For the Public Good-

1. For the Public Good- Academically Engaging African-American Students and Students in Poverty in the Life of Their Schools Blue Ribbon Schools Blue Print for Educational Excellence National Institute Reading Public Schools, Massachusetts Superintendent, Patrick A. Schettini, Jr., J.D. April 16 & 17, 2009 Dr. Gary L. Burgess, Sr. C.O.O. Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence Superintendent- Retired

2. Objectives of this session are • To re-state that public education is an effort to democratize the populace for the public good • To engage in an open and frank dialogue suggesting how schools might academically engage African-American students and students in poverty • To discuss possible reasons why African-American students and students in poverty are not achieving at higher academic levels • To suggest some strategies that might academically engage African-American students and students in poverty in their school’s academic culture • To develop preliminary action steps to take in participants’ schools to facilitate the successful academic engagement of African-American students and students in poverty

3. Expectations • Parameters • Procedures • Some Theories • Some Research • Some Effective School/Classroom Practices • District/School Action Planning Sections

4. My Expectations- • I expect professional dialogue! • I expect professional engagement! • I expect to be challenged! (Make a note of something I say that bothers you!) • No blame, no victimization- frank, professional dialogue!

5. Your Expectations- • What do you expect to get from this session?

6. Parameters of Exchange: • We will be respectful of each others ideas. • We will be frank in our discussion. • We will focus on what we can do to continue to make a positive difference academically for African-American students and students in poverty. • We will leave this session as we entered, as professional colleagues.

7. Let me say it up front- • It’s difficult to discuss race (black/white), socio-economic status, gender and religion in America!!! • Why? • We want to believe we live in a colorblind, classless, genderless, religiously free society.

8. Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence is dedicated to improving academic excellence for all children and celebrating the successes of schools.

9. Statements made are of a general nature and do not apply to all African-American students and students in poverty, but to these students as distinct disaggregate groups. Not all African-students are poor. Not all poor students are African-American. Not all African-American students are underperforming. Not all poor students are underperforming. Caution-

10. Procedure- • We will divide into random groups and district/school groups during this session • Each group will assign a recorder and spokesperson • Each spokesperson will report at the end of group dialogue

11. We the People of the United States, in Order to forma more perfect Union, establish Justice, insuredomestic Tranquility, provide for the commondefence, promote the general Welfare, and securethe Blessings of Liberty to ourselvesand ourPosterity, do ordain and establish this Constitutionfor the United States of America. Preamble

12. W.E.B. Dubois states- Of all the civil rights for which the world has struggled and fought for 5000 years, the right to learn, is undoubtedly the most fundamental…whatever we may think of the curtailment of other civil rights, we should fight to the last ditch to keep open the right to learn…. We must insist upon this to give our children the fairness of a start which will equip them with such an array of facts and such an attitude toward truth that they can have a real chance…

13. Some Theories

14. Random Group-List five reasons why public schools might not be effectively engaging African-American students and students in poverty academically in their schools. • 1. • 2. • 3. • 4. • 5.

15. Random Group-List five reasons (characteristics/coping strategies) why African-American students and students in poverty might not be effectively engaging academically in their schools. • 1. • 2. • 3. • 4. • 5.

16. Theories • Why might a theoretical frame be helpful?

17. Critical Social Theory- Resistance and Reproduction • Ogbu’s Research • Centripetal and Centrifugal Forces • Non-Synchrony • Stereotype Threat • The Tical Factor

18. Ogbu’s Research Reveals • Involuntary/transplanted immigrant groups (African Americans) usually perceive cultural differences as barriers and markers of group identity; therefore, when such groups cross cultural lines (becoming educated), it’s seen as a loss of identity. • Voluntary immigrant groups (Africans, Europeans, Asians, South Americans, Indians, etc) usually perceive cultural differences as barriers to be overcome; therefore, are more likely to be successful in crossing cultural boundaries (becoming educated).

