If we all dig deep. If we all search our souls for the true deficits that lead to the achievement gaps in our schools, we may find that race and poverty are only the physical manifests of what is actually at play here: low expectations. The psychology of all of this is as fascinating and compelling as it is sad and tragic. Since there are lives at stake here, let us keep our focus on solving problems and not just theorizing about them. Still, solving the true, discriminatory practices that lead to achievement gaps does require our school leaders to understand why and how these gaps reveal themselves daily in our classrooms. Let me be clear that I am true believer in teachers and schools as I have committed my life to making them better at their craft. I also honestly believe that nearly all educators are well-meaning and they want all of their kids to learn. So it is critical that we clearly understand what we are hearing as the carillon of equity and cultural competence sounds around us.
While we know that race and poverty are highly correlated to school outcomes, we have to question whether a lack of money or skin color is the reason. Let’s allow the logic to play out all the way to end. If children are born with the same (or similar) potential (which they are), then what actually happens in life and school that separates some from others and how might we actually fix it? Further, if we cannot fix race relations, discrimination or poverty overnight, what might a classroom teacher or leader do now to move their work forward in support of all learners?
Poverty is not the problem in schools, deficit thinking is
This blog will always shy away from joining in the endless fray of political or social commentary and will, instead, keep a focus on tackling problems in schools right now in support of teachers and kids. In other words, we don’t need more political or social commentators right now. In fact, we need fewer of them. What we need today are problem solvers. We need architects and engineers. We need people who want to fix things, as we are all starving for solutions.
In schools, every solution begins and ends in the classroom. So let us reflect on how our daily interactions with kids might be (in our own minds) well-meaning but also might (in the end) lead to the kind of deficit thinking and low expectations that has widened our achievement gaps.
Improving achievement gaps requires culture and competence
If, and only if, it is true that all teachers care about all kids, then how do our actions play out in classrooms where some kids excel and others falter (likely without the teacher even knowing how he or she contributed to this disparity)? And, if it is true that some of our students feel challenged and empowered in our classrooms while others feel defeated and unworthy, then how might the actions of our teachers play out differently to create a more engaging and empowering environment for all kids?
A good place to start is tackling something that we have control over: the words that we use. In doing so, we might find that our growth in understanding what we call “cultural competence” requires (literally) that all of us to be more cultured (by this, I mean really understanding what assets and struggles different cultures bring to the table) and competent (by this, I mean being really smart about how to reach different types of kids differently and intuitive about how our words and actions might be perceived by children).
A great first step requires us to examine our words and reflect on the messages they send. In thinking about how we speak with kids (or to kids), there are at least two types of deficit thinking that we might want to consider (or re-consider).
Deficit Thinking: Bringing The Light
- “This poor child is behind and I want to help him but nurturing him and caring for him, by taking it easy on him.”
- “This poor child is behind and is never going to amount to much, and I just want to help him graduate. If so, he just might make something of himself.”
Deficit Thinking: Bringing The Heavy
- “This child has no strong role models. No one has pushed her to be great (like me). In fact, she is so unlike me that I must help her to become more like me, to like the books that I like, to appreciate my take on things, my take on art and history and politics.”
- “Why must I do these things? Because I am superior to them. I am not just older and wiser (which teachers should be) but I am better than them. What I want for them is not to be all they can be but to be what I want them to be. This is why it sounds like I am talking down to them because, clearly, they are beneath me and these kids just don’t ‘get it’ like my more affluent students do.”
Of course, these are all very, very slippery slopes. In fact, setting high expectations for children (especially children of poverty) is tricky business. Saying to a boy who wants to grow up and his own landscape business, “But you can be so much more!” says a great deal about our lack of understanding of culture and competence.
I offer none of these observations to belittle the intentions of our teachers or leaders for we have all made similar comments. Still, we have these achievement gaps for a reason and (without us) the world is not going to solve them. That requires us to revisit how we teach our lessons and the words we use to engage and inspire kids. Only then will we herald in a new era of equity as the carillon sounds around us.
