The Second Battle in the War for Equity: Students Pulling Ahead
The second phase of increased equity in education was centered around increased opportunities for advanced students. After the NCLB failed to close the achievement gap (as happened in most parts of the country), a new set of rhetoric arose driven primarily by upper-middle class parents who worked in the tech industry. They noticed that the emphasis on closing the achievement gap was holding their students back. As teachers focused their attention on raising up students who were struggling to meet the standards, they often failed to adequately challenge the accelerated students in the class. Though I didn’t recognize it at the time, I just happened to be one of those unchallenged students.
In the fourth grade, I was appointed by my teacher to help the other students in the class learn math because my grasp of the subject was already above the level needed to “exceed expectations” on the standardized tests we had shoved down our throats every spring. I knew no different as a fourth grader and was happy to help, but my parents joined the growing caucus concerned that precocious students were not being given the opportunity to fulfill their potential. After my elementary school of five years failed to meet the Annual Yearly Progress standards for the third year in a row, I became one of a handful of students to withdraw and transfer to more successful school (in a wealthier neighborhood, I might add) to finish my final year of primary school.
In the years that followed, the Quest program (a competitive program for advanced students) expanded, and AP class options broadened. The district introduced several more “choice schools,” as well.
The introduction of choice schools was heavily rooted in the philosophy of increasing school choice. School choice in the LWSD, an entirely public district without charters, takes the form of providing broader options in terms of academic focus. Choice schools in our district are now available as early as kindergarten, with explorer schools, and vary from arts-focused schools to STEM schools to international schools. Parents of gifted students are now able to help hone their children’s skills in a specific area as they set them on a track to a four-year university by elementary school.
The extensive variety of opportunities for students seems felicitous on a ballot, so bond after levy passed expanding choice school programs. However, no ballot can fully describe the implications of these measures in terms of who can access these choice schools. Thus, as the levies and bonds passed, the gap in our district quietly grew. To butcher the words of W.B. Yeats, as things spread apart, the center could not hold.
The final installment of this story of battles for increased equity will come in two weeks.
