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TaleahTyrellFirstEssay 4 - 19 May 2021 - Main.TaleahTyrell
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< | Education, the Great Equalizer: A Glimpse into Education Disparities Across U.S. Public Schools | >
> | Education, the Great Equalizer: How Lawyers can help Mitigate Education Disparities Across U.S. Public Schools | | | -- By TaleahTyrell - 21 Feb 2021 | |
>
> | When I was six years old, my family emigrated to the U.S. I grew up in a low-income household that highly emphasized the value of education. Each day after school, as my non-English speaking mother cooked or cleaned, she had me read or play math games with her. The strong academic habits I developed were largely cultivated at home. After college I returned to my community to assist at different schools and quickly learned that because of the many disparities within the system, too many children were being left behind. My hopes to address these issues as a lawyer became the source of inspiration for my legal practice. | | | | |
<
< | When I was six years old, my family emigrated to the U.S . I grew up in a low-income household that highly emphasized the value of education. Each day after school, as my non English speaking mother cooked or cleaned, she had me read or play math games with her. The strong academic habits I developed were largely cultivated at home. Committed to advancing education, after college I returned to my community assisting at different schools. Returning as an adult however, I saw becoming educated required more than just attending school because of the many disparities in the system. | >
> | Unequally Distributed Education does not Equalize
In my first role after college, I worked as a Math and Science Tutor at an inner-city high school. My students were 98% black or Hispanic. I followed the model I was hired to do and helped students complete their homework due the next day. However, when the exam came, the scores reflected the fact that they did not fully understand topics. It’s never too late to learn something new, but for them, it really felt like it. | | | | |
<
< | Inequities: Education can’t be the great equalizer when its not distributed equally.
In my first role after college, I worked as a Math and Science Tutor and College Mentor at an inner-city high school. My students were 98% black or Hispanic. Each day, I had a list of students that were so far behind in their academic coursework that I would have to bring them out of the classroom to help them catch up on their schoolwork. Then, after school, we held three tutoring classrooms where students could come and ask their questions. | >
> | A year passed and I had my previous students now in college come visit me. Many of them were barely passing their courses which were already at a remedial level. At least five of them had dropped out because they were not prepared for the rigor nor had the basic knowledge to pass courses. While these same students had been pushed to the next grade their whole lives, now, when they could not meet the academic level necessary, they were simply kicked out. | | | | |
<
< | At first, I followed the model I was hired to do and helped students complete their homework that would be due the next day. However, when the exam came, the scores reflected the fact that they did not fully understand the topics. As time passed, I shifted my technique. During the day, I helped students with their foundational knowledge of math. We practiced addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division so that basic algebra skills could be acquired. The problem with this approach, however, was that many of my students who were already seniors in high school needed to get their homework done to pass their class and graduate. It’s never too late to learn something new, but for them, it really felt like it. | >
> | Creating Environments that Prioritizes Learning Equalizes Education
Though I realized that the remedial tutoring model so many non-profits follow was not sustainable, it wasn’t until I began substitute teaching at the elementary level that I saw how the issues could be remedied. I noticed who picked up my students in the inner-city— usually grandparents who did not speak English, or siblings who were a few years older, while in the suburbs it was usually parents. In the mornings, I watched students who were obviously hungry, quickly eating the small snacks provided to the students while those students who were not hungry played in the playground, letting out steam before class. Those students who came fed and had a chance to play always had more focus in class. During recess I asked students what they did the previous night, I could always tell the difference between those that did their homework with their parents who creatively found ways to make it exciting from those who worked on it themselves or simply did not do the work. In the evenings, as I reflected at home, I thought about my mother being home with me every evening when I was a child and reinforcing the lessons I learned in school. The students who did not reinforce the material learned before and after school slowly created a gap in their understanding, a gap that only became bigger and bigger as the years passed. | | | | |
<
