Thursday, May 21, 2015
Academia Cuauhtli Works to Bridge History with Language
Thanks to videographer Blair Waltman-Alexin with KLRU for doing such a wonderful job covering Academia Cuauhtli in this May 1, 2015 video (posted). Thanks to everyone in Nuestro Grupo, our community-based organization, , as well as our partners—the Austin Independent School District—especially Chief Academic Officer Dr. Pauline Dow and her excellent staff, and the City of Austin, Parks and Recreation Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Culture Project where Academia Cuauhtli is physically located.
Thanks, as well, to maestra/teacher Rosa Tupina Yaontonalcuauhtli and Grupo Danza Xochipilli for inspiring us with song and danza. And thanks to the Sanchez, Metz, and Zavala Elementary fourth- now fifth-grade children—and their parents and grandparents—for honoring us with their presence and participation at Academia Cuauhtli. We begin with a new group of fourth graders in the fall.
Muchísimas gracias también a los maestros bilingue del distrito escolar—to the participating AISD bilingual education teachers, as well, for giving so generously of their time, intellect, and motivating energy. Our ancestors surely want us to not only feed the mind but also to feed the spirit through song, dance, edifying values, and love of community. And so we are grateful to them, too!
-Angela Valenzuela
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Higher education leaders face uphill budget battle
Texas' 15% growth in the school population still needs to get funded. -Angela
Higher education leaders face uphill budget battle
Higher education leaders face uphill budget battle
Posted: 10:00 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013
STATESMAN CAPITOL WATCH
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Victory in Tucson: Visioning it, Declaring it and Ensuring it
This is excellent! -Angela
Victory in Tucson: Visioning it, Declaring it and Ensuring it
By Roberto Cintli Rodriguez, SpeakOut | Op-Ed
Tuesday, 15 January 2013 11:55
"It is not what we want, it is what we will."
- Tupac Enrique Acosta of Tonatierra, Phoenix
Consider the prism of Tucson's battle to defend Raza or Mexican-American Studies (MAS).
It has recently been suggested by some MAS supporters that MAS is now dead.
MAS is a discipline. For some, it’s a movement and still yet for others, it is a spirit. For me, it is a sub-discipline, part of the larger Indigenous story of this continent.
What perhaps is meant is that the former TUSD-program - as it formerly operated - is now dead.
While that context is important, the issue here isn't to debate what has prompted these proclamations, but rather to give an alternate view because many of us around the country do not for one second believe that MAS is now dead. Subsequent to making these declarations, the parallel idea has surfaced… that we have not yet won the long battle against TUSD in our struggle to defend MAS.
The larger ongoing battle stretches back a generation, but the more intense battle began in 2006 when former state schools’ superintendent, Tom Horne, began his campaign to eliminate Raza Studies. Many of us have indeed declared victory recently, in part because the proposed segregation plan that was submitted to the courts at the end of 2012 clearly calls for the expansion of Latino and African-American culturally relevant classes into all high schools within TUSD, plus classes at the middle and elementary schools. This comes amid several studies that affirm the success of the MAS department. More importantly, this comes amid that six-year movement to destroy - but also, to defend - MAS.
One can stretch credulity and call this a defeat (or a premature victory)… or one can seize the moment and declare victory. As everyone knows, the battle to defend MAS, has consisted of our community being relentless before TUSD and the state. Nothing has come to our community via sitting down.
The proposed desegregation plan is but part of the victory. The other victory is that now, an anti–MAS 4-1 majority, no longer runs TUSD. As a result of the November election, the board is now 3–2, pro MAS. After the new majority voted in a pro-MAS president and a pro-MAS clerk, the second thing they did was vote to withdraw objections by TUSD to the section in the proposed Desegregation Plan that references culturally relevant courses submitted to the court at the end of the year. Now, only the state (Attorney General Horne) continues to object.
One can look at these as piecemeal victories… because a complete victory has yet to be achieved. However, one thing is certain: school board members Mark Stegeman and Michael (Tea Party Man) Hicks are no longer running the board meetings or calling the shots. Anti-MAS board member Miguel Cuevas and the appointed board member, Alex Sugiyama, both also lost their seats in November and are now gone from the board.
