The real problem in education: the 'opportunity gap' - The Washington Post - 33 views
-
American society has the means to provide supports for communities, for families, for students, and for teachers – to ensure that children are safe and healthy and ready to learn, that they have access to rich learning environments in schools and also in their homes and in their communities, and that they have qualified, experienced teachers.
-
"We can build on children's strengths, supporting them and challenging them to excel. The good news is that closing the opportunity gap doesn't require a magical quick fix; the bad news is that to do it we need to stop grasping at those magical quick fixes. Instead, we must turn to evidence-based, best practices."
- ...8 more comments...
-
"In particular, we have failed to build capacity or increase opportunities to learn. Our intense focus on achievement gaps needs to be combined with an equally intense focus on opportunity gaps. The status quo of test-based accountability reform needs to give way to new, evidence-based approaches dedicated to building the capacity to accomplish accountability goals." I believe that there is no opportunity gap in Henrico because of the fact that we have so many options for high school specialty centers, extracurricular activities and clubs, sports, etc. These things give us a good amount of opportunity in order to "close" the gap and give us a well rounded education that can sustain us for a lifetime.
-
"Much has happened in the last 30 years. But let's fast forward, past the 1989 Charlottesville Education Summit and past President Clinton's "Goals 2000" legislation in 1994. Let's jump right to the "No Child Left Behind Act" of 2001. That law, along with the current administration's Race to the Top policies, has placed American school reform on a stark path best defined as "test-based accountability reform" - just as was called for 30 years ago in A Nation at Risk."