< | As time passed with my new approach, my students grades began to drop. Though their understanding was improving for the first time in their academic career their grades were not reflecting this. My director called me in and sternly admonished me for not sticking to the framework we were supposed to be within. Our goal was to get our students to at least a C so that they could pass and graduate. I had a choice, either follow protocol or lose my job. | >
> | The Sort of Lawyer that Equalizes Education and Makes it Profitable
Upward Bound and AmeriCorps? , the organizations I worked with were great organizations that aim to address education disparities. However, catching up students with the homework for the next day does not address the learning gap that occurred the previous day, week, month, or year. Most of these programs have created a model that plays catch up rather than prevents the problem altogether because they are constrained by the government grant languages and state policies that all aim to keep children moving forward to the next grade. | | | | |
<
< | A year passed and I had my previous students now in college come visit me. Many of them were barely passing their college courses which were already at a remedial level. At least five of them had already dropped out of college because they were not prepared for the rigor nor had the basic knowledge to pass courses. I saw again the cycle of these students being pushed forward from grade to grade. In college however, this model could not work, and students who could not meet the academic level necessary were simply kicked out. | >
> | This is where lawyers are necessary and will be central to the solution. First, lawyers passionate about education equity can understand the nuances involved with state education regulations and grant restrictions. My practice will aim to create detailed curriculum guidelines that fit within the restrictions but still address the need for replicating an academic home environment before and after school for the children that do not have this experience. Partnering with non-profits such as Upward Bound, City Year, Teach for America, and Reading Partners, attorneys will creatively find ways to help these organizations draft proposals that also do what they truly want to do: reinforce learning as early as possible to prevent students from falling behind. Second, lawyers will be crucial to litigating in court the issues that students have faced from the unintended consequences of the No Child Left Behind Act. After this Act, teachers were not allowed to fail students, however, simply moving them forward did not fill the academic gaps. The pushed forward child resulted in too many adult college students left behind. Pressuring States to recognize education as a fundamental right since the Supreme Court has said otherwise will be the litigation strategy pursued. This effort will start at local community levels by showing the success of schools following the new framework, to encourage other schools to get on board. Third, these attorneys will be invaluable in drafting up new legislation and policies that advocate for differentiated learning models in low-income districts that have traditionally had below average test results. Forcing all districts to do the same curriculum has not worked and lawyers have to be at the forefront of proving that. | | | | |
<
< | After two years of working at this school I was desperate to leave because the model was not sustainable. I transitioned into substitute teaching at the elementary level. Here my goal was simple: figure out what year the academics were failing these students. I started in the sixth grade, then went down each grade until I ended up at kindergarten. The differences were shocking. At the public school located in the suburbs, my kindergarteners were beginning to read. At the inner-city elementary, too many of my third graders could barely connect sentences.
But it wasn’t until my students were dropped off or picked up from school that I saw what really was where the root of the problem that needed to be bridged for success in education with my students. I couldn’t help but noticed who picked up my students in the inner-city—usually grandparents who did not speak English, or siblings who were either in elementary school with them or junior high. In the suburbs I normally saw moms or dads, often still in their work clothes, but picking up their children nonetheless. In the mornings, I watched students come to school who were obviously hungry, quickly eating the small snacks provided to the students while those students who were not hungry played in the playground, letting out steam before class. Those students who were fed and played had more focus in class always. During recess I asked students what they did the previous night, I could always tell the difference between those that did their homework with their parents who creatively found ways to make it exciting and those who worked on it themselves or simply did not do the work.
I realized that my mother being home with me every evening and reinforcing the lessons I learned in school, was the main source of my success in school, a source that too many of my students were missing. This void became bigger and bigger as the years passed and students got more behind in their academics.
