School Excellence Solutions

What are we not doing that we should be doing? What are we doing that we should NOT be doing? National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) long-term trend data is out and student achievement in the US is reaching a critical point and not enough people are paying attention.

Kids. Are. Not. Learning. Like. They. Need. To.

And to add insult to injury, Black students are learning EVEN LESS. Black student scores declined 7 points in reading and 13 points in math - and this decline is from the already basic and below basic levels.

There's no easy answer to the complex and growing challenges in education, but there ARE answers! But broadly, we just aren't doing nearly enough of the things that we could (should) be doing to reverse this troubling trajectory. Some immediate thoughts:

1. Invest much more deeply in middle grades teacher preparation. Middle grades (4th-8th grades) are a critical time for brain development. The way pre- and early-adolescent children see the world and process it is at odds with current middle school learning structures and even more at odds with the way instruction traditionally takes place. Educators have to understand how the middle school brain works and lean into new models for middle grades learning.

2. Stop the assault against culturally responsive, affirming, and sustaining curriculum pedagogies. Black students deserve to experience exemplary academic and non-academic success in school, and they cannot continue to be denied the basic civil right of education because systems and the people that lead them refuse to acknowledge that there is a way of being, doing, and learning that is different. And it is NOT deficient; it is just different. To require Black students to participate in mandatory schooling where they are not sufficiently and adequately schooled relative to their non-Black peers is educational injustice. And to refuse to embrace, adopt, and require culturally relevant, affirming, and sustaining curriculum and pedagogies in said schooling systems is essentially educational malpractice.

3. Fully embrace and adopt evidence-based interventions like high-quality instructional materials and high-impact tutoring to ensure that students have access to coherent, standards-aligned curricula and just-in-time supports to ensure mastery of content. Yes, these interventions are expensive. Yes, they require a shift in resources and practices. And yes, we should adopt them anyway. Just because it's hard doesn't mean we don't do it.

4. Completely redesign middle school. Spaces. Schedules. Curriculum. Standards. Courses. Teacher preparation. Leader preparation. Credentialing. Literally everything. What are doing now is built on antiquated, outdated research and methods that largely focused on middle-class white students, but do not work for today's students - nearly none of them! Why are we still doing what we've always done? Why are we so beholden to ineffective methods that are harming our kids?

Can we just start with some of these things? Maybe - just maybe - they will work. Can we start with doing things differently - like making decisions based on data and research and doing what we know works? And if all else fails, just tear down the whole system and start over. This one is clearly broken.

Ready to talk real transformation and devise an actionable strategy to improve student outcomes? [email protected] | https://www.slsj.us/contact



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We presented two sessions at Green Dot Public Schools-CA annual conference last year and got this card in the mail a few days ago from the conference coordinators. We are always grateful for all of our school and district partners who graciously allow us to enter their space, believe in our work and our process, and trust us with their people. It's an honor to be able to do this work! School Leadership for Social Justice has been a gift to Toni & I as much as it has been a gift to the thousands of educators we have served and supported over the last three years.
-Sharla