Social Justice for All

(The opinions expressed are not representative of City Year or AmeriCorps as organizations)

According to City Year's website, and what we have been told (repeatedly) in training, we serve students who are most likely to drop out, using an approach based on research from Johns Hopkins University:

(image source: https://blog.five-startech.com/abcs-dropout-prevention-early-warning-attendance-behavior-course-grades)

Students who have one or more of these "ABCs" are much less likely to graduate compared to their peers. The good news is that students who manage to reach the 10th grade on track are most likely going to graduate. The crucial years, identified by Johns Hopkins and City Year, are grades 3 through 9. 

I'm working in a high school, but supposed to be focusing on the 9th grade, for the reason mentioned above. Each of my teammates is assigned to a 9th grade classroom, and we go to lunch with the 9th graders. Our rooms are on the same floor as most of the 9th grade classrooms, and we try to form relationships and be positive role models to our 9th grades students, all with the goal of keeping them in school and on track to reach the 10th grade. 

At the beginning of the school year, my partner teacher told me that the 7th period would be repeaters - students who are sophomores and juniors, who failed algebra 1, and are taking it again. When I told my manager about this, it was decided that I'd move to a reading-support classroom for the 7th period, since we're supposed to be supporting the 9th grade. I stayed in that class for a few weeks. I was placed there with another team member, and the attendance in that class was extremely low, usually only 2-4 students came to class (there weren't many on the roster to begin with, and many skip their last period). On most days, with the teacher, other team member, and myself, there were more adults in the room than students. Furthermore, the class was structured around completing reading assignments online. The students log in, read an article, and answer questions. Although I attempted to help here and there, there wasn't much to help with, and not many students to help. So I spoke with my manager again, and asked to be moved to a classroom where I would be more helpful. I was moved back to the math class with the repeaters, even though they aren't in the 9th grade.  

A couple of weeks ago, my partner teacher informed me that since one of the teachers was being transferred to another school, she would be teaching algebra 2 to juniors and seniors during 4th period, and the kids from 4th period would be distributed among the other 3 class periods. She teaches 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 7th periods, and now 4th and 7th would both be non-freshmen. 

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Last time I ranted about how I didn't like the way we do many things in City Year, I was approached by management and told (nicely) that if I don't like something, I should come up with better alternatives, and suggest them. With that in mind, I thought about the fact that I'd be spending 2/5 of my time in class with students who we aren't meant to support. I also thought about the fact that there are so many students who we should be supporting, but aren't. We have check-in chats with students about their attendance, but only the students who fall within a certain range. We don't target those who have attendance that's too low, because that wouldn't look good in our data. We have small group tutoring for students who are at, or slightly below, target on the standardized test. We don't work with the failing students, because that wouldn't look good in our data. We have check-in chats with students we have "identified" (more on that soon) to fall within a certain range for receiving social-emotional support and training. We don't work with the ones who fall below the arbitrary cut-off, because that wouldn't look good for our data. 

Now, I understand the importance of data. I really do. I love data. But I'm here for people, not numbers. I'm here for the students who are suspended every other week, because they are the ones who will quickly realize school doesn't want them, and they won't come back. I'm here for the students who have no clue what's going on in class. I want to be able to help them get back on track. I believe in them. I want to show them that, and give them the support they need. I don't want to have to dismiss them, simply because they don't look good on paper. I'm here for the students who don't look good on paper. I'm here for the students who are chronically sick. They deserve an education too, and we should be helping them make the most of the days they are able to make it to school. The data from the "good students" who show "potential" is crucial because it's what allows us to show that we're effective, and that's what brings in money, and what convinces schools to let us in and give us a space. I get that. I'm on board. But if I can, let me help the other ones. Let me make sure no one falls through the cracks. I think it can be done. Even if it can't, I think it should be tried. What use are our values, if we don't act on them? "Social justice for all", not "social justice for those that have the right test score." 

Okay, so there are all these students that need help, that we aren't helping, and then there are these juniors and seniors, who don't really need help. If only there were a way to figure out a solution... 