To provide quality education for children that truly leaves none behind, we must first begin with replicating an academic home environment before and after school for children that do not have this experience. This means creating child centered care that primarily focuses on reinforces the topics that students learned in the day in a fun and engaging way. This means creating spaces filled with volunteers who will help young students strengthen understanding and older students catch up. After the No Child Left Behind Act, teachers were not allowed to fail students, however, simply moving them forward does not fill the academic gaps. The pushed forward child results in an adult college student left behind. The goal must be to prevent this outcome and before and after school is where it starts. | >
> | The source of income to make the practice profitable will primarily come from the partnering organizations and government agencies who will pay for the legal services as they have the greatest incentive to achieve true academic success from their students. Supplementary income will come from donors hoping to achieve tax write-offs but also provide for education equity. | | | | |
>
> | Though still rough, and will probably change in the years to come, this is the beginning of my legal practice and my plan for social action. | | | |
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TaleahTyrellFirstEssay 3 - 12 May 2021 - Main.TaleahTyrell
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| | | -- By TaleahTyrell - 21 Feb 2021 | |
<
< | My family emigrated from Paraguay to the U.S. when I was six years old. Growing up in a low-income community, they religiously emphasized the value of education. They told me that I could do anything with a good education and a willingness to learn. Every day after school, as my mom cooked or clean, she had me read to her. Though she did not speak English, she knew how important it was for me to practice speaking my English and how beneficial it would be for me to develop a strong habit of reading. | | | | |
<
< | As I got older, I also began to idolize education. I sought the best grades because I saw how many opportunities it brought me. In the third grade, I got the best grades in my class and during the end of the year assembly, the school principal awarded me with a certificate and a fresh $20 bill. That evening I proudly gave that money to my parents feeling accomplished that I too could contribute to the family. In high school, I was selected to serve as a senate page again largely due to my academic achievements. As I listened to a senator argue to allocate more money into the Farm Bill for food stamps so that children could eat, I was fully convicted of my “education religion.” For her to be able to get up on that podium and advocate for people like my family she had to be educated.
Committed to advancing education, after college I returned to my community working at two different education non-profits and also substitute teaching. The disparities I witnessed, not obvious to me as a child, showed me that for American education to truly be the great equalizer, there needed to be a huge overhaul and emphasis on the inequities that are found. | >
> | When I was six years old, my family emigrated to the U.S . I grew up in a low-income household that highly emphasized the value of education. Each day after school, as my non English speaking mother cooked or cleaned, she had me read or play math games with her. The strong academic habits I developed were largely cultivated at home. Committed to advancing education, after college I returned to my community assisting at different schools. Returning as an adult however, I saw becoming educated required more than just attending school because of the many disparities in the system. | | | Inequities: Education can’t be the great equalizer when its not distributed equally. | |
<
< | Basic Literacy looks wildly different
Income
The week before Thanksgiving break Sophia, a 5 year-old kindergartner came up to me during indoor recess. I’d seen her at the white board for the past 5 minutes writing the letters “m” “w” “e” over and over, face scrunched.
“Ms. T! I got it! “w” “e” that says “we” and… “m” “e” that says “me.”
They had been studying letters and connecting them phonetically in an effort to get the students ready to begin learning how to read. Sophia had just read her first word. I knew what a world of opportunity was had just now opened to her.
Low-income
I arrived at the elementary school as an AmeriCorps? member. During the day I would be serving as a tutor and in the evening I would be leading an extended learning block with 2nd and 3rd grade students whose parents worked late. That same day, I was assigned my first day time case load: six 3rd grade students needing help fluency. I met with the teacher who told me these students were reading at a kindergarten level and I needed to teach them how to read. Naively, I asked her who would give me literacy training as I’d just graduated from college but never taught anyone how to read. She laughed. That night, after hours of searching “how to teach children how to read” on YouTube? , I called my mom.
“Mom, I need to teach students how to read. How did you teach me?”
“I taught you the vowels first, “a, e, i, o, u” then the consonants. Once you knew them all we practiced connecting them “ma, me, mi, mo, mu. Start there, they will get it!”
The next day I did exactly that. I asked my students to tell me the vowels. Most stared at me blankly, one started writing something down, the kid next to him sneakily looked over his shoulder and wrote the same thing.
