by Steve Price

In my last e-newsletter, the focus was on the learning barriers that teachers and administrators may unknowingly bring to the classroom that actually contribute to the persistent achievement gap that exists between white students and students of color. In this edition of the Superintendents E-Newsletter, I will examine some of those barriers in more detail. But first, a quick review from the last edition is in order.

The traditional approach to eliminating achievement gaps is to focus attention on fixing the student. This is illustrated through the many programs our schools have implemented over the years to address some deficit or problem (i.e. - cant read or write well) in the student. These programs have worked for many students. But far too often, when these programs fail to deliver the desired results, the students and/or their families are often blamed for the failure.

More recently, we have recognized that teachers and administrators may unknowingly be creating barriers to learning in their own schools and classrooms. And just like the barriers their students bring to the classroom, administrator and teacher barriers may contribute to low student performance. This is difficult work because the focus shifts from not only fixing students, but now also focuses on examining our own practice and how that may be preventing all students from learning at high levels of achievement. Often times, these barriers are invisible and difficult to recognize. I am not implying blame for these circumstances, but rather suggest this is a time to support our colleagues and recognize the opportunity to grow and become more effective professionals able to better help our students.

I dont know a single teacher or administrator who doesnt want to do their best to help students learn. Professional educators work hard to help their students attain high levels of achievement. Yet all the dedication and hard work are sometimes not enough if we fail to recognize our own invisible barriers to student learning we may unintentionally bring to our schools and classrooms. Even though the barriers may create unintentional negative outcomes, they are still just as harmful to the student.

I offer an example of a barrier to student learning that may be invisible to a teacher in his own classroom. I will use myself in this example. The lens through which I view the world is from a White male perspective. Without the help of others who dont share this perspective, it is hard for me to see and understand how this perspective may actually keep others from feeling included and valued. When this happens in the classroom, I may unintentionally marginalize certain groups of students thus creating a barrier to their learning.

For example, I believe I am being culturally responsive when each February I teach about Black history. I teach about Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., George Washington Carver, civil rights, and slavery. I feel good about providing my students with a sense of Black history and teaching them about famous African Americans. I never stop and think however, about how I might feel if the majority of what I ever learned regarding my culture was about slavery and civil rights. And even when I teach these subjects, I never think about why the information I teach is incomplete.

We all know the story about Rosa Parks, the tired old woman who had to give up her seat on the bus to a white man. This is the story most of our history books tell about Rosa Parks. This story is inaccurate and incomplete at best. Few students are actually ever taught:
-        Rosa Parks was a civil rights activist and secretary to the NAACP.
-        The bus she rode on and the time she rode were picked purposely because the driver had a previous history of moving people of color to the back of the bus and the bus was sure to be crowded at the time Rosa Parks boarded.
-        The transit strike was going to happen regardless of the outcome on the bus. The strike had been planned for months and the bus incident was staged for the press in order to highlight the inequality of the system.

This represents only a few of the omissions in this typical history unit; there is still much more to accurately complete the story. My point here however is not to give a history lesson, but to rather ask the question of why. Why are the incomplete stories of Rosa Parks and other aspects of Black history and Black culture so readily accepted as the truth? If educators fail to recognize the complete stories of such obvious historical events, then what other more day-to-day experiences and realities are being missed in the school and classroom. Could the real experiences and perspectives of not only African American students be invisible, but could the experiences and perspectives of any student different from our own race and culture be invisible? In Middletown, this may include Latino students as well as students from an Appalachian background.

As I mentioned previously, I view the world through a White male perspective. That perspective has evolved from a lifetime of images and experiences generated from my family, education and the media. Unless I can purposely examine that perspective and how that perspective may have rendered other perspective invisible, I may be unsuccessful and ill equipped to engage all students to learn at high levels of learning.

When students come to our schools and classrooms we must recognize and celebrate the differences they bring. That is difficult to accomplish if our own experiences render those differences invisible. We must recognize and hear the multiple perspectives that come through our doorways. We must be able to hear the counter stories and perspectives that are different from our own experiences and incorporate those stories and experiences throughout the entire school year, not just in February during Black History Month. It is only then we can begin to incorporate our high expectations in a meaningful way with the realities of all students and families. I believe we have an opportunity to engage our staff, students and parents in critical discussion around this issue. Indeed, I believe we have an ethical and moral obligation to have this discussion.