Closing the Achievement Gap: Facing the Challenges from Outside the Classroom

Organized by: the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development and Dean Mary Brabeck
Location: Lipton Hall
Date: Friday, November 14th, 8:30 AM - 10:30 AM

This was Part 1 of 3 in a breakfast series on education policy featuring Michael Rebell of Teacher's College and the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE), who was the lead litigator in the successful lawsuit to provide adequate funding for New York's Public Schools, and a new professor at NYU, Clancy Blair, who is a developmental psychologist who primarily studies the the aspects of school readiness and achievement from a cognitive perspective.

In summary, the discussion surrounded the challenges students bring with them and into the classroom. The key questions were: What does research tell us about these challenges? How do these realities frame children's learning experiences and opportunities? What specific efforts and policy should be implemented to address these contributions to the achievement gap?

From a developmental perspective, the speakers were focused on looking at the WHOLE child and their management and self-regulation of arousal for the purpose of goal-directed outcomes through executive functions. Based on teacher reported data, about one in every forty children in the United States are labeled as having unmanageable behavior, and the expulsion rates in the United States are very high. But one of the questions that was posed is how are we, as a society, preparing children to be students? How are we preparing them for the "zone of ready to learn?" Children enter the classroom at three or four-years-old and have to learn a new discourse and way of behaving. Generally speaking, primary school teachers, when discussing readiness for school, talk about turn taking, attention, and use of language; none of the responses refer to knowledge but a social competence and ability to navigate the school system. Blair named economic pressures and environmental factors that are the significant challenges facing students in the classroom because they increase the stress factors and arousal areas in the brain, which in turn impede learning. The factors that impede caregivingalso impede self-regulation.

Can we promote self-regulation of arousal and learning simulataneously? Blair suggested that this needs to start at home and providing children and their families with the necessary resources for success, alluding to a Maslow perspective of taking care of the physical needs -- nutrition, shelter, healthcare, etc. Blair is a major supporter of early childhood funding and providing families with the necessary resources in order to decrease the arousal caused in students by the external stresses and pressures in their environments. One study, in a small sample of teacher reported "behavior problems" showed that there were high levels of cortisol in those childrens' brains at the onset of an activity and that their levels of cortisol, the chemical in the brain produced in the amygdala and hippothalmus (the arousal centers), over the course of thirty minutes significantly dropped as compared to their "typical" peers whose levels of arousal and cortisol increased over time.

Rebell entered the conversation with more of a legal perspective and stated that we need to change the dialogue of society and eduction policy and start talking about the RIGHTS of children. And to be brief, Rebell described the research that has existed since Bush I and Clinton sat down in the early 90s to create Goals 2000 at the Charlottesville Summit, where the first goal was that all children would be ready for school. They were already tapping into the idea that we need to prepare children for school with resources for healthy bodies and healthy minds. These "opportunities to learn" or "meaningful education rights" were a resultant of an increase in the support in resources and services provided to families.

At this breakfast were a room of powerhouses! And this was one of the most interesting discussions I have ever attended. As a teacher, through my development across the pedagogical core, I acknowledge and recognize the challenges that all students face as they enter the classroom, but this series provided the research and evidence from a neurological perspective as to how environmental factors can impede the learning opportunities of children. The way I look at my students is refocused on examining the WHOLE child so that no child is in fact left behind. Also, I think that educators walked away with an understanding that it is our responsibility to engage students in meaningful ways to tap into their arousal levels in the brain. There needs to be a stronger emphasis placed on building the community of learners, which includes the school, the teachers, the students, and their families in genuine and meaningful ways. When we recognize that our children enter with challenges to their learning opportunities, as a community we can work to transform those challenges into strengths.

To link this talk to our class... can you say "Child Connection?" :)