“a, e, r, i, d”
Third graders, who for three years had, if lucky, heard the vowels wrong, if not, had completely missed that lesson. Third graders, whose teacher now was a recently graduated college student who’d never done anything like this before and was playing it by ear.
Food Insecurity
For various reasons, too many parents were not bringing their kids to the early breakfast program at 7:30 am. Shame, embarrassment pride, other responsibilities, too early, not enough time, etc. whatever individual reasons were, the results remained the same: more than 90% of the students required breakfast, and less than 10% attended regularly. Evidence of hunger was rampant around the school, students could not focus, fell asleep in class, or had behavioral issues. The board made the decision to shift the breakfast program from before school to the first 30 minutes of school. So, from 8:00-8:30am, all students at the school ate breakfast in the classroom. No talking, finish at least your milk and cereal, clean up after you’re finished. Even still, students were two grade levels behind other schools in our city.
Expectation versus Reality: Well intended “solutions” but throwing money or technology at low-income districts does not actually help.
Donors expectations when gifting to schools
A well intending tech company donated thousands of kid friendly robots to our students.
“We want to expose low-income children to technology as early as possible!”
A software company donated a thousand brand new laptops to our district.
“High school students need to have access to computers in their homes!”
The reality of how districts receive said gifts
The next week, I had a class full of crying third graders who could not read the robot software instructions and therefore felt frustrated by the coding process. | >
> | In my first role after college, I worked as a Math and Science Tutor and College Mentor at an inner-city high school. My students were 98% black or Hispanic. Each day, I had a list of students that were so far behind in their academic coursework that I would have to bring them out of the classroom to help them catch up on their schoolwork. Then, after school, we held three tutoring classrooms where students could come and ask their questions.
At first, I followed the model I was hired to do and helped students complete their homework that would be due the next day. However, when the exam came, the scores reflected the fact that they did not fully understand the topics. As time passed, I shifted my technique. During the day, I helped students with their foundational knowledge of math. We practiced addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division so that basic algebra skills could be acquired. The problem with this approach, however, was that many of my students who were already seniors in high school needed to get their homework done to pass their class and graduate. It’s never too late to learn something new, but for them, it really felt like it.
As time passed with my new approach, my students grades began to drop. Though their understanding was improving for the first time in their academic career their grades were not reflecting this. My director called me in and sternly admonished me for not sticking to the framework we were supposed to be within. Our goal was to get our students to at least a C so that they could pass and graduate. I had a choice, either follow protocol or lose my job.
A year passed and I had my previous students now in college come visit me. Many of them were barely passing their college courses which were already at a remedial level. At least five of them had already dropped out of college because they were not prepared for the rigor nor had the basic knowledge to pass courses. I saw again the cycle of these students being pushed forward from grade to grade. In college however, this model could not work, and students who could not meet the academic level necessary were simply kicked out.
After two years of working at this school I was desperate to leave because the model was not sustainable. I transitioned into substitute teaching at the elementary level. Here my goal was simple: figure out what year the academics were failing these students. I started in the sixth grade, then went down each grade until I ended up at kindergarten. The differences were shocking. At the public school located in the suburbs, my kindergarteners were beginning to read. At the inner-city elementary, too many of my third graders could barely connect sentences.
But it wasn’t until my students were dropped off or picked up from school that I saw what really was where the root of the problem that needed to be bridged for success in education with my students. I couldn’t help but noticed who picked up my students in the inner-city—usually grandparents who did not speak English, or siblings who were either in elementary school with them or junior high. In the suburbs I normally saw moms or dads, often still in their work clothes, but picking up their children nonetheless. In the mornings, I watched students come to school who were obviously hungry, quickly eating the small snacks provided to the students while those students who were not hungry played in the playground, letting out steam before class. Those students who were fed and played had more focus in class always. During recess I asked students what they did the previous night, I could always tell the difference between those that did their homework with their parents who creatively found ways to make it exciting and those who worked on it themselves or simply did not do the work.
