One job that occupied a significant portion of my time today in the KIPP Gaston College Preparatory Middle School was tracking. This means it was my duty to record whether or not the 100 or so eighth-graders were on the successful trajectory for the required political science class. This program highlighted two important points for the teacher: which students were struggling and which units were the most difficult for the class as a whole to understand. A low score in the former category indicated that the child needed more individual help and the latter category indicated that the problem was not individual, but as Mr. May, the political science teacher, put it, "where the teachers fail."
I noticed a reassuring number of students whose names were highlighted in green-- meaning they were achieving at the desired level, usually 85% proficiency or better. While the number of students whose names were in red (meaning they were achieving at the lowest expectation, with some scores as low as 20% proficiency) were far fewer, what I noticed was alarming: the same students whose names appeared in red for the previous units were still achieving at a red level.
The existence of KIPP is promising; it's a progressive new way for students to learn. It was developed so the children who were being left behind in the old model were given the attention they deserve. But what do these red names indicate? Students are still being left behind. It illuminated the fear of education policy officials: that underlying causes of the wide disparity in basic education are still going unaddressed.
KIPP is wonderful and definitely a step in the right direction, but it's just that-- a step, not the goal. As a nation, more active steps like KIPP need to be made and it's clear that as a country, we have a lot more work to do. We need to pour more resources into research and experimental education like KIPP so we see what works best.
The gap is getting smaller, but it's unfortunately still there.
--Rachel
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