SOMA School District

In the last few weeks we have sent a few letters, made a few phone calls, paid a couple of visits and talked to other parents. What we discovered is we are not the only parents upset about how our district identifies and addresses the needs of children. At least one lawsuit has been threatened. We also discovered a heavy layer of lip service in regards to closing the well publicized achievement gap in the district. It is the district’s alleged number one priority but all that has been done is putting together a 50+ member panel to “make recommendations”. Seriously? C’mon. Does it really take that many people to screw in a light bulb? Commentor, davidfrazer, said it well:

“…I am not optimistic that a 55-member task force with a charge that, as I understand it extends for a year, will reach any sort of meaningful consensus. If experience is any guide, such task forces fall into three categories. Either they are stacked by the powers that be to justify a predetermined policy outcome or they produce a watered down “consensus” report that is of little real value (see, e.g., prior strategic planning process) or they break down into warring factions with “majority” and “minority” reports.

Call me cynical but I don’t see how the task “solves” the eqiuty and excellence conundrum on its own. What we need on this issue is not a “blue ribbon” panel. What we need is leadership.”

Why mention the gifted/talented program with the achievement gap? Because in my view they are joined at the hip. Is it not the responsibility (perhaps not sole) of the school system to prepare our children for academic achievement and raise each child’s educational expectations? SOMA seems settled on dumbing down educational expectations instead of raising them. This is best exemplified in the rate of participation in advanced level courses by students according to ethnicity/race (link: page 10). White students participate in these courses at a rate of almost five times that of Black students. SOMA seems to just shrug it’s institutional shoulders when questioned how to address the issue.

Perhaps the solution is simple. SOMA should focus on more participation in preparatory/advanced classes across groups, potentially raising student scores on standardized tests across those groups, and as a result the achievement gap will be un-gapped. By not doing this, how many Jack and Jill Student is SOMA underserving and miseducating? But in order for SOMA to un-gap the gap, it must properly identify children who show academic promise and address their needs. When contemplating this issue, I first thought the district’s definition of a gifted and talented child needed to be expanded. But when I read how the district characterizes those children (listed below), I changed my mind. It is:

The characteristics of exceptionally able learners (why not just called these kids “gifted and talented”?) may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Show a high degree of intellectual, creative, and/or artistic ability and demonstrate this ability in multiple ways;
• Intense curiosity about principles and how things work;
• The ability to grasp concepts rapidly and/or intuitively;
• The ability to generate theories and hypotheses and pursue methods of injury;
• Pose questions beyond those present in the regular District curriculum;
• Make connections;
• Produce products that express insight, creativity, and/or excellence, and;
• Possess exception leadership skills.

Clearly, measuring the above characteristics is a highly subjective pursuit, but I would say the definition is pretty well thought out. So it must be SOMA’s identification method that is flawed. This brings me to the purpose of this post. I ask, if you have read this far, please share what methods you would use to identify children who possess the above traits? Please share the first thing that comes to mind in the comments.

Shout out to Lauryn Hill and Carter G. Woodson.

Washing the kids' clothes.

My dryer broke down a few weeks back and I’m so backed up on washing clothes. Why haven’t I fixed the dryer yet? Well, it isn’t that I haven’t tried. It simply needs one small part to be replaced. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to replace the thing with a new dryer just for one small $30 part. (Although I’ve set a new washer and dryer in my sights for a couple of years out.) I haven’t replaced the part because the manufacturers made the faulty part in question nearly impossible to reach without having the hand size of a small child or taking the entire machine apart. I will fix it eventually. In the meantime I’ve been trekking to the local laundromat.

At first I hated it. I thought it akin to having to take the city bus to work, another activity I’m not a fan of. But after several trips, I’ve come to enjoy it a little. There something about the hum of the machines, the smell of fabric softener and bleach and the spinning of the clothes that is both relaxing and hypnotic. It’s like a short mental retreat now. I’ll take my coffee, a book, and plan on enjoying an hour or two of therapy disguised as washing, drying and folding.