At a symbolic level, this minimally means that community members are no longer being disrespected – as has been the case all these years - at school board meetings. But agreed, this battle wasn't about symbolism. It was/is a civilizational war, called on by Horne, not us. This is the relevance of the opening quote.
As such, victory is what we say it is. It is not determined by a hostile TUSD, a hostile state or the courts.
In the end, whatever the state and the courts determine, TUSD still has to interpret and implement. Because of the district's past hostility, we can not leave it to TUSD to interpret and implement a victory in a manner favorable to the majority in our community, especially since the same superintendent, Dr. John Pedicone, remains in place. Even with the 3-2 majority, the same forces that have defended MAS, need to step forward. But in doing so, one needs the mindset of Victory. That means declaring it, defining it and carrying it through.
In effect, that is what we did during three public forums held by the Federal Court Appointed Special Master in November. The community stepped forward, declared victory and put forth, via the youth, the Declaration of Intellectual Warriors document. The next step requires pressing TUSD, including the new 3-2 school board majority, to implement it in good faith.
At the moment, a large segment of the community wants what's in the collectively discussed and drafted Intellectual Warrior's document. That's one element that has to drive the struggle; it should not be up to the superintendent or the school board or any one individual to unilaterally tell us what we are going to get, or what we are going to win or lose. The document is clear: it calls for Mexican American Indigenous Studies and African American Studies. There is much more that the proposed plan calls for, including dual immersion bilingual education and most importantly, the inclusion of our community into the decision-making process. It is interesting to note that the vast majority of those who responded either in public or online to the Special Master were in full support of MAS, and even more specifically, the intellectual warrior's document. A decision by Judge David Bury is expected shortly.
What's also important to note is that while the desegregation court case only covers African American and Latino concerns, the community, vis à vis TUSD, has the right to petition or demand that the district be responsive to the needs of all its students, especially those from other cultures, etc.
Again, how we got here was not a magical process, nor was it simple. It was non-stop protests, marches and rallies… and continually addressing a hostile school board and the state, etc. All this required nonstop organizing. And it coincided with the desegregation case that provided our community (TUSD is 61% Latino, though the vast majority are actually Mexican/Mexican American) a voice that was previously ignored.
Another community might have quit in desperation or as a result of exhaustion. But not this one. Much of this will to win indeed can be attributed to the values and ethos that were and are taught within Mexican-American/Raza or Indigenous studies.
Most are familiar with three of the maiz-based values: In Lak Ech, Panche Be and Hunab Ku (in my classes, I teach seven maiz-based values). A fourth value, which comes from the same source (Domingo Martinez Paredez) is K'ochil: Creer, crear y hacer. To believe in, or in this context, to vision, to create and to follow through.
It appears to be the precise same meaning of the opening quote: "It is not what we want, it is what we will."
Precisely: this victory won't happen by itself. The community has to will it, define it and follow through.
Ÿ Rodriguez can be reached at: XColumn@gmail.com - http://drcintli.blogspot.com/ Ÿ
Roberto Cintli Rodriguez
Five of Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez's books and one video are on the banned curriculum list. The video is: “Amoxtli San Ce Tojuan.” The books are: “Justice: A Question of Race,” “Gonzales/Rodriguez: Uncut and Uncensored,” “The X in La Raza,” “Codex Tamuanchan: On Becoming Human,” and “Cantos Al Sexto Sol.” This last book is a collection of more than 100 Raza/Indigenous writers, writing on the topic of origins and migrations. These bans highlight that virtually the entire cultural production of the past generation of Raza/Indigenous writers/artists has been criminalized.
Rodriguez teaches at the University of Arizona and can be reached at: XColumn@gmail.com
Victory in Tucson: Visioning it, Declaring it and Ensuring it
By Roberto Cintli Rodriguez, SpeakOut | Op-Ed
Tuesday, 15 January 2013 11:55
"It is not what we want, it is what we will."
- Tupac Enrique Acosta of Tonatierra, Phoenix
Consider the prism of Tucson's battle to defend Raza or Mexican-American Studies (MAS).
