I Agree with Dr. Hicks (Really, I Do!)

In retrospect what happened tonight was not a world-changing event – the earth did not fall off its axis but it was a rare event, nonetheless. I AGREE WITH SOMETHING OUR SUPERINTENDENT SAID!

At tonight’s board meeting there was a presentation done by Renee Pfaller, the Director of Special Education for Racine Unified. Our school district has a disproportionate amount of minority children identified as needing special education. I am one of the few who haven’t yet jumped on the bandwagon that RUSD cannot perform better on state tests because we have a high poverty rate and a sizeable minority population. The argument that only white middle class children can learn is completely unfounded, and I believe, totally racist.

I think that if we really want to close the achievement gap, we need to stop making excuses and have some “real” expectations for ALL our children. I fear that these children are being wrongly identified just because their behavior is different than what is desired. I also believe that there may be teachers who simply have higher expectations for some children, simply based on their skin color. I don’t even think that some teachers may be aware they are projecting these different expectations, but it has to stop. Dr. Hicks agreed with Pfaller that RUSD needs to explore why RUSD continues to over identify minority children compared to the other districts in Wisconsin.

The following quote was used in the conclusion of Pfaller’s PowerPoint presentation:

“We must change the way we think about ability, competence and success and encourage schools to redefine support so the need to sort children is reduced”
(Testimony before the President’s Commission, 2002) .

I think that quote pretty much sums it up....