Sandy
is a fourth grade teacher in an inner-city public school in the
midwest. There are more than 600 students from diverse family
backgrounds and cultures in grades kindergarten through fifth grade.
As different as the children are -- the one thing they seem to have
in common is that they are from families that are at or below poverty
level. More than 80 percent of the students qualify for free or
reduced lunches. This qualifies the school as a Title I school and
there are some extra resources from state and federal sources to help
meet the special needs of children in poverty. In spite of these
resources, however, Sandy is feeling overwhelmed. There are 28
students in Sandy's section of one of three fourth grade classes.
Sandy is on two school committees (curriculum rewrite, parent
outreach) and has the responsibility of reporting progress to the
district director of curriculum and instruction. Five evenings a
month are devoted to school meetings. Besides that, Sandy is the
single parent of two teenage sons, ages 13 and 15, who are themselves
struggling to get through school.
As
the school year has progressed, less than a half of the students who
started fourth grade in Sandy's class at the beginning of the year
are still in school. Some of the students who left earlier in the
year have moved back but new students have also moved into the school
area. Just keeping up with what students know and what content needs
to be covered is a big challenge. Besides that, Sandy and other
teachers in the building are under a lot of pressure from the
district to raise student achievement on state standards and
standardized tests of reading and math. It is now February in the
school year and Sandy is feeling more and more frustrated. The
pressure is affecting how Sandy interacts with the students. More and
more of the students are failing and Sandy is also feeling like a
failure. Parents have been complaining and students' attendance has
become a problem. Fights are becoming more common among students and
students are increasingly disrespectful in class -- of both each
other and the teacher. Gang problems and crime in the neighborhood
are showing up in the school and Sandy's class. Safety and violence
are becoming issues for staff and students alike.