T-One Hard At Work

Earlier this school year I received T-One’s NJ ASK scores which test elementary school age children in NJ in language arts and math. The scores are grouped into three categories: “partially proficient” (which is just a pc way to say that the child scored below standard), “proficient” and “advanced proficient”. T-One scored at the upper end of the “proficient”. I must admit when I saw the scores I was both a little surprised and a little disappointed. The girl does so many things so well and things seem to come so naturally to her that it comes as a small shock when she’s deemed “average” at anything.

Of course as parents we think our kids are extraordinary at everything, both good and bad. In my mind, no kid is a better athlete than T-One, no kid is more creative than C-Thunda and no kids are more beautiful than either of them. There’s also the flip side. No kids get into more mischief or are as sassy or are as hair-grayingly maddening as my children. They are extraordinary in every way. But average they ain’t. At least, in my mind.

So when I opened the envelope containing T-One’s NJ ASK scores, I was a little baffled. How could T-One not have gotten a perfect score let alone a score in the higher category? I was taking her score personally as if the test makers somehow singled her out and purposely gave her questions she wasn’t prepared for. As irrational as that sounds, that’s how I felt. Knowing how standardized tests are used to essentially categorize and dissect young people into the intelligence haves and have-nots, I was defensive and a little angry. How dare they label her as merely average. They clearly must have lost their minds!

My own mind moved quickly to how those average scores would affect this not even close to average kid. Would she believe the hype thinking she was nothing special, just run of the mill? Would she be forever labeled? Would she be kept out of the proverbial reindeer games or worse, Harvard? My mind ran rampant. Even though I knew the real deal – that standardized test scores are BULLSHIT, it didn’t ease my worry at all. And it wasn’t long before my fears were realized.

Not long after I received the scores T-One’s school announced over the school’s loudspeaker that those children who scored highly on the NJ ASK would be invited to enter gifted and talented classes in language arts and math. T-One reported each child’s name was called in a (deservedly) congratulatory tone. Except, she explained, her name wasn’t among those called. I asked her how she felt about that and she said, “I felt dumb.” My heart sank. I tried to make her feel better about the situation but I wasn’t very persuasive.

T-One is definitely a competitor. She wants to be the best at what she does. But sometimes we (those that love her) have to help her with eliminating doubtful and negative self talk. Beyond helping her feel better about the situation was seeing what could be done about getting her into those classes. It doesn’t seem right to keep a bright kid from doing her best or being challenged to her utmost. I mean, there is no doubt she is “gifted and talented”, even by the state of NJ’s definition:

The regulations (N.J.A.C. 6A:8-3.1) define gifted and talented students as: Those students who possess or demonstrate high levels of ability, in one or more content areas, when compared to their chronological peers in the local district and who require modification of their educational program if they are to achieve in accordance with their capabilities.

It goes on to say that:

Local school districts must use multiple measures to identify students [as gifted and talented].

Wait a second. Multiple measures? Seems the school based their decision on a solitary measure and a inferior one at that. They didn’t take into consideration her near perfect performance in class, the 10 or so novels (yes, novels) she’s written, they didn’t consider that the work they send home is so easy for her she finishes it in less than 5 minutes most days, and that she does all while being committed to several after school activities along with the unfortunate inconvenience of being ushered between two homes. And they certainly didn’t account for her creativity and willingness to work hard. Seems to me this particular school district would go above and beyond to identify and nurture talent like T-One’s else risk perpetuating an already embarrassing and shameful condition.

Of course, there is the chance all this can be corrected by making the simple request she be invited to the classes. But I wanted to vent first. The whole ordeal had me wondering if she is really being challenged at her school or is she simply fading into the background. Getting lost in a sea of young faces. I hope that is not the case. In any regard, I will be counseling with the key folks of her school and making them aware of her gifts and talents they obviously overlooked.

I have been really trying to get into this metaphysical thing. You know. The idea tha we are all connected. The idea there is a reality beyond what is perceptible to the our tangible senses. The idea we need only ask for what it is we want and we will receive it. Sometimes it’s called the Philosophy of Success or Quantum Metaphysics. Sometimes it’s called religion. I simply think of it as something greater than me.

