Recognizing Great High Schools by What They Actually Do?

It has been a norm to recognize schools based on their state-mandated test scores. The competition among high schools racing to finish at the top gets extremely fierce as they know that the overall scores would be made public and none of them wants to be ranked as a lower-performing school. Consequently, the teachers in the city high schools are instructed to prepare students to perform well in tests. And this is exactly what they do.

What is the problem with the current recognition system?

It was a relatively easy task until a few years ago to classify a school based on test scores, but things have changed the way a “great school” is recognized today. The test-based policies cannot ensure greater learning and many people have realized this truth. This has resulted in a spurt of ideas that bring to life more liberal and progressive models of what a great high school should be.

Surveys across the countries show that the students studying in more prosperous neighbourhoods school perform outstandingly well on these state-required tests. In contrast, students, especially those belonging to the minority section, studying in the underprivileged localities perform disappointingly bad. Also, the schools with top scores were set to be awarded for their accountability and improvement through government-run policies. The schools with less impressive scores were left high and dry.  

These survey findings don’t come as a surprise as nothing much has changed over the time. The reason for such marked difference in results can be attributed to the fact that the schools in the underprivileged localities are denied the funding that schools located in more prosperous neighbourhoods receive. In addition, higher salaries in schools in prosperous neighbourhoods attract far superior teachers. Even the community resources find their ways to affluent or middle-class children whereas poor children are once again left to their fate.

The children born in affluent families get a lot of opportunities and usually do better in school. If these children struggle with studies, they hire tutors. If their writing skills are poor, they hire professional writing service. These children are born with a silver spoon and can have their way in virtually everything in life including academics. On the other hand, underprivileged kids fall back only to their teachers and schools for learning. No matter how much efforts a teacher puts in to improve the learning abilities of these children, the efforts are rarely praised. For instance, the hard work invested by an English teacher in improving the composition skills of these underprivileged students will not be unnoticed, compared to a modest teacher teaching in a top school that has a history of producing literary legends.

How can this recognition system be changed?

In the midst of the increasing opt-out change and strong dismissal of test-based policies, the government should launch a recognition program that is based on high-quality research in relation to eliminating achievement gaps among children from different backgrounds. The research-based practices should be meant to foster environments conducive to learning. In an attempt to bridge the gap in performance of children from different schools, the government should take an initiative to use research and create better teaching and learning environments. The schools should be ranked not on the basis of their current test scores, but on the improvement demonstrated by the under-performing students of the school in research-based programs implemented by that school.

This brings us to the reality that the actual measure of a great school or a great teacher is based on their ability to improve the performance of the underperforming children and not on the continued performance of the already performing kids. Taking the credit for improving the performance of achievers should no longer be accepted. The actual recognition should be rooted in conducting programs that provide equal chances to students from all the sections of the society and then ranking them on the basis of improvement in performance. The objective of the initiative by the government should be to close the gap between performers and non-performers and provide education impartially to all students through research-based practices including student support systems, community resources, fair discipline practices, minimal tracking, and high-class professional improvement for teachers. These practices should be intended to result in the maximum improvement in student’s performance.

How will the new recognition system benefit the schools?

The initiative from the government could be instrumental in recognizing schools that are creating inputs to close opportunity gaps, demonstrate an astonishing dedication to impartiality and brilliance by providing equal opportunity to all the students to succeed. The schools should be rewarded for implementing the right programs and not for giving admissions to the country’s best students. The initiative should highlight the methods through which schools are actively engaged in bridging the opportunity gap and conducting research-based activities that are intended toward ensuring that all the students irrespective of their backgrounds or ethnicity are offered abundant opportunities to succeed.

The process of recognizing great high schools highlights methods such as effective faculty and student support systems, contact with the community, emotional and physical support, cautious and impartial discipline programs, and first-rate teacher selection and mentoring programs. The recognition process should allow participating schools to explain why and how they should be recognized.

They societies and schools should be recognized and applauded for coming together and combining their efforts and resources on eliminating the disparities in learning and performance of achieving and non-achieving students. This confluence should serve as a model for other schools and communities who want to participate in true school development.

The school improvement will happen in true sense only when more and more schools engage in bridging opportunity gaps. One step forward taken by a school needs to be emulated and should inspire others to follow. Instead of limiting their focus of improving state-based test score, the schools should engage in wholesome development of the students. The recognition of a great high school can achieve its true objective only once the gap between the non-performing and performing students starts to close.