Blog Post #3

What "Counts" as Educational Policy? Notes Toward a New Paradigm by Jean Anyon

Reflection:

Many of the overarching themes Anyon discusses are concepts I have heard before. In several of my previous classes, we have discussed how socioeconomic status affects a child's development and education. The trends discussed, most of which come to kids from a lower SES being at a disadvantage, were not new to me. However, as I read and thought about how I have experienced these trends, I began to wonder about how these correlations have played out in Rhode Island. 

On the RIDE website, there is a link to the Assessment Data Portal, through which the public can look at the results from exams administered in schools. For the sake of quick research, I looked at RICAS ELA/Literacy scores. I began by comparing scores from schools in my district, Warwick. The scores of our most affluent school (Cedar Hill) far surpassed our least affluent (Oakland Beach). There is a 24.5 percentage point difference between the passing percentages at each school. Having been in both schools, I have noticed a marked difference in the resources available. Cedar Hill is technology-heavy, provides numerous supports to students and teachers, and has heavy parent involvement. Oakland Beach, on the other hand, had an HVAC system so old that the school had to be moved to the administrative building for a school year to allow for repairs. To me, the empirical data from the testing seemed to confirm my anecdotal experiences. 

From there, I wanted to compare districts. I chose the town with the highest median family income, East Greenwich ($198,007), and the lowest median family income, Central Falls ($50,275). Looking at the same test, there was a 51.2 percentage point difference in passing scores. Clearly, SES impacts education. Again, my own experiences confirm this. While I have not heard too much about East Greenwich schools, Central Falls schools are always used as the go-to negative example. I have had teachers who said teaching there was like Hell (though I do not necessarily believe them). The town has one of the highest poverty rates in the state, including about 28% of the under-eighteen population. East Greenwich, by comparison, only has about 4% of its children in poverty. 

By itself, I do not know if this data is of much use. After all, we had a great discussion in class about how tests do not necessarily reveal much helpful information. I don't really have an actionable plan beyond implementing improved economic policies, as Anyon suggested. It is worthwhile, though, to see how the ideas and theories we discuss manifest in our own backyard.

Questions to Share:

What, if anything, can an individual teacher do to help students of a lower SES succeed? We've all heard stories like Stand and Deliver, where one teacher dramatically changes an entire class or school, but I think we all know that something like that is not guaranteed to happen in our classrooms. So, what practices, changes, or supports can we actually offer students that will aid their success?