School reform must start with neighborhoods — and us
There are ZIP codes in Houston where all the schools have been rated “D” or “F” by the reform organization Children at Risk. My former school, Kashmere Gardens Elementary, sits in such a ZIP code. It has been deemed an “F” school, based on a system that correlates how well students perform on the state-required standardized test known as STAAR to how well a school is serving its students. Soon the state will issue grade-level ratings of its own for every school in the state.
Schools now wear the label their neighborhoods have worn for years through decades of generational poverty and isolation from the greater community. Who wants to be labeled a failure? Everyone’s goal is to get a high score.
The “no excuses” rhetoric in education has created the unrealistic expectation that social and economic factors can be overcome simply by staff- ing schools with educators willing to work longer and harder. High-stakes testing and raising student accountability standards puts pressure on schools to perform, regardless of the well-being of the students they serve. As a result, teachers and administrators spend even more time at school with their students doing what the state considers “good” academic work.
I was a terrible principal because I couldn’t bring myself to focus solely on scores. My school opened an hour before school started, not solely for extra instructional time, but because many of my single parents had shift jobs that dictated they drop their children off well before 8 a.m. Many parents visited campus once a week, not to learn how to support STAARlike thinking, but to get 60 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables through the Brighter Bites nutrition-assistance program. These are just a few of the many times I didn’t “maximize” my school day. There are consequences for these choices.
I remember a grandmother taking care of three grandchildren. She cried because the extra food we helped provide her family allowed her to pay the light bill. I remember families that opened up about dire living conditions. As a result, we were able to work to find nonprofit organizations to support those families. Time was not wasted on those efforts, even though
they weren’t directly related to test prep. The lives of countless children and families — not to mention my own — were changed.
I realized the constant worry and nagging voices inside my head were because I was not doing enough as principal. I wanted it all: healthy kids living in happy homes within functioning communities who earned the “right” score. Accomplishing this goal is possible. I heard the stories of it being done. I asked. I researched. I partnered with nonprofit organizations.
What I learned is that no one school or system can make it happen for areas plagued by generational poverty issues. Reform — of schools yes, but especially of neighborhoods — must be driven by the coordination of services that affect the whole child and his or her family.
Geoffrey Canada proved this with the Harlem Children’s Zone. Canada changed lives long-term within the ecosystem of a School Zone, not a singular disconnected schoolhouse.
Research led me to understand that public health, where I’ve started a new career, is more than just giving vaccinations at school and figuring out responses to measles outbreaks. It is caring for the whole child. In public health, there is no attempt to separate a child’s well-being from the stability of his or her family. Both physical and mental health are closely connected to each other, and in public health, we acknowledge that they affect education. Ironically, the education system itself is often unwilling or unable to address these links.
Great educators like Canada are not just “doing school.” They are using their understanding of public health and policies to construct communities that are working, regardless of which measuring stick you use.
After 18 years in public education, l have not shifted away from children and families. I have made a shift that will allow me to focus on the entire well-being of students and their families, including — but not limited to — their test scores. I am following my truth, deeply rooted in the belief that children, their families and communities all matter.
Public accountability for children’s success in life must involve more than schools and their test scores. Finger-pointing and labeling does little to stop the real issues of whole groups of children continuing to underperform after decades of school reform. We must all embrace the real work and look beyond the classroom to our greater community. There are long-term solutions, but they involve us all holding ourselves accountable. Rangel is an educational consultant with the program My Brother’s Keeper in the city of Houston Health Department.