Teachers and education reformers bypass individual students

Nat Hentoff:

The March 18 headline in USA Today blares: "More teachers are grouping kids by ability." What's wrong with that? Because the actual problems of individual kids are overlooked when students, especially those starting in elementary schools, are tracked as a group by what they've learned.

But Patrick Boodey, principal of the Woodman Park School in Dover, N.H., tries to remind us in the same story: "As a teacher, you know in your heart you need to meet the needs of each child" (Greg Toppo, USA Today, March 18).

Really? How many teachers do know that and act accordingly?

Disturbing answers to that question are documented in the most important article on education I've seen in many years: "The 'Quiet' Troubles of Low-Income Children," by Richard Weissbourd of the Harvard School of Education. The article was first published in the March/April 2008 issue of the Harvard Education Letter and is also included in a valuable book: "Spotlight on Student Engagement, Motivation and Achievement" (Caroline T. Chauncey and Nancy Walser, editors; Harvard Education Press, 2009).

Posted by Jim Zellmer at April 3, 2013 1:51 AM
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