It has recently been suggested by some MAS supporters that MAS is now dead.
MAS is a discipline. For some, it’s a movement and still yet for others, it is a spirit. For me, it is a sub-discipline, part of the larger Indigenous story of this continent.
What perhaps is meant is that the former TUSD-program - as it formerly operated - is now dead.
While that context is important, the issue here isn't to debate what has prompted these proclamations, but rather to give an alternate view because many of us around the country do not for one second believe that MAS is now dead. Subsequent to making these declarations, the parallel idea has surfaced… that we have not yet won the long battle against TUSD in our struggle to defend MAS.
The larger ongoing battle stretches back a generation, but the more intense battle began in 2006 when former state schools’ superintendent, Tom Horne, began his campaign to eliminate Raza Studies. Many of us have indeed declared victory recently, in part because the proposed segregation plan that was submitted to the courts at the end of 2012 clearly calls for the expansion of Latino and African-American culturally relevant classes into all high schools within TUSD, plus classes at the middle and elementary schools. This comes amid several studies that affirm the success of the MAS department. More importantly, this comes amid that six-year movement to destroy - but also, to defend - MAS.
One can stretch credulity and call this a defeat (or a premature victory)… or one can seize the moment and declare victory. As everyone knows, the battle to defend MAS, has consisted of our community being relentless before TUSD and the state. Nothing has come to our community via sitting down.
The proposed desegregation plan is but part of the victory. The other victory is that now, an anti–MAS 4-1 majority, no longer runs TUSD. As a result of the November election, the board is now 3–2, pro MAS. After the new majority voted in a pro-MAS president and a pro-MAS clerk, the second thing they did was vote to withdraw objections by TUSD to the section in the proposed Desegregation Plan that references culturally relevant courses submitted to the court at the end of the year. Now, only the state (Attorney General Horne) continues to object.
One can look at these as piecemeal victories… because a complete victory has yet to be achieved. However, one thing is certain: school board members Mark Stegeman and Michael (Tea Party Man) Hicks are no longer running the board meetings or calling the shots. Anti-MAS board member Miguel Cuevas and the appointed board member, Alex Sugiyama, both also lost their seats in November and are now gone from the board.
At a symbolic level, this minimally means that community members are no longer being disrespected – as has been the case all these years - at school board meetings. But agreed, this battle wasn't about symbolism. It was/is a civilizational war, called on by Horne, not us. This is the relevance of the opening quote.
As such, victory is what we say it is. It is not determined by a hostile TUSD, a hostile state or the courts.
In the end, whatever the state and the courts determine, TUSD still has to interpret and implement. Because of the district's past hostility, we can not leave it to TUSD to interpret and implement a victory in a manner favorable to the majority in our community, especially since the same superintendent, Dr. John Pedicone, remains in place. Even with the 3-2 majority, the same forces that have defended MAS, need to step forward. But in doing so, one needs the mindset of Victory. That means declaring it, defining it and carrying it through.
In effect, that is what we did during three public forums held by the Federal Court Appointed Special Master in November. The community stepped forward, declared victory and put forth, via the youth, the Declaration of Intellectual Warriors document. The next step requires pressing TUSD, including the new 3-2 school board majority, to implement it in good faith.
At the moment, a large segment of the community wants what's in the collectively discussed and drafted Intellectual Warrior's document. That's one element that has to drive the struggle; it should not be up to the superintendent or the school board or any one individual to unilaterally tell us what we are going to get, or what we are going to win or lose. The document is clear: it calls for Mexican American Indigenous Studies and African American Studies. There is much more that the proposed plan calls for, including dual immersion bilingual education and most importantly, the inclusion of our community into the decision-making process. It is interesting to note that the vast majority of those who responded either in public or online to the Special Master were in full support of MAS, and even more specifically, the intellectual warrior's document. A decision by Judge David Bury is expected shortly.
What's also important to note is that while the desegregation court case only covers African American and Latino concerns, the community, vis à vis TUSD, has the right to petition or demand that the district be responsive to the needs of all its students, especially those from other cultures, etc.
