The African-American Education Office Part 2

            In part two of the African-American Education Office, suggestions will be given to decrease the achievement gap among middle and high school youth.  In an effort to build a continuum of services from birth to adulthood, the office should focus on the preparing these youth for careers that will make them competitive in the global economy and achieve the American Dream.

            One area the office should focus on is eliminating the technology gap.  In order to compete in the global economy, African American youth must become proficient users of technology and understand how it can be applied in the global economy and advance the marketplace.  African-American youth must learn the science behind writing code to create video games, how an algorithm captures and sorts data for target marketing, or for investing/trading in the stock market.  African-American youth must also learn how technology is used to advance society.  Advancements in the fields of medicine and medical research, automobile and manufacturing industry, and improvements to agriculture are fields which has been greatly impacted technology.  These are also fields that lack a significant African-American presence.

            Another area the office should focus on is teaching career development and workforce preparation skills.  Skills such as critical thinking, the ability to multitask projects, the ability to summarize larger amounts of information into a report, the ability to work individually and in groups, the ability to effectively communicate, and the ability to be resourceful are skills that should be taught in conjunction with resume writing, interviewing, punctuality, reliability, and appropriate grooming and attire.  These are skills that are not being taught in a majority of middle and high schools and are not taught by many parents.  As a result of this lack of knowledge, African-American youth are uniformed about the skills needed to be competitive in the global economy.

A final area the office should focus on is helping African-American youth understand how to match their strengths and interest to a career.  By failing to teach African-American youth proper career development, they have mistakenly believed a job to be a career.  Therefore, when they see their parent, relative, or neighbor talking negatively about the poor pay, long hours, or how they hate their job, the uniformed youth internalizes these experiences as a definition of a career.  This belief is further cemented as the youth witnesses their parent, relative, or neighbor moving from job to job for minimal salary increases.  The message African-American youth are receiving is that a job and career are synonymous.  Another message they receive is that a job is about making money.  They are not receiving a balance where they see people who love their job because it their career.  They are not hearing as much as they should about the passion, joy, and satisfaction one has for their career.  They are also not learning how a career can lead to the American Dream.

In order for African-American middle and high school youth to become competitive in the global economy, the Office of African-American Education must provide access to knowledge about the business applications of technology.  The office must also provide access to career development and workforce preparation.  Providing access to these crucial areas of need, will eliminate the technology gap, provide them with the tools to competitive and increase the presence of African-Americans in areas of the global economy where our presence is lacking.  It is up to the office to help African-American youth not get left behind in the global economy.

The African-American Education Office

            President Obama recently announced the creation of the African-American Education Office.  The purpose of the office is to improve the education of African-American youth by better preparing them for high school, college and career[i].

            The creation of the African-American Education Office is a significant event in African-American history.  For the first time since the War on Poverty, the Office of the President of The United States has taken steps at the federal level to specifically address the educational plight of African-American youth.  Understanding the importance the education of African-American youth impacts the economy, social equality and access to the American Dream, President Obama appears to see the educational plight of African-American youth as a national crisis.  Although President Obama did not elaborate on how the office would tackle the complex and unique multi-layered enigma that affects the educational aspirations and achievement of African-American youth, I would like to offer a few suggestions.

            First, the office must focus on school readiness.  This can be achieved by mandating and funding a full day Head Start program for all families. Head Start programs have made minimal, but sustainable academic gains over several decades.  Proponents of Head Start have been calling for the expansion of Head Start to a full day to increase these gains, but the previous administrations did not fully support the expansion.  Head Start is one of the few programs that mandated parent involvement, which is the second area of focus, parent engagement.

            Parent engagement is crucial to the educational aspirations and achievement of African-American youth.  As their child’s first teacher, a child will learn to love, dislike or become indifferent to learning based on the involvement and encouragement of the parent.  Therefore, the office should develop a strategy on how to provide parents with the tools to create an environment conducive to the enjoyment of learning and creating a culture of high expectation of educational aspirations.  One way this could be accomplished is to emphasize to parents the importance of reading to their children at an early age.  Reading to children at an early age will give them the confidence in their ability to master the concepts of reading and comprehension.  Additionally, parents who read to their children at an early age provide good social and educational capital that aids in school readiness and success in school. 

