The latest MCA II reading and math results came in a couple weeks back, and everyone’s talking about those two acronyms again: Will the Crookston School District get off AYP? You know, so they can be in better standing with NCLB?
AYP would be adequate yearly progress, as you probably already know. Due to some lower-than-acceptable scores in some student sub-groups in the local schools, Crookston has been strapped with a big “non” in front of the AYP in the eyes of No Child Left Behind – the spelled-out version of the other acronym – meaning the district isn’t making adequate progress and, therefore, had to formulate an improvement plan and get their collective noses to the grindstone.
But in Crookston, is there a third acronym to contend with? In Crookston, do we need to make sure that we leave no families behind? Does our strategy need to focus on No Family Left Behind?
Crookston may be a relatively small town tucked safety into northwest Minnesota, but we’re the county seat and we have a fairly wide set of demographics here. Nowhere is that more apparent when you see some of the statistical information on the students in our schools and the families from which they come.
At Highland School, half of the students’ families are eligible, due to their household income, for the free and reduced lunch program. Half. At Washington School, the percentage is on the rise and even more stunning, at more than 60 percent eligible for the program.
That means more than half the elementary kids in this school district come from families who, to varying degrees, struggle to get by financially. As a result, we learned at a recent school board meeting, it seems as though a fair amount of kids are coming to school hungry on many days. Noticing that Highland School was going through box after box after box of granola bars given to hungry kids, Family Services Specialist Tara Miller is, in the fall, helping to spearhead the launch of the Backpack Food Program that will send kids home with food on a monthly basis.
This is serious stuff. Are hungry kids going to learn to their potential? Of course not. Are you at your best when you’re hungry? Certainly not. You’re probably cranky, for one thing, and your mind is on just about anything other than the tasks before you.
There is poverty in our town, maybe more than in most towns like Crookston. Kids are hungry, because their families are struggling. On the Times’ Website, the story on the Backpack Food Program has triggered a debate over big vs. small government, the welfare state, and similar knee-jerk arguments.
But this isn’t about that. This is about kids not learning because mom and dad and struggling. They’re not eating enough, and this new program will give them a little more food. Seems pretty simple. It’s no cure-all, but it’s something.
