I see this subject come up frequently here but I guess I'm still vague on what is meant by "equal outcomes"?
Do people mean all students taking the same coursework regardless of ability or do they mean identical grades and SAT scores? Or do they mean all kids with the same specific skills at the same age? Some combination of all of that?
And I did read several, but not all, of the earlier links.
Taking the same coursework regardless of ability may appear as equal opportunity to some... but to others it is withholding the curriculum, instruction, placement, and pacing which is appropriate to meeting each pupil's needs for continued development.
Closing gaps, or giving the appearance of closing gaps, involves capping the growth of students at the top as well as helping students at the bottom improve their learning, application, achievement, and demonstrated knowledge.
Most frequently, students at the bottom may simply be assigned grades which falsely indicate a higher level has been achieved. When the top students and the lowest performing students are assigned the same recorded grade, score, or mark... and their performance is ranked indistinguishably from one another, equal outcomes have been achieved. There are no "gaps."Choice of
grading practices utilized may provide one means to create an official record of "equal outcomes." Strategies include
selective redo opportunities and
differentiated task demands.
Withholding
appropriate growth opportunities from "gifted" kids can result in undermining their academic, intellectual,
social, emotional growth, and motivation... creating underachievers. It can change the way their brains are wired and make it difficult for them to once again grow.
While it may be more difficult to create identical SAT scores, recent changes to the SAT tend to lower the ceiling above which a student's knowledge is not measured.
It is important for parents to acquaint themselves with these practices and their likely results. Too many parents remain unaware. They may have only a vague sense that something is not right when their child says s/he is learning nothing new, is required to spend class time tutoring classmates who are behind, and is buried in homework assignments which preclude his/her participation in extracurricular activities.
