Citizenship, Education, and Hope

I love this story. Every child deserves an opportunity. Every child...every person...deserves a reason to have hope.

Teachers

Thanks to Carrie for posting this in her comment...and thanks to all of the teachers out there who do these things on a daily basis.

Making music

I know it can be frustrating being a teacher, but what an amazing profession!

Teachers have such an opportunity to impact children and completely change their perspective on life. It was obvious that the three orchestra/band teachers at Lang have done just that with quite a large group of kids. Somehow, they have made orchestra cool for lots of kids--boys and girls alike.

Mrs. Poquette-Drews, Mr. Covey, and Mr. Woods deserve lots of accolades. What an amazing ability to teach kids how to play an instrument, concentrate, work in conjunction with others, and so much more.

Nathan is one of their students. I've been asking Nathan all year to tell me when his orchestra concerts are. It took him all year, but tonight was the night: Lane Middle School Spring Orchestra concert.

I went, not because I'm a big orchestra fan, but because I am a big Nathan fan. However, I must admit, I truly enjoyed this orchestra concert.

Turns out, Nathan's a cello player in the advanced orchestra! He never told me he was in the advanced orchestra!! I'm so impressed with what he's learned and continues to learn. Last year he played the viola. But I believe he has found an instrument he likes even better. I think next year we'll get to hear an even more advanced cello player. I'm so thorougly impressed and proud.

Check him out here:

Where should I enroll my child?

An article in the New York Times finds that the gap between urban and suburban graduations rates is astounding.

"...the average high school graduation rate in the nation’s 50 largest cities was 53 percent, compared with 71 percent in the suburbs."

So, if you had a choice, where would you want your child?

Problem is, most low-income parents don't have that choice.

Housing developments and low-income housing are usually concentrated in the city. Even if they weren't, it's often harder for families to choose to move to suburban areas due to their lack of transportation.

I hear a lot of judgment in our urban communities by people outside of the communities about what parents should/shouldn't be doing. But let me challenge that thinking.


If a parent has gone through an urban school, they are likely one of the statistics cited above. If they are one of the statistics that came out of the failed urban school systems, they likely don't have a level of education that allows them to move into high level jobs that would pay better, create benefits that would allow them to take paid vacation days to see to the needs of their child, and provide healthcare for them and their children that would create a healthier home.

A lower level of education also probably means that they may not be able to help their children with their academic needs...and are often embarrassed to admit this to their children, the school, or other people who may be able to help.

Going on these statistics, an average of 47% *did* graduate. Graduating doesn't always mean academically prepared. I know many people who have graduated from urban schools, yet still can't read or write. I can think of at least four right now. So, although there may be a 47% graduation rate, even less may be prepared to be successful in the workplace.

The majority of parents I've met are trying.

Unfortunately, they are stuck in a system that isn't providing them or their children a way out.

We can blame the parents for their parenting skills, their inability to help their children, their unwillingness to attend our meetings. But blame gets us nowhere. What are we doing to help the children? What are we doing to help ensure the next generation is able to be different?

"Blaming others conveniently lets us off the hook." ~Jawanza Kunjufu

Acknowledging the work of César Chávez

It's not hard to figure out that we value the things that we know and are most familiar with. Unfortunately, it has not been until fairly recently that the contributions of people of color have been deemed important.

In 2009 we still live in a segregated society. Sometimes we don't even recognize how segregated we are. Look at your neighborhood. Count the people on your street who don't look like you. Go to church. Count the people at your church who don't look like you. (before you answer that you have diversity in your community or your church, let me clarify. Having one or two families does not count as diversity.).

It's not that people of color haven't contributed any knowledge to society. We simply don't recognize their contributions. Our history books and other text books are slowly getting better, but they, for the most part, credit the major contributions to White males.

In a blog post on March 29, I showed where technology is headed. At the end of the video, you can see the guy who created the amazing system. I'm guessing he's Indian-American. I have heard little about him or his amazing innovation, but much about Bill Gates. It's just the way we work.

All of that to say that it's good to see more people of color in leadership who will challenge us to recognize the efforts of so many others we have disregarded all of these years. So I thank Dr. Hinojosa for pledging to make March 31 a recognition day for and education day about César Chávez. I hope the rest of us will follow this lead and learn more about the depth of what he contributed to our country.

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A Proud Day for Dallas...
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
By Alberto E. Ruiz

Starting today, Dallas ISD students will celebrate the legacy of one of our nation's great civil right leaders by learning about his important life's work. Julian Resendiz of Al Dia reported that César Chávez would no longer be a mystery for students in the 5th grade of Dallas public schools. "Every year on March 31st", stated Michael Hinojosa, DISD superintendant, "our young people will be given special lessons on service and learning through school curriculum." The entrenched superintendant added, "There are things that I can control and this is one of them." He told a crowd at the Latino Cultural Center during the Cesar Chavez Arts Tribute on Sunday.

