The Instructional Gap

Education is filled with "buzz words". One buzz word that continues to receive a lot of attention is the "Achievement Gap". The "Achievement Gap" deals with the academic achievement gap between white students and students of color. There is no denying that there is a huge discrepancy when we look at academic performance of white students and students of color. However, the phrase "Achievement Gap" lends itself to society looking at students of color within the deficit model. When I see the phrase it tells me that there is something wrong with the black child. It has to be understood that the black child can achieve if given correct instruction. Therefore, I do not believe that there is an "Achievement Gap" but an "Instructional Gap". Many public schools, that are predominantly black and low income, are lagging behind predominantly white schools because of this prevalent "Instructional Gap". In other words, many of our black students are not being effectively taught the skills they need to know in order to be successful citizens and the skills they need to know in order to navigate a system which is not in their favor. But why?

In schools of success teachers who lack proper education, training and/or experience are not even allowed to step foot inside these schools. The staff and parents will not allow weak instructional staff or weak leadership. If there is even a sign of inadequate instruction or leadership those parties will be driven out by colleagues, families and/or the community. In public schools of color that are underachieving there are many cases in which the teachers and/or administrators are incompetent, lack experience and/or proper training, or teachers are in the school in order to have their student loans paid off. But, the most damaging ideology that is preserving this "Instructional Gap", is that many teachers suffer from the Missionary Teacher Syndrome (MTS).

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary the word instruct is defined as 1: to give knowledge to: teach, train; 2: to provide with authoritative information or advice; 3:to give an order or command to: direct. The reason why many of our black students are not achieving is because these three things are lacking in the classroom due to the Missionary Teacher Syndrome, meaning students are being taught dominant culture experiences instead of being taught academic fundamentals and their academic failure is excused.