Streamlining

I spoke with the ELA teacher that preceded me and who is now doing Title One. She was/is a fabulous teacher, as my 8th graders like to remind me since they had her last year. As the Title One director, she was at school a couple weeks ago, offering support and interventions to teachers. She had offered me her class materials from previous years when I first took over but I didn’t really know what to ask for so I never took her up on that offer. I did receive some materials via her husband, the principal, some of which I used.

After her presentation about ways she wanted to support teachers (RTI), I talked to her about a few things, only one of which I remember now. I mentioned to her how the 8th graders seemed much more closely aligned in level, whereas 7th graders seemed all over the board.  I think I used the word “streamlined” to describe 8th grade. She enthusiastically agreed, saying that 7th grade just needed to be streamlined.

I was somewhat surprised that she said this, merely because she was such a good teacher, but I just nodded along because I had to get my thoughts in order. The idea of streamlining students seems.... totally/categorically wrong to me. That is exactly what standardized tests require, that all students perform at the SAME level. But never in the world will you find a situation in which 20 to 30 people involuntarily thrown together in a room perform at the exact same levels. We NEED differences in ability. “It takes all types,” as the saying goes. It is a GOOD thing that people have different fortes. Companies value differences, and in fact it is this very thing that gets one hired: standing out from the crowd! I don’t want to make everyone the same; I don’t want to streamline my students.

But where does that leave me? Against the grain, at the very least. Maybe the question then is what DO I want for my students, if not to perform at the same level? Of course the ultimate goal is that they become productive, self-reliant, caring citizens.  

Streamlining inherently means some students will be held back or stagnated. Why the hell would I want to stall a student? I’d rather stall a car. Another sad reality of standardization is that advanced students are essentially abandoned. Now that they’ve achieved and passed the test, a teacher has no more reason to help them improve--there are too many failing students that need her attention.