How ALP is Affecting the Lives of Children in Greenwich

By Mitchell Goldstein

If you have ever felt that the Advanced Learning Program (ALP) system wasn’t right, then you
might want to hear the story of this elementary school boy. “Oh my god - you got into
pre-algebra,” said the elementary schooler’s mother. All those years of suffering had finally paid
off. After hearing what his mother had said the elementary schooler was overjoyed. All through
elementary school he had to suffer through all of the lessons too easy for him, and the failed ALP
tests that drove him and his family up the wall. In fact, just the previous month he had felt as if
he would never be smart. But he now saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Middle school would
be much better he thought to himself.

To define to key terms, G&T stand for gifted and talented, and elementary can be be described as
grades K-5. ALP and Gifted and talented can basically be used interchangeably, however the
Greenwich Public Schools calls their program that ALP Program. These children are forced to
suffer through a racially biased G&T program, during the most important learning years of their
life. A program that is ruled by Caucasian children (almost 80% of children that are in ALP are
Caucasian) (NCES). that only identify a good school based on their gifted and talented program.
But this program so sought after by Caucasian parents, actually causes so many problems. For
example they cause major separation of the races, and kids that think working hard is a sign of
unintelligence (Fields 2015). However there is a way to fix this terrible program, through the
power of technology students can get there own personalized education, which will raise the bar
on education and change it to something it has never been before. In order to fix the problems
regarding ALP, the community must first be informed of flaws of the program, and then they
must advocate for change, until it gets what its children deserve.

Problem
To completely understand the issue with the ALP program the problem must be explained.
The first issue is, in order for a student to take the ALP test the parent must elect for the student
to take the test. The teacher can also recommend the child to take the test, but even still the
parent must sign the kid up. This obviously favors parents that are involved in the school system
because if the parent misses the one email that the school sends to sign up their child. Then they
lose their chance for their child to take the test. But since parents that are of the racial minority
are less likely to be involved in the school system (Horn 2018). This suggests that people that are
of the racial minority are less likely to even take the test, much less get into the ALP class. With
an extremely low number of children getting into the ALP system of the racial minority. A racial
wall will be established between the on grade level class and the advanced class, this would
cause children to think that segregation in the classroom is normal.
Another issue is that the ALP system provides a racial boundary between the on grade level class
and the ALP class. Each school year the Greenwich Public Schools provides a published copy of
their annual report of the ALP program. Here one can see how the ALP program is broken down.
The elementary school ALP program during the 2016-2017 school year was 79% Caucasian,
10% Hispanic, 25% Asian, and 2% African American (O’Regan, Parisi 2017). Even though the
numbers are absurd - nearly 80% of the program consists of white students - some people might
just think that it reflects the elementary schools demographics. But that's not true. The National
Center Of Education Statistics says the racial breakdown of the Greenwich Public Elementary
Schools are 62% Caucasian, 9% Asian, 22% Hispanic, 2% African, and 5% other. The numbers
clearly show that the previous idea is not true, this is because they show how Caucasians clearly
have a leg up when it comes to the ALP program. They show how even though the elementary
schools are only 9% Asian they make up one quarter of the ALP program ( National Center for
Education Statistics [NCES] 2018). Clearly, Caucasian and Asian students are overrepresented in
the ALP program, while Hispanic students are underrepresented in the program. Since advanced
classes are proven to be linked to academic success in the future (Harrison J. Kell, David
Lubinski, and Camilla P. Benbow 2012), this information proves how the current ALP program
can make people that are of the racial minority, like people of the Hispanic race, less likely to
succeed.

To add on to the problems of the current program, socioeconomic have a huge part in the
problems regarding the ALP program. The families that are of a higher socioeconomic status
normally are able to pay for expensive tutors and do-it-yourself curriculum, that will boost their
kids scores on the test to put them in the higher classes (Roda 2016). Since the Greenwich Public
schools offers the first chance to test for ALP at the end of first grade (the child would start in
second grade), this gives the parents of these children plenty of time to prepare for the test with
materials only accessible to the upper class. Also since the racial minority has been found to be
of lower socioeconomic status (Gershan 2015), they will not be able to pay for the tutors,
therefore providing them with a disadvantage before the test is given. While the most logical fix
to this problem would be to test kids earlier like in kindergarten, the Quartz article by Allison
Roda and award-winning author (Roda 2016) states that testing kids earlier is not a solution
because children with access to a better preschool programs will just succeed on the test. Since a
better preschool means more money for tuition, the racial minority will not be able to have
access to these preschools, do to their lower socioeconomic status. Furthermore testing earlier is
not the answer to this issue.

