Keep accelerated class for those motivated

Imagine a varsity sports program where coaches were required to suit up every kid who tried out. Imagine that each kid was also required to play in every game. It doesn’t matter if the kids care about the game. All that matters is increasing the size of the varsity team.

To a thoughtful observer, this destroys the purpose of high school sports, an activity dedicated to developing quality athletes who are given the chance and challenge to compete with the other finest athletes of the county and state.

Now, imagine an accelerated learning program at the same school. Imagine the school had to accept every student who wanted into program. It doesn’t matter if the students have a need for rigorous curriculum, or are motivated to intense study. Academics don’t matter; all that matters is numbers.

To a thoughtful observer, this destroys the purpose of accelerated learning programs, opportunities for sharp young minds to learn with equally motivated individuals and to be challenged by specialized curricula and teachers.

Unfortunately, this imaginative situation is the status quo at Polk County Schools. For the sake of high numbers, our accelerated programs enroll students who demonstrate neither the desire nor the skill to take part in the program. In other words, students are being suited-up for a game they cannot and do not want to play.

It wasn’t always like this.

In 1996, when I began teaching at the International Baccalaureate School at Bartow, Polk County identified specific criteria for admission into the IB program. Students needed to possess high motivation and demonstrate a need for advanced curriculum. While in the program, they would be challenged academically and socially, engaged in diverse learning experiences not offered through regular high school curricula.

During my six years at Bartow, it was exciting to teach kids with high motivation, who demanded challenging curricula. Students earned accolades that surpassed expectations: in 2005, Bartow IB took top spot in the world for English and World History on AP tests.

It was refreshing to be held to standards that surpassed my previous teaching experiences. Facing such standards and such students, I sought a Master’s Degree in Gifted Education to learn new pedagogic skills.

It was also a busy time. IB teachers do more than teach bright kids. They supervise Extended Essays, help students complete their CAS program, and guide the process of Internal Assessments, projects students complete mostly on their own. IB teachers strive to keep students properly motivated for the challenges that come, because those challenges do not stop coming. It takes a special student to succeed in an IB program.

IB means extra hours and demanding workloads for teachers and students alike. But, to be sure, it is a blast when both are properly prepared to explore those opportunities. When the fit is right - when the right players are suited up - great things happen.

Unfortunately, these days Polk County is placing non-players on the team. Criteria that shaped early success are no longer the chief concern. Today what matters is numbers.

This does a disservice to our population of accelerated learners.

When accelerated classrooms include students who do not belong, teachers must focus attention on basic skills that should have already been learned. This takes time away from students who need that higher challenge.

In turn, the learning environment suffers because not all students possess attitudes for intellectual tasks. Suiting up the wrong kids holds back the ones who want to fly.

Moreover, students who don’t fit the criteria often denigrate the program verbally and behaviorally, which can diminish the overall attitude across the program. Students who possess motivation and keen curiosity still can regress to a mean brought down by the non-players. None of this should describe accelerated learning programs.

Please don’t miss my point: many students in Polk County demonstrate the need for an IB education. I have taught some amazingly bright kids. Nearly every graduating IB class includes Merit Scholars and Finalists, recipients of major scholarships, and acceptance into some of the greatest colleges in the US.

But our current practice of enrolling students who do not meet the criteria of the program creates negatives at every turn. It is improper education.

Polk County once celebrated successful IB education. Current trends negate that history, diminish that celebration, and hurt the brightest kids in our county.

We should be better.

Ben Graffam teaches at International Baccalaureate East in Haines City. He is also the author of "Reimagining the Educated Mind," published by Rowman and Littlefield, in 2019.