19. Steele’s Work-Stereotype Threat Negative stereotypes about disaggregate groups might depress academic performance, particularly with members of disaggregate groups that have historically been discriminated against. Therefore, for members of these groups who identified with domains in which these stereotypes apply, the threat of these stereotypes can be sharply felt and, in several ways, hamper academic achievement.

20. Centripetal & Centrifugal ForcesDuBois • Centripetal Forces- forces that tend to draw members of a minority group toward that minority group. • Centrifugal Forces- forces that tend to draw members of a minority group toward the life styles of the dominant culture.

21. Non-Synchrony The interface of gender, race, and class are linked in a non-synchronized arrangement. One affects the other, with all having some effect on the other’s acceptance, with regard to society’s emphasis, expression, and interest in that construct at certain historical intersections.

22. The Tical Factor • The feeling of being trapped in one’s current life-circumstances, not perceiving a means of escape or power over one’s situation, believing something to be deficient about self; therefore, getting what one deserves. Burgess, Distorted, 2009

23. Does Race/Culture Matter? Often educators express their ability to ignore the color of children, however, race does matter in addressing the needs of African-American children; to ignore the presence of race in the fabric of American culture contributes to the fact that African-American children are oftentimes academic underachievers.

24. A Color-blind/Classless/Genderless Society • How might this assumed social reality affect African-American students and students in poverty? • How might this assumed social reality affect the school as an institution in dealing with African-American students and students in poverty?

25. Transatlantic Slave Trade Seasoning Process Paranoia of wealth whites- slave owners Miseducation of slaves Education seen as an asset of the white male landed gentry The Constitution- Article I, Section 2, Paragraph 3: Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States…which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other persons. Jim Crow codes Separate but Equal Centuries of negative psychological and social conditioning

26. Some Research

27. How is the achievement gap defined in the U.S.?

28. “Tested into Remediation” Public Schools systematically exclude African- American students and students in poverty from exposure to high-level-quality academic curriculum and instruction. Currently exclusion is achieved through readiness measures administered to children prior to their entrance into the public school system and “objective” screening criteria, such as standardized tests in upper grades. Burgess, 2009- Distorted, p.32.

29. FramingVs. Expanding

30. Skills’ Deficit vs. Intellectual Deficit

31. The Trap- • Schools with large numbers of students in poverty and/or large numbers of African-American students and students in poverty value control more than learning!

32. Did students who scored Below Basic or Basic on the ELA and/or math portion of PACT score at the Proficient or Advance levels on the science and social studies portion of PACT? Did students who scored at the Proficient or Advance levels on the science and social studies portion on PACT score at the Below Basic or Basic level on the ELA and/or math portion of PACT? Local Research

33. Research Generalization Regarding Practice • The actions of the district and the school can have a powerful effect on individual student achievement. (School District educatorship that Works, The College of William & MarySuperintendents’ Retreat, Feb. 2007)

34. Meta-analyses involving: • 4,500 studies • 2,714 school districts (14,000) • 3.4 million student scores

35. Focus of School-Level Leadership: Influences on Student Learning School Practices • Guaranteed & Viable Curriculum • Challenging Goals & Effective Feedback • Parent & Community Involvement • Safe & Orderly Environment • Collegiality & Professionalism Teacher/Classroom Practices • Instructional Strategies • Classroom Management • Classroom Curriculum Design Student Characteristics • Home Environment • Learned Intelligence/Background Knowledge • Motivation

36. Consider this … The general assumption is that the school’s job is to see to it that students learn rather than merely being taught, and to hold the expectation that all students can and should learn at high levels.

38. Black Immigrants, An Invisible 'Model Minority'March 19, 2007 • WASHINGTON-Do African immigrants make the smartest Americans? The question may sound outlandish, but if you were judging by statistics alone, you could find plenty of evidence to back it up. • In a side-by-side comparison of 2000 census data by sociologist John R. Logan at the Mumford Center, State University of New York at Albany, black immigrants from Africa average the highest educational attainment of any population group in the country, including whites and Asians. • For example, 43.8 percent of African immigrants had achieved a college degree, compared to 42.5 of Asian Americans, 28.9 percent for immigrants from Europe, Russia and Canada, and 23.1 percent of the U.S. population as a whole. By Clarence Page is a Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated columnist specializing in urban issues.

