"No Child Gets Ahead" at NUSD

NUSD Discourages Advanced Students
 
“No Child Gets Ahead” must be the new motto of the Novato Unified School District. Instead of celebrating advanced 6th grade math students working at a 7th grade level, a recent district decision forces some of these students to repeat the entire year of 7th grade math. 

Many of these students recently received Honor Roll commendation, showcasing the excellent grades they’ve achieved with hard work and self-discipline. As only the NUSD could do, they will be rewarded for this dedication by sitting in a classroom next year going over material they’ve already mastered.
  
The district claims new common core standards require 7th grade students to take 7th grade common core materials. This shortsighted, “our-hands-are tied,” one-size-fits-all approach, shows that the NUSD boasts about encouraging excellence is lip-service and hogwash.  Somehow the NUSD missed the memo that the entire point of ‘common core’ was to raise achievement levels of schoolchildren in the U.S.

This is just more of the same. Over the last 1 ½ years, the district has waged war on advanced students, trying to dismantle the jewel-like Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) program at Lynwood Elementary, and promising but not delivering truly differentiated GATE teaching at the elementary and middle school levels. 

While other countries are accelerating the pace of math learning, teaching advanced concepts at earlier ages, the NUSD is saying our Novato children won’t be allowed advanced work. Despite all the slogans promising high quality schools, and encouraging each student to fulfill their potential, this action holds back students capable of working above grade level, students we want to challenge and engage.  

And what of the district’s proudly self-proclaimed focus on the STEM subjects, Science-Technology-Engineering-Math?  At the NUSD, STEM must stand for “Silly Taking Extra Math.” 

I only know this about the 6th grade math students, but suspect this situation is true for students in other grades and in other subjects. This decision, as is usual when things get screwy at the NUSD, comes from district offices. So instead of “No Child Left Behind” we have “No Child Gets Ahead.”  

With only 8,000+ students, the NUSD should be nimble, inventive, and transparent, able to do what’s best for each child. Instead it is a slow, plodding beast that treats each decision as if they are planning the D-Day invasion of Normandy Beach. How can such a small district have so much wrong-headed bureaucracy?

It’s time for the NUSD to live up to its promises and truly encourage educational achievement. 

Feel free to contact me, 
Lee Hamovitz
Lee@post.com