Another problem with the current ALP program is that, it is based off of the practice that
learning is a fixed structure. According to Matthew Mugo Fields the founder of Redbird a
company that helps students learn through adaptive learning programs, the current ALP program
is a system that can be thought of as two parallel lines (Fields 2015). One line represents the
advanced students, and the other line represents the grade-level students. Even though the
students will not always learn at a constant rate - at one point it is possible that the ALP student
might not understand and might start to drop down. Or, conversely, the grade-level student might
master something faster than the rest of the class, which in theory would cause the student to rise
up on this imaginary graph. But since the system works like this, children are forced to either
spend more time on something that they don't need to spend time on or, not spend enough time
on something that they need more time on providing a disadvantage to both on grade level
students and ALP students.

On another note, the current system will establish a generation of bad thinkers. When the ALP
students and the on grade students of the Greenwich Public Schools are together, the ALP
students make the work that they are doing look easy. This then makes the on grade level
students feel that working hard is a sign of a lack of intelligence (Fields 2015). If children think
that working hard is a sign of low intelligence imagine how much work they would get done at a
job, they would have no work ethic at all.

Some might say that African Americans just don’t do as well on the tests compared to
Caucasians and Asians and that is just the way it is. But that is not true. The system is truly
flawed. The current tests are built around Caucasians doing better than Black and Hispanic
students (Johnsen, Hemphill, Renzulli, Moon, Doruk 2010). That kind of test made sense when
the Greenwich Public schools were only white people. But now times and changed, and white
people only make up 60% of the school. The test must be changed in order to fix these issues,
because if they aren’t changed the schools are at risk of developing racist children.

Causes
If the ALP program causes so many problems then why is it still active?
The ALP program plays a vital role in attracting middle class parents to public schools. Infact
Allison Roda states that having a strong G&T program in place makes you more likely to draw
middle class parents to public schools because it allows their children to succeed without the
parents writing a large check to a private school. (Roda 2016). While this might seem like a huge
thing to do just for some kids, but more children from a higher socioeconomic status directly
correlates to higher test scores (Roda 2016), since public schools are always trying to find ways
to drive up there test scores, providing this program is just a small cost for a large return. While
some might say that the schools should just give some kids harder work, and keep them in the
same classroom. Parents like that their kids are labeled as smart (Fields 2015). Therefore parents
think that children must be labeled as smart in order for their child to be a smart kid. Once again
reinforcing the need for a program that seems to only cause issues.
The main reason why these parents are infatuated with the G&T programs is because it has been
proven to give you a large chance of being successful. Many studies have shown that by being in
a gifted and talented program you will be more likely to be successful.

For example, out of 320 people age 38 that were in gifted and talented programs as a kid, 203 out
of the 320 of the people had gotten a master degree or above, 142 out of the 203 people got a
doctorate, and 8 out of the 142 people had gotten more than one doctorate
degree. (Kell, Lobinski, & Benbow 2013)

The excerpt explains how children that are in the G&T program are successful. This also shows
why parents think that a strong G&T program is so important, the reason being that it gives you a
better chance of being successful.