So, I reread The Secret. The first time it didn’t take. Apparently I missed a step, or two. (Hardy, har, har. I crack me up.) In rereading the book, one thing jumped out at me I had forgotten annoyed me the first time around. It’s the basic premise of The (so-called) Law of Attraction. This law states everything in your life, you’ve attracted. Bascially, you asked for it.  Consciously or unconsciously. The universe is going to give you what you ask for whether or not you know you’ve asked for it. Another tenet of this law is it doesn’t distinguish “don’t” or “not” or “no” and other words of negation. So according to The Secret, the universe eliminates certain words from the English language and only listens to the others. “I don’t want a bad haircut” becomes “I want a bad haircut”.

Really? Horse-kaka! While I believe in the basic premise of Ask, Believe and Receive I don’t buy the part about everything we ask for we get and everything we’ve gotten we’ve asked for. In the book one of the contributors talks about how he always lines up the great parking spaces because he asks the universe for great parking spaces.  By deduction, he is saying if you are pessimistic about getting a great parking spot you will get a lousy parking spot.

Well today, when I was parking in a downtown Newark, NJ parking garage, I was cursing the architects and engineers  who built this thing because I just knew I wasn’t going to get a good spot. Thus by The (so-called) Law of Attraction, I should have gotten a lousy parking spot. Well, I did not. I got the best spot in the entire garage. Right by the entrance to the building I was going into. Sometimes, you just get what you get.

This one aspect of The Law of Attraction - everything you have asked for you attract and everything you attracted, you’ve asked for - is a bunch of bullshit (Oops, no cursing here. I mean B.S. or bull-ish). Trust me. There is a bunch of stuff going on in my life that I did NOT ask for. But it came along with some other stuff I DID ask for.

I asked the universe for there to be a black/brown/woman President of the United States in my lifetime. It gave it to me. But I did not ask for a near depression, the world-wide freezing of the banking/lending system and two wars in foreign lands against an elusive enemy to provide the impetus for this president’s election.

I asked for a relationship filled with love, passion and fun with a woman who was nurturing, energetic, gorgeous and shared my interests. The universe answered. In her, the universe brought me someone who gave me and was all those things. She was and is very easy to love. But damn! She is flawed, as we all are. Alas, the universe also gave me someone impossible to be in a relationship with. At least the kind I envision.

I asked the universe for my weekend-only barber to be available during the week because it was more convenient for me. The universe delivered. My barber is now available during the week. But I didn’t ask the universe for my barber to lose his regular, benefit-paying, unionized job with DHL to make it all possible. Or for him to take up barbering full-time only to change to another shop 30 miles from my house… because it was more convenient for him.

What The Secret misses is there is a ying-and-yang to this asking the universe for what you want mumbo jumbo. You cannot have hot without cold. You cannot have high without low. Good without evil. Happy without sad. Coke without Sprite. Love without hate. Life without death. The universe as far as I see it demands balance. The universe also demands randomness. Sometimes, stuff just happens and it’s out of your control. Sometimes you get what you didn’t ask for, good and bad. So, to say I asked, or anyone asks, for B.S. in their life is, well, B.S. I did not ask for some of the things in my life. I did not ask for lemons, but I damn sure got ‘em.

For those of you who’ve read this far please don’t think I’m poo-pooing the entirety of Law of Attraction. I’m not. I just think about it differently. Do I think you/we are at the mercy of the universe? No. We can influence the outcomes through our thoughts and actions. We just cannot determine outcomes. But to even influence outcomes we need to build on Ask, Believe, Receive. At least three steps should be added. It should be:

1. Ask
2. Believe
3. Work Your Ass Off
4. Persist At Working Your Ass Off
5. Receive
6. When You Get Lemons (’cause you will get lemons), Make Lemonade

I’ve gotten my fair share of lemons lately. I won’t tell you how long lately is. It’s been a while. When it’s all said and done though, I’m not deterred. The next chapter of my life is about change, change for the better. It’s about going after what I want. The love of my family, my babies, JEM, my friends; wealth in both material and spiritual form; health both in body and mind and ultimately happiness for me and those I touch. It’s about making the life I want and making some sweet sweet lemonade along the way!