Monfredo: All Hands on Board Needed in Dealing With the Achievement Gap

Sunday, October 25, 2015

John Monfredo, GoLocalWorcester MINDSETTER™

During the many debates that have taken place with School Committee candidates one question continues to surface at every election and it’s all about the achievement gap in education.The term achievement gap is often referred to as the disparity in academic performance between groups of students. Most often it is used to describe the troubling performance gaps between low income students and students from middle class families.

The achievement gap has become a major focal point of education reform efforts in this state and across the country. Research points out that having fewer educational resources in the home, poor nutrition, and poor health all impact learning. Another factor is the mobility of families moving throughout the year seeking better housing.

So what must the schools and the communities do? We need to get our children off to a great start and it begins with a full-day preschool program. Many inner city students come to school in the kindergarten between two to three years behind. Research states that children living in poverty hear less than a third of the words heard by children from higher-income families resulting in a 30 million word difference. In addition, the gap does nothing but grow as the years progress, ensuring slow growth for children who are economically disadvantaged.

We need our legislators to fully fund preschool for at present it’s funding only half day preschool programs. Let’s stop and look at the tons of research on this subject and do something about it. I want every school with a poverty level of 65% be given the necessary funding for full-day preschool programs.

Next let’s look at the summer slide … this is referred to children losing between two and three months of growth during the summer time mainly because there is a lack of learning and a lack of literacy involvement taking place in their homes. Stop and think about it… if children are losing two to three months of academic growth each year and it takes place from kindergarten through grade five there is a loss of over a year due to the summer slide. Thus, we need all hands on deck to address this situation. Let’s work with United Way, Social Agencies, pre-school sites, the inter-faith groups and the schools to work out a solution. Let’s coordinate our efforts on behalf of the children. This summer problem is one of the many reasons that my wife and I started Worcester: the City that Reads in order to put books into the hands of our children as part of the long term solution.

Another achievement gap stopper can be found in our schools that have AVID (advancement via individual determination). It’s a program funded by Hanover Insurance for these are students in the middle academically. The program teaches them how to organize, take notes, gives them strategies for studying, and prepares them for college. The program started in the middle schools and now can be found in many of our elementary schools.

We also need to double dose students in English and Math in our middle schools for those who are at risk. This will assist them to prepare for high school. A summer program should also be part of preparation time for those entering the ninth grade. I would also want see many of our schools extend the school day and the school year. Again this would assist those “at risk” students from their continued academic slide.

Another area that adds to the achievement gap is chronic absenteeism for in Worcester we have a population of over 12.7% absent over 18 days during the school year. Those are the students who go on to drop out of school. The students who are absent the most are our high school students. On the elementary level students in the kindergarten and grade one led the way with chronic absenteeism. Children who miss too much school in the kindergarten are less likely to read well by the third grade. By middle school absenteeism can predict who will graduate from high school. This issue needs to be seriously addressed by the district.

What about the cost? Leading economists estimate a 7 to 16 percent return on investments in high quality early education from children in low-income families… from reduced need in special education and remediation in the short term to higher earning and reduced social costs in the long term.

Other ideas that can narrow the achievement gap are additional parent involvement and having staff members (bring back our parent liaisons) making home visits and training parents in how to help their child in the learning process. In addition, health centers are critical and we need to partner with the centers and address this nation-wide problem.

As you can see, the discussion has started but the question is will it continue? A great deal of work needs to be done and my focus, obviously, will be on my community…Worcester. I have stated so many times that we need prevention programs if we are to narrow the achievement gap between those children with resources and those without. I am committed to carrying out this agenda for it’s time that we stop the talking and get busy in finding a solution. Here are a few more thoughts on what needs to be considered as we attempt to tackle the problem:

More full time pre-school programs. Work with the Massachusetts Department of Education on the funding for Early Education for All. That grant could establish additional pre-school programs in our city and coordinate programs with many of our private pre-school providers.
Continue with our books to babies program Sponsored by the Worcester Public Schools with the assistance of the Retired Senior Volunteer Program)…giving books to new mothers in the hospital. However, let’s go to the second step and have follow-up meetings with the new mothers. The question is who will do it? Could the school nurses be involved in this process as we do for Head Start students? This would be a great way of dealing with health and literacy at the same time. It makes sense!
Get the Community involved! What can the Worcester Public Library Do? United Way? Social agencies … the Boys and Girls Club, the YMCA and the YWCA, Friendly House, Black Legacy, Hispanic organizations, the churches and Rainbow Child Development? What about other private pre-school programs? Let’s involve them in the discussion.
Reaching out to parents is a must. Who will do it? We need a Literacy campaign throughout the community for we NEED to remember that children who read succeed in school and in life. We now have an organization entitled, WORCESTER READS and they are becoming active within our community for there is a strong campaign going on in reminding our parents that the most important 20 minutes of the day is reading to your child. How about the community sponsoring early childhood workshops throughout the year for parents of children under age five?

The conversation has started so now let’s move forward and seek solutions to the problem. A community’s growth is greatly improved as its children and schools show progress. Families moving to a community always are interested in the school system. Let’s work together as a community to assist our schools in being as successful as possible and encourage the community as a whole to assist the children in becoming lifelong learners.

We can talk about it or attempt to do something … let’s stop the talking and come up with an action plan now!

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Monfredo: All Hands on Board Needed in Dealing With the Achievement Gap

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