Chuck Hughes, Salisbury, N.C.
♦ As seen on the recent State Board of Education Performance Grades (SPG), Rowan-Salisbury School System (RSSS) did even worse than it did in 2013-2014. Only one school made improvement in its SPG while 11 schools dropped a grade or more, Twenty-one remained unchanged. Net score loss between 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 was about 120 points. Although it was expected RSSS would encounter a “dip” because of its initiation of the 1:1 iPad/Apple Laptop implementation and new software programs, the “dip” was far greater than I anticipated. Many “reasons” ranging from district poverty to poor testing procedures employed at the state level, were suggested as causes for this drop. However, I do not believe we can continue to blame systemic failure on uncontrollable elements such as poverty, a wavering state legislature, lack of funding or presumed unfair testing apparatuses. We must find a way to educate our children despite these adversities.
It is no secret that Poverty is a major hindrance to education, one the school system has no direct control over. This is confirmed by The Education Consumers Foundation. The Foundation reported the following:
•There is a strong relationship between economic disadvantage and 3rd grade reading proficiency. Disadvantaged children are typically entering school two or three grade levels behind their peers.
• When schools substantially exceed the performance of their demographic peers, the results often represent major differences in the effectiveness of the school’s reading instruction program.
•The early use of intensive, skill-focused reading instruction could enable the vast majority of at-risk children to reach grade level by 3rd grade. In support of Superintendent Moody’s aggressive approach to teaching software to complement our new technology, I suggest this priority is where we need to spend our limited dollars.
Despite the evidence tying poverty with poor early school performance, we must not let it be a deterrent to our children’s education or an excuse for our failures. Only a sound education will loosen Poverty’s grasp on a child’s future. Our new software program, Achieve3000, may well be the tool that addresses the literacy issue from both student and teacher perspectives.
Although poverty cannot be resolved by the school system, there are other pieces of the puzzle that impede our success in education that can be addressed:
• State legislators must be persuaded to follow words of support with financial support.
• Perceived unfair testing procedures must be reviewed at the State level and modified if necessary.
• Drug trafficking and gang related incidents are also problematic in some of our schools. Until this issue is seriously addressed and resolved, it will be difficult, if not impossible, for even the most talented teachers with the most promising educational programs and teaching skills, to teach.
• Poor performing schools escalate their negativity by driving families away from the county. Others with the resources take advantage of private schools. This results in further concentration of poverty.
•Since sound evidence exists that 3rd grade reading proficiency ability is the most critical indicator of a student’s educational success, literacy must be our first area of focus. To my knowledge, no one in RSSS administration or on the Board of Education disagrees with this.
We best give our new programs time to work. Perhaps not three or four more years as suggested, but let’s at least see what “a difference a day makes.”
