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Close the Acheivement Gap Essay

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Close the Gap

Closing the achievement gap is not an easy task. However, education leaders have a moral obligation to create a system of student supports and a belief system in which all students achieve beyond the standards. A superintendent's belief system and passion need to extend outward. As you move your institution toward the goal of everyone passionately believing, as a district leader, you only hire teachers, administrators, secretaries, bus drivers, custodians and all staff members who believe this as deeply as you do. By doing this, you begin to change the culture of your institution be it a school or an entire district. As you begin a concerted effort to change the culture of your district and tackle the achievement gap …show more content…

When implemented properly, AR can change an entire district as it did for Berlin Township. When I originally implemented AR in our middle school and eventually the elementary school, I met with resistance from the teachers. The program eventually flourished and spread across the district but not until teachers and students experienced success. Once the first classroom achieved Model Classroom status, the spark ignited across the district. After that first success story, nearly every classroom followed. The middle school was later named a Renaissance Model School and many of our teachers and their students met the criteria for Model and Master Classroom status. Students needed to read at or above an 85% accuracy rate for books to count in the system. Our children read nearly 23,000 at this level of achievement last year alone. The following year we surpassed 30,000 books read at 85% accuracy or higher. For our 500 plus students, that was extremely impressive. Notwithstanding, if we did not have that first class meet with excellence, the district would never have made those achievements and the program would have undoubtedly faded away. Regardless of what programs you implement, challenge all students, work toward true understanding, individualize instruction, establish safety nets and, above all else, respect the power of meaningful and consistent professional development.

Closing the achievement gap is

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