ASBA Annual Conference
Keynote: Treat kids differently At ASBA’s Annual Conference, a former teacher and administrator said all students have equal value, but some need more support to reach their potential By Steve Brawner Editor
The “achievement gap” of higher test scores among white and Asian students compared to students of color is really the result of systemic gaps pertaining to opportunities and expectations. To close those gaps, schools must provide different levels of support and teach students the ways they learn best. That was part of the message of Patrick Briggs, the keynote speaker at this year’s ASBA Annual Conference in December. Briggs is AVID’s Northeast area director and is a former teacher
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‘THE SYSTEMS YOU USE ARE PERFECT FOR THE RESULTS YOU GET.’ Keynote speaker Patrick Briggs said achievement gaps based on skin color and income are the results of systems. School districts must ask themselves what those systems are.
and school administrator. Two breakout sessions also discussed the achievement gap. The Annual Conference was held virtually this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Schools must ask why racial achievement gaps exist, Briggs said in his lively presentation. Are student, family, community or school factors involved? Teachers can control only the school factors. “If you didn’t catch anything from me this morning, the systems you use are perfect for the results you get,” he said. “So school board members, as you look at the results of the schools and your districts, just know that’s a result. Always ask the question, what systems do we have in place that create this result? Because a gap based on skin color or a gap based on income is a result. What system caused that?” Briggs said at his school in Texas, an Advanced Placement calculus class was composed entirely of white and Asian students, none of whom were eligible for free- and reduced-price meals. The in-school suspension room, where no one was learning, was full of young
men of color who would never have the opportunity for college, a career or the military. Briggs said systems had created that situation. In order to get into Advanced Placement calculus, a student was required to complete Algebra I as an eighth grader, which was only available if they had completed sixth grade advanced math, which was available only to those on track by the third grade. “Really, AP calculus was full of kids that we had made that decision about when they were 7,” he said. “In my advanced classes, they weren’t full of my smartest kids. They were full of my most compliant kids. Oh, you can sit still and do a worksheet, and you don’t cause any trouble. Well, let’s have you tested for gifted and talented. You’re a genius. But you move and disrupt school? Let’s test you for special ed. You see, the systems we had in place were creating opportunity gaps.” By changing systems, his school in Houston no longer has an achievement gap, he said. Briggs displayed two $1 bills – a flat one and another that he balled up, threw on the ground, and spoke harshly to as
