We can all think of many good and sound reasons why equity is an emotional concept. Nobody likes to be left out. Nobody likes to be given less than others. But when it comes to education, it’s imperative that we examine exactly what we mean by “less”. To my way of thinking, the only “less” or “more” worth discussing are opportunities to learn. Who has more opportunities to learn something new every day? Students in appropriate settings. It’s really not that complicated. Who has fewer opportunities to learn something new every day? Students in inappropriate settings.
I invite you to view a YouTube video about accelerated gifted students: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx4oj-CJMYA. There is much to this short video, but I particularly want to focus on 2:04 - 2:13. “Now everyone can go to school,” this young man says, “and think YES, I get to learn something today.” So here is another reason equity is so emotional: when we have been deprived of it, and then we receive it, it feels marvelous. It feels right, and good, because it is what we deserve.
Later in the video above (4:14), we hear this statement: “Remember when we were a tenth grader and what would have happened if we were forced to be in fifth grade?” This leads us to the specific aspect of educational equity and gifted education which addresses acceleration opportunities. Even if you are familiar with gifted programing in general, it’s a good bet that you haven’t heard much about acceleration.
The authors of A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America’s Brightest Students (http://www.accelerationinstitute.org/Nation_Deceived/ND_v1.pdf) , explain academic acceleration this way:
“Acceleration is an educational intervention that moves students through an educational program at a faster than usual rate or younger than typical age. Acceleration means matching the level, complexity, and pace of the curriculum with the readiness and motivation of the student.
We know, of course, that ALL students learn more effectively when the “level, complexity, and pace of the curriculum” is matched with their readiness and motivation. If we’re all doing our jobs right, then the typical scope and sequence of any subject in any public school does indeed offer a curriculum with an appropriate pace and level of complexity for the majority of students in that grade.
But not all the students. And that’s where gifted education, and, specifically, academic acceleration, comes in. The problem is that, as necessary as accelerative opportunities are, they are often, inexplicably, hard to come by. James H. Borland, in his book Planning and Implementing Programs for the Gifted, makes this statement:
“[Academic] acceleration is one of the most curious phenomena in the field of education. I can think of no other issue in which there is such a gulf between what research has revealed and what most practitioners believe. The research on acceleration is so uniformly positive, the benefits of appropriate acceleration so unequivocal, that it is difficult to see how an educator could oppose it” (p. 185).
So here we have another reason why equity is so emotional: many of us are aware that the reasons for inequity are based on logical fallacies, and yet these reasons and their resultant inequities are immoveable.
Or are they? If we truly believe that every child deserves to learn something new every day, then we are obligated to look at any and all students--in groups or as individuals--who may not be learning, and then to carefully study their situations. And it is clear that students who are academically precocious fall into the category of students who deserve our attention.
In his article Helping Students Learn Only What They Don’t Already Know, Julian C. Stanley (http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10029.aspx) writes: “Students need to be helped to learn what they do not already know, instead of being marched through course materials in lock step, largely regardless of what they knew at the start of the course. That especially hurts the intellectually talented, who tend to be far ahead of grade level.” Stanley goes on to state: “Many teachers seem to assume that their beginning students know nothing about the subject.”
If we connect this statement to Dr. Borland’s comments, it would seem that it is not only the teachers who make this assumption. We are all complicit in one way or another. Where are the parents who want to be sure their children learn something new every day? Where are the community members who want to make sure their tax dollars are being used responsibly? Where, for that matter, are the students themselves? Where are the voices asking the schools to do more, to pay attention to the research, to, if nothing else, at least open the conversation?
This is where the topic of equity becomes emotional to me. When it comes to students who are not properly served in public schools, when it comes to students who languish in inappropriate settings, learning little or nothing, when it comes to parents, teachers, administrators and community members who don’t even bother to explore the needs of those students, I become quite emotional. There is a lot of inequity in the world, and in education, and, sadly, much of it is deeply embedded in our culture and institutionalized in our schools.
But it doesn’t have to stay that way.
If you do indeed believe that every child deserves to learn something new every day, do something about it. No more assumptions, no more misplaced trust. Maybe your school district really is doing a great job. But why not find out, so you know for sure? And if they’re not, do something about it.
Start by reading A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America’s Brightest Students. It’s right there on the internet, free and available to all. Maybe even organize a group of parents, teachers, community members. Just read this book, one chapter at a time.
This is all I am asking you to do. Read, discuss, open up the conversation. In short, make room for the possibility that not all of the students are indeed learning something new every day, and that you can actually do something about that.
Make room for that possibility and for the ensuing conversations. Make room for the emotion. Make room for the research. Most of all, make room for the children. Do this by working hard to implement or revise a policy in your school or district that will allow acceleration to be explored as an option.
I began this blog by asking what “learning something new every day” looks like. I will tell you one thing it looks like--it looks like you and I--though we may ourselves be long-gone from public school--picking up A Nation Deceived, or emailing our district’s gifted coordinator, or even running for the school board. None of our children can possibly learn something new every day if we are not prepared to do so ourselves, and if we are not prepared to act on what we have learned, co-creating a vibrant, complex, and challenging education for all of the children in our schools, regardless of ability.