Again, how we got here was not a magical process, nor was it simple. It was non-stop protests, marches and rallies… and continually addressing a hostile school board and the state, etc. All this required nonstop organizing. And it coincided with the desegregation case that provided our community (TUSD is 61% Latino, though the vast majority are actually Mexican/Mexican American) a voice that was previously ignored.
Another community might have quit in desperation or as a result of exhaustion. But not this one. Much of this will to win indeed can be attributed to the values and ethos that were and are taught within Mexican-American/Raza or Indigenous studies.
Most are familiar with three of the maiz-based values: In Lak Ech, Panche Be and Hunab Ku (in my classes, I teach seven maiz-based values). A fourth value, which comes from the same source (Domingo Martinez Paredez) is K'ochil: Creer, crear y hacer. To believe in, or in this context, to vision, to create and to follow through.
It appears to be the precise same meaning of the opening quote: "It is not what we want, it is what we will."
Precisely: this victory won't happen by itself. The community has to will it, define it and follow through.
Ÿ Rodriguez can be reached at: XColumn@gmail.com - http://drcintli.blogspot.com/ Ÿ
Roberto Cintli Rodriguez
Five of Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez's books and one video are on the banned curriculum list. The video is: “Amoxtli San Ce Tojuan.” The books are: “Justice: A Question of Race,” “Gonzales/Rodriguez: Uncut and Uncensored,” “The X in La Raza,” “Codex Tamuanchan: On Becoming Human,” and “Cantos Al Sexto Sol.” This last book is a collection of more than 100 Raza/Indigenous writers, writing on the topic of origins and migrations. These bans highlight that virtually the entire cultural production of the past generation of Raza/Indigenous writers/artists has been criminalized.
Rodriguez teaches at the University of Arizona and can be reached at: XColumn@gmail.com
Monday, December 3, 2012
Union proposes ‘bar exam’ for teachers
Concerned about this. What do folks think about this?
-Angela
A major teachers union wants to
create a rigorous professional exam for K-12 teachers that would serve
the same function as the bar exam for lawyers and board certification
for doctors.
“Unlike law, medicine, architecture and engineering, we hand teachers the keys and tell them to go into the classroom and do their thing,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, who is expected to announce the plan Monday. “This is about raising the standards of our profession and making sure that kids get teachers who are prepared.”
A task force of teachers and education experts Weingarten assembled spent a year developing recommendations to improve teacher preparation and certification.
Under the AFT plan, prospective teachers who have undergone training at an education school would have to demonstrate knowledge of their subject areas, an understanding of the social and emotional elements of learning, and spend a year in “clinical practice” as a student teacher before passing a rigorous exam.
The plan also calls for universities to grow more selective in accepting students into teacher preparation programs, requiring a minimum of a 3.0 grade point average to enroll and to graduate, among other things. There are about 1,400 teacher preparation programs in the country, with a wide range of quality, experts say.
“Some ed schools do a great job, some do not,” Weingarten said. “If we as a profession can come to the point where we say ‘This is what we believe a new teacher needs to know or be able to do on her first day of teaching,’ then we can back map this to the ed schools, so that they can design preparation so that it’s aligned with the professional standards.”
Historically, each state sets the qualifications for teachers, administering its own certification.
“State standards are all across the map,” said Ron Thorpe, president and chief executive of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, the nonprofit independent organization that certifies experienced teachers. “It really is a crazy quilt.”
The AFT wants the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards to develop the actual “bar exam,” a challenge that Thorpe has embraced and said he thinks could be accomplished within five years.
The proposal for a bar exam comes during a period of increased scrutiny of teachers. Encouraged by the Obama administration, dozens of states have begun implementing new teacher evaluation systems. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has expanded that scrutiny to teacher preparation programs at universities, suggesting as recently as last week that many programs are inadequate.
“We have to look to the states that have been approving teacher ed programs for 100 years or maybe longer,” said Susan Fuhrman, president of Teachers College at Columbia University. “And have closed very, very few — even though they have found some wanting — either because of politics or economics.”