39. Some Effective School/Classroom Practices

40. Outstanding Educators Invite Students to Learn!!!!! Levels of Invitation • Unintentionally Uninviting • I wonder why these kids don’t like my class? • II. Intentionally Uninviting (replicate) • My classroom is not a place for kids to have fun, it’s a place to learn! • Unintentionally Inviting • I wonder why these kids are having fun learning in my class. • Intentionally Inviting (replicate) • I take responsibility for my students’ learning. • I understand my students as individuals, as members of distinct ethnic, racial and social economic groups, and as members of the student body at-large.

41. Invitational Educators Believe it to be Their Moral and Civic Responsibility to Create Inviting Classroom Environments in which Learners Learn and a Culture of Learning is Developed – A Learning Community!

42. Intentionally Inviting Educators Understand the How and Why of School Improvement? Aligned classroom practices with outcome indicators (test -qualitative/quantitative) for all members and groups within their classroom. Particularly, student growth measured against outcome indicators.

43. The Teaching for Learning Framework LUCKY High Results, low understanding of antecedents Replication of success unlikely LEADING High Results, high understanding of antecedents Replication of success likely Achievement of Results LOSING Low Results, low understanding of antecedents Replication of failure likely LEARNING Low Results, high understanding of antecedents Replication of success likely Antecedents of Excellence Source: The Learning Leader

44. The Six Elements of the Explicit Teaching Model • Review • Presentation • Guided Practice • Correction and feedback • Independent practice • Daily, weekly and monthly reviews

45. Invitational Educators do not lower their expectations or support of African- American children or children in poverty.

46. Some Effective Classroom/School Strategies for Academically Engaging African American Students and Students in Poverty • Helping students understand the power they possess to determine their ideological position within their schools • Invitational teaching • Provide an adult (older person/student) reading to/with every child in grades pre-K – 2 on a daily basis • The invitational hunt to include African-American students and students in poverty in high quality, rigorous and relevant academic work • High academic expectations of children coupled with unparalleled school/educator support of students • African-American students’ academic success seen as the rule and not the exception • Multiple entry points into high level-high quality curriculum programs • Celebration of Learning • Teaching opposed to covering material • Mastery Learning • Use of the Explicit Teaching Model • Inclusion teaching model • Correlating classroom practices, school practices, and teacher practices with student achievement (how students are measured academically) • Adopting varied and diverse instructional methodologies that allow for a wide range of learning styles that exist within a multiracial and multiethnic student population

47. Continued- Some Effective Classroom/School Strategies for Academically Engaging African American Students and Students in Poverty • Scaffolding without lower academic expectations • Ensuring classroom observations are conducted systematically and frequently • Focusing on nonfiction reading • Focusing on reading, writing and ciphering at every grade level • Teachers becoming reading and writing instructors in their content area • Peer teaching and tutoring • Advisory Programs • Mentoring Programs (School/Community based) • Community Volunteer Programs • Rethinking assessment, particularly K-4 - 2nd grade • Assessment vs. Grading • Help African American students and students in poverty understand the values of the middle class without demeaning the students’ culture • Start with the end in mind

48. Yes, We Can!!! We can, whenever and wherever we choose, successfully teach all children whose schooling is of interest to us. We already know more than we need, in order to do this. Whether we do it must finally depend on how we feel about the fact that we haven't done it so far… Ron Edmunds

49. District/School Action Planning

50. Martin Luther King, Jr. Cowardice asked the question, is this safe? Expendeniecy asked the question, is this politic? Vanity ask the question, is it popular? But conscience ask the question, is it right? There comes a time when one must take a position that’s neither safe, nor political, nor popular, but right!