Effects
Even though the ALP program only teaches a small amount of students, the program effects all
kids at the school. One effect of the ALP program is highschool dropouts when a child in
elementary school is put into the on grade level class they begin to develop this idea that they are
not smart, because of this the student begins to feel less confident in everything that they do.
This confidence is so important, because it plays a huge role in how the student does in school.
In fact when Bonnie O’Regan was interviewed, she stated that one of the largest roles in
deciding if a student will be in ALP is if it will build their study profile (Ms.O’Regan refers to
study profile instead of self-confidence), This helps to explain how important it is for these
young children to build up their self-confidence in their school work. One of the main reason that
students are dropout of high school is because there grades are not good. But what this really
means, is the student doesn't have the confidence to ask for help and attempt to change these
grades. With the current high school dropout rate being at almost 6% or almost 200 kids. (Scinto
2018) the Greenwich Public Schools have some work to do, because this is a significant amount
of students dropping out of school in each graduating class. By changing the ALP program, a
change can be made that helps to build confidence in young kids. Which will then help them in
school during there later years, in turn keeping them in school until they graduate.

In addition to the ALP program producing children with low self-esteem, the ALP program also
doesn’t prepare kids for the real world. When children are put into the current ALP program,
they learn that getting spoon-fed information is normal thing (Bige Doruk 2010). What this
means is that the children in the ALP class will learn to be fed their work, not to work hard. This
practice will cause children to think that being fed information is normal. But in the real world,
what is most important is hard work, and persistence. That is not what this practice will do. So
by continuing this practice the Greenwich Public Schools will insure that they teach kids that
don’t work hard, and aren't successful because of it.

While readers might think that this doesn’t apply to them because these people are just kids.
They are wrong, this issue truly matters to all people. Since the African American and Hispanic
population is underrepresented in the ALP classes (O’Regan, Parisi 2017). Then racial
segregation will continue to grow. The early years of school establishes such a large foundation
for whom a child will be, if the Greenwich Public Schools continues to do what they are doing,
these young kids that should know nothing about this topic will think that racial segregation is
normal. This is not what the graduating class of fifth grade should look like. If these practices
continue thousands of children each year will graduate and go into the world thinking that racial
segregation is normal.

Solution
Even though all of these problems are forming because of the terrible ALP program put in place,
there is a solution. One possible solution would be to eliminate the ALP program altogether.
Alison Roda states that, eliminating the actual class would fix these problems (Roda 2016). To
explain this, by eliminating the class advanced students wouldn’t have to stop the advanced
learning, they would just stop going to a separate class. If all the students stayed in the same
classroom then it would begin to stop the problems regarding race. This is because the children
would not go to a separate classroom, they would only learn the same material but in the same
room.

Since the teachers would not be able to teach two different curriculums at the same time. The
best system for the Greenwich Public Schools is a system where technology is the teacher.
According to three different articles by best-selling authors, a mastery based system run by
technology would allow students to learn and get the individual attention through a mastery
based system (Horn 2018; Roda 2016; Fields 2015). This shows how much the school
curriculum would improve if this kind of system was put in place. Students would be able to get
individualized attention because each student would have their own teacher.

The best way to explain how the system would work, would be to start at the beginning of the
placement process. So, at the beginning of the year each student would be given a pre-test this
should not be mistaken with a placement test (Horn 2018). This test would eliminate the
problems regarding involved parents and allow all children to start at the same point. This is
because all students would be required to take it. This test would essentially determine where
each student would start the year, in math, reading, science, and social studies. The more
advanced students would start by learning more advanced material but the best system would be
so customized that no student would start in the same place, since no student knows the exact
same material. Then every two weeks the teachers would give a test to the students. The test
would be on whatever the student was learning the past weeks. If the student showed mastery on
the topic than he/she would move on to the next topic. If the students didn’t show mastery then
the student would be able to stay on the topic for another two weeks. By the end of the year there
would be a certain curriculum that each student would have had to complete. This would keep
students from doing the same thing for the whole year because they gave up on the topic.

Well according to Michael Horn the author of four books regarding education including
best-selling book ​Disrupting Class,​ this is the best solution because it will let all kids learn as
much as they can (Horn 2018). This shows how this type of system has been approved by experts
on the topic. But not only do experts on the topic support this new way of learning, parents do as
well. In the Article by Allison Roda published in 2016 she state that parents from the New York
City Public School system would be happier without the program because the system causes kids
to be separated from their peers and doesn’t prepare children from the real world…. And because
it does not allow children to work with students that aren’t as smart as they are and vice versa.
This shows how happy parents would be if this kind of system was put in place. (The New York
City Public School system has an almost identical system compared to the Greenwich Public
Schools). With a mastery based system parents will be satisfied with the way that their children
learn, because it will teach their kids what the real world is like. And it will lift the bar on
education, because students would be learning from a system approved by experts.