At the same time, alternative teacher preparation programs have sprouted up, offering a streamlined path to certification and the classroom. Teach for America, for example, gives college graduates five weeks of training before sending them into some of the most troubled schools in the country.
A bar exam would “just level the playing field,” Weingarten said. “Maybe all the alternative certified teachers will pass with flying colors. But if only 10 percent of TFA passed it and 90 percent of the students from Teachers College passed it, that would say something.”
-Angela
Union proposes ‘bar exam’ for teachers
Carolyn Kaster/AP -
President Barack Obama, accompanied by American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten in 2011.
“Unlike law, medicine, architecture and engineering, we hand teachers the keys and tell them to go into the classroom and do their thing,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, who is expected to announce the plan Monday. “This is about raising the standards of our profession and making sure that kids get teachers who are prepared.”
A task force of teachers and education experts Weingarten assembled spent a year developing recommendations to improve teacher preparation and certification.
Under the AFT plan, prospective teachers who have undergone training at an education school would have to demonstrate knowledge of their subject areas, an understanding of the social and emotional elements of learning, and spend a year in “clinical practice” as a student teacher before passing a rigorous exam.
The plan also calls for universities to grow more selective in accepting students into teacher preparation programs, requiring a minimum of a 3.0 grade point average to enroll and to graduate, among other things. There are about 1,400 teacher preparation programs in the country, with a wide range of quality, experts say.
“Some ed schools do a great job, some do not,” Weingarten said. “If we as a profession can come to the point where we say ‘This is what we believe a new teacher needs to know or be able to do on her first day of teaching,’ then we can back map this to the ed schools, so that they can design preparation so that it’s aligned with the professional standards.”
Historically, each state sets the qualifications for teachers, administering its own certification.
“State standards are all across the map,” said Ron Thorpe, president and chief executive of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, the nonprofit independent organization that certifies experienced teachers. “It really is a crazy quilt.”
The AFT wants the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards to develop the actual “bar exam,” a challenge that Thorpe has embraced and said he thinks could be accomplished within five years.
The proposal for a bar exam comes during a period of increased scrutiny of teachers. Encouraged by the Obama administration, dozens of states have begun implementing new teacher evaluation systems. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has expanded that scrutiny to teacher preparation programs at universities, suggesting as recently as last week that many programs are inadequate.
“We have to look to the states that have been approving teacher ed programs for 100 years or maybe longer,” said Susan Fuhrman, president of Teachers College at Columbia University. “And have closed very, very few — even though they have found some wanting — either because of politics or economics.”
At the same time, alternative teacher preparation programs have sprouted up, offering a streamlined path to certification and the classroom. Teach for America, for example, gives college graduates five weeks of training before sending them into some of the most troubled schools in the country.
A bar exam would “just level the playing field,” Weingarten said. “Maybe all the alternative certified teachers will pass with flying colors. But if only 10 percent of TFA passed it and 90 percent of the students from Teachers College passed it, that would say something.”
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Measuring Up: A Statewide Conversation on High-Stakes Testing & Accountability
Want to welcome all to a statewide educational forum on high-stakes testing and accountability on Monday, September 24, 2012 from 7-9:30PM, followed by a reception. Location: LBJ Auditorium, University of Texas at Austin.
7:00 - 8:30 pm Roundtable + Q&A Lady Bird Johnson Auditorium
8:30 - 9:30 pm Networking Reception LBJ School Front Lobby
Questions? 512-232-3423 or juliamontgomery@utexas.edu
Join the conversation on Twitter: #lbjmu
Note: We're actually looking to
get this video-streamed live if anyone out there in the world can help
out with this in terms of resources, please call or email Julia
Montgomery for this as well.
Angela
Friday, August 10, 2012
What the NFL Draft Can Teach School Reformers
What the NFL Draft Can Teach School Reformers
Sam Chaltain
This Thursday marks the prime-time return of the NFL Draft -- an annual smorgasbord of possibility when each team fills out its roster with the best talent the college ranks have to offer.
I'm a huge football fan, so I'll be tuning in to see which players my beloved San Diego Chargers select to fill our current holes at running back and defensive tackle. I'm also a huge public education fan, so I confess that I wish the leading voices in my field -- from Arne Duncan to Michelle Rhee to Joel Klein -- would also tune in, and heed some of the most relevant lessons to be learned from the NFL.
