in search of the ordinary

there's nothing to fear about ordinary school days that foster a sense of safety

If we could have accelerated our kids 1.5 grade levels in a year, we’d have done it pre-pandemic. We’d have done it consistently, and routinely, with a well defined pathway and predictable outcomes.

But despite the funding that showed promise, and the research, and the workshop we threw at it, we didn’t. We couldn’t.

In 2019 only 48.5% of California 3rd graders were reading on grade level. That dropped more than 6% percentage points during the pandemic. However, long before the pandemic the grade level reading gap widened, rather than decreased, as students progressed in grades.

I’m picking on California because their reporting has been transparent, which seems unfair but 🤷‍♀️.

When I raise this in education circles, the response is often “Well, we HAVE to do it. We don’t have a choice.”

This reminds of a ill fated trip I took in college.

My roomies and I took off to night hike with our favorite guy friend who told us he knew how to navigate by the stars. 3 hours later, hopelessly lost in the St. Anthony Sand Dunes of Idaho, he turned to us and said “We’re not going to make it home tonight, we need to build a fire.” (Thankfully he did know how to build a fire sans matches.)

St. Anthony Sand Dunes - bring a compass.

There was a strict 12 PM curfew and breaking it could mean expulsion.
I’d never broken a meaningful rule in my life and exclaimed “WELL, WE HAVE TO MAKE IT HOME TONIGHT. We don’t have a choice.”

He looked at me and said, “We do have a choice. We can choose to build a fire and stay put while we wait for daylight.”

Who will be the voice of reason in our schools?

Is anyone brave enough to say in the school board meeting “We do have a choice, we can choose safety and well being, and fostering a sense ‘we’ll be okay again’ while we teach our ordinary children, at an ordinary pace until someone figures out how to accelerate effectively?”

If all of this makes you squirm, I’m glad. It should make us very uncomfortable that despite everything we’ve invented and learned we can’t fix this. We should think about this, and study it out and remedy it.

While we do that- think carefully about who all this frenetic effort benefits.

Teachers? Doesn’t everyone love flipping your entire system while you’re understaffed and exhausted only to see minimal results?

Administrators? I’m sure it’s a joy to push your staff to the edge and deal with endless behavior issues while watching the gap stagnate or widen.

Parents? Maybe. (no sarcasm) It could be comforting to see so much movement and talk about reading and acceleration. Maybe you make the connection between the tummy aches and school reluctance and all this effort, or maybe you don’t. That’s probably the determining factor.

Students? This one hits close to home. We’re middle class. My dad was an attorney. I read like most people watch TV and game. There are 3 stuffed bookcases in the living room alone. We read together every day, even as teens. My kid goes to a great school with enough money. Not extra, but enough.

AND

My 13 YO told me she wants to homeschool to avoid her reading remediation class which is “pretending we get better at reading from memorizing the paragraph”. Zero acceleration in 2 years. We’re pulling her out at semester, and it’s upsetting people.

Talking in the pick up line, another ex-teacher asked me “Well, if you take her out, what are you going to do? You’ve got to do something.”

I can’t remember what I said to her, but my answer now is I intend to build a fire and wait for daylight.

By the way, sometime around 1 am the moon crested a sand dune, and we could see the outline of a Gatorade bottle we’d left on top of a dune as a way sign. The car was over the ridge, literally 5 minutes walk.

We trecked to the car, got blankets, flashlights and the “10 burgers in a bag for 4.99” we’d bought at Arctic Circle 8 hours ago and slept by our fire until morning.

We did miss curfew, but were granted a reprieve based on the circumstances.

Sometimes one of us will message the other and say “anyone want to go hiking” and we remember that one time we did the brave thing and stayed safe until the way was clear.