We Cannot Be Silent About Things That Matter

During these last few weeks of the school year, I find myself frustrated. Four years ago, I came to Brighton with such high hopes. Being a glass-half-full personality, I saw no barriers to creating a great school. But as I have written in this blog, it did not take me long to realize what a challenge this would be.

Since then, there have been many celebrations of our success — most notably, making AYP after many years of being in School Improvement. Brighton no longer wears this shameful label, the ultimate symbol of school failure in our state. It’s an accomplishment many in Alabama thought was impossible.

As my fourth year draws to a close, however, I believe Brighton will not have the “happily ever after” fairy tale ending I and many others have hoped for. I say this even as I watch the new construction on our school campus. In anticipation of tearing down our old middle school building to make way for a new $10 million facility, contractors are building temporary portable classrooms outside my window. These trailers are necessary to house our special subject teachers next year. Grades grades K-5 will be in our current elementary building, which will also accommodate the core content area teachers from grades 6-8 during the construction.

You may wonder why I'm depressed about a construction project that we've longed for and begged for over many years. It's because these trailers represent the fact that we have failed in our efforts to convince our school system to convert Brighton into a K-5 school, and to send our rising sixth graders to one of two larger, more suitable middle schools nearby. It's not an issue of crowding -- the schools have room for them. And if the decision had been made to send them there, we could have built a brand-new K-5 school for $5 million, instead of the $10 million it will cost to meet standards for a building with middle grades. Our middle school population -- 111 students -- is so small that we can only offer one sport, boys' basketball. We did not even have enough girls sign up to have a team last year.

So in my mind, these trailers materializing outside my window represent the destiny of the 111 middle school students who will not have the same opportunities children in other neighboring middle schools in our system enjoy. These 111 children could be the "before" picture on a No Child Left Behind campaign poster.

Check-box indicators of adequacy

I have learned so much during the past four years about what it takes to have a highly functional school. Making AYP is merely the minimum of requirements. It has little or nothing to do with the quality of instruction. Just as a “Highly Qualified Teacher” has nothing to do with teacher effectiveness. Brighton (thanks to our performance in the elementary grades) has made AYP, and all but one teacher is highly qualified by the federal government’s definition. Yet the unvarnished facts about our middle grades reveal how unreliable these check-box indicators of adequacy are.

As they moved up through our elementary grades, our current seventh grade students proved to be the highest performing class in Brighton’s history. They are a smart group of students and most of them have attended Brighton since they were very young children. In fifth grade they scored 78% proficiency in Math on our state test. Two years ago they moved to the middle school building. Back then, I wrote about my fears for their future. Now, on our last two benchmark tests prior to this year’s state assessment, these same students scored at a 24% proficiency in Math.

I was stunned as I reviewed the test data. Some of our most promising students scored below 20%. Of course I am concerned about our school making AYP again. But more important, I am deeply depressed about the lost opportunities for these students to build on the content knowledge and skills they brought when they entered sixth grade. Will they ever be able to regain this ground? How many will graduate from high school?

The cold hard truth is that we are transforming our most promising students into dropouts. Making AYP or having so-called highly qualified teachers has not changed the future for these children of poverty.

Stories about hate and pain

Now, I look at today’s fifth grade students. These are the children who won my heart six years ago when they were in the “snake room.” I have written and spoken about this group often. They actually had the highest scores in our school on our final benchmark test last month. It took an extreme, long-term effort by our entire K-5 faculty to bring them to this point — a story that was documented in an issue of Scholastic Instructor magazine last year.

Now they have to move on, but not to a school that has many varied opportunities. They will be among the 111 middle schoolers whom the powers-that-be apparently believe will be best served by staying on this campus . Interestingly, Brighton will continue to be the exception (one of only two K-8 schools in this large school system). Horace Mann said that public education is the great equalizer. But there is nothing equal in this situation.

Recently, our current fifth graders were invited to attend a Young Author’s Conference at Samford University. I watched with great pride as the teachers and students worked on their stories, and we delighted in the wonderful book covers our art teacher worked diligently with the students to create. The trip was a huge success and our students receiving many compliments for their good behavior. They were wide-eyed as they took part in this college-campus experience.

When they returned to school, their books were displayed outside the classrooms. One morning, I stopped by to read several I had missed. These stories were autobiographical and did not have elaborate covers. I gasped as I read their words.

One 10-year old girl titled her story, I Hate the Life that I Had. Her story chronicled the night DHR took her from her mother. She told how her younger brother jumped out of the car because he had to leave his real dad. She went on to say this was her mother’s boyfriend and how she could not stand him because her mother could have gotten them back if he had left. She wrote, “One time I bit him because he slapped my mama.”

