Learner Led

When I worked in the traditional K-12 public school system, I constantly thought we didn’t ask enough of our young learners. We were content to have them sit passively at their desks, listening to us lecture on and one about things we knew about, and they didn’t. But what if they knew more about subject knowledge and skills than we did? What if the young learner could become the learning leader for other young learners?

This past fall, Block Club Chicago posted an article focused on Carolina Carchi, a senior at Roberto Clemente Community Academy in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood. Carchi became the de facto chemistry teacher when no adult chemistry teacher could be hired.

“A week after their teacher left, the students were growing restless.”

“Despite promises that a permanent new teacher was coming, students in the sophomore-level chemistry class at Roberto Clemente Community Academy were sitting in their classroom with little to do. Though a substitute teacher was assigned to the room, the students quickly concluded that he didn’t know much about chemistry.”

“Carolina Carchi was struck by the reaction of one of her classmates. ‘They forgot about us.’”

“’When I heard that, this spark and passion grew in me,’ Carolina said. She told herself: ‘No, you’re not going to be left out, they didn’t forget about you, and I’m going to be here to prove that.’”

“The following day, the 15-year-old got up in front of the class and began to teach her peers about the properties of liquids and solids and how to balance chemical equations.”

“Carolina went on to teach the class for two months during the winter of her sophomore year. A permanent teacher didn’t take over the classroom until the following fall.”

“When Clemente was built in the mid-1970’s, the school was a symbol of hope in Humboldt Park and West Town, offering the promise of a new beginning for the Puerto Rican families who had settled in the area.”

“But now, 50 years later, Clemente students are missing critical instruction because so many teachers are regularly absent and positions go unfilled for long stretches.”

“Clemente is emblematic of a broader problem: CPS schools – and many other public schools across the country – are hamstrung by funding constraints and a nationwide teacher shortage, education experts said.”

“’It’s a resource issue that’s much larger than Chicago, much larger than the state,’ said Erika Mendez, director of P-12 education policy for Latino Policy Forum, a state advocacy organization. ‘We have some big gaps to meet in terms of school funding. We are in a really tough financial time, and that’s coming with some big costs.’”

“But Clemente’s challenges are compounded by the management and leadership approach of administrators, teachers told Block Club Chicago.”

“As they deal with the stresses of working with students with significant needs, teachers say they’re not getting support from the school’s principal, which has left them burnt out and demoralized – and often absent.”

“At Clemente, about 46 percent of the teaching staff had more than 10 absences in 2023, according to CPS data. That means nearly half of Clemente teachers missed the equivalent of at least two weeks of school.”

“Yet CPS officials insist Clemente doesn’t have staffing issues.”

“The result is dozens of students sitting in what one teacher described as ‘dead classrooms’ – unadorned spaces without permanent teachers where students receive little if any instruction and can essentially do whatever they want, according to interviews with teachers, support staff and students.”

…

“In addition to the day-to-day absences, Clemente has struggled with teacher turnover.”

“Clemente had 57 teachers in the 2019-20 school year, a total that includes special education teachers and military instructors. But by the 2023-24 school year, less than half of those teachers – 23 – were still at the school, according to a Block Club analysis of CPS data.”

“Teachers and other school employees who spoke to Block Club said several teachers have left, gone on leave or considered quitting because the school’s principal rarely provides support and often ignores for help.”

“Teacher said they’re instructed by administrators to give students a passing grade even if they do very little work.”

“’The principal does not support teachers in any capacity,’ one employee said. ‘Copiers rarely have paper, classroom resources are not ordered, textbook requests are denied and we are forced to give inflated grades. Students know the game.’”

“Districts officials contend Clemente doesn’t have staffing issues.”

“Clemente’s teacher retention rate – the year-over-year percentage of teachers returning to work at the school – has been ‘relatively stable’ in recent years, though lower than the district average, officials said in an emailed statement.”

“But students aren’t learning core subjects like chemistry, algebra and Spanish for months, sometimes a full year, because full-time teachers aren’t in classrooms, according to teachers, employees and students interviewed by Block Club. Teacher morale is the lowest it’s been in years, signaling more problems to come, the teachers said.”

…

“Carolina grew up in nearby West Humboldt Park and felt a moral responsibility to go to Clemente instead of one of the city’s selective-enrollment high schools, she said.”

“When her algebra teacher left during her freshman year, Carolina started to teach the class herself.”

“’No students at Clemente are ever in an unsupervised classroom and substitute teachers have access to any lesson plans they may need on any given day,’ district officials said in a statement.”

“But the substitute teacher assigned to Carolina’s class didn’t know algebra and let her take over, according to interviews with students and school employees.”

“’I took it as a good journey and challenge to simply just do something for my class, and no leave them behind’ she said.”

“The same thing happened in her chemistry class the next year. Carolina prepared lesson plans during her free periods and went to FedEx after school to print out assignments. She brought in a bag full of extra pencils and other supplies, including a plasma ball, for students to use while she taught.”

“’My classmates are more visual learners’ she said.”

…

“Carolina, now a senior, said she was simply following her passion for Clemente.”

“’I strongly believe in community schools, and that they should be an anchor in their communities,’ Carolina said. ‘A school with the proper resources can be just as successful as any other school.’”

When we were running the personalized learning lab pilot in Houston ten years ago, the two adult learning coaches appointed certain young learners to serve as “captains” of English, mathematics, social studies, science, and foreign language. “Captains” were young learners who had a special expertise, a special knowledge, and could translate that expertise and knowledge to their peers. It’s not like the adult learning leaders disappeared, but they allowed the young learners to lead and share in their learning – true student-led experiences.

Adults working in schools are so, so dysfunctional – most of the time.

What if we created places where young learners learned from people like Carolina Carchi, or the “captains’ from Houston’s personalized learning lab?

What do we have to lose?

Til tomorrow. SVB