Ignoring the white (I mean black) elephant in the room
Before students at Morey Middle School took CSAP tests this year, school administrators pulled all the African-American students into two assemblies and told them that, as a whole, they were not performing as well as their peers at the school.
The sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders were told that the school’s principal and assistant principal care about them and that they wanted to hear from them about what they could do to help.
This has sparked controversy at the Denver middle school, where some parents say the achievement gap is so dramatic that drastic conversations such as this must take place.
Others, though, decry the assemblies as inappropriate and insensitive because they unfairly single out students by their skin color.
“The students were made to feel like they were worse than the white kids,” said Stacey DeKraker, whose daughter was at the assembly.
“If even one of the students got that message, was it worth it?”
Morey principal Dori Claunch, who has spoken with DeKraker about her concerns, said she decided to call the assembly after winter break because she noticed that black students were lagging behind other ethnic groups at the school.
Fifty-three percent of African-American sixth-graders at the school are proficient readers. Among white sixth-graders, that number is 89 percent.
“The idea of the assembly wasn’t just to talk about how African-American kids aren’t performing well,” Claunch said. “We wanted to talk to our African-American students to let them know we care about them and to let them know they have the best opportunity at Morey.” (more…)
If you read the rest of this article, it appears that the Denver Post’s usage of the word “others” actually represents one parent. The good thing here is that it seems that this action by the school was received pretty well, however I do disagree with the notion that teachers should walk on egg shells when addressing this issue (as suggested later in the article). Give them the unadulterated truth and a way to rectify the issue and they will respect you. Show fear and intimidation to political correctiveness and they will milk it for what it’s worth. Hopefully the parents in this district will rally together with their kids to tackle this issue.
Say what you want Duane this was inappropriate. They should have called all the kids that were not performing well. The article points out that 11% of the white populaton of the school was also not doing well. I would have been livid on a couple of levels.
1. Have they discussed with me my child’s poor performance
2. Have we looked at remedies to the problem (tutoring, more different teachers, etc…
3. Did you consider the implications of telling them that they are less than
Thank God my child is home schooled.
Comment by Saudia | March 20, 2007
What about a program that encourages high performers to work with {any!)students who have reading problems? I’m certain there were some smart kids in those assemblies. The kids have the ability to help themselves and peers…it will take more than an assembly pep talk to improve their situation. It *might* provoke some to progress and renewed focus. Some, but not enough. Successful students will help others, but there has to be structure in place - They will not do the work for the underachievers and(jeeze, are they asking too much) they expect the school to back them up!
They will follow through on this initial effort. Well, they better.
Comment by S. Cain | March 20, 2007
Saudia is right with her #1 and #2.
Comment by DarkStar | March 20, 2007