Next Generation Radio Project
Tiana Robinson
03/30/06
Lead: There are 44 high schools in North Carolina that could be shut down if students’ standardized test scores don’t improve. State officials and the courts are blaming the leadership at these schools for the problem. There are even threats of doing away with the principals of these high schools, the school boards and even the superintendents. Next Generation Radio’s Tiana Robinson wonders who will step up to the plate and help this generation of mostly poor, African American students:
Script:
In North Carolina failing your End of Grade test is like throwing away your future.
I can only imagine the horror of taking a test that you have to pass in order to graduate from high school…and failing.
i REMEMBER WHEN I WAS A STUDENT AT t.wINGATE ANDREWS HIGH SCHOOL IN HIGH POINT, NORTH CAROLINA.
i REMEMBER NOT BEING ABLE TO SLEEp and HAVING KNOTS IN MY STOMACH WHEN IT WAS CLOSE TO MY E-O-c-… that’s THE END OF cOURSE TEST.
bUT i PASSED MY TEST… gRADUATED FROM HIGH SCHOOL AND NOW i’M A SENIOR ABOUT TO GRADUATE FROM North Carolina cENTRAL UNIVERSITY IN DURHAM.
rIGHT DOWN THE STREET FROM THE UNIVERSITY IS hILLSIDE HIGH SCHOOL.
It’s ONE OF THE LARGEST HIGH SCHOOLS IN THE CITY AND ONE OF TWO DURHAM SCHOOLS THE STATE IS THREATENING TO CLOSE IF STUDENT’S TEST SCORES DON’T GET BETTER.
eUNICE SANDERS IS THE OUTGOING PRINCPAL OF HILLSIDE. sHE SAYS IT’S UNFAIR TO JUDGE A SCHOOL SIMPLY BY THE TEST SCORES.
SANDERS: “Our kids go in giving up. You know when they sit down they look at that test, already they shutdown because they feel like they can’t do it…so it becomes a thing of practicing to take the test. That’s what it becomes.”
LEE: “People will say well we ended up teaching to the test, well if you’re teaching to the test that means you’re teaching something and students then should be able to pass the test if that’s what you’ve doing.”
THAT’S HOWARD LEE – CHAIRMAN OF THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION:
LEE: “You have not only not been teaching to the test, but you have not been teaching to the curriculum that we have put in place for you to use, which should ultimately lead to passing the test because the test is based on a standard curriculum.”
THOSE ARE SOME STRONG WORDS…
LEE SAYS HE’S WILLING TO DO EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO KEEP THESE FAILING SCHOOLS OPEN. BUT HE’S NOT AFRAID TO PUT THE HAMMER DOWN:
LEE: “I have had a philosophy through the years that friendship ends where business begins. And I’m…I know a lot of these principals and superintendents are out there they feel isolated.”
THE SCHOOLS LOOKING AT CLOSURE HAVE A LOT IN COMMON.
ONLY HALF OF THE STUDENTS ARE PERFORMING AT AN ACCEPTABLE LEVEL.
THESE HIGH SCHOOLS HAVE A HIGH NUMBER OF AFRICAN AMERICANS WHO ARE ALSO POOR.
ONE SCHOOL THAT COULD CLOSE IN HALIFAX COUNTY IS 98-PERCENT BLACK.
MY SCHOOL WAS CONSIDERED THE “BLACK HIGH SCHOOL” IN HIGH POINT.
SOME PEOPLE IN TOWN DIDN’T TAKE OUR SCHOOL SERIOUS ACADEMICALLY.
SO WHEN I HEARD ABOUT SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE HOWARD MANNING JR.’S LETTER SAYING HE WOULD ORDER THE STATE’S POOREST PERFORMING HIGH SCHOOLS BE CLOSED UNLESS THERE ARE MAJOR IMPROVEMENTS – I WAS WORRIED.
THERE WERE RUMORS THAT MY SCHOOL WAS ON THE LIST!
BUT IT WASN’T.
IN MY HEART…I KNEW BETTER.
I KNEW HOW MY PARENTS HELPED ME STUDY AND MY FRIENDS PARENTS HELPED THEM STUDY. AND MY TEACHERS GUIDED ME IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.
BUT A MAJOR COMPLAINT FROM PRINCIPALS LIKE EUNICE SANDERS IS THAT HIGH SCHOOLS ON THE STATE’S LIST DON’T HAVE ENOUGH TEACHERS… THEY DON’T HAVE PREPARED TEACHERS AND THEY CAN’T KEEP TEACHERS:
Sanders: “We try to be very honest in our interviews when we talk to the teachers to let them know you have to want to work here… um and you have to have that need to help others, because it’s not just about being able to deliver the curriculum. It also has to be that you care about who you’re teaching.”
I wonder if it’s not just the teachers or principals.
I know the students have to have the will to learn.
A lot of the students not passing their tests and flunking high school are young black males.
These young males remind me of my brother who’s in the NINTH grade.
Just likE my stomach knots up when I take a test…now I have another knot in my Stomach… worried about my LTTLE brother passing his End Of Course testS.
Males don’t feel they can succeed even if they graduate from high school, which means they definitely don’t see any point in attending college.
nOW WHERE DOES THAT GET US…