"It was something that the community sugested. People came to us, some of our administrators studied it and said, 'Claro que sí, sí se puede hacer'", said Hinojosa. "It's a good recommendation and right on time, since we are celebrating his birthday."

While Dallas ISD plans to implement Chávez in it's curriculum, the Mayor and City Councilmembers proclaimed March 31st as César Chávez Day in the nation's 9th largest metropolitan area. The detailed proclamation was read by Councilmembers, Dr. Elba Garcia an Steve Salazar, during the event that the LCC. Dallas remains the only city out of the nation's top 10 without a major thoroughfare in honor of the civil rights icon.

A mass also took place at the Cathedral of Guadalupe on Saturday morning, which was followed by a march led by LULAC District 3 and the Dallas Peace Center. After arriving at the Farmer's Martket against a strong and cold wind, students and adults listened as Ft. Worth State Representative Lon Burnam stated, I'm not your representative but on behalf of your sister city to the west I want you to know that you deserve to be heard and to have the street that you desire for César Chávez."

Pondering the May elections for city council, the state of our economy and our nation's renewed trust in social justice advocates and unity coalitions. Indeed, it is a proud day in Dallas, where despite a heavy hand over the mouth of residents, together we shouted: Si se puede, Yes we can!

Below are details of the Tribute that took place on Sunday, March 29 at the Latino Cultural Center.

Changing education for our future

I understand that basic skills--reading, writing, and math--are a necessity. But I also believe that our world is rapidly changing and we need to adjust our education system accordingly.

When I was growing up, it was a big thing for everyone to have a set of encyclopedias. I loved going to my grandma's house and reading her Childcraft encyclopedias. I can remember my parents debating over whether they should get Worldbook or Britannica. I used to make fun of my brother because he would spend hours in the living room reading them. Twenty five years ago, encyclopedias were an important source of information. But information is accessed very differently these days.

Today I can't imagine having to travel to a library during open hours in order to pull books and write down information, hoping to get what I need so that I don't have to go back if my research takes a different direction.

No, instead, I sit at home on my couch--doesn't matter if it's 2:00 p.m. or 2:00 a.m.--and search for specific terms that immediately give me access to the information I need. Or...I "follow" different education tweets on Twitter that send texts to my phone so that I can access articles instantaneously and in real time.

Despite the wealth of information at our fingertips, our school systems are set up in ways that still expects kids to learn by sitting in a classroom, facing forward, and listening to a teacher using one, authoritative source--a textbook.

So, it's exciting for me to hear that there are now 10 states working with the Arizona-based Partnership for 21st Century Skills, or P21, to develop 21st century skills including critical and creative thinking, becoming technologically savvy, and working well with others.

E.D. Hirsch, a well-known writer about "cultural literacy" has written books about What Every American Needs to Know. In his opinion, kids need to learn his list of items before they learn P21 skills. I disagree. In his book, there are 63 pages of small print of "what literate Americans know"...many items of which I don't know. But what I do know is where and how to find information when I need it (a P21 skill).

Maybe we should learn from the UK, who has plans and proposals to overhaul the primary school curriculum.

Proposals would require:

• Children to leave primary school familiar with blogging, podcasts, Wikipedia and Twitter as sources of information and forms of communication. They must gain "fluency" in handwriting and keyboard skills, and learn how to use a
spellchecker alongside how to spell.

• Children to be able to place historical events within a chronology. "By the end of the primary phase, children should have gained an overview which enables them to place the periods, events and changes they have studied within a chronological framework, and to understand some of the links between them." Every child would learn two key periods of British history but it would be up to the school to decide which ones. Schools would still be able to opt to teach Victorian history or the second world war, but they would not be required to. The move is designed to prevent duplication with the secondary curriculum, which covers the second world war extensively.

• Less emphasis on the use of calculators than in the current curriculum.

• An understanding of physical development, health and wellbeing programme, which would address what Rose calls "deep societal concerns" about children's health, diet and physical activity, as well as their relationships with family and friends. They will be taught about peer pressure, how to deal with bullying and how to negotiate in their relationships.

The six core areas are: understanding English, communication and languages, mathematical understanding, scientific and technological understanding, human, social and environmental understanding, understanding physical health and wellbeing, and understanding arts and design.

I don't believe anyone is advocating for taking away basic skills. But I do believe we need a better understanding of what opportunities exist for providing kids with a multifaceted opportunity to gain information.

Maybe they won't access the information E.D. Hirsch or I think is important. They may discover something that we never thought to tell them.

Promising college

In San Francisco, there is a new promise for middle school students, "Qualify for college and you'll have a reserved seat as well as financial aid when you get there."

Despite the current economic crises, three middle schools are promising students who "sign the 'Save Me a Spot in College' pledge - and later meet entrance and eligibility requirements - will receive a fee waiver for two or more years at a California community college, as long as the student continues to show financial need."

