Hey friends, if you don't mind me asking, WHAT UP WITH THE D11 PODCASTS -- particularly the one where Jeff Crank initially addressed the Board of Educators....like on February 23 or so. That's really a HELLA long time for that meeting to have gone unposted -- this, despite at least two regular meetings of the Board wherein the minutes from the previous meeting were accepted and approved.
Hrrrrrm. Almost as though someone or someones would just as soon rather not have John Q. Public looking at the video and hearing what Mr. Crank actually had to say.
Hrmph.
Also, ya know, I never heard Word One about my Food Services 911 post, and I really thought I would.
So, now, on to today's topic:
Do you ever find yourself musing about *gaps*?
Not the GAP store with the talking mannequins...or is that Old Navy?.
I mean, more like the plumber's butt gap, or the button-gap that exists on some unfortunate blouses.
And let us not forget the gap-tooth gap?
But here, today, I'm really only musing on one gap -- and that would be the "achievement gap."
Supposedly there's one between boys, and girls, and blacks, and whites, and poor kids and rich kids -- I mean, EVERYWHERE, THERE'S A GAP.
Is the gap real? Is it a big gap? How wide is it? What types of gaps exist at your school, and how might they compare to the gaps at your at a different school, perhaps in a different district or different state altogether.
Well, you can stop your frettin' and wondering whether people are blowing smoke up your butt gap. A visit to the link below will enlighten you to the details of every imaginable type of gap....well, almost every type of imaginable gap, I guess...errrm....most gaps, great and small.
You're welcome!
the picture is more of a plumber's crack than say a gap. :) The achievement gap's statistics can steer one wrong. Say only 1 student self-identifies as Native American and that same student drops out in 10th grade. 100% of the Native Americans in that school drop out. In reality, most students are from multiple backgrounds and many choose not to self-identify with one group or another. We could spend tons of money and time trying to put students into the "correct" category / categories. However, time and money could be better spent on identifying whether the students learned what they were supposed to have been taught. Does little Johnny know how to add, subtract, multiply, divide, word problems, or more advanced mathmatics? Does little Maria know how to write letters, grade level words, sentences, paragraphs, essays, or more advanced English skills? The achievement gap has become a term to spend money on identifying groups and find someone to blame (wasting money and time) instead of the teacher(s) team leader, whomever, identifying whether the student has mastered particular skills and then spending the additional resources to remediate.
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