Some thoughts on leveling... from a student.

Occasionally you have a student older than their years.  At the Board of Education meeting (09/17/13) we had a young lady speak to the Board during audience to visitors, and express her thoughts.  Unfortunately she was timed out and could not complete her comments fully.  With Kira's permission I am placing this out on Patch.  Her words need no further introduction,  Thank you Kira. 

Town website Video at 44 minutes.  
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My name is Kira Demitrus, and I am currently a junior at Suffield Academy, but I have grown up in Windsor. I am speaking tonight to make my educational journey known. I am not here to fight the battle of race, but to fight the battle for the kids that are even less frequently thought of: gifted students. Throughout my years of public education, home school education, and private education, I have been able to experience the drawbacks and advantages to each type of schooling. 

From the time I was born, I have been considered a “gifted” student. My teachers were always challenged when it came to keeping me occupied in a classroom. I learned most concepts faster than my peers and was ready to move on to new concepts before most other students could even grasp them. After three years of elementary school at Oliver Ellsworth, my parents began to explore other options for me. They were tired of hearing my complaints of how boring school was, and decided to look into having me skip a grade or be home schooled. My parents chose to send me to a home school close to my house in the fourth grade.

Homeschooling initially seemed like a great idea; I could keep to my own pace and move as quickly as I wanted. After a few months, however, I felt the social effects of being without other students and friends, and decided that homeschooling was not the right option for me.  I was only home schooled for this one year, and in fifth grade I returned to the public school system. This transition was extremely difficult because I had completed multiple years worth of English and math programs. In most subjects I was at a sixth or seventh grade education level, but I had to go back into a fifth grade classroom. Throughout this year I was more bored than ever, and my mom decided that Sage Park might not be able to accommodate me, so she sent me to a magnet school for sixth grade. Although magnet schools were rumored to be better, MLC was still no improvement. I was bored and every subject, other than math, was not separated by ability level, so I was forced to learn at the pace of the slowest child in the classroom. 

There was also a common theme running through the public and magnet schools; teachers taught students only to pass the Connecticut Mastery Test, a standardized test used throughout our state to gauge “learning” and identify school districts whose students were behind in math, science, English or reading. A majority of my teachers would only teach the students in the room who were struggling because these students had to “pass the test”. This was a phrase I often heard growing up, and it seemed as though I was being neglected because teachers realized I already had the ability to pass the test.  Consequently, they would choose to focus their efforts on other students to make sure the school met or exceeded their target scores on the test.  Teachers constantly catered to the child or children with the lowest ability in the room, and I found myself skipping class, tutoring peers at the request of my teachers, or even correcting my peers’ papers just to keep myself occupied. At this point in my educational career, my mom decided that a private school might be my best chance at being challenged. I was fortunate to be accepted into Suffield Academy for high school, and I am now – finally – challenged more than ever. The classes are finally divided into varying abilities, and the teachers, much different from my previous ones, know how to cater to all abilities in a classroom. 

My long, tiring journey through a number of different educational systems has given me a new perspective on the way our public schools are run. Because I never had the chance to be put into more advanced courses throughout middle school, I feel as though I have been let down by the public schools I have attended throughout my life.  

 It disappoints me that in order to get a better education my parents were forced to search for an expensive private school education. I am grateful that I have received a scholarship from Suffield Academy that covers nearly the entire cost of my attendance, or I may not have been able to attend.  However, other gifted students may not have parents who are aware of such options, choose not to explore them, or may not be as lucky to receive a scholarship or have the kind of money a private school education costs.

By trying to take out Windsor High School’s leveled schooling program, students like myself will even further be penalized for being bright and talented. I distinctly remember wishing to skip middle school to go to high school because I couldn’t wait to go into leveled classes, hoping to finally be in a classroom filled with other driven, bright students. There are many other gifted students growing up now with the same wishes, and by taking away the leveled classes of Windsor High, gifted students will be ignored for another 4 years of their educational career. 

Furthermore, these bright and talented students will be forced, exactly as I was, out of the public school system because they will not be challenged enough. Studies show that anywhere from 18 to 25% of gifted students drop completely out of high school because their advanced needs are not being taken care of. By trying to get rid of the honors and high honors courses at Windsor High, we will only be begging to raise the percentage of gifted students to drop out of high school. 

Its an interesting theory… trying to raise academic standards while lowering the bar and getting rid of the highest level, most challenging courses the school has to offer.  Instead of dumbing the entire system down, why aren’t we trying to raise the bar in the college classes? Why are we trying to penalize the students who are making the grades and are being very successful at Windsor High in the honors, high honors, and AP courses? I don’t believe the solution is to dumb the school down. This is an insult in and of itself to the students of all colors and in all courses. By taking away the higher level courses, I believe the Board of Education would be sending the message to the lower level students that THEY are the ones that cannot achieve higher. The report that has been done by Dr. Marlon James talks about “micro-insults and micro-aggressions” and I think taking away the highest-level classes is the biggest insult that the school could send to any student. By taking away these classes, you would be sending the message to all Windsor High Students that they are not intelligent enough, not hardworking enough, and not good enough to take these advanced classes. I understand that the Board of Education is trying to make changes in the school, but I believe you are going about this the entirely wrong way. Before making these changes, you need to make sure you are not only thinking of the students at the lowest end of the spectrum, but also at the highest.