A final way this could be accomplished is for the office to assists parents with developing a school readiness plan.  There are a number of guides that discuss school readiness.  However, the information is not consistent and in many instances the content may not address the needs of the diversity of the African-American community.  Needs such as how to prepare an African-American male child for school is a topic that is desperately needed since most African-American males struggle in school.  Additional topics such as the difference between home rules and school rules, the differences between aggression and self-defense and appropriate usage of standard language and language used with friends are areas where the office could develop a manual to aid African-American parents with school readiness.

If the office cannot improve school readiness and parent engagement, very little will be accomplished to change the current educational plight of African-American youth.

---

[i] www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/26/african-american-educatio_n_1704406

Suspending Students With Disabilities

            A recent study conducted by the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) found that students with disabilities are twice as likely to be suspended from school as their non-disabled peers.  Using data from the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, the study found that during the 2009-2010 school year, 13 percent of disabled students in grades K-12 were suspended compared to 7 percent of non-disabled students[i].  The study also found that African-American students with disabilities had the highest rates of suspension than their disabled peers and non-disabled peers of other races.  According to the study, 1 out of 4 African-American students was suspended at least once.  A majority of these suspended students were diagnosed with a learning disability[ii]. 

The high rate of suspension among students with disabilities concerns policymakers and civil rights advocates.  Their claimed that school districts with high rates of suspensions also had a higher dropout rate and lower student achievement and test scores, which increased the risk of delinquency and incarceration, especially among African-American students.  According to the study’s author, Daniel J. Losen:

                        “Kids with disabilities make up a very large portion of

                        the kids who are in the juvenile justice system...That’s

                        a very disturbing pattern because kids with disabilities

                        are supposed to be getting additional supports and

                        counseling[iii].”

To support this statement, the study found there were states where African-American students with disabilities were suspended at a rate above 60 percent, with one state having a rate of 92 percent.  Additionally, report also found that the Civil Rights Office of the Department of Education had opened 19 investigations in 15 states to examine school districts where African-American students were disproportionately disciplined[iv]. 

            The UCLA study has brought to the forefront a problem that has been ignored for a long time.  Unfortunately, the study failed to consider the disproportionate suspension of African-American students with disabilities as a flawed systemic ideology, instead the study claims the problem is a matter of policy. 

            The ideology of school discipline in a majority of school districts across the country is embedded in a belief that all students should be held accountable for violations of district policies.  This believe is evident in district zero tolerance policies that provide the same consequences to disabled and non-disabled students.  Even though students with disabilities are provided certain protections, such as they cannot be suspended more than 10 consecutive days in a school year for each violation or when a serious violation occurs, a school must convene a Manifestation Determination team meeting to determine if the violation is a result of the student’s disability under the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).  This information was surprisingly absent in the UCLA study when discussing the disproportionality of suspensions of African-American students with disabilities.  With such high rates of suspensions, the study should have addressed how many suspended students were afforded their rights under IDEA law?  How many students were suspended more than 10 days during the school year?  How many students were provided with a Manifestation Determination team meeting prior to suspension?  With high rates of suspensions in some districts, there is seems to be enough evidence that schools are not following IDEA rules prior to suspension.

            Lastly, the ideology of school discipline appears to be biased against students with disabilities that are not physically present.  For a long time, the faces of students with disabilities were considered those with physical manifestations such as downs syndrome, cerebral palsy, and students in wheelchairs.  Students with no physical manifestations such as learning or emotional disabilities may appear by some to “know” what they are doing and should be punished as their non-disabled peers.  The UCLA study confirms this in their findings that a majority of suspensions were students who were diagnosed with a learning disability.  Although the UCLA study did not discuss the racial bias against African-American students with disabilities one cannot deny the systemic entrenchment of racial biased in the ideology of school discipline.  It is time to change the archaic ideology of school discipline.

---

[i] www.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/education/analysis-examines-disabled-student-suspensions

[ii] ibid

[iii] ibid

[iv] ibid

President Obama’s Master Teacher Corps

                President Obama recently announced plans to create an elite master teacher corps program to help improve student achievement in science, technology, engineering, and math.  Believing that a master teacher corps would aid in closing the achievement gap in the US and abroad, President Obama is encouraging “high-performing” teachers to apply for the corps.

