Education Reform: Whose Job Is It Anyway?

This summer Oasis Youth Mobilizers (high school student citizens) participated in an academic intensive centered on the pop culture book series The Hunger Games. We were funded to compile data on school discipline practices and policies within the school district. However, too many of our Youth Mobilizers (YM) lacked the basic research skills (i.e. critical thinking, comprehension, comparison etc.) needed to delve into data collection and independent research assignments. We needed a “hook” to engage them in the process and we also felt compelled to address something that our students were concerned about- low ACT scores. On the lower end of our expectations, we believed we could help them read a single book during the summer and learn how to research public information about local schools. One the higher end of our expectations, we hoped we could teach information integration processing and expose them to some new vocabulary words. We did both and students exceeded our expectations. YM were given a copy of the first book in the series. Most of them had heard of the book but had not read it (though it was on the previous summer’s suggested reading list) and none of them had seen the movie. They were told that they would read the book each day over four weeks and draw a comparison from the book to students surviving in low performing schools. Each “district” in the book represented a “school” with specific assets and deficits. YM were also assigned two Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools for which they were responsible for researching suspension rates, the number of AP/Honors/Dual Enrollment subjects taught, scores from End of Course exams, ACT scores, GPA, attendance rates, graduation rates, mobility rates (frequency of changing schools), and the percentages of D’s and F’s. The initial plan allowed for two weeks of data collection after the students read the book in four weeks. On the first assigned reading day, Youth Mobilizers decided that they wanted to take turns and read the book aloud as opposed to reading independently. They created a vocabulary wall to post words that were unfamiliar and randomly assigned each other to look up definitions. When it was time to break for lunch, they actually voted for a shorter lunch break. They were readily identifying school and societal references without prompting and when the day was over, students were asking to take the book home to continue reading. Needless to say, the students finished reading the entire book within two weeks. This gave them more time to process what they read and compare it to their assigned research schools. It was not a huge stretch for students to assess how certain schools have an abundance of resources and high expectations for student performance and how some schools focus primarily on managing behavior. Oasis staff are not teachers AND we can encourage and influence students to assume responsibility for their education while assessing the roles of key players within and outside of their school system. Who said education reform is not our business?