In particular, I wish they'd pay attention to three truisms:
1. Don't Fall in Love with 40 Times - A generation ago, the draft was a low key, information-poor event. Today, it unfolds as prime-time drama in which every aspect of a player's performance -- from game tape to vertical jump to 40-yard dash times -- is intensely scrutinized and available to even the casual fan. The good news about this is that NFL teams are now data-rich when making decisions that can make or break a franchise. The bad news is that many teams lack insightfulness and use their information poorly, thus, they are just as likely to ignore the less easily quantifiable factors that make certain players great.
Case in point: Jerry Rice, the greatest wide receiver ever to play the game, was undervalued by most NFL teams coming out of college because his 40 time (4.71 seconds) was considered too slow for a receiver at the professional level. But one team, the San Francisco 49ers, paid attention to what really mattered -- how he performed in game situations, and aggressively moved up in the 1985 draft to take him. This August, he'll be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Unlike the 49ers of the 1980s, too many of today's reformers have fallen in love with the educational equivalent of a good (or bad) 40 time.
We judge a school's or a program's or a teacher's efforts based on a single, easily quantifiable measure: basic-skills test scores in reading and math. And we ignore or undervalue just about everything else.
In a previous Huffington Post column, I suggested a better way to evaluate success. But any sports fan can instantly see the illogic of the idea. After all, it's one thing to make a mistake on a single player on draft day. It's another to offer performance bonuses to every player on your team based on how fast they run during games. It would never happen. So why do we tolerate the illusion that tying teacher performance to a single measure of student success is any less foolish?
2. Know What You Don't Know - Although some NFL leaders refuse to adjust their long-held beliefs with new realities on the ground -- the Oakland Raiders' Al Davis comes to mind -- the majority of teams realize that all the data in the world can't create a foolproof system of evaluation. Take the uncomfortably high percentage of highly drafted quarterbacks who fail to become stars -- and the surprisingly high number of quarterbacks, like the New England Patriot's Tom Brady, who go on to lead Hall-of-Fame careers despite being lowly regarded out of college.
School principals face the same challenge as NFL executives. As Malcolm Gladwell has written, "There are certain jobs where almost nothing you can learn about candidates before they start predicts how they'll do once they're hired. So how do we know whom to choose in cases like that? In recent years, a number of fields have begun to wrestle with this problem, but none with such profound social consequences as the profession of teaching."
Our current national attention on the teacher, and on teaching, is a huge development since so many of our past approaches - from evaluation to professional support to defining teacher effectiveness - have been insufficient at best. But why do some of the field's leading voices seem believe they've already figured it out? Last week, for example, on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," NYC Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said, "We know how to do this" -- referring to systemic school reform -- moments after listing a number of examples of cities where students' 40 times - I mean test scores - had gone up.
Don't get me wrong: helping students improve their literacy and numeracy is important, just as helping NFL players run faster is important. But to cite a single metric while confidently stating you know how to do something as complex as education reform? That's a brand of hubris that's not just misguided -- it's dangerous.
3. Grow Your Own Talent -- Despite the growth of free agency, the most successful franchises develop and deepen their rosters gradually, and over time, via the draft.
Look at last year's Super Bowl champion, the New Orleans Saints. Their best player (quarterback Drew Brees) was a high-profile free agent pick up. The bulk of the remaining roster -- from Reggie Bush to Marques Colston to the anchors along the defensive line -- were homegrown draft choices who developed in the Saints system over time.
The logic behind this strategy is simple -- drafting good players and developing them yourself costs less than acquiring other teams' players at their peak. But there's another reason to build through the draft: developing players from within helps establish an organizational culture, identity, and clarity that can provide a sustainable competitive advantage.
I realize there isn't a teacher draft (although I have imagined what it would look like), but the same principle holds true for schools, which require a clear organizational identity, sustained support, and strong leadership to be successful at helping children learn. Why is it, then, that when we talk about teachers these days, it's as though there are only two types: the charismatic master teacher, or the union-protected laggard?