Students who qualify for financial aid would be able to receive college funding anyway, but San Francisco sees it as an opportunity to provide "motivation as well as increased college-preparatory support through high school."

Right now colleges are cutting back on offered courses and admitting fewer students due to cash-strapped institutions. However, as they look forward, they are hoping to create the even bigger problem of having so many students qualifying for college that they will be forced to fix that problem.

I think anything that promises and guarantees a future in education is great. It's not a charitable act. The students would have to qualify (which can be a big task...and which is why I would hope the school system is stepping up to that plate). By providing the offer in junior high, kids have an opportunity to begin working toward their goals, not having to worry about finding the funding and figuring out the system....a daunting task for kids and parents who have no experience with the massive amounts of paperwork and small print it takes to get into college.

Wouldn't it be nice to offer that guarantee to all kids?

Encouraging fighting to solve problems

As I read the report about South Oak Cliff (SOC) high school using cage fighting to solve problems, I was troubled for more than the obvious reasons.

Evidently, "documents obtained by The Dallas Morning News show that troubled students were sent to duke it out – with bare fists and no head protection – in a steel utility cage in an athletic locker room. "...while..."students stood around clapping and screaming while watching the fight, as if they were in an arena."

Yes, our urban areas and urban schools can be violent places to be, unfortunately. But is perpetuating that violence really the way to go?

Though the principal at the time denies that he allowed it to go on or knew about it, I wonder if he bought into the belief that in inner city communities people have to be dealt with violently in order to make change. Respond with violence. That's the only thing they'll understand, right?

I've heard that sentiment from other people as well. I don't buy it.

In different parenting classes, I've often heard that we shouldn't spank kids because it teaches them to hit. I don't subscribe to that fully, but there is an underlying point there. If we yell at people, they often yell back. If we hit people, they will hit back. But if we don't feel like we can hurt the person who hurt us, the hurt and anger that is left behind is often taken out on the next person that comes along.

Treating people like animals in a cage creates the "zoo effect" that incenses me. It allows people to observe barbaric behavior at the expense of the people in that environment. How can we think that treating people like animals creates a setting where people feel dignified and respected in a way that behavior will change toward the better?

From the reports I've read, I would agree that SOC is a very challenging environment. Under the same principal who allowed the cage fighting, grades were adjusted so that certain players could play in the state basketball tournament. Creating an environment where high expectations are the norm and students are acknowledged and valued is not easy, but it is possible...and necessary.

We have to do better...for our kids...our communities. Our response affects everyone's future.

Lowering the bar doesn't make our kids smarter

I didn't ever think about this, but since every state has their own standardized test (Texas has the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills--TAKS, Missouri has Missouri Assessment Program--MAP, etc.). So, although the states have "standardized" tests, it doesn't mean that we are accurately measuring students' skills equally. And, evidently, from what the Austin American Statesman says,

Research by the National Council on Education Statistics found that in 2003, Mississippi was the only state with an easier fourth-grade reading standard than Texas, assuming all states test the same skills.

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requires states to set their own targets and interim goals and submit them to the Department of Education. So, in Texas, we set the bar low so that we can look like we have made major achievements by meeting the goal of all children passing TAKS by 2014.

NCLB also requires standardized testing to track the progress of racial, ethnic, linguistic and economic groups in order to ensure no group is being left behind. However, Texas has set a standard that the group has to number at least 50 and make up at least 10 percent of a campus's enrollment in order for that group to affect progress. In other words, if a school is 95% African-American, with less than 50 and less than 10% English as a Second Language speakers, , they don't have to be tracked. Or if a school only has a handful of Asian students, their academic failure doesn't count against the school.

I'm not a big fan of tracking. Every inner city school I've been in starts blaming groups of kids for their failure to achieve a "recognized" or "exemplary" standard from the state. At the 85% Hispanic, 15% African American school I was at, they constantly referred to the "one 5th grade African American male student" who had "messed up" their results. I find that pretty unfair to "blame" a kid for that, but that's what has resulted from NCLB.

I spent some time with a 3rd grader yesterday and she informed me how she was so nervous about the TAKS test (3rd graders are no longer allowed to advance to the next grade unless they pass their reading TAKS test). She said she gets scared. She kept reassuring me (and herself) that it shouldn't be hard because, "I know my strategies." But then she would tell me about students in her class who made a 17% because they missed X number of problems and how they all had to be careful not to write in certain spots on the test because it would be thought that they filled in an extra "bubble," which would then count them wrong.

The fact that the standards are lower in Texas is extremely disappointing and concerns me for our children. What's worse is that our standards are lower yet so much anxiety is produced in the children as if they were taking the LSAT...and they don't even know that their lowered expectations are setting them up to be less prepared than the rest of the United States. What's even worse than that is our childrens' intellect is being determined by if they fill in a bubble correctly.

