All I can say is: Amen!
97% of my high school students were classified as English Language Learners when they entered the school system, whether that was in Kindergarten, 1st grade, or when they first came to this country as late as 9th grade. Many of them still have not been re-designated as Fluent English Proficient. Every day I am witness to the results of the misfit education they have received so far.
But do you know the worst part? I'm not giving them any better than the insufficient education they've received so far. At my school, students are enrolled in an Independent Study program. Quite frankly, I don't understand it.
I don't understand how students who are multiple years behind are expected to magically catch up in a program where they work on their own.
I don't understand how students who have failed in the traditional school setting are expected to succeed in a setting with zero accountability.
I don't understand how students are expected to learn math from a textbook and a packet of paper.
I don't understand how students are expected to pass final exams when they were never taught any of the course's content by a highly qualified educator.
I don't understand how students are expected to develop socially in a program where there is little interaction among peers.
I don't understand how students are expected to dramatically change their course based solely on intrinsic motivation that they haven't shown any proof of in the past.
I don't understand how an independent study program works for 99.9% of high school students. I don't understand.
I don't understand why we are trying to heal burn victims by drowning them.
This is my cry out to you, readers. If you have experienced some sort of success in an independent study program, whether it was as a teacher, parent, student, family member, friend, or community member, I need to know about it. I need to know how this works, and I need to know that good has come of this type of program, because so far, I have no faith in it. I feel just as helpless as Dylan Garity's sister, watching my students become more and more discouraged and frustrated with this school system that has only continued to fail them.
