Jarell Lee is a proud member of the 2010 New York corps.
At the NBC Education Nation Teacher Town Hall on Sunday, some teachers argued against evaluations and standardized tests, saying that teaching students in poverty makes it harder to reach evaluation and testing goals. My stomach churned, my insides burned, and my mouth whispered, “No.”
Yes, there is a correlation between poverty and student achievement. But it’s just that, a correlation, not causation. It’s disrespectful to poor students to believe that they cannot meet our academic expectations. It’s unjust to not hold teachers in poor communities to these same high standards. What would lower expectations mean for these students? What would lower expectations mean for their future, our nation’s future?
Photo by Brian Collins via WikiCommons
Brittany Packnett (D.C. Region ’07) is the Director of Government Affairs in Washington D.C.
I am not a black man.
My brother is. My father was. So are Derrick, Nikko, all three James’ and 32 of my other 3rd Grade Superstar Scholars at King Elementary in Southeast D.C.
And in a country which still regards most of them as failures or threats, I still wonder, three years after leaving the classroom, whether I did enough for those brilliant young men entrusted to me (and whether, as a black woman, I ever could).
Photo credit: Kandace6 via WikiCommons
Five links that made us think this week:
Think you have what it takes to be America’s next big YouTube celeb? YouTube’s Next EDU Gurus program is looking for the next education superstar, and they want YOU! (video)
Although our country is becoming increasingly diverse, new data from the Department of Education shows that black and Latino students are isolated in classrooms, while white students overwhelmingly study alongside other white students. Not surprisingly, this classroom segregation affects students and society as a whole.
The government is taking steps to stop the brain drain from some of the nation's top universities. For example, this article reports that more than 20% of graduate students at Duke University are from other countries. Here’s more on the status of the bill that proposes potential changes to visa requirement to keep highly skilled foreign students in the U.S.
Photo by Jean-Pierre via Wikicommons
Lauren Secatore (Chicago Corps ’03) is director of knowledge management for Chicago Public Schools. Her opinion is reposted with permission from her Facebook page; links were added by Pass the Chalk editors.
Lots of people have noticed that I have been uncharacteristically quiet over the past few weeks in regard to the Chicago teacher strike. I have lots to say on this issue, but for the first time in my life, I sat out of a debate. And here’s why:
What should have been a substantive discussion about education became reduced to a shouting match. What should have been a nuanced conversation about policy became politics. What should have been discussions ABOUT children became adults acting LIKE children while arguing ABOUT adults. What is a comprehensive, complicated, and critical issue became simplified to choosing sides. And the amount of coverage the strike received was inversely related to the quality of that coverage. It was enough to make me consider changing my life’s work to reforming journalism.
Photo by Firedoglakedotcom via WikiCommons
Oscar Perez works for the California recruitment team at Teach For America and recruits at his alma mater, the University of California, Los Angeles.
This past week, I had the distinct privilege of joining other Teach For America staff members at our first-ever Latino Summit and Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Conference. The conference was a phenomenal opportunity to reflect on issues of education, healthcare, immigrant rights, and countless other topics that affect our Latino communities every day. I walked away with plenty to think about, but moreso a deep urgency in me to advocate further for our Latino students, who often get diverted from their educational path.
Having taught in the Washington, D.C., area for Teach For America, I was fascinated to hear community leaders, congressional representatives, and Teach For America staff talk about the state of Latino America just miles from where I had been teaching 10th grade English not long ago. When listening to policy experts talk about burgeoning Latino communities and statistics, it was impossible not to connect these facts and figures to the faces of my own Latino students, who mostly represented the growing El Salvadorean population in D.C.
Amid all the conversations about identity and public policy as it pertains to Latino communities, two major points stood out to me:
1. A massive demographic shift is occurring in this country, and many school systems are simply not equipped to serve this changing population.