To be sure, both types exist, but of all the teachers in this country, I'd only attribute 5 percent or so to each category. That leaves the remaining 90 percent of our country's teachers, each of whom has the potential to slide up or down the effectiveness continuum, depending on how well -- or poorly -- s/he is evaluated, supported and challenged.
If we really want to see schools improve for the long haul, we should stop emulating the Washington Redskins -- who bring in high-profile free agents and coaches year after year, and then wonder why they can't seem to establish an organizational identity -- and start learning from the Indianapolis Colts, who have won twelve or more games each year for the past decade, and who consistently draft overachieving, undervalued players each April -- and then keep them for the duration of their careers.
To sustain success in schools the way Colts have sustained success in the NFL, we'd need to place less emphasis on scorched earth policies like firing every teacher in a school, and more on helping current and future teachers improve the quality of their professional practice. We'd need to devalue test score data and the illusion of certainty it provides. And we'd need to stop assuming we already have the answers to all of the current questions, and start figuring out how to more strategically question all of the current answers.
Now that would be an effort worthy of prime time.
Friday, July 13, 2012
Minority Teachers In The United States – Really A Minority
Yes, a
dearth of minority teachers is a massive equity issue and national
crisis. So between 1990 and today, there has indeed been an increase in
Latino/a teachers but the gap remains constant. Retention is an
issue. Quote from within:
"During the 2003 school year, for example, 47,600 minority teachers entered the profession — but approximately 56,000 left."
So these teachers are affected by the same poor working conditions as other teachers that are leaving the profession.
These teachers—many of them older—are
also among the first to be fired in today's budget-cut era because they
are expensive and districts can always substitute a less expensive
teacher (TFA teacher and others) in their stead. I saw actual data on
this in Texas. Scandalously, this, too, is an equity issue and states
should track this—which teachers from which ethnic groups are being
given pink slips.
I'll post later what many of us
around the country are working on as part of the National Latino/a
Education Research and Policy Project (NLERAP)—specifically a
Grow-Your-Own (GYO) Latino/a teacher preparation pipeline in five cities
in five states as follows:
Sacramento, California; Chicago,
Illinois;
Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Dallas, Texas, and Brooklyn, New York. The act of
convening a constituency around
public schooling and GYO teachers across our five sites underscores
community
ownership of teacher preparation—
Our teachers need a constituency, or support network, not only so that they can be more effective teachers, but also so that they can have a backbone of support as they themselves work toward transformational change in their respective communities. They never work alone but rather as part of a larger collective effort that supports and sustains the pipeline.
Ideally, our pipeline will begin getting built in the early
grades through student clubs and peer mentorship opportunities.
Our teachers need a constituency, or support network, not only so that they can be more effective teachers, but also so that they can have a backbone of support as they themselves work toward transformational change in their respective communities. They never work alone but rather as part of a larger collective effort that supports and sustains the pipeline.
Yes,
a dearth of minority teachers is a massive equity issue and national
crisis. So between 1990 and today, there has indeed been an increase in
Latino/a teachers but the gap remains constant. Retention is an
issue. Quote from within:
"During the 2003 school year, for example, 47,600 minority teachers entered the profession — but approximately 56,000 left."
So these teachers are affected by the same poor working conditions as other teachers that are leaving the profession.
These
teachers—many of them older—are also among the first to be fired in
today's budget-cut era because they are expensive and districts can
always substitute a less expensive teacher (TFA teacher and others) in
their stead. I saw actual data on this in Texas. Scandalously, this,
too, is an equity issue and states should track this—which teachers from
which ethnic groups are being given pink slips.
I'll
post later what many of us around the country are working on as part of
the National Latino/a Education Research and Policy Project
(NLERAP)—specifically a Grow-Your-Own (GYO) Latino/a teacher preparation
pipeline in five cities in five states as follows:
Sacramento, California; Chicago, Illinois;
Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Dallas, Texas, and Brooklyn, New York. The act of convening a constituency around
public schooling and GYO teachers across our five sites underscores community
ownership of teacher preparation—not
only after pre-service teachers enter the profession but also before and throughout
their educational experience in their university program. Ideally, our pipeline will begin getting built in the early grades through student clubs and peer mentorship opportunities.