I realized that my mother being home with me every evening and reinforcing the lessons I learned in school, was the main source of my success in school, a source that too many of my students were missing. This void became bigger and bigger as the years passed and students got more behind in their academics.
To provide quality education for children that truly leaves none behind, we must first begin with replicating an academic home environment before and after school for children that do not have this experience. This means creating child centered care that primarily focuses on reinforces the topics that students learned in the day in a fun and engaging way. This means creating spaces filled with volunteers who will help young students strengthen understanding and older students catch up. After the No Child Left Behind Act, teachers were not allowed to fail students, however, simply moving them forward does not fill the academic gaps. The pushed forward child results in an adult college student left behind. The goal must be to prevent this outcome and before and after school is where it starts. | | | | |
<
< | After 15 laptops had been stolen or sold by students on their walk home, the district took over the laptops and locked them in the basement. | | | | |
<
< | How do we fix this?
The first step is to acknowledge the disparities that exist and stop throwing Band-Aids on the deep seeded issues. | | |
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TaleahTyrellFirstEssay 2 - 02 Apr 2021 - Main.EbenMoglen
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>
> | | | | Education, the Great Equalizer: A Glimpse into Education Disparities Across U.S. Public Schools
-- By TaleahTyrell - 21 Feb 2021 | | | How do we fix this?
The first step is to acknowledge the disparities that exist and stop throwing Band-Aids on the deep seeded issues. | |
<
< |
It is strongly recommended that you include your outline in the body of your essay by using the outline as section titles. The headings below are there to remind you how section and subsection titles are formatted.
Paper Title
-- By TaleahTyrell - 21 Feb 2021
Section I
Subsection A
Subsub 1
Subsection B
Subsub 1
Subsub 2 | | | | |
>
> | | | | | |
>
> | As we've talked about this in person, I don't want to be repetitious. Your use of your own experience is valuable throughout, but you need to be as brief as possible in each of your stories so as to leave as much room for ideas as possible. One is still missing, but it's the important central one, the one the first draft was written so you could find and build around it in the second. You don't want to end by asking, hands in the air, how can we fix this? You have taken experience and brought it to law school, and now is not too soon to ask what you want to do next about it. What sorts of lawyers lead lives that in your opinion can put them somewhere near how to fix it? Which of those lawyers will you start imagining yourself first? What would she need to get started? How will she make her practice profitable? | | | | |
<
< | Section II
Subsection A | >
> | Yes, answers to these questions in the second term of law school are not yet realistic: there's plenty to learn with realism before being realistic. But you are ready to put your imagination in "Drive," because you have some idea where you want to go. | | | | |
<
< | Subsection B | >
> | | | |
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TaleahTyrellFirstEssay 1 - 26 Feb 2021 - Main.TaleahTyrell
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| META TOPICPARENT | name="FirstEssay" |
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Education, the Great Equalizer: A Glimpse into Education Disparities Across U.S. Public Schools
-- By TaleahTyrell - 21 Feb 2021
My family emigrated from Paraguay to the U.S. when I was six years old. Growing up in a low-income community, they religiously emphasized the value of education. They told me that I could do anything with a good education and a willingness to learn. Every day after school, as my mom cooked or clean, she had me read to her. Though she did not speak English, she knew how important it was for me to practice speaking my English and how beneficial it would be for me to develop a strong habit of reading.
As I got older, I also began to idolize education. I sought the best grades because I saw how many opportunities it brought me. In the third grade, I got the best grades in my class and during the end of the year assembly, the school principal awarded me with a certificate and a fresh $20 bill. That evening I proudly gave that money to my parents feeling accomplished that I too could contribute to the family. In high school, I was selected to serve as a senate page again largely due to my academic achievements. As I listened to a senator argue to allocate more money into the Farm Bill for food stamps so that children could eat, I was fully convicted of my “education religion.” For her to be able to get up on that podium and advocate for people like my family she had to be educated.
