How can you help a high school where 30% of students fail Algebra 1?
Start before they get there. The gaps begin years earlier, in middle school and elementary school. After 38 years as a teacher, principal and district administrator, Jennifer believes success starts in TK.
Where Jennifer stands on early learning
- The foundation starts early: struggles in high school math trace back to middle school, and middle school struggles trace back to elementary school.
- Standards start in kindergarten: play still matters, and children learn through play, but California’s grade-by-grade standards begin in kindergarten and build year over year.
- Writing is a K–5 job: from kindergarten through fifth grade, students learn narrative, informational and persuasive writing, so they are ready for high-level writing in secondary school.
- Teaching to the standards comes first: as a principal, the first thing she looked for in a lesson was which standard it taught, and whether students showed they got it.
Transcript
The foundation begins in TK, in elementary school. I will never forget: my comprehensive high school had a 30% failing rate on Algebra 1. How could that be? Algebra 1 is the gateway. But I also understand that they don’t just fail as freshmen. It’s because the foundation they came from, middle school, is not strong enough. And kids in sixth grade don’t fail all of a sudden, because the elementary school foundation is not solid. When I say teachers need to teach to the California Common Core State Standards, I mean it, because that is the criteria.
So where does it start?
Back in the day, kindergarten was very casual, very informal. You learned to play. I’m not saying that is not important. It is important. We learn through play. But when I share the standards with our parents, standards start in kindergarten. And it shows you the progression.
In elementary, from kinder all the way to fifth grade, students need to write narrative, informational and persuasive. There’s no letter writing. There is no penmanship. Penmanship is not writing. They have to set the foundation so that when they get to secondary, they can do the high-level writing. That is the number one priority to me as a principal.
You know how sometimes lessons can look so great? But then I ask, what standards is this teacher trying to teach? Or is it just a dog and pony show to impress me? Sometimes I walk into a classroom and you can literally see the teacher shifting gears, because Jennifer is in the room. Nobody can impress me. If you teach to the standards and your students show that they get it, then I’m impressed.
