[Editor's note: This "What Matters Most" column appeared in the New York Times on Sunday, May 17.]
Despite many well intentioned efforts to lift up our lowest-performing students in America, eight years after “No Child Left Behind” the achievement gap remains a persistent problem. And the current remedy of simply closing schools down or turning them into charter schools hasn’t turned the situation around.
What, then, do you suppose would happen if we not only acknowledged that there are conditions in children’s lives that make it harder for them to learn, but we actually did something about it? Last summer when I was elected AFT president, I resurrected the concept of school-based “wraparound” services for children and families. A new AFT Innovation Fund will support experiments with community schools, among other ideas, around the country.
But in truth, we have to do much more than that. And the opportunity is right in front of us. Within the stimulus package passed by Congress is a $5 billion innovation incentive fund called “Race to the Top.” It seeks, as one of its goals, the turnaround of the lowest-performing one percent of schools in the nation. And here in New York City, the combination of the UFT’s years-long efforts to engage the community and our experience working intensively with failing schools, as well as mayoral control, gives us the tools to develop an innovative turnaround model.
Currently, the first response to a school that shows signs of weakness is to shut it down. Now don’t get me wrong — sometimes, if intensive help fails, closing a school and starting over may be necessary. And two of the common remedies — charter schools and small schools — can have important roles in a public school system. But we have learned that what struggling students really need is a new learning experience, not a new school with a new name or a new coat of paint.
That’s why I have called on Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein to join with the UFT in a broader, bolder mission — to develop a collaborative, coordinated, comprehensive school turnaround model to serve our neediest children in our most challenging educational settings.
We’re calling it ACES — Active Communities Enabling Success.
It will model not only instructional best practices but also best practices in labor-management relations. And it will be a model for the best use of mayoral control: bringing into our schools the health and human services that children and their families need to ensure school success.
The network of schools, open evenings and weekends, would be a locus for health and mental health services, either through the co-location of clinics, mobile clinics or partnerships with local providers and hospitals. After-school tutoring and enrichment programs would be closely aligned with the instructional day, but the schools would also include opportunities for exercise, sports, arts and culture, and community service. For families and members of the community, childcare, pre-school, ESL, GED and vocational classes would be available. Finally, referrals could be made for housing issues, employment opportunities, immigration issues and legal problems.
Imagine what a welcoming place for kids and family members such a school would be. By addressing health, mental health and family issues, the rate of student absenteeism — a major cause of poor school performance — would plummet and parent involvement would soar, as visiting their children’s teachers would no longer be so daunting for parents already familiar with the building.
And for those who say this approach tries to do everything but teach, that is far from the truth. There is no conflict between emphasizing academics and tending to children’s broader needs. For our most disadvantaged kids, our schools can and must do both.
This type of intensive turnaround model for failing schools is something I have long pursued, but it has taken on a new urgency for me because despite our best efforts, too many of our kids just aren’t making it. It’s time to try something new — something that takes into account all the things that affect how children learn.
