I would not trade one kid from New Bedford for any other in this State, and I WILL NEVER GIVE UP ON THEM...an NBEA member

... Measure students by how far they go not by how they compare to others. Our kids are told they "need improvement" well maybe a system that so labels kids needs improvement. They are compared, through MCAS scores, to others that were born on third base and congratulated for hitting a triple. Their teachers are praised for pointing the direction home all the while their parents are pushing and shoving them the rest of the way. Many of ours were born in the bleachers and no one even tells them there is a game going on. Yet the great majority never quit. They show up for school every day, they focus effort on school while heroically tuning out the nonsense in their lives that assaults them continually. 

Our kids struggle to learn the rules of a game they know nothing about and bravely step up to the plate. The number one question I get, as a teacher, is,  "do I have what it takes? " My answer is always the same, "let's work together and you will see that you do." When they make it to any base they have accomplished far more than most they are being compared to yet they are still labeled "needs improvement". New Bedford kids have no presumptions, what they do have in its place are honesty, compassion, character, and a great desire to do good . Believe me when I tell you, don't listen to the naysayers. I would not trade one kid from New Bedford for any other in this State, and I WILL NEVER GIVE UP ON THEM .