Learning Matters Website

This website--Learning Matters--has some awesome Podcasts on education and school reform.

I particularly liked the episodes on the New Orleans school district. One of the episodes brings up the topic of New Orleans School Superintendent Paul Vallas's plan to give lap tops to all NOLA public high school students. A native NOLA resident working in the school system thinks this is a crazy idea, noting that the computers would be gone in a flash. Vallas thinks that high expectations of students would keep the computers in place and in good condition. Thoughts?

Changing the Discourse in Schools

Last week I attended an institute called Coaching for Educational Equity. Our homework for the training included this article "Changing the Discourse in Schools" (click on link). The article argues that schools have NOT typically been instruments of social change; rather, they maintain a relatively stable system of inequality. Education reform movements have hit the ground running across the United States; and urban schools (charter and public) have become laboratories for innovative ideas to boost student achievement. Yet, as this article points out, "trying to implement such linear change processes has seldom led to substantial change in educational settings." The public is looking to the big-dog education leaders--the Michelle Rhee's, Paul Vallas's, Joel Klein's etc.--to shake up the system by handing down tough decisions. As a DCPS teacher under the Michelle Rhee umbrella, I could easily follow new directives, but...as the article puts it, "have the appearance of responding to change without having to change anything substantive." Not to say their efforts are not forthright, but can their leadership alone really get at the roots of pervasive structural racism that underlies school systems? We are fooling ourselves if we think so. As educators, of every race and at every rank of the seniority totem pole, we need to question (as the Cold Play song frames it)--Are we part of the cure or part of the disease? In other words, we need to be honest with ourselves about how we are teaching students, what we are teaching students; how we assess students; how we make students feel; how we form relationships with families and meet external needs; how we maneuver around politics; how we work with other educators and our administrators; and how we have the courage to heighten awareness of our own biases and worldview in order to make sure it doesn't impede another person's opportunity to develop and seek intellect. The article points out that it is readily possible, within current school systems, for teachers to be mere instruments of sorting children according to predetermined conditions set by history and cultural norms. The way to change this discourse is to understand the "why" and "how" of accepted ways, and then question everything we do in schools from a perspective of effects and consequences. Hmm...so changing the discourse requires: a) lots of personal reflection and tenacity; and b) lots of professional collaboration among enlightened minds. This school year, I am going to try and remain hopeful, and to try and be what I hope to see in schools.

Equity?

Equity is a concept that can come with so many different connotations, as well as a deep-rooted history and political fire. But when I hear about creating equity in schools, for my role as a teacher, I try to frame it in my mind as meeting the academic, social-emotional, and physical needs of every unique child that walks in the school building. There are certainly steps a teacher can and must take to make her/his practice more equitable (and culturally competent). Nonetheless, it will take a village to create equity…a village of adults willing to work together in a respectful, effective, and compassionate way to do what is best for each child.

Equity EDU

I completed one year as a first grade teacher in a DC public school. The experience was eye opening to the disparities in institutions and among cultures. Moreover, I have faced the challenge of delivering an excellent education to low-income students of diverse backgrounds, with many educational and social needs. This summer, I am interning with an educational advocacy group in Oakland, California that confronts issues of inequity within and among schools in order to improve educational outcomes of historically under served students and families. The purpose of this blog is to share what I am learning and to provide a forum for others to express their views.