It has been a norm to recognize schools
based on their state-mandated test scores. The competition among high schools
racing to finish at the top gets extremely fierce as they know that the overall
scores would be made public and none of them wants to be ranked as a
lower-performing school. Consequently, the teachers in the city high schools
are instructed to prepare students to perform well in tests. And this is
exactly what they do.
What is the problem with the current
recognition system?
It was a relatively easy task until a
few years ago to classify a school based on test scores, but things have
changed the way a “great school” is recognized today. The test-based policies
cannot ensure greater learning and many people have realized this truth. This
has resulted in a spurt of ideas that bring to life more liberal and
progressive models of what a great high school should be.
Surveys across the countries show that
the students studying in more prosperous neighbourhoods school perform
outstandingly well on these state-required tests. In contrast, students,
especially those belonging to the minority section, studying in the underprivileged
localities perform disappointingly bad. Also, the schools with top scores were
set to be awarded for their accountability and improvement through
government-run policies. The schools with less impressive scores were left high
and dry.
These survey findings don’t come as a
surprise as nothing much has changed over the time. The reason for such marked
difference in results can be attributed to the fact that the schools in the
underprivileged localities are denied the funding that schools located in more
prosperous neighbourhoods receive. In addition, higher salaries in schools in
prosperous neighbourhoods attract far superior teachers. Even the community
resources find their ways to affluent or middle-class children whereas poor
children are once again left to their fate.
The children born in affluent families
get a lot of opportunities and usually do better in school. If these children
struggle with studies, they hire tutors. If their writing skills are poor, they
hire professional writing service. These children are born with a silver spoon
and can have their way in virtually everything in life including academics. On
the other hand, underprivileged kids fall back only to their teachers and
schools for learning. No matter how much efforts a teacher puts in to improve
the learning abilities of these children, the efforts are rarely praised. For
instance, the hard work invested by an English teacher in improving the
composition skills of these underprivileged students will not be unnoticed,
compared to a modest teacher teaching in a top school that has a history of
producing literary legends.
How can this recognition system be
changed?
In the midst of the increasing opt-out
change and strong dismissal of test-based policies, the government should launch
a recognition program that is based on high-quality research in relation to
eliminating achievement gaps among children from different backgrounds. The
research-based practices should be meant to foster environments conducive to
learning. In an attempt to bridge the gap in performance of children from
different schools, the government should take an initiative to use research and
create better teaching and learning environments. The schools should be ranked
not on the basis of their current test scores, but on the improvement
demonstrated by the under-performing students of the school in research-based
programs implemented by that school.
This brings us to the reality that the
actual measure of a great school or a great teacher is based on their ability to
improve the performance of the underperforming children and not on the
continued performance of the already performing kids. Taking the credit for
improving the performance of achievers should no longer be accepted. The actual
recognition should be rooted in conducting programs that provide equal chances
to students from all the sections of the society and then ranking them on the
basis of improvement in performance. The objective of the initiative by the
government should be to close the gap between performers and non-performers and
provide education impartially to all students through research-based practices
including student support systems, community resources, fair discipline
practices, minimal tracking, and high-class professional improvement for teachers.
These practices should be intended to result in the maximum improvement in
student’s performance.
How will the new recognition system
benefit the schools?
The initiative from the government
could be instrumental in recognizing schools that are creating inputs to close
opportunity gaps, demonstrate an astonishing dedication to impartiality and
brilliance by providing equal opportunity to all the students to succeed. The
schools should be rewarded for implementing the right programs and not for giving
admissions to the country’s best students. The initiative should highlight the
methods through which schools are actively engaged in bridging the opportunity
gap and conducting research-based activities that are intended toward ensuring
that all the students irrespective of their backgrounds or ethnicity are
offered abundant opportunities to succeed.
The process of recognizing great high
schools highlights methods such as effective faculty and student support
systems, contact with the community, emotional and physical support, cautious
and impartial discipline programs, and first-rate teacher selection and
mentoring programs. The recognition process should allow participating schools
to explain why and how they should be recognized.
They societies and schools should be
recognized and applauded for coming together and combining their efforts and
resources on eliminating the disparities in learning and performance of
achieving and non-achieving students. This confluence should serve as a model
for other schools and communities who want to participate in true school
development.
The school improvement will happen in
true sense only when more and more schools engage in bridging opportunity gaps.
One step forward taken by a school needs to be emulated and should inspire
others to follow. Instead of limiting their focus of improving state-based test
score, the schools should engage in wholesome development of the students. The
recognition of a great high school can achieve its true objective only once the
gap between the non-performing and performing students starts to close.
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