Are we failing our students?

"We have relied on the wrong kinds of questions to drive our policies. We have been asking how to raise achievement when what we should be asking is how to get kids excited about learning. We have been asking how do we hold teachers accountable when what we should be asking is how we hold everyone accountable, parents, students, politicians for educating our children. And we have been focusing on closing the achievement gap and asking what it will take to close the gap, while what we should be asking is how do we create schools where child race or class does not predict how well they would do"
We have featured Pedro Noguera in many of our posts, but we would like to do it again as he is an one of America's most important and respected voices for healthy public education with a deep knowledge and commitment to equity and social justice. He is the Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education at New York University and and his research focus on the ways in which schools are influenced by social and economic conditions in urban settings. He's an expert on school reform, diversity, and the achievement gap.
According to him EQUITY does not only entail equal opportunities in terms of access to education and learning, but has to be measured in terms of outcomes and results as well. In schools that are really focused on equity they are trying to meet the different needs of kids and do so with a focus on outcomes. Schools should be set up to be the equalizers of opportunity, but they often are not.