Closing the Achievement Gap

By Claude Ezran

This issue is about a lot more than just statistics, percentages and graphs. It is about fulfilling the potential of each child, giving hope, and inflecting personal destinies toward a brighter future.

I am proposing that the District offer, on a voluntary basis, tutoring classes focused on helping children who are falling behind, especially English learners. Staffing could be coming from community volunteers supervised by a few teachers. The volunteers would be trained and would also become personal mentors for these children. Ideally, we would want to have some tutors who speak Spanish to help children grasp some of the concepts in their own language, when necessary. These tutoring classes would be offered in Elementary School, to ensure that the children have a great start in their schooling, and at other critical junctures such as 9th Grade, the start of High School.

The PTAs also need to be involved and organize more events geared toward the parents of these children. Parent support groups will be encouraged.