The focus of my study this week is the National Black Child
Development Institute (http://www.nbcdi.org/resource). Their focus is on advocacy exclusively for
Black American students through community organizations as well as public and
private school systems. They deal with ages
birth through eight and have a wide range of activities that focus on the
health, education and family engagement of Black students.
A current issue discussed on the website(http://www.nbcdi.org/sites/default/files/resource-files/A%20Framework%20That%20Works.pdf) is the disparity
between the effectiveness and education of teachers who serve urban areas and
those who serve suburban areas. Some very
interesting statistics were provided detailing the educational achievement and
engagement o teachers who serve low income minority children. Compared to suburban teachers, certification
exams scores are lower and interpersonal effectiveness also suffers when placed
in urban classrooms.
One wonders at why this is.
The first practical reason is that teachers with higher test scores are
more likely to be hired by school districts that pay more (i.e., the suburbs)
and are also more likely to have support in the classroom as far as
paraprofessionals, parental involvement, smaller class size and materials. So it makes sense as well that suburban
teachers would be more “engaged.” It is,
in my opinion, easy to engage with your students when you don’t have to face
many of the grim realities of understaffed, undersupplied, poorly managed inner
city schools. Urban teachers are also in
my common sense view, more likely to burn out due to having larger class sizes
and having to deal with the personals issues of their students that tend to
arise in low income neighborhoods. So
maybe the article shouldn’t be looking at the fact that inner city teachers are
less engaged and have lower test scores, maybe the article should be looking at
why teachers are less engaged and whether they are given the pedagogical
support they may need.
I love you. Everything you said is what is wrong with our urban schools. I myself work in a poorer school with minimal resources serving a large minority population. This year alone I have spent $1000 on my own ink to print resources for my students and their parents because even though our district has a print center we are not allowed to make copies. I am supposed to have a teachers aide for 25 minutes a day this does not happen all the time because they pull my aide to pull sub duty. I am given the run around when I know a student needs services and it takes 18 months before my school moves on a child as long as they are not a behavioral disruption and if the administrative staff is not confronted with the behaviors those students may never get serviced. We are supposed to have no more than 18 students per class, voted on twice and the population supported this but administrators often make it look as if we are in compliance on paper when in reality we are not such as saying a class is in a storage closet and putting student names under teachers who have never taught them. It was being reported to the county that I had 18 students in my class when I actually had 24 this was true of all 6 kindergarten classrooms at my school when I questioned my union representative because it sounded like I was being told to commit an act of perjury I was written up on my evaluation for not working well with others and making false allegations against administration- although we did get two more teachers after the incident. I do not expect to be employed next year. Lack of adequate compensation, lack of support, lack of materials, lack of access to needed resources these are no doubt much more relevant to the reasons urban schools under-perform than bad teachers
ReplyDeleteYou make such strong and profound statements and I appreciate that greatly. For that I respect you! You have a passion for the field and that is evident in your work. I agree that teachers in all areas should be treated with more respect for what we do, and not be "punished" or "looked down upon" without proper research and representation. Often times, people overlook the challenges the CHILDREN face that we work with and expect us to work miracles when we just want to make life better for them in some small way! Much respect to you. Well said. :)
ReplyDeleteAshley Richards
Shahrazad, you make a very good point! The article should focus more on why teachers are less engaged and the number of supplies they have available. I say to myself all the time when my director or a parent asks me to do more or do extra things (which I dont mind)..I ask, "Where are my tools to complete this task?" I cannot do something out of thin air. Yes, I am knowledgeable and willing but I also need the means and the tools. Great point!
ReplyDelete~Jalice
Shahrazad,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that there needs to be some investigation into why these teachers are less engaged. Most likely it would mention some of the things you said. It is an interesting subject and it seems an important one to take a look at. There is a huge resource disparity for schools in urban areas and schools in more affluent areas. That's something that needs to be addressed a well. It makes no sense that the children who need the most support are receiving the least.
Thanks,
Danielle
The National Black Child Development Institue is an organization that I will begin to research as a part of my professional development. Several of my friends say that it has great information. I really like the fact about the love you have for education....
ReplyDelete