Student failure is a burning building, and we need to show them the exit

Student failure is a burning building, and we need to show them the exit

By Douglas Reeves

December 13, 2020

The pandemic numbers continue to be grim, but we must be relentless in our support of student learning. While it is true that COVID-19 is a matter of public safety, so is literacy. If we do not revert the looming dropout time bomb, the public health crisis associated with dropouts will last for generations.  

This is the equity issue of our time. If educational leaders believe that simply by keeping students and teachers away from school, they have done their jobs, we will be reaping the whirlwind from these decisions for decades. Today’s lost year of learning will be tomorrow’s lost generation of learning, and those who can least afford to be left behind ­— the poor and the disconnected, in every sense of the word — will suffer most. We must ring the alarm bell in every conversation we have about this. Better to risk offending a tepid decision-maker on this issue than risk losing a reader, a writer, or any student whose opportunities were extinguished by the indifference of adults.

Do not be timid in your discussions with administrators, board members, and other educational leaders. If you hear someone say, “Gee, I’d like to have fewer failures, but the district policies won’t let me,” it’s time to challenge district policies. If you hear someone say, “I’d like to reduce failure, but I’m afraid that we might not have buy-in,” challenge the very notion that buy-in is appropriate in a time of crisis. It’s September 11, 2001, and the building is on fire. How much time will we spend deliberating? How much time will we spend asking for buy-in? How much time will we spend worrying about whether the decision will be popular? The building is on fire and we need to evacuate. Perhaps you doubt your role where you stand in the hierarchy of your school or district leadership. But remember that the heroes of 9/11 were not CEOs or people with positional authority. They were the people who saw the danger and led people to the stairwells.

Here is what you can do very specifically to “evacuate the building” right now. Whether you are a teacher, building principal, or district superintendent, please consider the following: 

1.     Make a list of every student who is failing for the fall of 2020.

2.     Determine why these students are failing - attendance, lack of work, behavioral problems, whatever.

3.     Create an action plan to change failure to success right now — before the end of this semester.

4.     Unplug any computer program that uses the average of work submitted throughout the fall 2020 semester to determine the end-of-semester grade.

5.     Demand that student proficiency be the result of demonstrated understanding during live or synchronous instruction, not off-line work.

Challenge, in the most forceful way possible, any contention that “It’s just too late” or “it’s just district policy.”  You may not be the CEO, the superintendent, the department head. But you can still be the person who sees the fire and smells the smoke and can lead people to the fire escape and save them. Normally, this may seem risky. But these are not normal times. Grab the bullhorn and take a risk, demand action, and if you offend someone in the process, don’t lose hope.

This is our time to be advocates in the most forceful possible way. This is our time to fight.

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