                Teachers who are selected to the corps will be sharing their knowledge and skills with other teachers and educators over a several year period.  While additional information about the program is forthcoming, participants in the master teacher corps will receive an additional $20,000 a year for their service.  President Obama hopes that improving the quality of teachers will improve the quality of education for all students which will spur future economic growth[i].

                The idea of building a master teacher corps is not a new or innovative concept.  The idea was established in response to the launch of Sputnik by the Soviet Union in 1957 when the US was behind in the “space” race.  The establishment of the National Science Foundation was founded to address the quality of our country’s space program and to ensure our educational system is providing the skills and knowledge for future scientist, mathematicians and engineers.  There are also other teacher quality programs in other divisions of the federal government.

                Investing in the overall quality of science, technology, engineering, and math is area where there is high need is necessary to the future of innovation and our economy.  However, equally important is improving the foundation of education: reading. 

                Often overlooked in our zeal to catch up with our international competitors, reading is underestimated in most of our educational initiatives/reform efforts.  Although there are benchmarks and standardized tests that track reading progress, a majority of children in the US read below their grade level.  Before a child can truly develop an aptitude for science, technology, engineering and math, they first should be able to read, comprehend, and synthesize information at their grade level. 

                President Obama should add reading teachers to the corps to help decrease the reading gap by helping children, their families and school districts emphasize reading.  Going beyond the 100 book reading challenges and general book reports, there is a need for classes that specifically focus on the foundational elements of reading, comprehension, and synthesis.  In the early grades, there is a focus on the elements of reading, comprehension and synthesis.  Unfortunately, the upper grades emphasize comprehension and synthesis which is covered under English and Literature.

                Our failure to focus on reading at all levels isolates children from fulfilling their academic potential because they cannot fully participate in the technical content of science, technology, engineering, and math.  Since they cannot fully participate, they doubt themselves and mentally check out or become disruptive.

                By getting more children to master reading, comprehension and synthesis, the achievement gap in the US and abroad should decrease significantly, increase the number of children interested in pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and math, and spur future economic growth.  Let’s provide our children with a solid reading foundation.

---

[i] www.cbsnews.com/2102-250_162-57474469

Is School Too Easy

            Does your child think school is too easy?  According to a recent report, “Do Schools Challenge Our Students,“ a large number of students think school is too easy.  According to the report:

1.      More than one-third high school seniors reported they hardly ever write about what they read in class

2.      Three out of four (72%) eight grade science students reported they aren’t being taught engineering and technology

3.      Almost a third of eighth grade students reported reading fewer than five pages a day either in school or for homework[i]

Although the report’s findings are not new, their recommendations to “ratchet” up standards by endorsing the federal government’s Common Core program, is a rehashing of the failed standards movement of the late 1980s and early 1990s.  The recommendations also continue the flawed ideology that the fault lies with the students and not with our approach to teaching and learning.

            Teaching and learning is the foundation of education.  The approach to teaching and learning is based on an industrial era model of the late 1800s to mid-1920s.  The approach was designed to train students to become cogs in the various levels of industry (upper management, mid manager, shop worker, etc).  Teachers were trained to follow a prescribed curriculum in a sequence that provides fragmented information that is loosely connected (or not connected) to the next prescribed sequenced course.  Instruction came from textbooks which focused on information that was necessary to the preparation of the industrial society; learning came from rote memorization which hindered natural learning and curiosity.

Over the years there have been minor adjustments, but the ideological approach remains the same.  The refusal to acknowledge our approach to teaching and learning is antiquated and out of touch with the needs of the global economy, has created a continuous loop of failure, which churns out unprepared graduates and places our country farther behind countries that understand teaching and learning is a state of constant flux. 

            The data obtained from students clearly demonstrates the problem exists in our educational ideology.  The student does not control the curriculum, does not control pedagogy and instruction, and does how much homework he/she receives.  However, there is no mention in the data about teacher effectiveness, lack of administrative accountability, or the failure of districts to monitor their schools.  It is easy to blame the victims/students for the failures of the adults.  What is needed is an overhaul of our approach to teaching and learning.

            If students are saying that school is too easy, the fault is not the students, it is the failure of uninformed educational leaders who continue to trust in an antiquated approach that teaching and learning that is fixed.  This ideological insanity does not fit the needs of a global economy.  School is too easy should be our new moniker for educational reform.

