Column “Haves, have-nots in public school stratosphere” by a former school teacher and reporter Susan Baldridge opines:
“Kids who came from families with a high standard of living populated the college prep, honors or Advanced Placement classes. Those who came from families considered low income were in the low-level classes that weren’t preparing them for college. ..
“The students in the higher-level classes had better clothes, better shoes, better highlights in their hair — even their backpacks seemed lighter and easier to carry. The students in the lower-level classes, the classes that promised to prepare them for a career, were often unkempt, hungry, absent and trudged as if they were already feeling the weight of the menial labor we expected them to perform for the rest of their lives…
“Poor and minority students are the least likely group to be taught by teachers with experience, knowledge and credentials, the elements of teacher quality that research demonstrates are strongly associated with high student achievement. Research also shows that these students produce the most gains when assigned to effective teachers,” according to the national Center for Public Education…”
WATCHDOG: Three wags of the tail! Well worth reading.
Perhaps there needs to be financial incentives for teaching the more challenging classes.
Kudos/ “Three Wags Of a Tail” from this reader,too!!!