Running head:

Running head: A Question of equality

A Question of Equality: Do All My Students Receive The Same Chance?

Jonathan D. Haraty

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

A Question of Equality: Do All My Students Receive the Same Chance?

While teaching one morning a female student, in what was the middle school Earth Science class, told me that I was not giving her ≥challenging enough work≤ and that she had done this all before. She went on to state that her mother had been looking over her papers and homework and voiced the same opinion. With most students I would have dismissed this as normal bravado, but this student has scored very high in her Iowa tests. She went on to state that this work was boring her and that when this happens she skips school and gets in trouble.

Since the primary objective of our school is to modify behaviors to prevent students from returning to the courts and to improve their school attendance by using non-traditional teaching methods, her statement started me questioning my teaching methods. The question that began forming was: Had I begun targeting my lesson plans to my main student population of below grade level students, of which we are receiving more every day, and ignoring the educational needs of those few students that can excel?

The research was conducted in a science classroom at the S.A.G.E. School in Springfield, Massachusetts. When this research started the S.A.G.E. School was primarily a high school with a minor middle school component. Beginning with the second quarter marking period, S.A.G.E. separated the middle school. Other teachers in another area of the building are now teaching it. This has made for some interesting interpretations of the data.

S.A.G.E. is a collaboration between the Springfield Public Schools, the Department of Youth Services and Springfield College. It is designed to work with students that are either going through the court system currently or are already on probation.

In the past two years our mission has been changed and the school is currently receiving students that are being removed from other schools as behavior problems. Many of these new students have IEPs and require much more individual attention in the classroom.

My science teaching consists of one environmental science class, two biology classes and one physical science class. Before the restructuring I also taught an Earth Science class in place of one biology section. There are 15 students per class on the roster but there are generally several students that are in Lock-Up and we are required to save their places. This research only reflects those students that come to school on a regular basis and were present during the research period (Table 1). The students range in grade level from 9^th ≠ 12^th grade. Most of the students score several grade levels below average on their Iowa test scores.

First year Springfield College M.Ed. students that have been selected by AmeriCorps to work in the school assist me in the classroom. I am not only responsible for teaching my classes but also for mentoring these M.Ed. students. The classroom is set up with benches in a U shape and I generally teach from the center of this U. There is a bank of 5 computers against one wall and I have various plants and animals on lab benches at the back wall.

Method

We, as a school, have been focusing on reading and writing across the curriculum. This is necessary because of the high number of English as second language students and because of an aversion to reading throughout our student population. Since most of this reading is done out loud, everyone has to be on the same page, so to speak. This tends to slow the class down while some students struggle through their reading.

Natalie, my middle school student, started me thinking about whether I am reaching all my students at their intellectual level or whether I am gearing my classes toward those students that need the remedial work and pace. I started looking at my students in this class, and the other three science classes that I teach, looking for students that I may not be allowing to reach their full potential by pacing them with the rest of the class. I noticed several students that have always completed the assigned work, and were getting very good grades, seemed to be looking out the windows a lot or were distracting other students.

I decided to use a survey of all my students to try and single out those students that felt they were not moving fast enough in the science classroom. From my observations in class, and the responses to the survey, I would then select several students to do a personal interview.

All students in my classes were given the Science Survey Sheet and a consent form and I told the students that I was conducting research for an education class at the University of Massachusetts. I informed them that they were not required to fill out the surveys or participate in the interviews. I also told them that their participation or non-participation would not affect their grade in their respective science classes.

Results

All students present in my classes for the week of November 14 through November 21, 2000 were given a survey to fill out. The survey consisted of three questions (see Appendix A). Out of 46 students that were present during the testing period only 35% completed the surveys and turned them in (Table 3). This was disappointing, but those that completed the survey were among the students I had selected by observation for further interviews. The breakdown by classes of students completing the survey shows that my youngest students took the most interest in the survey although their answers indicated that they wanted to keep the status quo (Table 2).

Returned surveys showed that a majority of the students felt that the work was at the right level and interestingly, none said that it was too hard. When asked whether they had ever been given work in science below their abilities some of the students, 5 of the 7, answered yes. This is in line with my observations on who might have been bored or just coasting in the classes. Because of the change in the school structure, several students were advanced in grade and reported that they thought the work was easy in the lower grade but just about right in the new grade. One student that answered that the work was just right is not telling the truth from my observations of him and from conversations in the past about the science work. He also stated that if given more work that he would not do it. I tend to believe him, but I intend to push him in a subtle manner.

When asked question 3, how they would feel if I gave them more work than the rest of the class, the answers were similar. One said, ≥I would feel good about it cause I would feel on top of the class.≤ Another stated that, ≥Iπd feel important.≤ A third student stated that, ≥I wouldnπt care because that just means that I am improving.≤ From my observations of these students, and having access to their backgrounds, I feel that they are telling the truth.

When asked how I might improve their classes so everyone works to potential, they were very weak on suggestions. I got fed back thoughts like, ≥I donπt know,≤ ≥give everyone work they are capable of,≤ and ≥when the person tells you they are ready, give them more work.≤

I started the personal interview process with a former student who graduated last year. He is currently enrolled at Holyoke Community College. His answers were the most insightful for me. When asked in the interview if he would have done more work, or different work from the class, he stated, ≥Donπt you remember? You gave me more work that allowed me to go at a faster pace than the rest of the class. Sometimes I resented it, but now that Iπm in college, it helped.≤ (Appendix B)

Discussion

I have only been able to interview 2 of my current students due to gang tensions in the school. The two interviews that were completed were with LC and Jenny. LC is a student that is very intelligent but attempts to skate by with minimal work. LC stated that, ≥When we are working together as a class he tries to hide and just do what he needs to survive, but when you gave me extra work, like last year, I do it because I know it helps.≤ Jennifer on the other hand feels that the work is just right since she has been moved to a higher grade. From an observational standpoint, LC is not working to his potential while it now appears that Jennifer is.

The restructuring of the school to accommodate more students with IEPs has changed our teaching strategies. As they say, ≥the squeaky wheel gets the grease,≤ is true. These students are so needy and so far behind that I have changed my teaching to accommodate them. I went into this study looking to see if I had been ignoring a segment of my student population since S.A.G.E. started. What I am finding is that I had not ignored this population in the past. I had always used differentiated learning in my classroom. This allowed me to address the needs of everyone individually. Most students in my classroom were working at their own pace and possibly on different materials or modes of learning (computers, audio tapes, books, etc.). Since we have adopted reading and writing across the curriculum it has become almost impossible to produce individual assignments. If we are reading out loud from a textbook all the students need to be working on the same area.

For the future, I need to work on getting back to developing lesson plans that take into account each studentπs abilities and learning styles. I may need to restructure my reading assignments so that they are separate from the other concepts and curriculum frameworks we are attempting. Looking even deeper into the future, I need to continue to research my teaching practices to make sure I am using the best methods available to reach and engage my students.

Appendix A

Science Survey Sheet

Have you ever felt that you are being given work in science that is below your abilities?

What do you think is a fair method to use so that everyone in science can work at his or her best?

If I gave you more work than the rest of the class was getting because I thought you could handle it, how would you feel about that?

Appendix B