I came up with an idea. It's not the best idea, but it's something. It's a work in progress. I wanted to create an excel sheet that includes all of the data we have on students - their grades, their attendance, what we talked about with their parents when we called home, who's getting suspended (and why), who's going through personal stuff (and what kind), etc. This would allow us to look at each student and see what they need, and it would allow us to look at which students aren't receiving enough support. Some students might have a number of CY members working with them, others might have none. Since building relationships is such a large part of our work, we could be tracking which students have relationships with us, and which don't. And then go out and give more attention to those who need it. Maybe involve the social workers and administrators. Develop a better mechanism for communication between the adults in these students' lives. 

My idea was for me to work on the mastersheet during the two class periods that aren't with freshmen. I would spend the time updating it, but mostly following up on stuff. Someone put a note in that we don't have a working number for the student's parents? I can go find the student and ask them. Someone noted that a student is acting up in class more often than usual? I can try to find out more and see what the student needs. I could make phone calls to parents that never get calls. There's so much discontinuity and lack of consistency in the way we approach our work. I could spend the time making sure we're being efficient and beneficial. 

I brought my idea to my manager, explaining everything I just wrote. His first reaction was that he had to think about it. I didn't get a response. Today was the first day the classes switched around, and I asked if I had to go into the 4th period (algebra 2). I was told that yes, I have to go in, for now. Why? Because. In the conversation that followed, it was made clear to me that the main reason I wasn't being given the opportunity to try reaching more students was that it would be unfair to my teammates if I got more free periods than them. 

First of all, these wouldn't be "free" periods. I decided to volunteer a year of my life because I sincerely want to help students succeed. I'm not trying to slack off. I'm so angry that that is always the assumption. Always. I take a few minutes to call my sister on her wedding day, immediately the assumption is that I'm trying to get out of going to the lunchroom with the students. We're supposed to get 30 minutes of break time every day. We have to enter 30 minutes of break time into our timesheet. But nobody actually takes a break. There isn't time. There's always more bullshit surveys and forms to fill out. More emails to read through. Always extra roles and obligations. There isn't time for anything. We all work extremely hard, 10 hours a day, every day. When I ask to add an additional project, it's not because I want to use it as an excuse to not do work. I want to use my time to best serve the population we are here to serve. That's it. And I really wish people believed me and trusted me when I say that. That was a bit of a tangent. 

Second of all, I highly doubt any of my team members would have a problem with me spending my time in a way that's different from the way they spend their time. Especially since what I'm trying to do would ultimately make their lives easier and give them better insight into their students' needs. I think they are here for the students just as much as I am, and they would understand that it's really all just about how to better serve them. But even if they didn't understand that, and were upset about me doing something different, it shouldn't matter. This isn't about making everyone happy. We aren't here to make sure that we all work the exact same. We're here for the students. I keep saying that. Because it's true. If there was someone on my team who felt bad about me not being in class for those periods, that would be their problem. Are you really trying to tell me that the students don't deserve the best we can do for them, just because it might make some city year members unhappy? 

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A lot of what city year does is geared to elementary and middle schools. I'm pretty sure high school is only a recent addition. What we do is geared to the younger grades in many ways. To choose students for the social-emotional support, we fill out a survey about them. How often we see them being supportive of others. How often we see them be responsible with their belongings. How often we see them respond well to stress. And so on. The survey is called the DESSA, and it has been validated in research for grades k-8. It's meant to be taken by an adult that knows the children well, like a teacher who spends all day with them. The city year members who work in the lower grades know their students pretty well, and so it makes sense to use this tool to measure which students need help (I've already ranted about the fact that we don't actually help the ones that need the most help). The DESSA hasn't been validated for use in high school (that I know of, I searched for a while but I could still be wrong). But I assume someone just decided to use it, because that's what has been used in the past. So I had to fill out a bunch of DESSAs for students I see for one class period a day, and barely interact with. 

There isn't much adaptation in city year. We do things because that's how they're done, period. If the reason we care about social-emotional learning is to stop kids from getting suspended or getting in trouble in other ways due to maladaptive behaviors, wouldn't it make more sense to use suspension/referral data to identify the students who need help? But someone decided on a tool, and nobody thought to question it. Or maybe they did, and their manager told them to get back to work. 

There also isn't any room for personal responsibility. I'm not trusted to use my judgment at any point. I'm not saying that I always know what's best, but I should have more say in what is right for the students I work with. I should have more to say about how my time is best spent. I have lots to say. The problem is, nobody is listening.