Posted on March 16, 2010 |
by Lara S. Kaufmann, Senior Counsel,
National Women’s Law Center
There is plenty to celebrate during Women’s History Month, particularly around the advances women have made in education. The impact of Title IX has been far-reaching, increasing the number of women in athletics and improving educational and career opportunities for American women and girls over almost four decades. But as we celebrate this success, it is critical that we not forget that there is a tremendous amount of work left. It therefore seems fitting that Congress chose this month to solicit feedback from the public about the upcoming reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (aka “No Child Left Behind”). And, as you’d expect, we will have a lot to say.
The truth is, this is a time of crisis for all students in our nation’s schools. But somehow the voices of girls at risk in school largely have been absent from the debate around education reform. In fact, far too many policymakers and the media have bought into the stereotype that all girls are succeeding in school. Unfortunately that is just not the case: 19% of Asian American female students do not graduate on time, if at all (note: this number may be deceivingly low because it does not take into account variations between female students of different Asian and Pacific Islander ethnicities); and the same is true for 41% of Latina students; 43% of African American female students, and 49% of Native American female students.
Despite these horrifying statistics, the overgeneralization that all girls are doing just fine permeates the debate around education reform due in part to a serious dearth of data on the performance of subgroups of students. We are trying to change that. As Congress and the Administration take a hard look at school reform, we hope that they will shift towards a more nuanced, “data-driven” path for school improvement. And in so doing, it is critical that the data driving policy be broken down by gender within each race/ethnicity.
Basing reforms on data rather than assumptions will be good for all students.
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Comments
Thanks for the invitation
Thanks for the invitation that I post another comment. While every boy and girl are different with different individual needs, there are some generalizations we can make. Boys and girls tend to have different learning needs. Boys tend to be more physically active and often find it hard to sit still for long periods. The kinds of literature that boys tend to prefer is different from those of girls. Still, self-discipline is important to develop and the need for that must be clarified for both boys and girls. It is important for teachers to help them to develop that. The teacher must be careful not to attribute certain capabilities as belonging mostly to girls or boys. It must be made clear to children that, whether they're boys or girls, they're equally capable so long as they are tough enough -- strong enough inside to strive and achieve.
I'm particularly sensitive to
I'm particularly sensitive to the educational situation for children of immigrants, since I was one of them. I became a teacher when I grew up, but I'll never forget the difficulties I had to overcome. The language and study problems that such children have must be addressed by schools. Schools must reach out to these families to provide improved study situations and tutorial help where necessary. The educational establishment must be aware that (1) not only have many of the immigrant parents not had educational experiences of their own, (2) they also may be working long hours. They often can only help their kids by the example of their attitudes toward education. The combination of those two realities makes it hard for them to help their children. Still, to some extent boys and girls have somewhat different difficulties in educational settings and these differences must be addressed.
Please let's go even further.
Please let's go even further. I'm going to generalize -- of course their are lots of kids who quickly learn, and do well. BUT --
I think it's well known that lots of the adult immigrants from many countries/areas, whose native language isn't English, don't ever learn English well. And their kids really don't read and write English well until after several years of school. Many of the kids never catch up. (They've heard TV and radio English, but they haven't been exposed to much reading and writing in English.)
The kids' parents came to the US for a better life, for themselves and for their kids. The parents are hard-working, trying to support their families and make a better life for their families.
These kids are being penalized by the No Child . . . act. The schools that these kids attend are being penalized because the kids don't do well on the standardized tests that are mandated. The teachers in these schools are as good as in other schools, but they are also being penalized (I'm thinking of the "restructure" necessary for schools that flunk the criteria set up by the act. Teachers must undergo more training. Some will be transferred to other schools, even though they are doing their job well, etc.)
How unfair! This situation also needs to be addressed in the scool reform.
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