Welcome to Teachers At Risk
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Sep
17
At-risk students- from time to time I’ve wonder who coined the term at-risk students to identify kids who are in danger of academic failure. Where did that term come from? Well, I don’t have to wonder any longer because just last week as I was browsing through the shelves of our professional library at school, I came across Pamela N. Mueller’s book Lifers-Learning from At-Risk Adolescent Readers . When I first saw the title I thought “learning from at-risk students” . I’ve learned lots from my students and most of it invaluable to me as a teacher. So of course I had to check it out. I recommend that you check it out too. Its excellent, well worth reading and having in your own professional library.
Where does the term at-risk come from? Mueller suggests
At-risk is a term borrowed from the insurance industry to describe students judged to be highly probable to become a “loss” in terms of school success and achievement. They hover on the precipice of academic failure. Lacking the literacy and learning skills to succeed in the traditional secondary classroom, they generally get poor grades, have negative relationships with teachers, and feel alienated from a a place they see as unfair and a “boring waste of time”. (p.XIV)
She’s has hit the nail right on the head when she describes these kids. They do see school as a boring waste of time. They do lack the literacy and learning skills to succeed in the traditional classroom. They do get poor grades and have negative relationships with teachers.
Mueller continues
Acting out a particular role in the culture of failure in which they have cast themselves, these student “performers” do all in their power to live up to the low expectations that others have for them-and, indeed, that they have for themselves. Many are living in fractured homes that have victimized them emotionally and intellectually. Because their work and family often take precedence over a high school diploma, the idea of dropping out of school is never far away. (p. XIV)
Mueller has really captured the essence of at-risk students here. These kids see themselves as failures .Their families see them as failures. Last year I had a student tell me that his dad told him that the only thing he would be good for when he grew up was a door stop. Imagine-a door stop. Not even a person, but an inanimate object like a door stop. Talk about dehumanizing. How can an fourteen year old boy who has probably heard this for who knows how long overcome this negative role his dad cast for him. It wasn’t surprising that when his parents’ marriage finally broke down during the time he was in my class, school was the last thing on this kids mind. It’s so sad that kids have to deal with the negative fallout when adults can’t manage their own lives and continue to make one unfortunate choice after another.
I teach students from grades nine to twelve and know that many of the at-risk students have been identified before I ever see them sitting in front of me in my classroom. I’ve read countless school records of students dating way back to kindergarten and have often been impressed by how accurately the kindergarten teacher identified kids who were having difficulties. Often it seemed from those early comments not much had change. Those kids having difficulty in kindergarten were still having difficulty in my class ingrade nine. Now of course that’s probably not 100 % true because I don’t work with kids who don’t need support so I’m not really sure how many kids catch up to their peers. If anyone knows of a study that looked at this statistic, I would really appreciate hearing about it because the next thing I’m going to share with you is so depressing.
I was absolutely shocked to read that” Rist(1970) points out that a young reader’s journey through school is essentially pre-ordained by day eight of kindergarten! “
Oh my goodness! That is so disturbing. Apparently “the kindergarten teacher’s initial expectations, which are based on family history, physical appearance, and classroom behaviour rather than academic potential or performance,accurately forecasts a child’s future academic career.
It seems from this that once a student is cast as a member of the slow learning group, that’s it: he’s doomed to be in the slow reading group all through school. With all due respect to Mueller and Rist, I hope that’s not the case and maybe it isn’t the case in 100% of the time. I wonder what my kindergarten teacher thought of me, a rambunctious tomboy who lived on a farm in a home with no books to mention, just the weekly community newspaper. My family’s connection to the world came through our radio and our TV. I don’t know where my love of books and reading came from. Reading certainly wasn’t fostered in my home. In fact, it was considered a waste of time. I remember as a kid getting heck all the time because I would be reading instead of doing my kitchen chores. I had to smile when as an adult, I read a novel set in the prairies, or maybe it was a short story, it doesn’t really matter where a character had the sympathy of his neighbours because his farm wife read surreptitiously and hid books all over the place so she could read whenever no one was around. What was the problem with reading? Of course, when she was reading she wasn’t working. working was valued; reading wasn’t. The whole thing made me think of an alcoholic who hides her bottles all over the place so she could drink in secret. I certainly could identify with that bookaholic.
Ok, enough about me. Lets get back to Mueller’s research about kids and how they become at-risk of academic failure. She notes “Allington and Cunningham(1996) list four basic factors that early on put an elementary student at-risk of academic failure, factors over which a child has no control: family poverty, parental education attainment, gender, and perceived immaturity. ” (p. XV) I think this is really important to keep in mind before judging a student harshly. Kids don’t choose the family they are born into. Kids don’t choose how much formal education their parents have. Kids don’t choose their gender.
