We can close the achievement gap
by closing the opportunity gap first

By Jan Resseger - Minister for Public Education and Witness
United Church of Christ

When President Obama offered waivers for some of the most onerous sanctions of the No Child Left Behind Act, he assured the public that the federal government won’t abandon the call for accountability—the concept that all schools must continue to raise standardized test scores for all children and adolescents, and the driving force behind education policy for the past 20 years. 

At the same time, columnist David Sirota, recently condemned accountability-driven public education policy, “for changing the subject from poverty and inequality,” the deeper problems we rarely mention and make little attempt as a society to address.

I think Sirota is correct. As our frame for considering public schools has slipped deeper into the language of business—accountability, efficiency, management, competition, measurement, incentives for performance, testing targets, and enterprise—we seem no longer able to find the language to consider the deeper values that have traditionally guided our vision for public schools. 

A set of new resources from the National Council of Churches (NCC) addresses the problems with today’s conventional wisdom on school reform and at the same time points to the real challenges our society must address.  The NCC just released a set of short videos, posted on YouTube, as well as the NCC’s website.

In the four short films,  two secular experts—civil rights attorney and philanthropist John Jackson and education historian Diane Ravitch—explore core values about schooling in the public space, values also proclaimed last year in a NCC pastoral letter, “An Alternative Vision for Public Education.”

The NCC reminds us that our conversation about public education is not merely about public policy but also about public morality.

In the short clip that frames all four videos, NCC General Secretary Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon establishes the church’s standing to speak to public school reform: “Each child has special, sacred gifts that need to be nurtured, and all children are special and precious in God’s eyes,” Kinnamon declares, “which means that a system in which some children have access to excellent instruction while others don’t is simply unacceptable.”

Here is a quick taste of each of the short films along with a direct link to each film on YouTube.  I urge you to watch them, and if you like, explore the NCC’s study guide:

• Educational Opportunity for All:
  Jackson: “We talk about the achievement gap… but in order to address the achievement gap you have to  address the opportunity gap to ensure that all students have access to those resources that we know provide students an opportunity to learn… access to high quality early education, the supports necessarily to recruit and retain highly effective teachers… access to college preparatory curricula, and… equitable instructional resources and policies.” “We are not making the investments we need to close the opportunity gaps.”  Ravitch: “If we were serious about addressing the inequality in American society, we would be outraged that over 20 percent of our children live in poverty.”
• Public Schools and the Common Good :
  Ravitch: “There is no serious public thinking today about ways to systemically improve public education for all kids. It’s all about how to get kids to escape from the system, and this is not sustainable.” Jackson: “‘Race to the Top’ is a four billion dollar commitment where not all the states received resources to protect their student’s civil right to an opportunity to learn. If California is a loser, the nation is a loser… We are at a point in our history where the very success of our country depends on providing a high opportunity to learn to all students…  We are all connected.”
• Public Schools, Part of the Community or Marketplace?:
  Ravitch: “We don’t have metrics to say my family is better than your family; this child is better than that child. I mean my first child and my second child—I don’t have a metric for comparing them… The most important things in life do not have metrics, not just love of learning, but integrity, responsibility, caring for others, a sense of justice, a sense of compassion for other people, empathy.
• Supporting Our Teachers:
  Jackson: “I’m really astonished by the level of demonization that is occurring in our country related to teachers.” Ravitch: “Well, we’re in kind of a strange historical moment in terms of education. Particularly No Child Left Behind… created what I consider the timetable for the destruction of public education… And then … Race to the Top… turns out to be worse than No Child Left Behind, because it targets teachers. Teachers across America are feeling demoralized...”