The ESE Label: A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

I listened as the automated voice said, “There is a job available at ABC High School, 10th grade, Exceptional Student Education (ESE). Press one to accept, two to decline.” I immediately pressed 1 to accept. Yes please! I ran into the living room and said to my husband, “I am substituting for an exceptional student class! That must mean these kids are like overly scholarly or something!” This would be my very first teaching gig and I pictured a scene from The Dead Poets Society.

I arrived early and walked quickly towards the school office. The unenthusiastic receptionist, clearly annoyed by my optimism, gave me keys to the classroom and a student roster. When I got into the room I found no lesson plans or instructions. I figured since these were exceptional students, maybe lesson plans weren’t necessary.

As the students began to walk into the room I thought to myself, “these kids don’t look at all like the scholarly bunch I envisioned.” I thought, “In fact, many look like they have just rolled out of bed pretty annoyed to be here.” They plopped down in their desks, sighed with their heads back and mouths open, and quickly started talking to each another. I stood in the front of the room to take role, totally invisible. My heart started beating faster and I began to sweat. So I thought, instead of Dead Poets Society I maybe I should channel Dangerous Minds or Freedom Writers; my naivety was the driving force behind my optimism at this point.

I finally got the room full of disinterested students to look up at me momentarily. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. When I asked what Exceptional Student Education was, they snickered and said, “You mean ESE?” I nodded and they humored me and started to explain. As I listened I heard stories of failure, bad grades, low test scores, and more failure. None of them could play sports because their GPAs were so low. They were all in intensive classes, hated school and even called themselves the stupid kids. One kid said, “Miss, we’re ESE for life!”

When the day was over, I walked to the office and the woman at the front desk smirked and asked, “how’d it go?” I just smiled, dropped off the keys and roster, and walked toward the parking lot much slower than I had walked toward the school earlier in the morning.

It has been a few years since that first classroom experience. I have more experience and knowledge regarding ESE. Many of these students, who have learning and behavior disabilities, are labeled ESE in the third grade. That label follows them throughout their academic career. There are laws ensuring ESE students receive accommodations outlined in individual education plans or IEPs. These accommodations are planned and implemented by psychologists, ESE specialists, and teachers who understand this demographic of student and the issues they face. Today as an assistant principal, I interact with ESE students usually from the discipline aspect. I get frustrated because I know, if given a chance to leave school and work on things they find relevant, many ESE students would be better off without the classroom.

This was apparent the other evening when I was out to eat and noticed one of my ESE students, also a repeat discipline offender, working. It was an open kitchen and patrons can see the action going on behind the line. I watched him work so intently and methodically at his station. I was in awe of his focus and calmness, especially since I had just processed a discipline referral on him the day before for classroom disruption and disrespect. Once he noticed me staring with my mouth dropped open, he came over and welcomed my guest and me to the restaurant, so polite and proud. I thought about his label, ESE, and how in that moment he was so far removed from that label and given the opportunity and freedom to express himself in work he found applicable to his life. It made me think of how insignificant and inappropriate that label was as I watched him return to his station and continue to work.

In my position I see many ESE students living up to the label they have been assigned, a real life application of the self-fulfilling prophecy theory I learned in college years ago. However, when we give these students the space to transcend in an environment where they find meaning and relevance, where no one cares about standardized test scores and grades, we will see them flourish, thrive and become the human beings they are meant to become without the label.