So what are we going to do to help these kids achieve better educational outcomes. Because my training and experience is with high school students, my solutions would speak to that age group. I’ve thought a lot about how to help my students get reconnected to school so that they can develop their potential to the utmost. When I’ve played the ” if I ruled the education world game”, my solutions for my at-risk students are mostly outside the box. Obviously, if something isn’t working, it needs to be changed. If the education system isn’t working for some students, it needs to be changed for those students. I read some where that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. What would you change? What would you do?
You know , that isn’t just a rhetorical question I’m please to say. Corrie Henegan, Chief Operating Officer of The Mind Trust, a non-profit organization got in touch with me to tell me about an exciting new initiative . The Mind Trust is offering educational entrepreneur fellowships to people who believe they have the answers to stop the insanity of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
What exactly is an educational entrepreneur
Education entrepreneurs are individuals who develop new approaches to tackle society’s greatest challenges in radically new ways. They are driving some of the most compelling improvements in educational outcomes for chronically underserved students. Ventures like Teach For America, College Summit, New Leaders for New Schools, The New Teacher Project and the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) are prime examples. The leaders of these organizations have transformed education for thousands of children and have changed our very ideas about what is possible in public schools. To access resources on education entrepreneurship .
You can check out the Mind Trust’s FAQ link here. Nicole Wiltrout was kind enough to forward it to me.
Offering these education entrepreneurial fellowships is a huge initiative for the village to take. I hope other organizations in other places will take the lead from the Mind Trust and find creative ways to enable positive change to happen so that students who are at-risk academically can get re-connected to school and develop to their fullest potential. Students will benefit by these initiatives because the new programs will be tailored to meet their needs; the village will benefit by these initiatives because its citizens will be able to contribute to their fullest. It will be a win-win situation. At least, the way I see it.
I want to thank B. Ziegier, Mathew, Joel, Craig, Jane, Liz, Ms. Whatsit, and Sukhdeep for their feedback. I really appreciate it. I think we all benefit from the input readers take the time to give. I know I do. It’s great that the technology allows us to develop into a community that shares and supports one another. So please, lets continue to develop this community by commenting, questioning and sharing. I think it exciting.
Related Posts
Related posts:
- One positive relationship can make a huge difference for “at-risk” students
- Let’s give support to students who are at risk academically when it makes the most sense
- Whose fault is it when students fail to achieve?
- Kindergarten math skills seem to be the best predictor of future achievement
- Students with learning difficulties or AD/HD are more at risk of being bullied
Comments
4 Responses to “So what about these at-risk students?”
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Elona,
Another thought-provoking post, thanks. The stats that Mueller points out are indeed saddening, and despite my lack of experience I have met a few students for whom school has been a problem right from the beginning. I am intrigued by your suggestions about overhauling things for the students who we deem at-risk — maybe a post entitled “What Elona would do if she ruled the education world”?
It’s been an interesting first two weeks of teaching — it’s a huge learning curve, this teaching thing, but I am up for the challenge. I started doing journals with my GLE class and have enjoyed reading their responses. I will let you know some of the journal topics that are hits.
Blog on!
Sukhdeep,
I’ve always found that first two weeks of school are the most stressful. Things kind of settle in after that.
You mention the huge learning curve during your first two weeks of teaching. It is pretty steep-that’s for sure. I’ve found, though, that as a teacher you are a life long learner. You never really get to know it all. I must confess, that surprised me because early on I thought that after about five years of teaching I would know what there was to know about teaching. But, I found there’s always something new to know. I’ve been teaching forever and there’s still lots of things about teaching that I’m learning. New strategies and new approaches are always being developed.and I’m always on the looking for something that will help me be an even more effective teacher. I think it’s important to go to all the PD sessions and conferences you can because what you learn there helps you stay on top of your game.
As for what I would do if I ruled the education world? You know, I might just do that post where I share my thoughts. I’ll have to gather my thoughts together first and then back them up with research so that what I suggest is sound. Actually that could be lots of fun. Maybe we could all share our thoughts on that topic. That would even be more fun.
But that post will have to wait a bit because I’m so busy doing all the IEPs for the students I monitor and support. There’s lots of paper work to do at the beginning of the year when you are a special ed teacher.
Hi Elona,
I am at wits end. My son is an good student in a Catholic high school. But he is being cyber bullied by a former teacher, now politician. How would you get through to people to tell them this is NOT okay? How would you make it stop?
I have been trying with two websites, but no results: CryFox.com and AndrewsAnswer.com
Any suggestions from someone in the profession?
Richard,
Honestly, I don’t know what to tell you. I would think the only recourse you have is a legal one. Make the truth known as best you can. Perhaps someone reading this has a suggestion. Let’s hope so. Good luck.