Winning back our boys (Pt 3)

Ruel Reid, GUEST COLUMNISTThis is the final of a three-part series on restoring male academic achievement.Extended Coaching TimeBecause of the enormity of the performance gaps, students will need sufficient time to receive high-quality instruction, especially in areas where there are deficits. They will also need to have adequate time to practise the skills and strategies they are lacking. Research has shown that the summer break has resulted in the lowering of performance of students from very poor socio-economic backgrounds more than their counterparts from higher socio-economic backgrounds. Educational leaders, therefore, need to find creative ways to increase instructional time for these disadvantaged groups. Some solutions include summer, before-school and after-school tutoring programmes.Parental SupportGenuine parental support can transcend any barrier to boys' academic achievement. This support, according to Linda Superville, (Extracts from Male Academic Underachievement: A Case Study - 1999), should be timeless, tangible and consist of words of encouragement and real help or assistance. The support should be ongoing, where the parent becomes the child's conscience, where initially, he responds to prompting until eventually he graduates to a level of autonomy, responsibility and self-direction. Genuine parental support involves parents being sensitive to everything that is happening in the child's life. The Ministry of Education has recognised the importance of the parenting factor and is currently in the process of establishing a National Parent Support Commission (NSPC). This commission will have responsibility for providing support to parents in need of assistance. The NSPC will also be responsible for providing a directory of services available to parents.Build on Successful At-Risk ProgrammesThe 'Change from Within' project, which was implemented in four inner-city schools in Jamaica, adopted a range of strategic actions to address the problem of boys' underachievement. The project was spearheaded by the late Sir Philip Sherlock, a former vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies. He selected a team of scholars at the university, who, through applied research, identified innovative means of building the students' self-esteem. The schools involved formed a 'Circle of Friends' (CFW), which consisted of the principals, a few support staff, and members of the research team. The Circle met monthly to share experiences, ideas and to identify strategies to improve leadership skills. The Circle promoted the importance of partnerships with all stakeholders, inclusive of teachers, parents and students. The project started out with four schools and expanded to include 28 additional schools. It identified that effective leadership was essential to support positive student outcomes.This leadership incorporated qualities such as shared vision, commitment, team approach, problem-solving/conflict-resolution skills, openness to learning, and the ability to provide mutual support to manage the stress and challenges experienced with change. The research identified two important factors which were responsible for the alienation of boys from school and education. These were:(i) The nature of the early socialisation of boys by parents, community and school;(ii) The 'drill to kill' teaching and learning methods that were perceived as having increasingly marginalised boys as well as girls from the schooling process.The project also underscored that active learning and innovative approaches of engaging parents in their children's education could produce positive outcomes.Three kinds of strategies were adopted to change the boys' desires to conform to a stereotypical male identity and help them to develop a wider world view. These were:(i) Introduction of strict rules relating to weapons and violence;(ii) Effective and easily accessible counselling service to assist the boys in shedding the stereotypical masculine identity that stopped them from being emotional and interdependent;(iii) The institution of a transparent and inclusive approach where teachers, parents and students were treated with confidence, trust and respect.Strengthening Stakeholder and Community InvolvementThis should be designed to create shared responsibility and stewardship for the management of educational resources. Existing programmes such as the Adopt-A-School programme should be expanded. The National Council on Education has recently piloted the "revised procedures for the appointment of school boards" with a view to increasing community participation in the governance of public educational institutions. Strategies should also be adopted to foster collaboration between national and community levels. This entails building on existing national networks and expertise and creating opportunities for district and community-level educators and administrators to collaborate. The introduction and implementation of the 'quality education circles' will assist in this regard.Transformational LeadershipFor any intervention to succeed, it must be supported by transformational/innovative leadership. In research conducted by USAID (2005) in a number of Jamaican schools, it was observed that a critical factor in the performance of principals and teachers was their vision and sense of mission. It was noted that collaboration among principals and teachers to create a challenging and supportive learning environment, buttressed by clear, fair and consistently applied rules, a pattern of including all stakeholders, students, educators and parents in the decision-making process and holding them accountable for doing their part consistently resulted in better student outcomes. This held true even when compared with other schools in similar settings with poor outcomes.Innovative leaders are high-performing principals who are responsible for creating an environment which is characterised by respect, tolerance and high expectations. High-performing principals ensure that teachers use a proactive/assertive approach in the classroom which is positive and non-confrontational. An approach which conveys high expectations and a sense of challenge. High-performing principals lead high-performing schools and engage high-performing teachers who praise students regularly and consistently. High-performing schools have a relentless respectful environment in which teachers treat students with respect, and tolerance and establish high expectations. It is about promoting a positive culture and teaching with love.A good example of a high-performing principal is Ms Deb Gustafson, who was appointed in 2001 as principal of Ware Elementary, the first school to be placed on an improvement plan in Kansas because of low achievement. Gustafson developed a plan to transform the negative tone - which had an atmosphere of disrespect, high levels of student suspensions, and teacher grievances - of the school she inherited. She believed that the teachers were responsible for setting the tone of the school by being respectful at all times. This was regardless of how disrespectful the students could be at times.Gustafson stated that she would never reprimand her teachers except for speaking to children inappropriately. She also assumed that every teacher wanted to be successful; the challenge, however, was when they were not. A specific programme was instituted to support failing teachers. Where teachers continued to fail, they faced tough conversations such as whether they thought they could be more successful in another field.Use of Student Achievement DataHigh-performing principals use student achievement data to inform the development of programmes to support students. Teachers should be supported to sift through data without feeling defensive or under attack. Examining classroom data will assist in understanding patterns of success and failure. The aim is to establish an understanding that analysing student achievement data can help to establish professional expectations. It will also assist in identifying the students who are failing in order to pinpoint strategies to support improvement.Promoting Gender Equity in EducationGender equity in education is a critical component of any transformed system. How this can be achieved should be a matter for debate among key stakeholders. It is, however, critical that an understanding and consensus are arrived at on the most appropriate strategies for achieving gender equality as part of the transformed education system in this country. Jamaica is also committed to the Millennium Development Goals for gender-equality measures in which Jamaica is expected to achieve gender parity in all levels of education by no later than 2015.Closing the achievement gap will require the commitment and dedication of the school leadership team and staff. We also need to create a culture where high expectations are the norm, where achievement is celebrated and where teaching and learning techniques are continually improved. No one approach will lead to success.Successful schools are those that utilise appropriate strategies to suit their own situations. It also requires exploring, in depth, aspects of underachievement in order to understand the complexity of the problem along with its varied gender dimensions, and to take risks in developing innovative approaches to address them. For example, a teacher in India used win-win agreements to get students to commit to improving their performance over time. She also used performance scorecards as a tool to track performance.The scorecards were helpful in keeping students on track, identifying problems which hindered performance, and developing suitable strategies to correct them. In this way, students were empowered to take charge of their learning, and it also allowed the teacher time to work collaboratively with students to identify personal classroom-management issues that they were experiencing. By so doing, the classroom became a mutual teaching-learning base instead of an arena where one wins at the expense of others.Closing the underachievement performance gap can be a daunting task. The challenge will not be addressed by token efforts. The solution requires major changes and investments in instruction as well as infrastructural facilities in schools. It will also require major investments in time and effort in working with families, non-school organisations and the wider community in eliminating the deficits that boys currently are experiencing. The ultimate goal of any educational reform programme should be to improve the quality of the education system and to raise the bar and benefit all learners, both male and female (USAID, 2005).Ruel Reid is a ministerial adviser and principal of Jamaica College.This article was published in the Sunday Gleaner on May 8, 2011.