Read more: Local, State, Education
Dr. Anthony Muhammad, a famous Education Consultant, born and raised in Flint, dreams of the day when the public school system is completely transformed and when all children receive the same quality education across the board.
"When schools start looking at students as individuals as opposed to percentages, we'll make a lot of progress," Muhammad said. "To simply compare student one to another doesn't do anything to improve any of their skills. If I learn I am at the ninetieth percential in my class... what does that do to improve my skill level? It doesn't. What about the student who is at the tenth percential? All it does is hurt their self-esteem."
In Dr. Muhammad's book, Transforming School Culture, he talks about how the public school system has been in a comparitive competitive bell curve system.
"(A bell curve is) where we have a group of so called honor students, a large group of average students and a small group of remedial students," Dr. Muhammad said. "Schools have been basically institutions of sorting."
While studying schools across the country, Dr. Muhammad examined course offerings at public schools.
In that study, Dr. Muhammad discovered nearly ten percent of classes were for the "low-performing" or "special education" students.
Also in the study, eighty percent of the classes were for the "average" or "normal" student, while the other ten percent of the courses were made available to those identified as "academically gifted."
But Dr. Muhammad believes all students can learn at high levels and it's important to start at the beginning.
"If a student falls behind in kindergarten and those gaps grow, that's where we get 10th graders and 11th graders with 4th grade skills and we never thought to plug in those gaps," Dr. Muhammad expressed.
In Dr. Muhammad's book, he encourages all educators to make sure all students are learning while filling in the gaps along the way.
Alex McNeece, Principal at Douglas Elementary in Garden City, Michigan thinks the same way. He believes there is a wealth of resources in every single schools and with the right direction and firm belief, all children in school can and will learn.
McNeece has read both of Dr. Muhammad's books and has incorporated the collaboration theory within his school.
"The whole concept of PLC is to bring teachers together, structure that conversation and to share those ideas that work in someone else's classroom so you can use them and they'll work in your classroom and of course to "work" means to get every kid learning," McNeece said.
And in the end, Dr. Muhammad believes it's going to take belief among each school team to do whatever it takes in assuring all students learn at the highest level possible.
"If you follow a traditional method and nobody learns, but you've taught them, then teaching doesn't necessarily mean learning, Dr. Muhammad says. "In the PLC movement... we strive to mesh the two that good instruction is justified by student learning."
