This NPR story from October 31st caught my eye because of how well it captures the truth that students held to high expectations achieve highly and students of whom little is expected achieve little.  Unsurprisingly, those low-expectation students are almost all African American; what surprised me is that the school is well-funded, the school and community are very diverse, and the low achievement among African American students appears to be income-irrelevant.  Racial Achievement Gap Still Plagues SchoolsTo summarize: The school is well-funded, serves two diverse, middle-class suburbs, and has student population that is about 60% African American and 40% White.  30% of the school is low-income, and these students are almost all African American, but there are also a fair number of African American students from middle- and upper-income families. The school tracks students according to achievement – levels 1, 2, 3 and 4.  Level 1 is almost entirely White students.  Class sizes are smaller in the lower levels, but both data and anecdotal evidence indicates low achievement and low engagement in learning in lower-level classes.  The district has attempted to de-track students, but parents of high-performing students consistently defeat these efforts. What struck me about the article was how well students voiced the soft bigotry of low expectations (to borrow a phrase).  One boy describes his experience in a level 4 class:

“We kinda sat together,” he says. “It would be the black kids over here and the white kids over here. It just seemed like the teacher, she stayed on the other side of the room away from us. The teacher focused on the larger group of whites and left us in the dust.”

and also:

“I’m 16 years old; I’m a very intellectual student; I’ve been — I think I’m really actually the smartest underachiever in Columbia High School.”

The article goes on to describe a “scheduling mistake” that resulted in level 2, 3, and 4 students together in a challenging medieval literature class – where upper-level and lower-level students alike are engaged, completing challenging work and improving their reading, writing, and critical things. This article resonated with me because one thing that many parents and teachers cite as a huge benefit of the Aim High program is that students are not grouped according to ability – A-B students learn alongside D-F students, GATE kids along with ELLs and students with special needs (none of whom are singled out during the application process or identified to teachers).  Small classes, teaching teams, and a culture of learning create an environment where all students can be respected and challenged as learners.