Parellels?

In Creating the Opportunity to Learn by A. Wade Boykin and Pedro Noguera (2011), parallels arise between the racial achievement gap in the U.S. and the inequalities I'm finding in teaching the aboriginal students in our small rural schools. Our Alberta government is striving to close this achievement gap, but I'm finding it difficult to actually make it happen on the front line.

Boykin and Noguera maintain that "countering the normalization of failure must be seen as the first step in any effort to close (or at the very least reduce the achievement gap." (p. 35) I find this statement encouraging. At the grass roots level, we hold all of our students to the standard. However, like these researchers, we also see that we need to understand the culture that these students come from and provide the supports they need before we can expect the same from them as from our students that already have the supports they need.

Much of the U.S. data, according to Boykin and Noguera, has been gathered through self-reporting data and instruments chosen by the investigators. They are concerned that may studies have asked indirect questions regarding the actual learning processes that are at play and that factors or conditions possibly leading to "gap-closing performance outcomes" may or may not actually gain results.

That said, certain trends emerge and by coupling these trends with what works for all students, hope is evident in the general scheme of things. "the most proximal factor to achievement outcomes is student engagement in academic tasks. Engagement is the bellwether for enhanced student achievement. It is the precursor to gap-closing academic outcomes. It is the beacon of greater opportunities to learn for all students." (p. 40)

I am intrigued by this book as I can see parallels to our own concerns with the aboriginal students in our small school. As I continue to read this book, I will continue to reflect upon how they are related and what I can take from these researchers to improve my own practice.