What are the odds?
James Horner – A Kaleidoscope of Mathematics
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This is the parking lot at The Grove. One of the downsides of statistics is that they put into full focus the reality of situations that can only be described as abysmal.
Yet, the TFA naïveté within me says there is hope in the midst of even the most dire situation.
At Cochran, the statistics say the situation is dire. Kids enter each grade far below grade level, and somehow expected to turn around instantaneously and make marked improvement towards the top (after all, it’s a race now). Many kids do, in fact, make improvements, albeit not miraculous, and some kids simply do not. One often wonders what one can reasonably hope for.
In my parking situation, I pushed forward onto Level 3 (notice “FULL”), and began the trek around the sardine-packed level. Yet somehow, out of the blue, the convergence of my “coming”, paired with someone else’s “leaving” did, in fact, open up a parking space, and roughly 45 seconds after snapping the above photograph (don’t worry….at least I wasn’t talking or texting while driving), I was walking out of my vehicle on the way out of the structure. In the midst of impossibility, the possible became reality.
In the midst of impossibility at Cochran, I think of C****, a former student who stopped by last week to get help filling out her FAFSA application; I think of A****, an 8th grader who last year seemed to make a weekly trip to the Dean’s office, now is the leading participant and moving faster than anyone else in her Algebra class; I think of K*******, who already a stellar student, has really upped her game to take on more leadership and meta-meta-service to other students at our school.
Hope in the midst of impossibility? Sure. Is it predictable? Never.
Go drive around some full parking lots and see for yourself.
Themocracy
Way to pull it all together. Did everything become everything.
:) A-la Adaptation? Pretty much.
Hey!
I really like your post and wanted to say thank you for linking to our work. If you’re interested in more on Race to the Top or, for that matter, TFA, you should check out the following:
1–our PBS NewsHour coverage of Race to the Top. Watch it here: http://bit.ly/9vLgrq
2–our 8-part series on Teach for America teachers: http://bit.ly/bBn4Kw
Enjoy! And keep in touch–it’s always great to see people blogging about education.
best,
Elena (of Learning Matters)
eschilder@learningmatters.tv