kitchen table math, the sequel: Froggiemama on gatekeeping

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Froggiemama on gatekeeping

I can remember being gatekeepered out of 8th grade algebra back in the 70's, and the memory still makes me boil. In my case, I was a year younger than the other kids, so the teachers said I wasn't "developmentally ready" for abstract mathematics. So I wasted a year in consumer math.

Fast forward to today - I was utterly shocked to find out that my kids school gatekeepers 8th grade algebra (as well as a whole slew of other "advanced" courses). I had thought gatekeepering at such a young age had been discredited in the 80's. Why are they still doing it? We end up with a school system that is as tracked as the German system. And worse yet, in my district, the tracking criteria has nothing to do with whether a kid is good at math or not. It is all based on whether they are diligent at submitting homework that is neat and organized according to teacher standards.

However, this has nothing to do with Common Core in our district. They have been doing this for eons. At parents night at our high school last spring, the principal was complaining that we don't send enough students to schools like MIT and CMU. Well, you know, if you gatekeeper out all your most talented students in 8th grade, the messy, creative, smart ones, you won't have much talent left in the 12th grade.

Froggiemama on gatekeeping, part 2
At our middle school, when Chris was there, 7th-grade kids were gatekeepered in and out of Earth Science on the basis of "maturity."

"Maturity" meant, among other things, that the student was proactive (I think that was the actual term, proactive) in "seeking extra help."

(Code for: hire a tutor.)

One of the most talented students in the school was gatekeepered out of Earth Science on grounds that she was "anxious."

Anxious!

As I recall, this student had one of the highest scores on the enrollment test. But she was anxious, so no.

Ed and I got involved in that case because we happened to know the parents, who told us what was going on. (Involved in the sense that we could figure out the relevant statutes and knew people to consult.)

What it boiled down to:

Number one, if a high-achieving student has an emotional issue so disabling that she can't take Earth Science, the school is legally obligated to "identify" her as having special needs, which the school had not done (and was not proposing to do).

Number two, if the school had identified this student as having special needs, it could not keep her out of Earth Science on grounds that she had special needs.

Basically, the building principal was wrong on every conceivable ground.

The assistant superintendent intervened and the girl was enrolled.

Unfortunately, the assistant superintendent didn't last long in our district.

16 comments:

froggiemama said...

To follow up on the story - we did go the special needs route after my extremely bright kid was gatekeepered out of every honors course for the 9th grade. Our district has cutoffs that range from 90 to 95, which you have to maintain for 3 quarters the year before. The problem is, the 8th grade teachers grade largely on vast reams of homework, which all must be submitted in the exact format mandated. It is all on paper, so everyday is a massive paper shuffle. If anything gets lost, it is a 0. The science teacher would take off points if the pen color was blue instead of black, or the margins were wrong, or there were fraggles left on the paper. So my smart but messy and forgetful kid could never get his average up over the cutoffs even though he aced the tests.

So we had a full neuropsych done to the tune of several thousand dollars, targeted at the school district. We learned, surprise, surprise, that my son scores in one of the higher reaches of the gifted realm (forget the term now for his level), and is also "inattentive ADHD". We did a 504 plan, during which I promised he would see a weekly therapist/coach (to the tune of $195 per week) and would take meds. Those promises finally got him a waiver to get into the honors courses. The last one to capitulate was science (his 8th grade science teacher hated him and refused to help out). And now, guess what? He has the highest average in the class in science, with several 100's on tests that the teacher says "no one gets a 100 on". Bleh to the gatekeepers.

Auntie Ann said...

Just wondering, is "hire a tutor" synonymous with hiring a school *teacher* as a tutor? In other words, do you have to buy your way through the gate?

In L.A. private schools that is often the lay of the land. Those kids who are paying the teacher for tutoring get in the advanced track, those who are capable on their own have a harder time getting through.

palisadesk said...

In my district, teachers cannot tutor students from their own school; it's considered a conflict of interest. If a complaint is filed the union won't defend the teacher because everyone knows this policy and the union sends out regular reminders.

People can, however, tutor students from other schools not in their own part of the district.

We are also not allowed to use homework for grades. All work that is evaluated for report card grades must be done in school. That limits some potential abuses.

I haven't seen gatekeeping here but that may be because I've been in low-SES schools where there are no honors classes.

froggiemama said...

Palisadesk said "I haven't seen gatekeeping here but that may be because I've been in low-SES schools where there are no honors classes"

Which just goes to show the very real inequity in our school systems. Sad, even more sad than the gatekeeper problem.

lgm said...

Gatekeeping here is similar to what Jay Mathews describes in his book "Class Struggle".

