[Ohiogift] Michael Petrilli on disruptive students

[Margaret DeLacy]

Friends:

The latest issue of the Fordham Institute Flypaper has an opinion by Michael Petrilli on the need to balance access for disruptive students with provision of an education to low-income high-achieving students.

Below is an excerpt and a link


Disruptive students hurt strivers most, by Michael J. Petrilli

Low-income strivers—impoverished families who work hard to climb the ladder to the middle class—may be the most underserved population in America today.

In few realms is that more evident than in education reform. For twenty years, national policies have focused largely on the lowest-performing students, often to the detriment of their higher-achieving, low-income peers. Many cities—including Chicago, Philadelphia and Syracuse, New York—have recently made a goal of reducing the number of school suspensions and other tough-love approaches to school discipline, with little concern for the impact on the kids who come to school ready to follow the rules. These efforts have received vocal support from the Department of Education. Policymakers and educators say they that are doing this in the name of equity. But when everyone in a school is harmed by some students' unruly behavior, it’s a strange notion of fairness.

Imagine that we wanted to prioritize the needs of low-income students who demonstrated a willingness to work hard and the aptitude to achieve at high levels—the kids with the best shot to use a solid education to put poverty behind them. What might we do?


http://goo.gl/WLt1Qe