Our teachers need a constituency, or support network, not only so that they can be more effective teachers, but also so that they can have a backbone of support as they themselves work toward transformational change in their respective communities. They never work alone but rather as part of a larger collective effort that supports and sustains the pipeline.
We think that this is a model that all groups can consider.
Incidentally, Dr.
Ana Maria Villegas, a member of our 35-member national consortium (or
NLERAP) has researched these trends of national data if anyone wants to
pursue this further (just Google her).
Angela Valenzuela, Director
National Latino/a Education Research and Policy Project
Patricia Lopez, Associate Director
National Latino/a Education Research and Policy Project
Our teachers need a constituency, or support network, not only so that they can be more effective teachers, but also so that they can have a backbone of support as they themselves work toward transformational change in their respective communities. They never work alone but rather as part of a larger collective effort that supports and sustains the pipeline.
We think that this is a model that all groups can consider.
Incidentally, Dr. Ana Maria
Villegas, a member of our 35-member national consortium (or NLERAP) has
researched these trends of national data if anyone wants to pursue this
further (just Google her).
Angela Valenzuela, Director
National Latino/a Education Research and Policy Project
Patricia Lopez, Associate Director
National Latino/a Education Research and Policy Project
http://www.newstaco.com/2012/07/12/minority-teachers-in-the-united-states-really-a-minority/
MINORITY
Minority Teachers In The United States – Really A Minority
By Hope Gillette, VoxxiFor decades, the presence of teachers representing minority groups has been sorely lacking in the education system in the United States. That’s the conclusion offered by a report from a study by Education Week and Flora Family Foundation, that explored data from 1980-2009 taken from a U.S. Department of Education national survey of teachers and school administrators.
Researchers found a significant gap between the number of minority students and the number of minority teachers. During one test year, the percentage of children in school representing minorities was 41 percent, but only 16.5 percent of educators were from a minority demographic.
According to experts, minority teachers are important in the education system; parents of minority children often feel more comfortable discussing school issues with a teacher from similar heritage, and a diverse teacher population ensures children from all races have a supply of role models.
Research suggests that access to minority teachers may increase attendance, lead to higher test scores, and decrease the number of suspensions in the system.
As one of the fastest growing minorities, Hispanics are a prime example of the education gap. Latino children enrolled in school have far surpassed the number of Latino teachers available. The gap was recognized in the 1990s, when the Exxon Education Foundation revealed 11.8 percent of students were Hispanic and only 3.7 percent of teachers shared that heritage. More recent numbers indicate 21 percent of students are Hispanic compared to 7 percent of Hispanic teachers.
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But why is there such a gap?
What the research did show, however, was that minority teachers are 2 to 3 times more likely to accept positions in hard-to-staff systems in urban, high-poverty zones. In this manner, researchers say the minority teacher factor has been successful, but it is retention of those minority teachers which contributes to the national shortage.
The data indicates teachers from minority demographics are more likely to move from one school to another, and many leave the profession entirely. During the 2003 school year, for example, 47,600 minority teachers entered the profession — but approximately 56,000 left.
When the process was examined, researchers found that contributing to reasons minority teachers leave a school or the entire profession are issues regarding poor treatment from co-workers and superiors, and a poor work environment in hard-to-staff locations.
To combat minority teachers drop-outs, the Education Week report suggests working on two main areas: teacher recruitment and decision-making input.
Because teachers from minorities are indeed available (based on the number of graduates with a teaching degree), schools and education programs need to design recruitment programs that reach the nation’s diverse ethnic groups. Part of the recruitment process means offering competitive wages and desirable work conditions. Decision making within a school will also keep minority teachers invested in the education program, creating a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction when the school succeeds as a whole.
This article was first published in Voxxi.
Hope Gillette is an award winning author and novelist. She has been active in the veterinary industry for over 10 years, and her experience extends from exotic animal care to equine sports massage. She shares her home with four cats, a dog, a horse, and her tolerant husband.
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