I think testing is good...IF it's there simply there as an assessment of how well WE, as teachers, have gotten the skills across. I'm not a fan of producing anxiety-ridden children. Besides that, our world is changing. We've got to change our educational system to match the pace of our ever-changing, highly technological world. It would be nice if the stimulus bill hadn't voted out school infrastructure. Sometimes we have to go beyond testing and figure out what's wrong with the system that's producing the under-prepared children.

Have we lost our minds?!

Florida is thinking about changing their public schools to a 4-day week. The Orlando Sentinel reports that the school district is financially strapped and is looking for cost-cutting alternatives.

What in the world are we thinking???

Rearrange city services...cut legislator's pay...let the banks fail...arrange for bartering systems or something...but NEVER cut education!!

I am a big fan of being "green." Part of Florida's plan is to eliminate the 5th day of school...probably a Friday...so that they can power down the electricity for three days in a row. Saving electricity makes sense to me. Cutting kids' education doesn't.

Not only does cutting out that 5th day lesson a child's exposure to education (I didn't read anywhere that said they would extend the other days to make up for it), but it also creates a system of more unsupervised children on the streets for an entire day of the week. Cutting out an entire day would either require businesses to restructure for their employees or will cause children to be at home alone and unsupervised.

If we are going to change the way schools operate (which I am not opposed to that...we are working on an agrarian system that was developed long ago), we must also change the way we offer day care, create work weeks, and design education to maximize learning.

Why can we not make the connection that the way we choose to educate students now is going to affect our economy, our society, our communities? If we don't look at the entire picture, the devastating results are going to happen sooner than later.

We've got to change this mentality of cutting or even simply sustaining our schools. As I mentioned, I'm a fan of restructuring the schools. We need major investment into our schools. Every school wired for the internet. Every child using a computer. Every child required to take an annual technology class that would teach them innovative uses of technology. Technology incorporated into every other class as well. Practical application of basic subjects (e.g. DNA studies for science, dance classes for math, use of checkbooks and debit cards to pay for lunch and a financial literacy class to help them balance their checkbook, business simulations, etc.).

Right now, several states have let elementary and secondary schools switch to the shorter weeks, including Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, Minnesota and Montana. Others, including Missouri and New York, are weighing it.

What do we need to do to get our voice heard on this?? Who's making the changes...and who are they asking for advice? If it's not parents who have children in public schools...and if it's not teachers who truly have an interest in educating children...they are asking the wrong people.

Dallas Mayor appoints himself?

Dallas Mayor Looks at Taking Over DISD

As the news broke that Mayor Tom Leppert was considering a take-over of the Dallas Independent School District, emotions start rising.

When asked for a comment, all Mr. Leppert would say was, "The statement speaks for itself. I'm sticking with the statement," he said, adding only that "in the end, the kids have to be the priority. We're having a lot of conversations."

However, some school board members are questioning his motives. "Why would he want to be in charge of the school district?" Lew Blackburn wondered. Other board trustees from the southern sector (a primarily African-American section of the city) are stating their concern about a mayor from the northern sector (a primarily White section of the city) running the Dallas district (which is primarily African-American and Hispanic).

I get the sense that there is some defensiveness and territorialism going on. But, the truth of the matter is, our district teeters on the edge of a downward spiral. Though blame has been freely placed on Superintendent Hinojosa, blaming people does not fix the fact that our school system is not doing well and our children are suffering.

In the past, I don't know that I would've been on board with a city take over. However, I think we need to consider our needs and our resources.

DISD hasn't been thought of as a quality district for quite some time. If Mayor Leppert is serious about making the children a priority, it doesn't matter to me what color he is or where he lives. Our children deserve better than what they're getting.

I actually like Hinojosa. I like his passion; I like his approach. However, just because he has the best in mind for the kids and may be a great educator visionary doesn't mean he's got great business sense.

What I notice in non-profit is that most of us come from social sciences fields. We have been taught to be social workers, ministers, educators, etc. We have not been taught how to create a business plan, develop outcomes, and have a solid sense of budgeting. Yet, we are expected to wear that hat. Even the president of the United States has a team of people to figure out the economic piece.

So...if a successful business man who graduated from Harvard and was the former CEO of Turner Construction is committed to education and can help us get our financial piece in order, why not take him up on the offer? I don't get the sense he's wanting to tell educators how to teach. I would hope he is willing to listen to the educators and work in conjunction with them so that we can have a financially viable and educationally strong school system.

Obama donates campaign supplies to schools

Barack Obama's campaign contacted iloveschools.com a few weeks ago to begin organizing the donation of their office supplies and other items.

"The man had the foresight to plan this. In the middle of a huge national campaign, he's thinking about poor children," commented Jean Schmalzreid, the district's director of federal programs and special projects.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08317/927129-54.stm

Can DISD help us become a more progressive society?

Not too long ago, Dallas Independent School District (DISD) passed a bond package to build 15 new schools. I attended the DISD Bond Election Townhall meeting in my neighborhood to find out more about the bond package. I was always in favor of the bond simply because I think anything the schools can do to improve education for the students in DISD is a good thing. While at the meeting, however, I questioned the efficiency of the way they were planning to spend the money.

