Best and Worst Schools: Who Makes that Call?

As summer comes to an end and communities prepare to send students back to school, articles begin circulating on social media claiming to rate all the schools in the state from best to worst.  Let's face it, the schools in South Arkansas are never at the top of those lists.  I'm not surprised to see the articles being shared, but I do get aggravated when people who are part of the communities where the schools are rated the worst feel the need to share this information.  Mainly because I know they are sharing the articles to stir the pot and to get their followers to begin bashing their local schools for being at the bottom of the list.

Before you share these random ratings and instigate a public crucifixion of your local schools, there are some things you should know from an insider's viewpoint.  The most obvious aspect of these ratings is the clear line between the top of the list and the bottom of the list--the top of the list is predominately the top, northern part of the state; the bottom of the list is usually the bottom, southern part of the state.  That line is the result of poverty.  Drive through what used to the be the booming small towns of South Arkansas, and what you will see are dilapidated factories and houses, school buildings that are no longer in use because of consolidation, and probably a Dollar General, which serves as the only grocery store in some of these towns. You will see poverty.

The most recent school ratings article I read claimed to use this year's ACT Aspire test scores to form their list.  On their list, you could see the clearly defined line between the best and worst schools. One of the greatest contributors to these low test scores is poverty.  Before you broadcast that your local school is at the bottom of the list, you don't have to understand test jargon or the fact that the standardized test given in our state has changed two times in the last four years.  You simply need to understand poverty.  In South Arkansas poverty outweighs those kids who are advanced and proficient on these tests in your local schools.

Consider these real-life, true teacher experiences:

The night before "the big test" in Connor's and Jaci's life of rainbows and butterflies, they had no worries.  I made sure they went to bed early.  They were awakened the next morning by my silly "Good Morning" song.  They continued their normal morning routine as they put on clean clothes, washed their faces, brushed their teeth, and ate a hot breakfast.  They arrived to school a little early, and as I dropped them off I reminded them to take their time and do their best on the big test.

A few miles down the road, Little Johnny's life isn't so peachy all the time.  On the night before the test, his mom was working the night shift at her second job, trying to do what is best for her family. She had a babysitter arranged--her neighbor was supposed to let Little Johnny spend the night.  When Johnny got to the neighbor's house, she had changed her mind and told him to go somewhere else. I'm not sure what time or where Johnny went to sleep, but since there was no one there to wake him up, he missed the bus on the morning of the big test.  He was able to catch a ride, but he was too late for breakfast. When he got to class to take his test, he was irritable, he was tired, and he was hungry.  Do you really think he could solve problems on this test with so many problems going on in his world?

Down the road in another South Arkansas school district in the middle of the night before the test, 1:00 am to be exact, Susie, a teenager, had to call the cops to come get her mother who was drunk and naked in the middle of the street.  (Laugh if you want; this is real.)  Susie happened to have a relative who came to get her and her two sisters, and he made sure they were at school on test day. Suzie's teacher noticed she was upset and angry that morning.  She was going off on every kid that looked at her.  You see, by test day, Suzie had solved as many problems as she could handle.  One of those problems was how to feed three people with one can of Spaghetti-O's, the only can of food in the house.  She solved the problem; she didn't eat.  She split the can between her two little sisters, who were also taking the big test that day.

These test scores are not only used to rate student performance on the test, but they are used by people who don't really understand how school systems work to rate schools and teachers as the best and the worst.  What these test scores don't reveal is that in all of the above scenarios, the students ultimately got what they needed that day from school.  For Connor and Jaci, they were able to reveal what they had learned through the school year by performing their best on the test.

What Little Johnny got was quite different.  On test day, he had a teacher who knew there was an underlying factor in Johnny's antsy behavior.  She pulled him out and talked to him.  When she found out that not only had he missed breakfast at school, he had also missed supper the night before, she gave him a hug and took him to the office.  The office staff and administrators made sure Johnny was fed.

Suzie needed even more.  Her teacher knew her and quickly realized Suzie was having an unusually bad morning.  Before Suzie could rip her classmate's head off, her teacher called her outside to find out what was going on.  Her teacher's first questions were, "Have you had anything to eat and did you sleep at all?"  That's when Suzie told about the Spaghetti-O's.  Suzie didn't need Shakespeare that morning, she needed food and sleep.  Her teacher hugged her and took her to the office, where she was fed and allowed to go to the nurse's office and sleep for a couple of hours.  With the love, support, and motivation from her teachers, school counselors, and principals, Suzie graduated high school this year with her CNA license and is working at a nursing home.

Unfortunately, these aren't just test-day problems.  They are problems that exist every single day in our schools.  Sometimes the greatest need is not learning to identify prepositional phrases and divide fractions.  However, schools in South Arkansas are doing their best to identify student needs and meet those needs of each individual student.  The test scores don't reflect the hugs, the love, and the compassion that is being shown to our children for seven hours a day in school.

Before you share bogus school ratings, consider this:  Would you go on social media and bash your doctor's office because your test results came back to reveal you had health problems?  I didn't think so.  Do me a favor, drive to the poorest neighborhood in your town, take it all in, imagine what struggles are happening in those houses, and then share the good things that are happening in your local schools.  If you're still not sure, ask a teacher.

Jumping on the Blog Wagon

Inspired by a couple of facebook friends, I've decided to jump on th recent "blog" wagon.  Although most of you will know me, I better tell the others a little about myself.  I am married with two small children (ages 7 & 4).  I teach high school English; this year predominantly seniors with one tenth grade class.  Needless to say, as a mother and teacher, I have plenty of stories to tell.  Sometimes the stories are a bit too long for a status update, so blogging seems like the appropriate thing to do.

One of the most recent "problems" I've noticed with my high schoolers is that they don't know the names of common, everyday items, particularly those found at school.  Obviously, this is scary, but it can be quite funny at times.  Yesterday, a student approached my desk and asked for "one of those things, you know, that can hold papers together."  I, thinking that it must be something rarely used, said, "Are you talking about the little stickers that tape the holes on loose-leaf paper back together."  She looked confused and said, "No, those clip things that are made of metal...one of those," pointing to a paper clip.  I couldn't help but give her that look... that look that all mothers and teachers master.  I know you're thinking that we all forget words every now and then, but this was the second time this week that she asked for a paper clip without knowing the word paper clip!  She giggled, I giggled and thought, "God help us."

Another student, on the same day, was vigorously working on an essay for a scholarship.  She stopped, got up and went to my bookshelf.  She picked up a book and said, "Do you mind if I borrow one of these books, I forgot what they are called, but the books you can find a word that sounds smarter than a regular word?"  First of all, I was happy to know that she knew such books existed; the problem was that she was holding the thesaurus in her hand.  All she had to do was look at the cover, but at least she didn't call it a tyrannosaurus. 

Both of these students could tell you what alliteration, metaphor, and oxymoron are, but when it comes to a paper clip or instinctively looking at the cover of a book to find the name, they were struggling.  We are failiing somewhere along the way.  I, however, take a deep breath, relax, and relish in the fact that these failings provide me with some comic relief every once in a while.