It is important that we define our terms. Criteria is a term you
will read about today which is obviously misunderstood. Here is the
definition: Criteria
– a standard on which a judgment or decision may be based.
It is important that we define our terms. Criteria is a term you will read about today which is obviously misunderstood. Here is the definition: Criteria – a standard on which a judgment or decision may be based.
It is vital that the powers that be in Gilroy Unified School District understand the meaning of criteria; many of the missteps they have made over the course of the past few months could have been avoided.
When hiring or evaluating or dismissing teachers, it is necessary to have a set of criteria. It is helpful if this criteria is in written form.
When this is the case, someone such as a school board member can look at the criteria used to retain and promote teachers, and fairly easily come to a decision about that teacher.
The words “a good fit” do not cut it in the world of written criteria. If that is the only criteria which is known to the public who elects our school board, there are sure to be problems.
Priority one is to start working immediately on a concise explanation of the criteria GUSD will use to hire and retain teachers, and make that criteria available to the public whom you serve.
Criteria comes in handy when trying to build a better curriculum.
This has been the case all year long at Gilroy High School. Textbooks were adopted for use in English classes, curriculum maps were rewritten (or written) and course outlines were aligned with state standards. State standards are their own set of criteria.
The state wishes to test our children on a minimum set of skills which they have deemed necessary to be deemed “proficient.”
While the GHS English Department was piloting textbooks, they were also attempting to build a better core reading list. Thus, the Reading List Advisory Group was formed.
Its purpose was not to pick a list of stellar books, but to come up with a list of criteria which would guarantee a better book list than in years past. I was not a fan of RLAG, but I observed their work on two occasions, and felt that the group was dedicated to setting a high bar.
The criteria which they established had four components; literary merit, thematic depth, presence on reputable reading lists, and accessibility.
As explained to those at their final meeting, this criteria would resemble a funnel. In order to make it into the funnel, the book would have to meet the first criteria (literary merit). If it did make it into the funnel, but lacked thematic depth, it could go no further.
I saw the recommended reading list and I was impressed.
The worst offenders were gone, the classics were back, and there was a diverse selection of books. Or so I thought.
I sat through a school board meeting last week and quickly realized that criteria just isn’t what it used to be, at least not in Gilroy. That funnel got turned upside down.
The thing about criteria is that it’s only criteria if it is actually used. What RLAG came up with should rightly be called “a set of suggestions which we may or may not use, depending upon whose sensibilities we hurt.”
But the school board meeting wasn’t a total loss for me. This was an epic meeting; “The Tale of Two Alliances.”
I know many of the people in the Alliance for Academic Excellence. I’m in that camp. I also know a few people in the Citizens Alliance for Fair and Equitable Education, I’ve even voted for two of them.
This was an educational experience for me. From one of the CAFEE members, I learned the difference between the word Chicano and the word Hispanic. I’m from New York, and Chicano is not a term you hear there.
I discovered that a student was eager to admit that she usually just reads the Cliff Notes, and that very admission didn’t seem to bother most of the people in CAFEE group. I learned that some school board members believe that a seventh grade level book is acceptable for a 10th grade college prep English class. Some people don’t want to burden 10th graders with 10th grade readers, although others advocate for pushing it back to the ninth grade list.
The longer I live here, the harder it is to shock me. I no longer sit in disbelief when board members shrug off the fact that 50 percent of GHS graduates need remedial English when they enter the CSU system.
I live in a very special place, and I learned long ago that the agenda is more important than the outcome for some people. I was confused by the suggestion that we need more diversity in the senior English course; does anyone have a lead on the definitive Chilean author we can squeeze into Brit Lit? In the name of equity, I am searching for my copy of “How the Irish Saved Civilization” so I can advocate for it to be required reading in the Chicano Literature course.
I left that meeting knowing that it wasn’t really about saving a book; it was really about saving a culture. Perhaps the good folks in CAFEE and like-minded school board members should get together and start fundraising. I think it would be very fair and equitable to offer to pay for those remedial English classes.
