The Shakerite VOL 91 ISSUE I

but we’re bringing in the learning
strategies that work for core students.
You can use some of those
strategies to make higher-level
work understandable for all students,”
Bailey said in a phone interview.
Bailey gave an example of how
applying different learning models
looks in his math classes. He
said assignments from the honors
curriculum that are abstract,
such as a formulas worksheet,
are explained using “real world
or tangible” methods, such as a
graph. This strategy helps core
students learn the rigor of honors
work, which tends to be more conceptual,
Bailey said.
For example, in the transformations
unit of Geometry, Bailey
gave students the option of doing
their work by naming the formulas
and steps or drawing the steps
on a graph. Bailey said this made
Students are split into tracks at
Woodbury Elementary School. Photo
by Lauren Sheperd.
the material “accessible to everyone.”
Wilder said detracking and
consolidating courses was going
to happen this year regardless of
the pandemic. She said detracking
is one of the sub points, or
smaller agendas, of the two pillars
the district’s 2020-25 Strategic
Plan rests on: Educational
Equity Policy and IB Mission
Statement. Wilder said that since
the district adopted the plan in
March 2020, detracking — one
of the first steps in the Education
Equity Policy — was to occur this
year and that the pandemic did
not affect the decision or its timing
Wilder said it is most important
to navigate open community
conversation about detracking
during a pandemic and highlight
equity as being the center of everything.
“I think that what I do
notice is that there is so much
relational trust that needs to be
built. That is palpable,” Wilder
said in a Google Meet interview.
“We don’t want folks in the community,
especially students, to
think that we’re doing this to
them and not with them.”
Wilder said that acknowledging
the delay in detracking is
important to start opening the
conversation of trust in the community.
“Yes, this is late. Yes, we
recognize that we should have
been doing this for students who
have graduated and are no longer
in Shaker,” Wilder said. “I think
the district recognizes that Black
excellence is vitally important in
response to the fact that it has
not always been.”
Spring 2021 THE SHAKERITE 25