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 EOC's and Race 
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Today in my CI-4100 class my teacher showed a graph of EOC scores and how they correlate to race. Both Hispanic and African Americans had scored significantly lower than Whites. My teacher then asked the question," How can we fix this problem"? The whole class went silent for about 20 seconds as we all could not find any words or solutuion to this problem. She moved on to another topic and the question went unanswered. I myself came to a blank as many of my classmates did. Do you guys have and possible causes or ideas on how to fix this problem?

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Ryan Brown


Tue Oct 31, 2006 12:48 pm
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I was sitting right across from you...maybe you saw me, maybe you didnt...my face went blank. I couldnt speak. All I could think was what are we as future teachers to do abut this? It was so heartbreaking. African American and Hispanic children are getting left behind. We all know this. It's so apparent. We've seen it in the stats, we've seen it firsthand, but HOW DO WE STOP IT???? What can we do to help America's youth?

The No Child Left Behind act was put into place to improve the academic performance of disadvantaged students, boost teacher quality, and to move limited English proficient students to English fluency, among many other things, however, we are still faltering in the classrooms all across America. The quality of our public schools directly affects us all as, yet too many children in America are segregated by low expectations, illiteracy, and self-doubt. In a constantly changing world that is demanding increasingly complex skills from its workforce, children are literally being left behind. It does not have to be this way, which makes these circumstances very frustrating and uncomfortable. It is up to us. It is our responsibility to help these children so that they may have a bright and prosperous future.

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*Jennifer Clark*


Tue Oct 31, 2006 1:12 pm
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This is a constant question in all of my classes....I dont understand or really know what to do to solve this problem. I feel like if all students are treated the same from Kindergarten they wont fall into the self fulfilled prophecy that most people group them into. It is definetely our job as teachers to make sure they know they are just as smart and able as anyone else!

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Courtney N. Cox


Thu Nov 02, 2006 12:43 am
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Like each of you, I do not have a definite answer. I wish that their was a formula answer to fix this problem, but I think it can be changed. And the first place for change is in our own personal classroom--one day! I think that if we expect great things from our students--then that is what we will see. It may take some an extra push for kids that already think they are failures because of past expierences, but THINGS CAN CHANGE! It breaks my heart to think that someone is falling behind because of the color of their skin--and the expectations on their race/ethnicity.

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Anna


Thu Nov 02, 2006 3:42 pm
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I don't think this question has an easy answer. We all want everyone to be tested fairly, but the test being based toward a white middle class society, this issue will never be solved. Test makers should consider providing a variety of questions that all backgrounds can relate to, because each person grows up in a different environment, and experience different things. I hope as an educator I will be able to provide my students with a variety of situations to think and ponder over, specifically trying to figure out the answers from someone elses prospective. I want my students exposed to many different ideas and situations, and hopefully this will help them to improve their test scores.

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Emerald Johnson


Thu Nov 02, 2006 5:13 pm
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I also feel like this is a problem at Mountain View Elementary where the majority population is Hispanic and the white population is minority. I know some of the teachers are struggling with this, especially a second grade teacher whose class contains eight to ten Hispanic kids out of fifteen to eighteen students. Most of the Hispanic students cannot talk where some of them are at the top of their class. This teacher struggles because she has no idea how to teach these students who are struggling with test scores. I started thinking about the best help you can give these students and I feel like the number one thing you can do is one on one teaching. However, being able to do this is almost impossible, because when you have one teacher with no help, he or she has to think about the whole class. Also, depending on what race, which in this case is Hispanic, I feel like teachers need to take lessons in speaking Spanish. This will help teachers and students speak and understand each other better. Also, maybe the teacher can spilt the students into groups, having students whose scores are low with students whose scores are high. Afterall, some students learn better from their peers. I also feel like students of different races start out confident, but once they get to high school it seems to drop because of the labels our society puts on them. Think about it, if you are told that your race is not smart and you do poorly on test scores, you will eventually start believing it. I am not saying this is always true but it does play a huge role in students’ lives that are of a different race. I feel like this is a very hard question to answer, but is something that our education system needs to address.

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Christin Peterson


Mon Nov 06, 2006 10:18 pm
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Christin's idea of pairing students with different abilities is a very workable one. The native Spanish speakers could be encouraged to think of several words or phrases (depending on circumstances) they will teach to the non-Spanish speakers, while the English speakers share some other lesson.

This also helps to establish friendships!

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Gayle Turner


Tue Nov 07, 2006 11:01 am
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i definitely agree that pairing students of different abilities together can be very beneficial. countless professors and teachers i know have told me that this is a great idea.

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Anna


Fri Nov 24, 2006 7:10 pm
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I think pairing is a great idea. I also know from experience that children learn better when they are taught by their peers. I think this is because they have all learned the subject recently and while others understand it better maybe they learned a way that the other child didnt. By doing this you are not only helping the other children but it reinforces what the knowledgeable student knows. Good job Christin! ;)

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Kirstin Lynn Blanchard


Wed Nov 29, 2006 11:20 pm
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I would AGREE! I think pairing students together is an excellent way of learning. My RE 4630, however would disagree. It is her belief that paring only brings about frustration. Frustration in the sense that if a higher level reader/learner is rapidly moving through a task, then that will bring frustration to both the higher and lower level learner. I can see both pros and cons of both.

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*Jennifer Clark*


Mon Dec 04, 2006 4:18 pm
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