Pedro NogueraDr. Pedro Noguera, nationally renowned educator, urban sociologist and professor at NYU’s Steinhardt School of Education, introduced himself as “a critical supporter of school reform, not of reform based on fads, gimmicks, or where the funding is.” He remarked that it’s rare to find reform successful. “And when it is, even less often do you find that success sustained.”
And why is reform difficult? Because there are so many aspects involved—like structure, organization, culture, classroom instruction, individual learning needs, addressing shortfalls of low socio-economic backgrounds.
When reform only focuses on structure and organization, it doesn’t impact classroom instruction, it ignores learning needs of kids. Consequently, students are bored because they’re not intellectually engaged. “Teaching and talking are not the same,” he said.
When the norm is that race and socio-economic standards are more likely to serve as predictors of academic performance, when students are sorted and labeled due to a lack of leadership in schools, is it any wonder failure becomes normalized?
Still, we must recognize that there are advantages to large schools: there are a greater diversity of courses—including AP (advanced placement) courses; it’s easier to serve special needs kids; there is a wider variety of extracurricular activities.
Just because a school is small doesn’t mean achievement increases. “We must change the culture,” Noguera insisted, and enumerated suggestions for transitioning to SLCs (small learning communities). These included the need for shared vision and mission (organic, not mechanical), the need for planning time, the need for time for professional development, and the need to think carefully about administrative duties.
“We have to teach kids the way they learn, building trust in the classroom, so that kids are okay with making mistakes, with learning.” We should be challenging all students, he said, because children who think they’re going somewhere think differently from those who think they’re going nowhere.
In closing, Noguera charged his audience to balance equity with excellence, to see student enrollment as a matter of choice and not assignment, to develop a sense of community, because community encourages student engagement, to develop internal accountability, and to involve themselves in data-based decision making.
Dr. Noguera’s most recent book is entitled City Schools and the American Dream. |
Summer Institute 2005Counselor's NetworkPanel Discussion |
