Mickie Flores

Numbers are an interesting commodity. Mine is not the land of 1000 students and 10 science teachers. The middle school science department is comprised solely of me. The entire 7th grade is fifteen students. The entire 6th grade has 20 students. I think my leadership has been in the creation of a very hands-on, accessible-to-all-students curriculum. It has become accepted practice that special ed students who have not functioned in a general ed classroom in years begin the transition to general ed in my science classroom. I have provided access for all student populations and I now see those students moving into additional general ed classes. And I am able to collaborate with my colleagues from other disciplines and describe what instructional strategies have worked best.  I agree with the phrase “Leadership is a shared endeavor.”

I’m curious about the sentence “A Stage 1 leader also understands that tracking as a policy and practice creates inequalities.” Although I identify with the civil rights basis for NCLB and I understand that tracking has been a tool in the past which limited students’ access to more meaningful learning, I also believe meeting the diverse needs of all student populations means providing Algebra for select 7th and 8th graders. Having a gifted and talented (or other label) classroom in its own way “provides specific attention to those students farthest from expected standards of rigor and achievement. I think distance from expected standards extends in two directions. That’s Equity Standard 2!