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Introducing All Together Now Blog

 Hi y'all. Welcome to the All Together Now Blog. I am a mom, former UMass Boston critical reading and writing instructor and executive function coach, currently an instructional designer and online learning coach, White, queer lady, lover of fantasy and YA fiction, gardening, the great outdoors, and all around teaching and learning nerd.

I like to ask big questions and then try to figure out the answers - sometimes with semi-obsessive deep dives. These last few years I've dug in deep on educational equity. As a teacher I was enthralled by trying to figure out how to support my students, almost all of whom fell into at least one of these categories: immigrants, first generation college students, English language learners, students with disabilities, low-income students, or students who struggled with academic reading and writing. I found Universal Design for Learning to be an amazing addition to my practice. 

In 2018 I left teaching for MIT's Teaching Systems Lab, where I had the privilege of working on a free online course for educators, Becoming a More Equitable Educator: Mindsets and Practices. In the process I had my mind blown about race and income, and the way it impacts students, teachers and parents in schools. 

Now, as a parent of a young kid in Boston's public school, I'm looking at it from a more personal lens. What am I looking for in terms of my son's education? How is our district serving our city's kids? Is fighting for equity at odds with fighting for him? What does it mean for me, with all my identities plus a zillion years in education, to send my son to a global majority school? 

Anyhoo, I'm on a journey to learn and in this blog I'm trying to document some of that learning - the questions I'm asking, the answers I'm finding, and of course the questions created by the answers. Enjoy!

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Rating and Testing Part II: Could it Be Poverty Itself?

This is the second article in a series. See Part I . I think the next question we need to ask ourselves is: is there something about poverty itself that interferes with learning?  There are many pop-psychology explanations of why poor kids do worse in school: poor kids don't do as well as rich kids because their parents are too busy to help them (or not well-educated enough), or that  they don't have access to enrichment activities . These are the more generous ones. Others simply lean on negative stereotypes about low-income families: they don't value education, they are trapped in a culture of poverty, or, my personal favorite, the debunked theory that they simply don't talk to their kids enough (the "word gap theory" [insert eye roll here].  So let's unpack some of these a little. First off, let's just knock off the beating up on families of low-income kids. Yes, parents may be busy but poor and/or marginalized families care just as much, if not mo...
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What to do with $400 Million?

 Apparently, the city of Boston is getting $400 million in federal relief for its schools in the near future. Debate rages among parents - should we spend it on art programs? Middle school sports? How can we plan for such a large amount of spending?  I, of course, think we should spend it on equity. Here's an idea: $150 million for funding long-term positions where they are most needed: teachers in inclusion classrooms and AP classes in non-exam high schools, librarians, counselors, etc. And let's fund them for 10-20 years, not just one year.  $100 million for deferred maintenance. Let's fix up our buildings today so that we can pay for teachers, books and innovative programs tomorrow. Fix leaky roofs, rebuild when needed - let's not lose any more buildings because we failed to take care of them! $25 million split among all Boston schools. Or divided on a per-pupil basis. Either way, give some "play money" equally to each school to decide what they want to do...
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Rating and testing Part I: "failing schools"

 I think one of the biggest takeaways from making the BPS timeline is how much test scores matter. Our state test - the MCAS - plays a majority role in a school's ranking (Tier 1, 2, 3, or 4),  or if it is turned over to state receivership (State level 5). It determines if a school is labeled "underperforming," which, given our current budget allocation where money follows students , can mean decreased funding if parents choose to send their students elsewhere (which, of course, can mean decreased resources for the remaining students, which can mean decreased scores, lower ratings, fewer students, etc., etc. etc. until it closes or is put in receivership).  At the very least, it can lead to parents typing away in frustration on social media, "These schools are failing our students!" Some would say they have led to over 70% of BPS schools being moved, closed, reformulated or otherwise disrupted in the past 20 years . I think it's worth it to ask: given all th...
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