Just a year or so ago, they spent a huge amount of time and money on O.M. Roberts Elementary school (my neighborhood school) to install elevators in order to be ADA approved. I completely agree with that move...except that I think it should have been done long ago. What bothers me is not that they spent the money to meet ADA standards...nor is it that the new bond package will mean tearing down O.M. Roberts and rebuilding the school. What bothers me is that there doesn't seem to be foresight as we look to the future of our schools and our children. As a result, it seems to me that we are wasting money that could have been prevented had we looked ahead and spent the money rebuilding the school the first time.

This seems to be a problem in our broader society as well.

As the economy goes south and the United States struggles to catch up to the rest of the world (i.e. foreign cars who have long been smaller and more fuel efficient...foreign countries who are WAY ahead of us in cell phone technology), we react.

What if we, instead, worked toward becoming a proactive and progressive nation? (side contemplation: Are we reactive because we don't have the capability to think ahead?...Could this be due to our focus on lower level skills thinking related to standardized testing that doesn't encourage critical thinking skills and, thus, innovation???)

As an educator, a college professor, an inner-city resident, a few things are obvious to me.

1) Many (most???) of our schools (especially our urban schools) are working off an old, agrigarian society model that hasn't changed...despite the fact that our society, the way we learn, and the technologies available, have.

2) New teachers and college students are being educated by people who grew up without any of these new technologies and who still have a difficult time adjusting and adapting to the current culture...and many choose to remain in the dark and teach as they have always taught.

3) Teachers, community members, and even students, could probably offer us a wealth of suggestions in ways to improve the school's physical environment and ways of educating our children based on their experiences, knowledge of their community, and things they know or want to know.

Here's my thought as it relates to our DISD schools...

What if, as DISD began building these 15 new schools, they held community meetings in the community where the school will be built? What if they asked (and genuinely listened) to the students, teachers, and parents about what they want and need in their schools? What if they were willing to build a school that might be different architecturally (inside and/or outside)? What if they were willing to hear parents who talk about how badly they want their children prepared for college and structured programming around that? What if they took into account a economic efficiency and neighborhood concerns and made schools into community centers that were open late into the evenings (instead of having separately funded and run buildings and organizations for this same thing)?

I don't know what parents or students would say. I don't know what the teachers would say. But aren't they the experts? Don't you think someone who lives in a neighborhood might have better suggestions on how to make the school a bigger, more important, and more relevant part of the community than someone who only spends a 7:00-3:30 day there? Don't you think someone who teaches in a school day in and day out might have a suggestion or two of what could help him or her meet the needs of the children in that neighborhood--socially, academically, physically, and otherwise?

I can hear the naysayers now...It's too expensive...We're under time constraints...We build our schools based on good practices over the years.

I tend to think that if we actually went in to listen to what the community had to say (and followed through on their suggestions), we just might create an environment that would benefit the community in a way we can't comprehend.

Perhaps this could start the progressive, forward-thinking that the United States seems to need right now before we become like England in the 1900s.

For the benefit of all

Where do our selfish motives and our fears come from?

I read an article in the Washington Post about the current attempts White parents are making to sway desegregation orders so that their children can get put into the best schools and avoid the worst. The "best" schools have AP classes available, multiple opportunities, challenging coursework...and are made up of primarily White children. The "worst" schools have few, if any college-prep, rigorous classes, fewer extracurricular opportunities, and lower expectations for the kids...oh yeah...and are made up of primarily Black and Hispanic children.

Here's what I don't get. These parents who are working so hard to keep their children out of the "worst" schools...why don't they go ahead and put their child in the school and then work just as diligently to fight for the same quality of education and classes at that "bad" school so that all of the children involved can benefit?? Instead, they work overtime to make sure their child avoids the "bad" school...even to the point of enrolling their child illegally in a suburban district and lying to the school about their child's enrollment until their child gets moved up on the waiting list in their own district and is able to attend the school of their (or their parent's) choice.

I suppose I'd be naive to say that I don't know why urban schools don't have more rigor, more AP classes, and other programs that middle and upper-middle class parents want for their children. On the surface, kids in those schools appear to not care...about themselves, their community, or their academic achievements. However, I know that many of these kids, with the right expectations and the right challenge, can far exceed what the schools are currently expecting of them (I've witnessed it!). Think about it, though, that's exactly why many White, middle class parents are working so hard to get their kids in other schools. They recognize that if you put a child in a situation where there is little or no opportunity to grow, they won't! The difference in these White, middle class parents than many of the parents in the area around these "bad" schools is that the White, middle class parents have the money, time, resources, connections, and knowledge of the system to make sure their child gets what they want/need.

