Without Learning Competency There Can Be No Equity

 

Without Learning Competency There Can Be No Equity

The American Dream – the idea that anyone who is determined and works hard can get ahead – has long defined the promise of the United States. Yet the reality is that life chances for Americans are now determined to a significant degree by the wealth of our parents. The dream that hard work and playing by the rules will lead to greater opportunity and a steady climb up the economic ladder is increasingly challenging to achieve, particularly for struggling families.

– Annie E. Casey Foundation (2014)

            Hard work still counts, but hard physical work without competency in academic, social-emotional, and technical skills is unlikely to be enough to allow young men and women to find success in the information and technology economy. Auto factories which once employed thousands of men and women, now operate with a staff of hundreds, each with technical skills and responsibilities. Farmers, tool and die makers, service providers, and manufacturers increasingly rely on equipment that requires reading and computing, and on employees who can regularly learn to use new systems and procedures.

While millions of low skill workers compete for low-wage jobs, more than ten million jobs which require high skill workers go unfilled in the American economy.

A World of Opportunity

If you happen to be proficient in reading and math, with a deep love of learning, intrinsically motivated to learn for life, with strong social-emotional skills, self-regulation skills, collaboration skills, problem-solving skills, and character, this is a world filled with opportunities.

With our continued reliance on the CTS model, only a small segment of our society becomes proficient in reading and math, develops a deep love of learning, becomes intrinsically motivated to learn throughout life, has strong social-emotional skills, and has the self-regulation and character skills to focus and persevere. For those who have these skill sets, living in the information age is rich with opportunity. Businesses and organizations are looking hard for these young men and women.

The world of opportunity has never been fair. There have always been advantages that some people have based on birth, gender, wealth, connections, or opportunities to learn which other people did not have. But in the age of ideas and innovation, the divide between rich and poor is growing. In spite of this lack of equality of opportunity, a child’s capacity to think and learn, work collaboratively and solve complex problems, will greatly contribute to the pattern of opportunities they will encounter in their lives. Education has long been considered a pathway to opportunity. But at present we use a broken system that fails to give most disadvantaged kids the skills and knowledge they need to compete. From a global perspective, the richest 10% of the global population currently earn 52% of annual income, while the poorest half of the global population earn just 8%. The wealth gap is even greater. Wealth includes valuable assets and items (above income). The poorest half of the global population owns just 2% of global assets, while the richest 10% own 76% of all wealth (World Inequality Report, 2022).

In the United States, the top 1% now own more wealth than the bottom 92%, and the 50 wealthiest Americans own more wealth than the 165 million people in the bottom half of the wealth distribution. While millions of Americans have lost their jobs and incomes during the pandemic, many billionaires have seen their wealth increase. The middle class is shrinking, leaving a small wealthy class and a much larger under-class. Now, and in the foreseeable future, it will take real skills to work your way from poverty to a more rewarding life.

This book does not address tax and economic policy, for lots of good reasons (including my lack of expertise). It does address the role our schools play in creating opportunities for children as they learn and grow. Poverty matters in this discussion. Child poverty is associated with reduced skill[1]building opportunities and academic outcomes, undercutting a young student’s capacity to learn, graduate high school, and get high-skill high-wage jobs.

Simply put for the purposes of this book, children living with many of the disadvantages associated with poverty need schools that respond to their specific learning needs and offer a system of learning to help them become competent learners. Vulnerable kids need better schools, based on a much different model of education than the Cover Test Sort model that has been producing the same lousy outcomes for decades.

Keep in mind that the damage caused by our one-size-fits all education system is not limited to those students living in poverty. Indeed, a majority of all students are not proficient readers and mathematicians in 4th grade, 8th grade, and 12th grade. The calamity of becoming a struggling learner is crushing poor kids, but also crushing a majority of all our children.

Let’s examine some data points from the previous chapter. Among 12th grade students (remember that a significant group of students has already dropped out by this point), 24% of students score at or above proficient levels in math, and 37% are proficient or better in reading (National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2019).

If approximately one-third of graduating high school students are reading proficiently, then two-thirds are not! Reading well is a factor in being successful in college, in the military, or in a trade. Reading is a factor in finding a job, becoming a successful entrepreneur, and will be a factor in being employable in the future. But our CTS system of learning is consistently failing to help a large majority of kids develop proficiency in reading.

If approximately one-quarter of graduating high school students are doing math proficiently, then three-quarters are not! Math matters. Poor math skills limit a person’s interaction with the world of technology, learning, and innovation. Math is a factor in finding a job, becoming a successful entrepreneur, and will be a factor in staying employable in the future. But the CTS system of learning is consistently failing to help a large majority of kids develop mathematics proficiency.

Here is another data point that should be shocking, appalling, and unacceptable. Among African American twelfth grade students tested, 7% are proficient or better in math and 17% are proficient or better in reading (National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2019). Does anyone find this acceptable? If it is not acceptable, then how many of you readers have spoken up loudly, demanding a system redesign that produces better results?

How can anyone working for racial equity believe that we can achieve equitable outcomes for African American students in our society without fixing a system that has consistently allowed so many black American kids to become struggling learners for life?

By relying as we do on the Cover Test Sort methodology of our curriculum-driven schools, the effects of poverty on school success and life success will continue to haunt generations of students. Unless schools and parents step up to the responsibility to help far more of our children develop competency in the skills that could allow them to become successful learners, millions of poor or vulnerable students will fail to develop the skills that lead to a decent job and a productive life. Unless we redesign our schools, poverty will increasingly beget learning failure and more poverty. Without skills that matter to employers, most poor children are doomed to economic and social hardship. Without rock-solid learning skills and social skills, a vast majority of poor children face will continue to face poverty for life.

There was a time when determination and hard work, without having well developed reading and math skills, could lead to success. That day is long gone. A new day has arrived, in which learning success must be part of the formula for life success. Becoming a successful learner is a necessary part of the path toward the American dream.