You’re absolutely right about students of color and poor children having to fight for equity. Not only are there disparities around achievement, discipline, TAG, and SPED but the same children are left in toxic buildings. They also get the least experienced teachers and their schools have the highest teacher turnover rates.

Regarding the issue of students needing help and resource allocation…a student should be able to get help in a low performing school but that’s not always the case because some schools choose not to use their resources. See “Poorest Schools Return $500,000.”

http://portlandtribune.com/new.....y_id=17979

My kid’s entire PPS experience has been in high poverty schools. My point was that it is a tale of two cities.

I am not surprised you have that
surreal attitude about Grant. Yes back to shool night can give you a great since of security. Grant does have wonderful parent engagement. The Grant community is a close knit group of Parents. Who are very much engaged in volunteering and showing up for events. To folks who come from failing schools it does feel a lot better.

I paint a different picture. Just because
Grant is a school not in trouble
like Benson is not an indicator
for being a school that practices equity. There is difinitely a class system going on. Since I have been on the Site Council I have been pushing
to look at Data around discipline and the Achievement Gap. Guess What?

I and other Families of Color have to fight for the same equity for our children as the
White Privilege families get automatically, even if their kids are not doing well. Whether kids of color are
in a failing school or a performing school the results are still the
same. At least in a failing school the student can get more help. At Grant if you have those needs they are not available. Lots of kids of Color transfer from failing schools to Grant. As I said equity results are still the same.

I’ve been an involved PPS parent for the past 19 years and the only time that I’ve heard teachers talk about kids going on to college was at Grant’s open house. Every one of my daughter’s teachers let parents know what they’re doing to prepare our kids for college.

Parents and students felt welcomed when entering the school. Grant administrators were in the hallway assisting parents and ensuring that hallway traffic flowed smoothly. Teachers let parents know how and the best times to contact them. They gave parents resource information for helping with homework and checking their student’s progress. The school environment fosters and expects success.

Contrast that with my neighborhood middle school where a principal told parents at a public parent meeting that test scores at the school were low but that’s what he expected because it was a low income school.

School programs are built around those expectations.

I transferred my youngest child out of Benson this year (her senior year) and into Grant because Benson’s administration failed to address serious concerns about their staff.

Last night I attended Grant’s back-to-school night and I was stunned at the differences in the quality of education my kids received.

As someone who has spent years collecting data and criticizing PPS for the substandard quality of education offered to poor kids, I was still surprised at the depth of the disparities.

It’s not about the condition of the buildings, class sizes, or textbook availability. It’s the culture.

I encourage PPS Equity readers to attend several different high school open houses. Experience those differences yourself.

Another thought…all PPS school board members and central office management staff should be required to send their children to PPS’ lowest performing schools. I wonder how long it would take to improve those schools then.