It's been interesting lately as the population has changed; most of the post 9/11 NYC transplants brought in students who had been held back multiple times and could not read; now we have more students from literate families, but the number of honors seats hasn't increased. Honors is only available in English and SS. Folks are increasingly sending their children to the CC for senior year; others are just graduating in three and moving on. And that includes kids who aren't in the honors/accel pgm and do get admitted and succeed in Engineering College...as 16 year old freshmen.
The school board used the recession to cut all nonrequired classes. Many many students are doing a half day at the CC as there are no honors classes in math or science. They know from their older sibs that they will have their butt kicked at state U if they don't get that content before they go.

Want to have some fun? If you are in NY, ask guidance what the SAT/ACT score range and top level of math completed was for the past decade's recipients of the RPI Medal and its $20K scholarship is. You can tell a GOB school by the mismatch....the recipient won't qualify for admittance as the SAT scores plus the level of math coursework completed at the high school show they need prep school before attempting that level of work.

Genevieve said...

My daughter's middle school recently switched to standards based grading (which I am not necessarily against)and eliminated Honors classes. However, if a student scores a four, meaning that they exceeded grade level expectations, their transcript then shows that the student took a class at the Honors level. So magically somehow the student was exposed to higher level content (ie at home). The only acceleration available is in math.

Barry Garelick said...

How many students get 4's?

Genevieve said...

This is the first year for implementation at our school, so we don't have numbers yet. Honestly, I'm not sure they will publicize them when they are available.

palisadesk said...

"However, if a student scores a four, meaning that they exceeded grade level expectations,"

We do standards-based grading, too, and a 4 is the highest level. However, the district pooh-bahs are voluble in making sure everyone knows that "exceeding grade level expectations does not mean working above grade level.

Exceeding expectations simply means doing the grade level work with more independence, critical thinking, depth, blah blah.

I was at a meeting with a consultant from downtown who came to talk to parents whose daughter had been identified as gifted. She was in fourth grade, and the father proudly said they were working on sixth grade math at home. The consultant went bananas and warned the father he was jeiopardizing the child's well-being, yadda yadda. I knew from having taught in the gifted program that the one thing absolutely forbidden was to provide advanced work. No and no and no!

So a 4 means the student does the grade level work very well, but does not indicate above-grade-level achievement.

palisadesk said...

"However, if a student scores a four, meaning that they exceeded grade level expectations,"

We do standards-based grading, too, and a 4 is the highest level. However, the district pooh-bahs are voluble in making sure everyone knows that "exceeding grade level expectations does not mean working above grade level.

Exceeding expectations simply means doing the grade level work with more independence, critical thinking, depth, blah blah.

I was at a meeting with a consultant from downtown who came to talk to parents whose daughter had been identified as gifted. She was in fourth grade, and the father proudly said they were working on sixth grade math at home. The consultant went bananas and warned the father he was jeiopardizing the child's well-being, yadda yadda. I knew from having taught in the gifted program that the one thing absolutely forbidden was to provide advanced work. No and no and no!

So a 4 means the student does the grade level work very well, but does not indicate above-grade-level achievement.

Catherine Johnson said...

However, if a student scores a four, meaning that they exceeded grade level expectations, their transcript then shows that the student took a class at the Honors level. So magically somehow the student was exposed to higher level content (ie at home).

wow

Catherine Johnson said...

This is making me feel sooooo guilty.

Grade deflation has been one of my 'beats,' and I skipped the CC grading meeting tonight.

Presumably the district will post the video, so I'll have to schedule time and make myself watch.

Catherine Johnson said...

My friend K had a fabulous riff on the 4-point grade deflation at our 4-5 school.

The school had a formal policy of grade deflation: basically, nobody could get a 4.

One of the lines: "A four is a place we visit, not a place we live."

Another: "A 4 is Olympic-level. An Olympic athlete doesn't always get a 4." (What? Do Olympic athletes ever exhibit merely average performance?)

Getting every answer correct didn't "exceed expectations"; nor did getting every answer correct AND doing your HW early, before it was due.

K said: "The only way to exceed expectations is to get every answer right, turn it in early, AND do it on the moon."

Catherine Johnson said...

lgm - what's a "GOB" school?

lgm said...

GOB = Good ol' boy

SteveH said...

Honors in middle school really doesn't mean much. Our schools used a 1-5 rubric that was nonlinear. It used to be 1-4, but 4's were so impossible to get that many students accepted 3's and didn't try for the next level. So they added a 5 level, which was not even an A+, but some sort of ability to make the teacher believe that you were applying critical thinking to new areas. So now, 4 is a lot easier to get (probably not much more than what 3 used to be) and students never try for a 5. Some do, however, but never realize that it's not a matter of getting 95 percent correct on exams.

The only real calibration in our middle school is whether one is on track for the second year of language and/or geometry in high school. All of the rubrics were virtually meaningless.