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发帖数: 40861 | 1 【 以下文字转载自 Parenting 讨论区 】
发信人: ananpig (●○ 围棋数学一把抓的安安猪), 信区: Parenting
标 题: In Houston's Gifted Program, Critics Say Blacks And Latinos
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Wed Sep 30 09:42:21 2015, 美东)
Fernando Aguilar has five kids and named his only son after his hero, Isaac
Newton.
"I looked up to him and so does my son, and hopefully one day we can make
contributions to society like he did," says Aguilar.
Isaac's in third grade at Herrera Elementary School in Houston. Aguilar
thinks his 8-year-old is a smarty, just like the famous physicist: "I think
he's going to be a lot smarter than I am."
Breaking the ceiling
NPR ED
Who Are The 'Gifted And Talented' And What Do They Need?
But when the local school tested Isaac in kindergarten for the gifted and
talented program, he didn't qualify.
And Houston's enrollment statistics indicate that Hispanic students like
Isaac and African-American students would more likely be identified as
gifted if they were white or Asian. That's a trend across the country.
Aguilar is stretched thin between his job building servers for a software
company and finishing his college degree in statistics. So, getting to spend
time alone with Isaac is really special, but finding time to get involved
with his son's school is difficult. Aguilar knows the gifted and talented
program exists at Herrera Elementary, though he wasn't aware the school was
testing Isaac.
Donna Ford, at Vanderbilt University, thinks that put Isaac at a
disadvantage. She's been researching gifted education for decades, and when
it comes to Houston's program she says, "I think it's a clear case of
segregation, gifted education being segregated by race and income."
Houston school leaders asked Ford to take a close look at their enrollment
in the program, and she gave it a failing grade. "Racial bias has to be
operating, inequities are rampant. Discrimination does exist whether
intentional or unintentional," she told the school board in May of this year.
Ford found that both Hispanic and black students are underrepresented in
gifted programs and that black students are missing out the most. She also
found that about half the seats in those programs go to higher-income
students, even though the majority of the district is poor.
Ford calls it "a waste of a huge number of students' gifts and talents."
Ford says Houston's entire process is laced with problems. She's seen this
in other districts and has ideas on how to improve it, starting with the
test.
Houston uses an exam that some educators consider culturally biased, so it
may fail to identify a student like Isaac as gifted.
Also, teacher recommendations carry a lot of weight, but can be subjective.
And Ford worries that because the whole selection process is point-based,
some families can strategize to get their kids in the program. "Knowing the
system, working the system, using that social capital, it does advantage you
," she says.
Parents in the know can find tutorials online. Some even spend $150 for test
materials. Meanwhile, other families have no idea the gifted program even
exists.
And Adam Stephens says he wants to change that. He's the person at the
Houston Independent School District in charge of advanced academics, and
says there's no sacred cows when it comes to making changes for the better.
"We're looking at the testing that we use," Stephens says. "We're looking at
how we identify students at the campuses, and if it feels like it's really
going to allow us to really meet the needs of students in HISD, then it's
something that we're committed to moving forward."
And as for Isaac, the district says it will test him for the gifted program
again this fall.
Read more about gifted students from NPR Ed's lead blogger, Anya Kamenetz. | s*******1
发帖数: 16479 | | c****h
发帖数: 4968 | | M*******c
发帖数: 4371 | 4 He has no right to blame others. To some extent, the so-called gifted is
raised as well. If he has less kids, he would be able to spend more time
with his kids, gifted or not. He is responsible for his decision to have 5
kids. | r***e
发帖数: 2000 | 5 That's what will happen when you elect a leader like that. |
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