On Saturday, a Stamford non-profit, Domus, hosted a listening tour about Connecticut's complicated and persistent achievement gap. As part of the statewide Campaign LEARN -- the Campaign for Leadership, Education, Achievement and Reform Now -- legislators sought input from the public and organizations on improving the academic performance of black, Hispanic and poor students.
Wynne Parry in the her story, "State Leaders, Teacher and Parents Discuss the Achievement Gap" writes:
In Stamford, the school system has begun a reform effort that includes reducing the number of ability levels in middle schools and making them more flexible. State Rep. Patricia Billie Miller, D-Stamford, applauded this effort and recalled being a substitute teacher in Stamford and hearing a student refer to her group as the "dumbest class." No child should have to face this stigma, Miller said. As a member of the state General Assembly's education committee, she called for bills to address the achievement gap...
When parents and teachers came to the podium, they brought up underlying issues, such as inequities in expectations from teachers based on their students' race and cultural attitudes toward education -- issues more difficult to address through legislation.Parents talked about holding all children to high standards and diversifying the staff. A teacher said that closing the achievement gaps was about more than education:
Closing the achievement gap is about more than education, said Richard Cheng, an eighth-grade science teacher at Trailblazers Academy, a charter school run by Domus.
"It's their mentality, their confidence level," he said of the students. In addition to teaching science, he said, he also teaches confidence and belief.
At Trailblazers, the school sets up students for successful learning by helping them work through some of the emotional baggage they may have brought to school through a structured greeting every morning. On Friday mornings, they also hold boys' and girls' discussion groups to work through issues, he said.I wrote about Campaign LEARN's initiative a couple of months back. I think it would be a great idea if Norwalk educators, politicians and activists could organize a similar type of discussion here in Norwalk.
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A Stamford Middle School is trying out a couple of furry reading coaches.
For the past six weeks, Eli, a black labrador, and Logan, a large English mastiff, have been reading coaches at the Trailblazers Academy, a charter school in Stamford.
According to an article in Tuesday's Advocate, "Dogs Help Kids Learn to Read Tales", the dogs are helping about 15 struggling readers practice their skills before "less intimidating" ears. One of the students said, "When you read in front of a lot of people, it makes me nervous, and he's a dog."
"It's been a really cool carrot for a lot of our kids, whether they are struggling with reading or it's a confidence issue," said Craig Baker, chief educational officer for Domus.****
Because the program is new, the school is still experimenting somewhat with the format. While the three girls shared one session and one dog, passing the book back and forth as they sat on a couch, other students read one-on-one with a dog and a reading specialist or high school intern.
Finally, I was wondering how Norwalk parents and schools have been reacting to the unbelievably tragic earthquake in Haiti. Many families in the area have been directly affected since Norwalk has a sizeable Haitian population. My own children have Haitian-American classmates who have yet to hear from their extended families. Many of the images on television and stories in the news have been haunting and undoubtedly the rescue and recovery effort will continue for a long time to come. Are you and your family participating in any Haitian relief efforts? How do we, as parents, explain such a catastrophic event to our children?
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