Another student entitled his story, Pain. His first paragraph describes his life view: “My generation has passed along death and mistakes. It starts from cancer or suicide or just getting shot. All of my life my family dies from these damn reasons.” He goes on to write about his grandfather’s death, which included a suicide attempt. He states, “The night my grandfather died, my dad tried to drink all the pain away but it didn’t work we will all be stuck with the pain until we die.”

The final story was entitled Life. This was a lengthy chapter book about a girl’s father in prison and growing up watching her mother try to support three children. She wrote, “In my world mothers have to be the man and the woman. Most men are in the streets or dead. All my life I have watched my mother run after my older sister’s dad and trying to get them to do their part. But after a while, you have to give up that dream and stop hoping these men will do the right thing by their kids.” 

The words of these 10- and 11-year-old students will haunt me forever. Life has robbed them of a carefree childhood.

We are failing these children

Many years ago, I realized as a teacher in a Title I school that as much as you have the desire to, you cannot change the world the students live in. What you can do is provide the best education for them in a haven of safety. I wish I could say our fifth graders will receive this type of education for the next three years, but our data does not insure or even suggest this will happen.

I wish I could guarantee they will have many opportunities to participate in athletics, band, choral groups, and clubs. This will not be possible with such a small middle school student population. I work in the second largest school system in our state, with about 38,000 students in our district. I realize that in the large scheme of things, these 111 students are not a critical issue. But how many other powerless children do they represent? How can we knowingly deny these students when our district motto proclaims to be, Committed to excellence in teaching and learning for all.

It is one thing to unintentionally to leave a child behind; it is another to knowingly allow a situation to exist that will leave a whole community of children behind. I thought I could change the destiny of these Brighton children. But I have failed them, as others have failed them. Even so, I cannot leave them. I plan on staying to see them enter the 8th grade.

This is what I can pledge to do next year. I will push and prod to try to improve classroom instruction, which will not make me popular with some of my colleagues. I am pleased, however, that all but three of our teachers have committed to attempt Take One!, a new program from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards that makes it possible for teachers not officially seeking NB Certification to complete one of the Board's assessment entries. The idea is to expose teachers to the standards and propositions that NBPTS believes define accomplished teaching. This will be our schoolwide professional learning for 2008-09, and this could be a critical turning point for improving instruction.

I will also seek special  opportunities for our students — opportunities that will not replace what they are missing, but hopefully will bring something fresh and inspiring into their lives. I am thrilled that our young music teacher, who is highly trained, will stay for another year (even though the band will have less than a dozen members). I will continue to work closely with our art teacher, who remains a bright spot for all the students. And I will call on Vulcan Materials, the company who adopted our school four years ago, to fund field trips.

I will also try my best to understand the decisions that have been made for Brighton’s children. This will be the hardest task. I have had faith in the decision makers in the past. I have long admired them, and I mean no disrespect as I tell this story. Nevertheless, I am committed to be a voice for the children of Brighton.

Dr. Martin Luther King spoke to this issue of conscience much better than I can. He said: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

Brighton children, like all children, matter.

Comments

[Nikki]

Betsy,

I finished reading your blog with tears brimming in my eyes. Although, some of my tears were for the students, most were for you. This is one time I can honestly say "I feel your pain". I followed my students from 7th grade to high school to see many of them soar academically and then seemingly torpedo down into a place of misbehavior, total disconnection, and in many cases, dropping out of school. What deep pain it caused for me to actually watch this happening feeling like all of my efforts were for nought.

Yet, there is always a "ram in the bush" as the old church mother's used to say.

Betsy Rogers, you have not failed your students because your students have not finished "becoming". I used to tell my students..."where you are is not where you are going". I want you to know Betsy that while the seeds you have planted in the students and faculty of Brighton may appear not to bear fruit, this does not have to be the case. For some students, your efforts are what keeps them holding on and coming back. Yes, you know things could be better; you know that your rising 6th graders deserve more and that people in high places have seemingly stripped them of even the opportunity to succeed. Yet, children are resilient even in the most wickedly unfair environments.

Oh no, Betsy, you have not failed them. In fact, your efforts have provided them the tools they need to succeed in a world presented to them with the cup less than half-full.

True story: I saw Adam L. in the airport in Charlotte, NC recently. He was one of the most difficult students I ever taught in 7th-10th grade. In the 11th grade, he was placed in a G.E.D. program, and even though he failed my 10th grade English course, he still came back to me for help in preparing for his G.E.D. which I gladly did. When I saw Adam in that airport, we both gasped, as he is now going on his 4th or 5th year in the United States Army, and we had not seen each other since 2002. He proudly told his army friends all about me and thanked me. He said, "You never gave up on me, Ms. B. and I never forgot the things you taught me." We exchanged cell phone numbers and one day I received a message from him proudly and with several errors reciting the first stanza of "The Raven". Now this brought me to tears because we battled over that in the 8th grade.:-)

While I don't have hundreds of Adam L. stories to tell, I do have several. And, it always amazes me that when I think I have done all I can do and yet it was not enough or when I feel my level or reach of influence has maxed out, one of my students reminds me that what I did daily as a teacher was sew seeds...some that will bloom before my eyes and to my delight...and others that will experience long winters before blossoming...and still others whose fates I will never know. Still, sewing those seeds ensures that I am not a failure.

