome.

What student outcomes will result from the proposed program or pedagogical approach?

And then: what student outcomes did result from the proposed program or pedagogical approach?

And we need to focus always on creating and maintaining the conditions for success.

One of those conditions is to dump the idea that unless a child is being worked to the point of burn-out or swamped by homework problems he has no idea how to do, he's not learning because he's not being challenged.

Teaching to mastery means the child is not gutting it out.

^* standard operating procedure


-- CatherineJohnson - 20 Oct 2006

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