It is expected that by 2036, 1 in every 3 school-aged kids will be of Latino descent. When considering the unique challenges facing Latino students, I doubt school systems with growing Latino populations are ready to address issues of bilingual education, the citizenship status of their students, and culturally relevant curricula. Unfortunately, I think the mind-set of policy makers is that this is a problem in the future, when in reality this is happening NOW. School districts and policy makers alike should begin making the necessary mind-set and resource shifts now, because all of our students should have access to a great education—they shouldn’t have to wait until 2036.
Photo by Jean-Christian Bourcart
Genevieve Guyol (Chicago '11) is in her second year of teaching in Chicago.
Most mornings over the last 9 days, I stood at the corner of 47th and Ashland dressed in red and holding a strike sign with my fellow teachers. As cars and trucks drove through the intersection, we waved our signs and encouraged them to sound their horns. We chanted “Res-pect!” and implored people driving by to show their appreciation for our work. One family of eight children stood dressed in their new red t-shirts (purchased just for the occasion) and held signs that said, “I support my teachers.”
From the media and countless family members and friends, I have heard comments that teachers are asking too much. They mention that the city of Chicago is broke and that we receive health benefits far superior to the benefits of private sector employees. They cite the union leadership’s request for a thirty percent raise in a budget crunch as evidence that the teachers are greedy and have unreasonable demands.
Photo credit: Firedoglakedotcom via WikiCommons
Aimée Eubanks Davis is executive vice president of people, community, and diversity at Teach For America. You can find her on Twitter at @EubanksDavis.
Much of the nation has been watching Chicago for daily updates on the teachers’ strike in our schools. But long before the strike, it had become a part of my routine as a Chicagoan to brace myself for a different kind of daily update—the latest death toll from gang fights. I find myself getting anxious, wondering if any children I know are on the list of the deceased. I say a quick prayer that my own children will be safe.
Photo credit: By Victorgrigas (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons
It's day five of the teachers’ strike in Chicago, which has become THE national education story of the week. Here are some of the perspectives generating a lot of buzz:
First off, Marilyn Rhames blogs about being both a teacher and a mother in Chicago, and why she's chosen to be a “student advocate.”
Several New York Times columnists have addressed the situation, too. Nick Kristof calls education "the most important civil rights battleground today." David Brooks says Chicago has the potential to “move toward the forefront of the reform movement.” And Joe Nocera laments the any outcome from the “hot, buttery mess” in Chicago is “unlikely to change much.”
Photo credit: Jean-Christian Bourcart
Andrew Broy (Eastern North Carolina ‘95) is President of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools. Ten days before the strike started, he blogged about what it would take to solve the strike threat in a post that originally appeared on Catalyst-Chicago. We have reblogged it in full with permission.
With the unfortunate news that the Chicago Teachers Union has set a strike date for September 10, we are in desperate need of creative solutions. The core problem is easily stated: The Chicago Public Schools does not have any additional revenue. In an attempt to balance the budget this year, it raised property taxes to the maximum extent allowed by law and drained all its reserves.
In this fiscal climate, teachers want a raise that the district cannot afford.
Photo Credit: MisterJayEm via Wikimedia Commons
Editor's Note: This week, our hearts and minds are with the people of Chicago, who are experiencing the city's first teachers' strike in 27 years. As Wendy wrote this summer , Pass The Chalk aspires to be a forum for "engaging in candid discussion and debate about the biggest issues surrounding education today." In that spirit, over the coming days we'll be featuring a range of perspectives on the strike and what it means for teachers, students and families in Chicago. We encourage you to join the dialogue on our Facebook page and on Twitter @PassTheChalk.
It’s Thursday morning, and Chicago’s 617 public schools should be welcoming their 350,000 students back for their second (and in some cases third) week of classes. Kids should be filing into classrooms, opening their books, and getting to work. They should be practicing sight words. They should be annotating, multiplying, and experimenting.
Photo credit: Jean-Christian Bourcart
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