Improving the Equity Gap

Douglas Reeves, noted scholar and researcher, has identified the following strategies for closing the equity gap:

1. “Treat them like they are rich” – We don’t let rich kids fail. Rich kids have high expectations, intensive assistance, and immediate intervention when they are in trouble, and every student from every ethnic and socioeconomic group deserves the same.
2. Equity is not equal – Equity is meeting the needs of each individual student.
3. Challenge, not sympathy – Listen to the elders of every culture. They do not ask for sympathy. They demand challenge and a chance for their children and grandchildren to have a better opportunity and greater achievement than previous generations.
4. The “culture of success” for every student – Define what successful students and adults do and then model these successful behaviors and insist on them every day in every setting.
5. Time and project management – Keys to effective self-discipline.
6. Balanced extrinsic and intrinsic motivation – Yes, it really is OK to reward students for great academic performance and superior behavior.
7. Resilience – Multiple opportunities for success. When students are playing sports, we tell them “It’s not how you start the season that counts, but how you finish.” We encourage them to rebound from every disappointment and failure. Great scientists, mathematicians, writers, and readers do the same.
8. Appropriate consequences – The consequence for failing to turn in work is neither a zero nor an F, but the appropriate consequence is DOING THE WORK.
9. Nonfiction writing – One of the best ways for students to engage in the lifelong skills of thinking, reasoning, and analysis. Specifically students at every grade level must write to inform, persuade, and analyze.
10. Relentless teachers – The refrain of teachers and leaders who close the equity gap is, “We just don’t let our kids fail.”
How do we match up?