Race, Class and Gender

The question is not,—how much does the youth know? when he has finished his education—but how much does he care?"- Charlotte Mason

Everyday I hear the words "research based". Most of the research that we use in school is quantitative research. This is also what I used for my research course at ASU. I never thought about the implications that qualitative research could bring about. Right now, there is a huge issue with the grades of second grade students and their performance the following year on the third grade pretest. There is a discrepancy. And a rather large one at that. Our principal asked us in a meeting, why we thought this was happening. And this isn't anything new. K2 typically performs better than 3-5. Wouldn't it be great to jump in and do a qualitative research project to find out some answers? Is there a problem with the test? Is there something happening to boys and girls at this age? I wonder what the students are thinking. And I wonder what the parents are thinking. What happens from second grade to third grade? Or, can we select a small number of students, give them an intervention and see what happens? In the meeting, I mentioned tutoring second grade students over the summer. What if we selected a small group of students to do this with? We could follow them from the beginning of second grade to the beginning of third grade. We could give them the extra support, tutor them, monitor them. I bet we would find out something interesting things that can happen to an 8 or 9 year old over the summer that would have an effect on their performance.

I think we are always trying to get students to fit into these perfect square pegs. I think it is important to really take the time to get to know students. I would like to see more qualitative research done in schools. I am not seeing enough of it. Especially with No Child Left Behind. What are some implications of this? And how are students really being helped? Are we ready for yet another shift in education?
Sarah Feinman