For decades, educators have fretted about the “achievement gap”—the disparity of academic performance among groups of students. Now the chorus to close the gap is getting louder, as parents, teachers, administrators, and the government all voice their views. They have more to say, in part, because there’s more data available to comment on. “Twenty years ago you would get an annual report of student progress in your school and at most you would think to yourself that something needed to be done,” says Jim Wold, EdD, Associate Dean in Capella University’s School of Education. “Today we can get these reports on a weekly basis, and we have the ability to take action—to work on instructional strategies that can change this behavior.”
One size doesn’t fit all
Putting those suggestions to work requires several shifts. Among them is moving from a one-size-fits-all teaching style to different styles for different students. Another is having administrators switch from being primarily managers to becoming instructional leaders who help teachers be more effective. “If I’m getting data everyday on how my students are doing or as a principal if I’m getting it by month, and then I begin to disaggregate and I look by gender, race, neighborhood—whatever way I can,” Wold says. “Then I make instructional decisions and work with my teachers on instructional decisions that will adjust to those differences. If you don’t know those differences you won’t change behavior.”
Making training integral
Training is also critical. Tackling a problem this complex requires more than an occasional service day of training, so schools have to look at moving schedules to free up hours on a regular basis. Finding those time slots is challenging, but essential to planning and implementing significant changes. Although the achievement gap continues to expand, Wold is optimistic that the trend can be reversed. “With the use of data and planning, and the strategies and skills teachers and administrators have to go along with it, I think we can definitely begin to close the achievement gap,” Wold says. And he sees Capella as helping lead those efforts. “We don’t just want to give someone a degree,” he says. “We are competency-based. We want our people who graduate to be able to demonstrate those competencies that will prepare them for an active role in reducing the achievement gap.”
This entry was posted on Thursday, July 10th, 2008 at 12:03 pm and is filed under Alumni, Education, Learners. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