---

[i] www.usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/10/12666787-report-students-say-school-is...

Students with Disabilities & Charter Schools

            The Charter School Movement is celebrating 20 years of service to children and families.  As an alternative to public schools, charter schools are independent entities that receive public funds, without many of the state and federal regulations as a public school district.  Charter schools are also not involved with unions, which give them autonomy over the hiring, firing, salary, and work day of staff[i]. 

            As charter schools aim to become a permanent fixture of the educational landscape, they will continue to come under scrutiny by their critics, and praised by their advocates.  One primary area of contention is student enrollment.  Critics argue that charter schools exclude certain students, whereas public schools are mandated to serve every child.  Charter school advocates argue, that as an independent entity, they are allowed to set the enrollment criteria for students interested in attending their school.  For a while these arguments gained very little traction or serious consideration from the federal government.  It wasn’t until a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), about the lack of enrollment of students with disabilities in charter schools captured the attention of federal and state officials.

            The GAO Report, commissioned by Representative, George Miller from California found that charter schools don’t enroll students with disabilities at the same rate as traditional public schools, despite federal laws that require all publically funded schools to serve students with disabilities[ii].  The findings of GAO report have ignited a response from the US Education Department and the Office of Civil Rights. 

            According to the report, the US Education Department has developed new procedures to help charter schools meet federal standards for enrolling students with disabilities and the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) conducted compliance reviews of charter schools who under serve students with disabilities.  With 23 percent of charter schools nationally serving students with disabilities, the compliance review concluded that some charter schools may be discouraging students with disabilities from enrolling[iii].

            The findings of the GAO report and the OCR compliance review support claims made by critics of the charter school movement.  At the same time, the report does acknowledge charter schools need more guidance on how to meet federal standards for enrolling students with disabilities.  This acknowledgement provides charter school advocates with a small victory.  The acknowledgement also places charter schools on notice that the federal government is monitoring the enrollment of students with disabilities. 

            The involvement of the federal government is a win for students with disabilities because it provides them choice and access to schools which pride themselves on instruction by non-traditional designs.  It is too bad the federal government had to get involved in the first place.

---

[i] www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/19/charter-schools-disabilities-_n_1610744

[ii] ibid

[iii] ibid

Troops to Teachers

                Eighteen years ago, the federal government established the Troops to Teachers program.  The purpose of the program was to help military veterans become teachers[i].  Understanding that teachers are crucial to the success of future generations and the nation, the creation of Troops to Teachers fulfilled two needs.

                The first need was to aid the transition of military veterans to civilian life.  Providing recently discharged veteran support as they transition into civilian life has been a difficult task for the military.  While the federal government provides discharged veterans with opportunities to further their education, unemployment and underemployment remain high.  By providing discharged veterans with the resources to obtain their teaching credentials, veterans are able to work at a job with good benefits with an above average salary.

                The second need was to aid school districts with teacher shortage in critical needs areas.  Districts across the country are struggling to hire teachers with credentials in math and science.  Troops to Teachers helped to partially fill the need as approximately 18% of veterans in the program obtained certification in math and science[ii].  Districts were also struggling to retain younger teachers who left due to disillusionment with teaching while older teachers left for retirement.  Troops to Teachers provided districts with teachers who are experienced in motivation, setting expectations, and providing the environment for individuals to meet or exceed the expectations. 

Although Troops to Teachers is fulfilling a need for both the military and school districts, more investment and marketing is needed to help increase the number of veterans’ transition to teachers.  At a time when teachers have come under fire for the poor performance of students and scrutinized by the public for the refusal of their union to offer concessions of the collective bargaining, veterans are sorely needed to change the negative climate. 

Increasing Troops to Teachers numbers could reverse the negative perception of teachers and renew public confidence in teachers.  Veterans’ could model leadership skills for students to emulate, they can instill a sense of discipline and purpose which many feel is lacking among today’s students.  Having served in the defense of our country, who better than a Troop to Teacher to help students utilize their talents and understand their importance to the future prosperity of the country. 

---

[i] www.philly.com/philly/insights/in)education/20120326_Program_recruits_troops_as_teachers

[ii] ibid