The Who and the Why

This summer we, Delia Harrington and Emily Pearce, enrolled in a Master's program through Michigan State University. Through this program we were able to study in Galway Ireland where we met for the first time. We soon discovered that even though we were teaching in different states, our circumstances are very similar. Both coming from middle class families, we are now both teaching in low socioeconomic areas. Everyday we teach hard working 5th & 7th grade students who to no fault of their own are not as academically successful as their more affluent peers. We need to uncover the why to this wicked problem.

On any given day our students are overcoming obstacles that we couldn't imagine handling in our 20's let alone in our teenage years. We researched the why and how the achievement gap is created and brainstormed ways to fix it. Our focus has been on what communities can do to help students, and how schools themselves can provide more resources for their learners.

This research project has opened our eyes to the reality of the achievement gap and that this problem is not going to be solved with a quick fix. It is our hope that this information enlightens and sparks conversation within your community and schools. These students deserve an opportunity to succeed and it starts with closing the gap.