What Software Would the Children Use?

Currently the students are given access to a software called Khan Academy. This software would
be the primary one used when children learn, using a mastery based system. In a Forbes article
they talk about a boy named Jack who was falling behind in math. Using Khan academy and a
mastery based system he was able to finish the year doing some of the most advanced math in
the grade. (Horn 2018)

Khan academy provides videos and tutorials where students can learn the lessons, and then using
their online tests they would be able to test their skills in order to prepare for the mastery test.
Using Khan academy students will be able to advance in all subjects while staying with their
friends and peers. Also the Greenwich Public Schools has given each elementary student an iPad,
this using the iPads that they currently have the students would be able to learn. No added cost
would be needed in order to switch over to this system.

While some might say that it would be impossible for a teacher to handle all students if they are
each learning something different at all times. But this idea is completely wrong. With
technology and Khan Academy there will always be something for the children to do so that they
will not bother the other children when they are trying to learn. Also with change comes more
things to learn. Since the style of teaching will be different. The school can provide workshops
so that the teachers can learn how to teach the student using a mastery based system. These
classes will help teachers learn what a mastery based system actually looks like, therefore the
teacher and the students can get the most out of the system.

While this is a problem that has only been brought to light very recently there has really only
been one circumstance when a mastery based system was used.

In a system created by Doctor June Maker, Children were asked to complete tasks, then
when a student finished the task they were able to move on to a harder task. During this
time observers were walking around and looking for certain characteristics of the
children. Then once the time was complete the observers compared their notes and then
decided to place the children in the top section into the advanced class. When the test
results were in it was clear that the advanced group was much more racially diverse
(Johnsen, Hemphill, Renzulli, Moon, Doruk 2010).

This truly shows just how much a mastery based placement test will allow for a more diverse
advanced class. With a mastery based classroom, imagine what the class could look like and the
advanced work that students of all levels would be doing. Each student's education would be
exponentially better.

Action Plan
For my action plan I would like to present my solution at the Greenwich Board of Education.
The administrators that work in the Board of Education must learn what an appropriate solution
to this problem would look like. The outcome that I would like to see is a change that solves
problems regarding diversity in the advanced classroom. I strongly believe that a mastery based
system is the best way to do that because it solves the problems regarding race, while benefiting
the education of the children in both the on grade classes and the ALP classes. Therefore the
Greenwich Public Schools should change their way of teaching to one that revolves around a
mastery based system, to solve these issues that will lead to so many bad things in the future.

The current system is so flawed, so it must undergo a change. When almost 45% of students in
the on grade level class are out scoring 5% of the ALP programs students (O’Regan, Parisi
2017) and no change is being made. And when 32 eighth graders doing tenth grade math can’t
complete one question on the 4th grade ALP placement test (Goldstein, Jhamb, Gega, 2019 ).
There is definitely a large issue. An issue that must be fixed.
When I present at the Board of Education I will make sure to show how much of an issue the
Greenwich Public Elementary Schools have with there ALP program. Then after that I will
recommend to them a better way of running an ALP system, a mastery based system. This is
very important because without showing them what should be done, most likely nothing will be
done. And after all, it is much easier to say why something is bad, then to show how to fix it.

The problem regarding the ALP system in Greenwich CT must first be fixed but in order to do
that people must know about it, then they must advocate for change, and not stop until they get
what they deserve. The current system that the Greenwich Public Schools uses has many flaws,
in order to fix all of them it will be hard. But we must act now and we must act fast, because if
not Greenwich will be at risk of developing students that think working hard is a sign of lack of
intelligence. Or that white people are smarter than black people. Or where labels are a good
thing. So we as residents of Greenwich must go and change the way that our elementary schools
teach their students. Go out and change the world because, “Change will not come if we wait for
some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for.
We are the change that we seek.” (Barack Obama).
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