Committed to advancing education, after college I returned to my community working at two different education non-profits and also substitute teaching. The disparities I witnessed, not obvious to me as a child, showed me that for American education to truly be the great equalizer, there needed to be a huge overhaul and emphasis on the inequities that are found.
Inequities: Education can’t be the great equalizer when its not distributed equally.
Basic Literacy looks wildly different
Income
The week before Thanksgiving break Sophia, a 5 year-old kindergartner came up to me during indoor recess. I’d seen her at the white board for the past 5 minutes writing the letters “m” “w” “e” over and over, face scrunched.
“Ms. T! I got it! “w” “e” that says “we” and… “m” “e” that says “me.”
They had been studying letters and connecting them phonetically in an effort to get the students ready to begin learning how to read. Sophia had just read her first word. I knew what a world of opportunity was had just now opened to her.
Low-income
I arrived at the elementary school as an AmeriCorps? member. During the day I would be serving as a tutor and in the evening I would be leading an extended learning block with 2nd and 3rd grade students whose parents worked late. That same day, I was assigned my first day time case load: six 3rd grade students needing help fluency. I met with the teacher who told me these students were reading at a kindergarten level and I needed to teach them how to read. Naively, I asked her who would give me literacy training as I’d just graduated from college but never taught anyone how to read. She laughed. That night, after hours of searching “how to teach children how to read” on YouTube? , I called my mom.
“Mom, I need to teach students how to read. How did you teach me?”
“I taught you the vowels first, “a, e, i, o, u” then the consonants. Once you knew them all we practiced connecting them “ma, me, mi, mo, mu. Start there, they will get it!”
The next day I did exactly that. I asked my students to tell me the vowels. Most stared at me blankly, one started writing something down, the kid next to him sneakily looked over his shoulder and wrote the same thing.
“a, e, r, i, d”
Third graders, who for three years had, if lucky, heard the vowels wrong, if not, had completely missed that lesson. Third graders, whose teacher now was a recently graduated college student who’d never done anything like this before and was playing it by ear.
Food Insecurity
For various reasons, too many parents were not bringing their kids to the early breakfast program at 7:30 am. Shame, embarrassment pride, other responsibilities, too early, not enough time, etc. whatever individual reasons were, the results remained the same: more than 90% of the students required breakfast, and less than 10% attended regularly. Evidence of hunger was rampant around the school, students could not focus, fell asleep in class, or had behavioral issues. The board made the decision to shift the breakfast program from before school to the first 30 minutes of school. So, from 8:00-8:30am, all students at the school ate breakfast in the classroom. No talking, finish at least your milk and cereal, clean up after you’re finished. Even still, students were two grade levels behind other schools in our city.
Expectation versus Reality: Well intended “solutions” but throwing money or technology at low-income districts does not actually help.
Donors expectations when gifting to schools
A well intending tech company donated thousands of kid friendly robots to our students.
“We want to expose low-income children to technology as early as possible!”
A software company donated a thousand brand new laptops to our district.
“High school students need to have access to computers in their homes!”
The reality of how districts receive said gifts
The next week, I had a class full of crying third graders who could not read the robot software instructions and therefore felt frustrated by the coding process.
After 15 laptops had been stolen or sold by students on their walk home, the district took over the laptops and locked them in the basement.
How do we fix this?
The first step is to acknowledge the disparities that exist and stop throwing Band-Aids on the deep seeded issues.
It is strongly recommended that you include your outline in the body of your essay by using the outline as section titles. The headings below are there to remind you how section and subsection titles are formatted.
Paper Title
-- By TaleahTyrell - 21 Feb 2021
Section I
Subsection A
Subsub 1
Subsection B
Subsub 1
Subsub 2
Section II
Subsection A
Subsection B
You are entitled to restrict access to your paper if you want to. But we all derive immense benefit from reading one another's work, and I hope you won't feel the need unless the subject matter is personal and its disclosure would be harmful or undesirable.
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