Day 3 at Highline Academy: Compare and Compete

Hello all!

I'd like to take a moment to thank those of you who have commented on my previous posts. The constructive feedback and questions posed are very helpful in guiding me to think outside the box and look at things a little more critically. So again, thank you.

Now moving on..

Day 3 at Highline Academy! Things are continuing to go well. Kids are still learning, and doing a great job of it. However, over the last two days I have noticed a bit of a disconnect between a few students and their peers in the ELA (English Language Acquisition) block. Yesterday, three children were pulled out into the hall during class. Curious about what was going on, I decided to eavesdrop on the conversations between the teacher and her "misbehaved" students. Turns out, the kids were pulled aside because they were "getting too emotional" about their work. Each of the three students were to the point of tears because they either 1) "didn't understand the problem/assignment like everyone else did so they were 'dumb,'" 2) "couldn't do it as fast as everyone else," or 3) 'didn't get the best part (in the play) so that meant (they) weren't the best in the class." 

I'll be honest with you, I was a fan of classroom competition when I was in elementary school. Though I think that was because it wasn't hard for me to always come out on top (not trying to brag, it's true!). Now I see what it's like for those who struggle to stay at the top of their academic game. Classroom competition isn't fun for those individuals... in fact, it does damage to their self-esteem and self-image. 

I brought this up to the teacher and she informed me that all of her students strive to do exceptionally well in class. She said that all the students in her ELA class are high performing, some of the brightest kids she's ever seen in her teaching career. She then noted that "even with a high performing group, you run into a new set of problems." As she later pointed out, one of those problems included intense competition in the classroom.

As for evidence, I've seen firsthand how the students in my classroom will race each other to be the first ones to finish the assignment. I've seen kids make bets on who would get the better score on a test. I've seen students get physically upset because they are so frustrated at themselves for not being able to perform as quickly or as well as their peers.

The performance group system Highline has implemented sends students to different core classes based on how well they do in that particular subject so that they can be in classes with students of their similar academic performance level. Though seemingly intended to benefit and equalize learning for their students, this innovative system has clearly had some underlying impacts on children and their ability to perform. In my opinion, this kind of system makes competition inevitable. Other than simply wanting to be the best at everything and coming in 1st place, as most children desire, the competition continues on different levels. The highest performing kids want to stay at the top and the students teetering on the edge of "high performing" and "average" don't want to fall behind and be labeled "mediocre," and so forth.

Does this system motivate the students to learn? Sure, I think so- to a degree. 

Does this system influence students' self image and confidence when it comes to academics? I'd say so.
Does this system narrow the achievement gap by promoting equality? That I'm not so sure of.

This kind of system doesn't "address the problems of poverty, unemployment, racial isolation" like Ravitch says we must do in order to create an effective strategy to narrow the achievement gap (Ravitch, 2013). Rather, this system puts everyone on a playing field equal to their competitors based on their level of performance. This idea is revered as a successful system and also used in Denver Public Schools district's school evaluation strategies as Alyssa Whitehead-Bust, Chief Academic and Innovation Officer, mentioned in her lecture at the DPS district office today in Denver, Colorado (Whitehead-Bust, 2014). This idea of putting everyone on a level appropriate for them and competing against others that perform similarly to them is certainly seen as an innovative practice on multiple levels of the education system. But is this really equality? Do we need equality- or do we need equity in our education system? Does this system simply foster more competition since these students and schools are competing against each other to stay on track and in business? Is this system successful? In particular, is this system successful and useful for our students?

All of these ideas are important to keep in mind. It's simply a matter of which consequence are we willing to put up with in our schools...

Some further questions I'd like to ask are 1) Is classroom competition healthy and to what degree? and 2) Do innovative practices like performance groups do more good than bad in our schools? 

What do you think? Please share your opinions below!

- Acelynn

Ravitch, D. (2013). Reign of error: The hoax of the privatization movement and the danger to America's public 
                schools (First edition.). New York: Alfred A. Knopf.


Whitehead-Bust, A. (2014) Reform and Innovation at DPS. OSRI Office. Denver, Colorado.