Going to Brighton and influencing teachers and administrators and teaching students and building relationships with parents and communities....there can be no failure in that, Betsy. Only hope for and belief in the Spring.

[David Cox]

Sometimes we only see what kids don't get in a particular situation. We fail to see what they do get. It causes us to jump to inferior situations many times. Adults do that all the time with their lives and wanting what others have, while failing to see what they have that others do not.

K-8 schools are being returned to in cities across the country, because of what they give that middle schools and jr. highs don't. And what K-8's give is worth more than what the middle schools have in terms of community, safety, emphasis on what is most important instead of diverting to lesser value but flashy programs and classes.

K-8 schools keep the family involved better and produce MUCH better behavior than middle schools. In fact middle schools are almost always the worst time in students' K-12 experience. I think perhaps the worst "reform" we ever made in public education was creating jr. highs. A K-8, 9-12 or perhaps better a K-6, 7-12 configuration is much better than having a middle school at all. Please see http://www.smallerschools.org/smallSchools.php for two articles on K-8 schools that may give a different light on them. K-8's and 7-12's produce better people in the end, even if they don't offer as much variety in classes.

[Nancy Flanagan]

Dear Betsy,

Thanks for sharing this story. I gasped, too, at the powerful and frightening language and imagery in your Young Author's books.

A friend recently completed her dissertation on the concept of "deservingness" --the idea that students whose literacy and numeracy skills are low don't "deserve" what are often considered standard accouterments in most schools, such as sports, elective classes, musical groups, drama, clubs, etc.. Sometimes, deservingness extends to secondary courses-- where students in low-achieving schools double up on reading and math and aren't allowed to enroll in science, social studies and vocational classes, because you don't deserve to take those classes until you have met grade-level benchmarks for reading and math. Many of the kids who didn't leave school, hoping to take Auto Repair or Cosmetology find themselves labeled as not deserving of even that opportunity. Given the strong progress your students have made, to deny them the benefits other kids will enjoy seems short-sighted, to say the least.

With all due respect to Mr. Cox, the research on K-8 schools is pretty murky. It turns out that grade configuration means a great deal less than the quality of leadership, teaching and programming in building successful schools for kids in the middle. When you look at current thinking on 21st century learning --creativity, collaboration, technology--it makes little sense to keep young adolescents in a rigid, K-8 structure. And I say that as a K-8 educator myself.

I cannot fathom how your 111 middle schoolers could become "better people" by knowing that other middle schoolers get lots of educational opportunities and they don't, largely because they're poor. I'm glad you're staying with them, Betsy, but the situation you describe is just wrong.

[Betsy Rogers]

I want to thank all of your for your comments.
David, I do understand there is resurgence of K-8 school in some areas. I personally attended a K-8 school, but at that time all schools in my school district were K-8. There is a part of me that would selfishly like to keep the Brighton children together for 8 years, as I am very protective of our students.
However, I realize how this limits their educational experiences. Our students have expressed their own frustration at not having a variety of opportunities. I am at a loss for words when they ask me “Why don’t we have what other schools have?”
Here is what they know is offered at the neighboring middle school that we do not offer due to our small population and limited faculty and staff.
Art Club
Debate Club
Drama Club
First Priority
National Honor Society
Newspaper
Pep Squad
Photography Club
Technology Team
Yearbook
Girls Basketball
Baseball
Cheerleading
Football
Golf
Newcomb Volleyball
Softball
Track (Girls and Boys)
Wrestling

In addition, the two other neighboring elementary schools feed into this middle school, which in turn feeds into the high school that most of our students attend. Since our students are not a part of the middle school, they are automatically set apart when they arrive at the high school. A local reporter asked some of the high school students about this issue and they responded that our students are labeled “the Brighton Kids”. (I wrote about this in my June 2007 blog.)
My first year at Brighton a teacher from this high school said to me when referring to their school’s test scores, “I guess we don’t do too bad considering we have your kids.” It is this prejudice about our students along with the lack of opportunities and the fact that our data tells us many of our 8th graders leave our school unprepared that has convinced me as Nancy states, “ This situation you describe is just wrong.”

[JohnNorton]

In support of Nancy's post, there's a good essay on grade configurations by Hayes Mizell, co-founder of the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform that develops her point that it's not the grade structure, it's the quality of the school community:

http://www.middleweb.com/mw/resources/HMgradeconfig.pdf