My wife and I have poured ourselves into the lives of children (including our 5) because we were taught by an educator who was very sensitive to the needs of all kids, that no matter how well we support our kids in their education, within that classroom, they can only rise to the height that their environment will allow. Although most classrooms are broken, the mere concept of the “No Child Left Behind” initiative is an absolute insult to any legitimate teacher who lost sleep(and still does) trying to reach them all long before Bush pushed this law into being. As a result, the true challenge for all of our educators is how to balance the time and energy spent on at-risks students versus those pushing to get ahead.
RAISING THE BAR
Recognizing the symptoms of poor achievement is important, but finding any cure begins with understanding the cause. To assume that any kid would go to school just to fail is a bit silly. Human beings don’t set out to fail. Failure (or the acceptance of) is a learned behavior. When children are taught to see all failure as a form of feed back, they become adults who will confidently try anything. When adults are conditioned to see some children as failures, they treat them accordingly. Some of our kids have the bar set so low for them that they can’t see higher than the ceiling they stare at when losing focus in class after class. At times we all subconsciously drop the bar for our children by repeating ideas that we once heard in our ears as well.
“My dad was really bad at math and so was I. It just runs in our family”.
BREAKING THE MOLD
No Child Left Behind often results in excelling students not moving on while waiting on the back of the pack to catch up, thus creating a void. Thankfully, this educational void is being filled with good ole' American ingenuity. In Denver schools we fill this void with a program call Breakthrough Kent Denver.
Breakthrough is located in key cities across the U.S., and only accepts middle school aged students who have completed 6th grade.
Locally, Breakthrough is housed and supported by Kent Denver (and is thus named Breakthrough Kent Denver)
Breakthrough is located in key cities across the U.S., and only accepts middle school aged students who have completed 6th grade.
Locally, Breakthrough is housed and supported by Kent Denver (and is thus named Breakthrough Kent Denver)
The key focus of Breakthrough is to prepare middle school students for success in high school and beyond. Many ESL (English as a Second Language) students get intensive remediation at Breakthrough, but this program also focuses on intense character development and pushing excelling students to that next rung of success. To foster the achievement of this educational mission, Breakthrough doubles as a program for training teachers by recruiting mature high school and college aged young adults as the classroom teachers, especially those interested in teaching as a career. Each classroom teacher undergoes thorough training, and is supported by a master teacher who overseas their specialty area. In a Breakthrough classroom, there is always an obvious energy from both the teacher and the students.
The kicker to this program is that it is exclusively a summer school (or Saturday school during the school year)l, so kids have to be willing to give up the most important home time that a kid gets. Giving up the safety and security of home and common things is one of the biggest challenges of childhood.
Breakthrough gets it because well over 100 kids attend Breakthrough every summer. Happily!
Breakthrough gets it because well over 100 kids attend Breakthrough every summer. Happily!
Admittedly, some of the kids are not so gung ho when they are first forced into the program by their parents and/or a concerned
teacher. Even selecting the students and the teachers each year is a competitive application process. Each student must have an application, a letter of recommendation from an educator and grade transcripts, and a personal interview in order to be considered for the program. Having the best grades is hardly a criteria for Breakthrough. Someone simply needs to see your hunger to be and do your best.
Though the first day is scary, when Breakthrough is over each summer, all of the kids leave with tears and hugs because of the powerful impact of this program, eager to return the next chance they can.
Each of my 5 daughters attended Breakthrough Kent Denver. Two went on to become classroom teachers and one continued to work with the program through college and is now an administrator. She plays an important role because the program insist upon on a culturally diverse group of students, and as an black woman, she offers Breakthrough kids the same inspiration that was given to her when she attended Breakthrough as a middle school student.
Though the first day is scary, when Breakthrough is over each summer, all of the kids leave with tears and hugs because of the powerful impact of this program, eager to return the next chance they can.
Each of my 5 daughters attended Breakthrough Kent Denver. Two went on to become classroom teachers and one continued to work with the program through college and is now an administrator. She plays an important role because the program insist upon on a culturally diverse group of students, and as an black woman, she offers Breakthrough kids the same inspiration that was given to her when she attended Breakthrough as a middle school student.