If parents who ultimately end up with successful, academically prepared students are making sure they secure those opportunities for their own children, shouldn't we think about what they are seeking out and figure out how to offer it in all of our schools for all of our children?? I have been around kids and "systems" long enough to know that putting a few AP classes into a school is not going to draw the masses of our urban kids. It's going to take time and it's going to take an effort by everyone involved to make sure the kids know about the wealth of opportunities available, can access them (financially and physically), and are prepared for them. This cannot be done by making the opportunities available and then lowering expectations. Our kids deserve so much better than that. We need to make the opportunities available and then work to make sure our kids are prepared for the intensity of those higher expectations.

Look below the surface of what you see in urban neighborhoods and urban schools. The problems aren't the unruly and out of control kids. It's not just the parents or lack thereof of the unruly and out of control kids. The problems run so much deeper. Look at the way the system is set up. Decide if you would want your child to be in those situations. If not, help us figure out how to solve those problems at a systemic level so that every child has an opportunity to be successful.

And realize that the ones who do come out of that system successful are way more extraordinary than we ever give them credit for.

Determined (and Impressive) Parents

I've got to hand it to Sylvia, our Children's Education Assistant.

Sylvia is a parent.

She cares.

She wants the best for her children.

She has high expectations for her children.

She has high expectations from the people who educate her children.

Sylvia knows that she has been a good parent to her 2nd grader. She has taught him well. But his little body just does not seem to sit still and stay focused. He is often in trouble. Sylvia is looking for answers. She simply wants to know the best way to help her child.

Sylvia visits her son's elementary school at least once a week in an attempt to get him tested for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). (It is her legal right to do that.) Maybe he isn't ADHD. But she wants to know so that she can move on to other possibilities if he isn't.

Despite her continuous requests, she has gotten no response. She visits the counselor every week and has attempted to get meetings with the principal, but to no avail.

Her perseverance has finally paid off. After about two months of persistence, the counselor finally gave her the paperwork today.

And we claim that parents don't want to be involved?? Should it REALLY take that long for a legitimate request that would benefit the child to be honored??

Do you see why parents might be a little frustrated and might have given up on their ability to impact on their child's education?

My hat goes off to all of those parents like Sylvia who are forcing the schools to stand up and take notice. Keep persevering!

Lessons from the Amish

I received this on my email this morning and thought the message was powerful enough to share:

Published on Friday, October 6, 2006 by CommonDreams.org

What the Amish are Teaching America
by Sally Kohn

On October 2, Charles Carl Roberts entered a one-room schoolhouse in the Amish community of Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. He lined up eleven young girls from the class and shot them each at point blank range. The gruesome depths of this crime are hard for any community to grasp, but certainly for the Amish who live such a secluded and peaceful life, removed even from the everyday depictions of violence on TV. When the Amish were suddenly pierced by violence, how did they respond?

The evening of the shooting, Amish neighbors from the Nickel Mines community gathered to process their grief with each other and mental health counselors. As of that evening, three little girls were dead. Eight were hospitalized in critical condition. (One more girl has died since.) According to reports by counselors who attended the grief session, the Amish family members grappled with a number of questions: Do we send our kids to school tomorrow? What if they want to sleep in our beds tonight, is that okay? But one question they asked might surprise us outsiders. What, they wondered, can we do to help the family of the shooter? Plans were already underway for a horse-and-buggy caravan to visit Charles Carl Roberts' family with offers of food and condolences. The Amish, it seems, don't automatically translate their grieving into revenge. Rather, they believe in redemption.

Meanwhile, the United States culture from which the Amish are isolated is moving in the other direction, increasingly exacting revenge for crimes and punishing violence with more violence. In 26 states and at the federal level, there are "three strikes" laws in place. Conviction for three felonies in a row now warrants a life sentence, even for the most minor crimes. For instance, Leandro Andrade is serving a life sentence, his final crime involving the theft of nine children's videos, including Cinderella and Free Willy from a Kmart. Similarly, in many states and at the federal level, possession of even small amounts of drugs trigger mandatory minimum sentences of extreme duration. In New York, Elaine Bartlett was just released from prison, serving a 20-year sentence for possessing only four ounces of cocaine. This is in addition to the 60 people who were executed in the United States in 2005, among the more than a thousand killed since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. And the President of the United States is still actively seeking authority to torture and abuse alleged terrorists, whom he consistently dehumanizes as rats to be "smoked from their holes," even without evidence of their guilt.

Our patterns of punishment and revenge are fundamentally at odds with the deeper values of common humanity that the tragic experience of the Amish are helping to reveal. Each of us is more than the worst thing we've ever done in life. Someone who cheats is not only a cheater. Someone who steals something is not only a thief. And someone who commits a murder is not only a murderer. The same is true of Charles Carl Roberts. We don't yet know the details of the episode in his past for which, in his suicide note, he said he was seeking revenge. It may be a sad and sympathetic tale. It may not. Either way, there's no excusing his actions. Whatever happened to Roberts in the past, taking the lives of others is never justified. But nothing Roberts has done changes the fact that he was a human being, like all of us. We all make mistakes.

