NEHEMIAH'S VISION, INC.

OUT-OF-SCHOOL FACTORS AFFECT ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

A newly released report by David C. Berliner, Regents’ Professor of Arizona State University addresses six out-of-school factors that impact school success: (1) low birth-weight and non-genetic prenatal influences on children; (2) inadequate medical, dental, and vision care, often a result of inadequate or no medical insurance; (3) food insecurity; (4) environmental pollutants; (5) family relations and family stress; and (6) neighborhood characteristics.

Based on these six factors, it was recommended that efforts be made to:

• Reduce the rate of low birth weight children among African Americans;

• Reduce drug and alcohol abuse;

• Reduce pollutants in our cites and move people away from toxic sites;

• Provide universal and free medical care for all citizens;

• Insure that no one suffers from food insecurity;

• Reduce the rates of family violence in low-income households;

• Improve mental health services among the poor;

• More equitably distribute low-income housing throughout communities;

• Reduce both the mobility and absenteeism rates of children;

• Provide high-quality preschools for all children; and

• Provide summer programs for the poor to reduce summer losses in their
      academic achievement.

Sadly it appears efforts to address these issues have been placed almost solely at the doors of local schools with no clear thought of how addressing these factors would affect classroom instruction.  Now it’s true the definition of a school is: an institution for teaching children, but I do not believe that definition is an open invitation for society to broaden the definition to include teaching the behavior and conduct a child should be taught in the home, at church or in the community.  Schools are here to reinforce that, but should not be required to teach it.  

This study showed that students spend 1,150 hours annually in schools vs 4, 700 annual hours spent out-of-school.   Thus, it is inconceivable for the educrats and elected officials to think that educators can offset the affects of what a child is exposed to in their home, community or church within the normal school day and still impart to them the information and skills required so they can thrive academically. 

Consequently, teachers are not allowed to teach, but instead regurgitate unrelated concepts that will appear on a state assessment; principals are so overwhelmed with paperwork there is little to no time to perform as the instructional leader of schools; superintendents spend much of their time justifying what is needed to run a sound school system against the pet projects of board members and politicians.  Moreover, schools have been forced to address these out-of-school issues with a one-size-fits-all framework that neither accommodates the different talents and interests of our students, nor help them cope with their out-of-school issues.

Educrats, elected officials, school boards included, are so focused on outcomes that they have failed to consider that OUTCOMES ARE THE RESULT OF INPUT and a schools’ input is not the only input that impacts a student’s academic performance.  Yet, educators, our dedicated professionals who invest their personal time and money beyond school budgets to serve our children have been labeled the main destroyers of our educational system, when in fact the majority of them like students are the victims.

There is no “I” in team and therefore schools alone cannot bear the failure of our schools and ultimately our children.  It’s time to put away the politics as usual of blaming the most vulnerable to hide failures of others and for all team members (elected official, school officials, teachers/administrators and community) to come together as one collective body and engage in honest dialogue around these six issues.  It's time for honest dialog as to why the state drop-out age is 16; time for honest dialog why physical education, home economics and the arts programs continue to be cut; time for honest dialog as to why the county continues to fund out-of-school programs that fail our children; time for honest dialog as to why the child support system fails children.  Each team member must then assume their respective responsibilities and carry out their respective duties with integrity and sincerity; acknowledging they are first accountable for their own actions.  With the right INPUTS from all team players, all county schools can achieve positive ACADEMIC OUTCOMES.