Noguera speaking with WBEZ education reporter Linda Lutton at the March 3, 2014 lecture with GCI.
Dr. Pedro Noguera recaps his Monday, March 3 lecture with a special blog post for GCI. Noguera spoke on the perpetual state of reform for urban schools for the past thirty years, and what we should be doing differently to learn from these costly efforts.
If American society is to make greater progress in moving people from poverty to prosperity we will need to significantly change the way we go about educating most children in this country. Right now, education is more likely to be implicated in the reproduction of inequality than in the advancement of social mobility for most individuals. There are many factors that have contributed to this dismal reality: profound inequities in school funding that have exacerbated opportunities available in schools serving low-income children compared to those serving the middle class; the rising cost of college without commensurate increases in scholarships and financial aid; and the numerous ways in which poverty and income insecurity have hindered educational progress for poor children.
Beyond these significant obstacles to educational opportunity there is the approach we have taken to educating children. Since the adoption of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in 2001, schools have become fixated on test preparation since test scores have become the basis for judging students, schools, and since the adoption of Race to The Top (RTT), teachers. The focus on test preparation has resulted in a narrowing of the curriculum and many schools have reduced or even eliminated art, music, foreign language and physical education because these subjects are not included on state exams. It has also contributed to boredom and disengagement among students and frustration among teachers who recognize that time devoted to testing and test preparation is time lost to more creative teaching and learning.
There are signs that a growing number of teachers and parents are tired of the tyranny of testing and are ready to push back. On March 3rd, parents and teachers at several schools in Chicago openly boycotted state exams. Similar protests have occurred in Seattle, Boston and other cities across the country.
These actions provide a vivid reminder that if education is to serve as a means for those in poverty to experience prosperity, it will require more than just good test scores and a narrow focus on achievement. In order for education to expand opportunity it must enable students to recognize that knowledge can be a source of power and provide them with the means to use education to help themselves, their families and communities. Making this type of education available to a broader number of students must be the objective of policy makers, parents and activists who genuinely believe that education can be a resource for expanding opportunity.
About the Author:
Dr. Pedro Noguera is the Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education at New York University. Dr. Noguera is a sociologist whose scholarship and research focuses on the ways in which schools are influenced by social and economic conditions and the factors that obstruct and promote student achievement.