Roberts' were considerably and egregiously larger than most. But the Amish in Nickel Mines seem to have been able to see past Roberts' actions and recognize his humanity, sympathize with his family for their loss, and move forward with compassion not vengeful hate.
We've come to think that "an eye for an eye" is a natural, human reaction to violence. The Amish, who live a truly natural life apart from the influences of our violence-infused culture, are proving otherwise. If, as Gandhi said, "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind," then the Amish are providing the rest of us with an eye-opening lesson.

Sally Kohn is Director of the Movement Vision Project at the Center for Community Change and author of a forthcoming book on the progressive vision for the future of the United States.

Wasteful spending??

Today's headline in the Dallas Morning News: DISD Misused Federal Grants.

My first reaction to this article was irritation.

No wonder our kids in DISD aren't doing well when the principals and teachers are spending money on flowers for their secretaries, playstations for the kids, and cute throws for the teachers...all in the name of "encouragement!"

I do not agree with incentives in the first place. I believe that too many people work too hard trying to buy a child's (and parent's) interest in education rather than making the education process interesting and meaningful enough so that kids (and parents) have internal motivation and incentives to participate.

I think this is especially bad in the inner city. I hear people say all of the time, "That's the only way 'these' kids will want to learn." or, "That's the only way 'these' parents will participate is if we feed them or pay them." I don't buy it. I have a full staff of parents in our After-School Academy. I truly believe they work so hard because the After-School Academy is a meaningful way for them to participate in their child's education. I'm sure it's not for money because they could go other places and get more hours and probably make more per hour.

I wish people would work hard to figure out how to spend that extra grant money on cool, educational things that could pique a child's interest instead of trying to bribe them into attending school by offering them a playstation.

My second thought was indignation.

How could they possibly take grant money allocated for the kids and spend it on employees and themselves??

Yet, I quickly thought of the times that I, too, have wanted to let the employees of our After-School Academy (ASA) know that they are appreciated. Though there are times I purchase things out of pocket, there are times where I take liberties to purchase things using our ASA budget as well. Maybe I, too, should be more careful.

My final thought was about inequity.

I have friends who work for corporations and companies that use incentives and give their employees business credit cards. My friends have been given jump drives (that cost about $60+ in the store) and backpacks designed for laptops. They have been given Treos and Blackberries complete with unlimited text messaging, email, and whatever other amenities are possible. Not too long ago a friend came through Dallas on business and took me to eat. He assured me his company would pay for it and wouldn't mind a bit. We even went up the street after dinner to enjoy ice cream on the company. Several years ago, a friend of mine worked for a large accounting firm in Chicago. He and a couple of his co-workers purchased Bulls tickets on the company's credit card.

Why is it that when a public company provides these "extras" no one says a word? For companies and corporations, these "extras" are so common that I think the employees would probably be offended if they weren't included.

Yet, when someone works with children or in the social service sector, perks are seen as frivilous and mis-spent money. I suppose "civil servants" are supposed to be sacrificial in every aspect of their job and life. A pat on the back should be sufficient.


It is somewhat humorous to me that it is our money being "wasted" in private companies just the same as it is our money being "wasted" in publicly funded companies. We are willing to look the other way in a private company, yet we want to stand up, bang our fist on the table, and demand that they re-think giving our money away to "wasteful" venues when we talk about our tax dollars (especially when what those tax dollars are being spent for doesn't directly benefit us!).

I'm actually not defending DISD. I would like to see DISD's money used appropriately--and I don't think it always has been. DISD has a lot of work to do, in my opinion. But before I jump on the bandwagon of condemning DISD, I have to think through the accusations and realize that theirs may be no different than any company. They're just an easier target.

Acceptance

Children are who they are.

They know what they know.

They bring what they bring.

Our job is not to wish that students knew more or knew differently. Our job is to turn each student’s knowledge and diversity of knowledge we encounter into a curricular strength rather than an instructional inconvenience.

We can do that only if we hold high expectations for all students, convey great respect for the knowledge and culture they bring to the classroom, and offer lots of support in helping them achieve those expectations.

~P. David Pearson, “Reclaiming the Center”

Parents don't send us their worst or least educated children and keep the others at home. They send us the best they've got. My experience is that parents send us (the educators) their children hoping and trusting that we will provide them with skills that will help them be "successful" in life. I don't hear of a lot of parents who intentionally try to sabotage their child's education. Everyone I know wants their child to be bright, smart, and successful. They expect the educators to do what they oftentimes can't. Sometimes they can't because they work too much. Sometimes they can't because they're addicted to drugs. Sometimes they can't because they don't have the education. It doesn't matter what the reason is. We owe the children (and the parents) the best we have to offer.

Honesty is the best policy

Public high schools and colleges are almost all back in session now. Everyone is back to learning...or are they?