RECOGNIZING TALENT
Though the kids love their teachers at Breakthrough, year after year they would tell of the love of one very special lady who helped make Breakthrough Kent Denver blossom. Sistah Girl is her nickname, and she is not only renown for removing kids from a line when they think the safety of a crowd creates opportunity to misbehave, she will also show up at your school to figure out why you keep acting up in line; or go to your house to meet your parents and learn the best way to get you to behave in line. Some people only know her as “Sistah Girl” but her name is Sharlita Ramirez.
For years Ramirez was a heart and soul role model for every kid at Breakthrough. Suddenly, it came time for her to move on.
For years Ramirez was a heart and soul role model for every kid at Breakthrough. Suddenly, it came time for her to move on.
Ramirez had a remarkable ability to demand the respect and affection of any kid. Being the Dean of Students, Ramirez was the central figure and main disciplinarian in a program that has young adults teaching middle school kids. Very smart but troubled kids in the program will try to get in trouble just to get kicked out of the program when their heart and their neighborhoods started to tug at them for attention. In the immediate absence of Ramirez, bewildered staff spoke of implementing a “3 strikes and you are out” rule as a result of behavior challenges that Ramirez once handled with ease.
The things Ramirez learned about kids when she looked beneath the surface of bad behavior at Breakthrough would scare most. For her, it was all part of the mission. At times, Ramirez had made her own home a place of refuge for kids when uncovering the hidden realities in their lives.
The things Ramirez learned about kids when she looked beneath the surface of bad behavior at Breakthrough would scare most. For her, it was all part of the mission. At times, Ramirez had made her own home a place of refuge for kids when uncovering the hidden realities in their lives.
While no job is meant to last forever, what Breakthrough had to replace was the diversity skills that existed in the primary disciplinarian who had an ability to reach kids with a myriad of socioeconomic challenges masquerading as educational hurdles. Diversity and sensitivity skilled educators have a keen view of racial, gender and social backgrounds, a skill that is impossible to master with a course book alone, but is natural to the human experience and can be taught.
THE FOUNDATION
All kids need safety and structure. All kids! In the absence of structure at home, some kids come to school to get it. The worst of behavior is a cry for attention or for boundaries. Some kids cry in silence and then explode when you least expect it. All kids also need someone to be proud of them and someone to inspire them. Educators with the diversity and sensitivity skills to inspire kids from various backgrounds are worth their weight in gold and should be paid as such. Diversity trained educators should become the benchmark for the future of education in America. Both in how we pattern education and also in how we compensate educators.
The unison between parents and schools can create a powerful bridge towards success. Since we know our schools and our families are damaged, we know already the unison between these two is often missing one or both parties and our kids fall between the gaps. Diversity and sensitivity trained educators fill these gaps in our broken educational bridge and influence a dynamic journey into the realm of lifelong learning.
Even opponents of teachers unions will argue that no approach matters if you do not have a passionate, dedicated and talented teacher to begin with. They are correct! Everything that we dream to do for our schools assumes a quality classroom teacher, and support from home. As we press towards that goal, we have to provide all educators with the tools to be excellent so that we are resolute when time to replace them, and comfortable when we pay them for their value to the future. Because our children do not get a do over childhood, it is vital that we get it right the first time.
ART & SCIENCE
We have mastered the science of education. Now, we must evolve in the art of educating so that we can recapture the kids we lose to discipline problems and other impediments to learning. In classrooms where we marry the science with the art, magic happens (we miss you Mr. Troutman). Without this marriage, there are moments of magic, but mostly waves of frustration and despair for both students and teachers.
Educators with diversity skills are able to grab hold of at-risk students and have an ability to utilize empathy without sorrow, creating a comfort zone of learning for every child that they touch. It will take a lot longer to train our current farm of educators to utilize these skills than it would be to simply hire for diversity. When it comes to the demand of educating a diverse world (and not suspending pre-school kids) we clearly need to do both.
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