I read this New York Times article and was reminded of all of the teenagers I know who have entered college. Not a single one has entered college without having to take at least one (and often times two or three) "developmental" course their first semester in college.

Who takes developmental courses, in Texas at least, is determined by a score on a placement test. Depending on how high (or how low) a person scores, they will be placed in reading, writing, and math classes. Developmental classes cost money and are required before a student is able to take regular classes in those subjects, but do not count as college credit toward their degree.

My frustration is that elementary and high schools aren't being honest with their students, thus getting them to a level of education that they think they are prepared for, but they really aren't. The kids that I have worked with are often given extremes. Either they are given messages that they can't do or be something (i.e. "You can't read." or "You'll be pregnant by the time you're 16.") or they are given false hopes (i.e. "Sure! Apply to Texas Tech." ...when they are barely scraping by with C's...or "Here's is your 100% on your research paper!" ...that is riddled with grammar errors and wouldn't pass a good 3rd grade teacher's criteria.).

We owe it to our kids to be honest with them! However, with honesty comes some work on our part. No one wants to be told they aren't good at something without love and concern to help them with it. Love takes work. Whoever is willing to speak the truth must also back it up by taking the time to help them improve. With our time-crunched schedules, I don't know how many people are really willing to do that.

Several years ago Mike* (now 20) had just struggled through high school and graduated through an alternative program. His belief was the school kept passing him because they wanted to get rid of him. His theory may not have been too far-fetched.

I was appalled when he came home one day in 11th grade, extremely proud, showing me his research paper with 100% written on the front. His English teacher had given him 100% without any comments or corrections whatsoever. The misplaced periods, mis-spelled words, lack of capitalization at the beginning of a sentence, fragmented sentences, etc. did not deserve a C, let alone a 100%! Although I did talk to the school about the dis-service they were doing to their students, I never was able to find out if that teacher was reprimanded or even spoken to. I was frustrated not just at what was happening to that particular student, but what was happening to all of the students who were led to believe they were doing 100% work.

When Mike entered Community College after nearly dropping out of high school, but finishing through an alternative school, he needed three developmental classes. The college counselor we talked to would not allow him to take any more than those 9 hours. Therefore, his entire first semester did not count for anything except catching him up to where he needed to be.

I have always been honest with him about his academics...often to the point of hurting his feelings (as he has informed me). My goal was not to convince him he was inadequate, but to let him know that others weren't being honest with him and if he wanted to succeed, he needed to work hard because he hadn't been properly prepared.

Though he really enjoyed his first year of college, he did not go back. He does, however, always stay in touch. He calls when he is looking for an honest answer about something. He has also learned that he can be a resource to others. His phone calls often are about trying to help someone else get tutoring for their son or legal help for their brother or dental services for their child. I believe that despite his hurt feelings at times, he wants the truth. He wants to help others with the truth. I think what he realizes is that there is love behind the truth.

I wish our school systems would figure this out. There is a lot of work to do in our schools these days. Giving children inflated ideas about their current abilities will only hurt worse later. We need to be honest and we need to help them work toward the level of achievement of which they are perfectly capable.

*name has been changed

Empty Classrooms

I just spoke with a teenager this afternoon. I'll call her Isis. She's a Senior at our local public high school. Since school just started this week and she knows I want to make sure she's on the right track, she called to give me an update.

Isis is an A/B student. Isis and I talked last year about her education. As a junior, Isis was being encouraged by her school to go to Job Corps. I'm no expert, but my understanding is that Job Corps is geared more for those students who need alternative avenues to getting an education and a job. But Isis is an A/B student! She has family issues, as many kids do, but she is perfectly capable of finishing high school and getting a post-secondary education. The Job Corps recruiter encouraged her by letting her know that Job Corps pays a person to attend (whereas high school does not). As with almost any other kid from an impoverished background, Isis was lured by that offer. Right or wrong, I encouraged Isis to finish high school and discouraged Job Corps.

Today, she called to tell me about her senior year classes. The school told her she needed to sign up for Co-op. I remain skeptical over this ploy to put kids in our neighborhood in the service sector without providing them with adequate choices. The reason Isis said she signed up for co-op is because there are no other elective classes available except for gym, office assistant, and things like that. Granted, the other four classes she is taking are things like Economics, AP Biology, and a few others. But what about those other electives that help students prepare for college?

Although I have a hard time believing a school would only provide enough classes for students to complete 3 1/2 years of school, most of the students I know are opting out of a full day their senior year. Some of them are even taking a few summer classes their junior year so they don't have to attend a senior year.

This seems like a huge deficiency in our system. Our world is changing so fast today that four years of high school is too little...not too much! ...Especially for our kids and teenagers who don't have the access to the latest educational and technological devices in their homes or in their communities.

Check this out in your own community. I would be interested to hear if this is an issue in other areas as well. Whether it is or not, I think we should speak up and speak out for all students. It takes education and knowledge for our children to move forward. Everyone deserves the opportunity to obtain that knowledge.