A pandemic is ravaging America. A generation of male children of color are being are being forgotten by a school system that is deaf and blind. As boys reach their teens school attendance and grades plummet and all the future holds is dropping out of school and the culture of the streets: the pandemic of gangs, AIDs, violence and incarceration.
The Kleinberg response has been the creation of 150 small high schools, the expansion of the YABC program for over aged, under credited students, Twilight Schools and the imposition of Small Learning Communities. The creation of small high schools was a well intentioned and initially poorly implemented plan. The first sixteen of the Gates funded New Century High Schools will have graduating classes this June and we look forward to seeing the results. Unfortunately the rapid creation of the small schools created overcrowding in already overcrowded struggling large schools.
A cursory look at the data that confronts large high schools is depressing.
* 30-40% of students of students in schools are 9th grader by credit.
* In many high schools of about 20% of students enter having met ELA Standards.
* 30-40% enter high school over age.
* More than a quarter of high school students are absent every day.
(data from online School Report Cards)
Does the administration speak with the kids entering the 9th grade? Not surprisingly 9th grade failure rates are staggering. While security is an important concern in too many schools kids are treated more like convicts than fourteen year olds. Guidance counselors have case loads of many hundreds and spent their time programming and reprogramming, only able to give each kid a few minutes of their valuable time. With course loads of 170 kids commonplace how much time can a teacher give a student?
Teachers are only treated slightly better than their students. Mandates, programs, circulars rain down from the corridors of Tweed and Regional Offices. For too many teachers high schools resemble assembly lines with the students as the widgets.
And the students? Does anyone from Tweed speak with real, live students? How about a little quiz to an “average” 9th grader: let’s call him Du Shawn …
Who is Dwayne Wade? What is a PRP? Who are “Gold Diggers”?
Du Shawn got them all right – how did you do? How would the denizens at Tweed do?
How do we enter the world of Du Shawn when schools resemble factories more than institutions of learning? The education powerbrokers continue to seek out some magic bullet: the only approach that will change the future for Du Shawn is caring adults in smaller settings. Tweed has succeeded in exacerbating an already trying situation. Creating overcrowding and ignoring classroom teachers creates failing schools and a bleak future for the DuShawns in our school system.
When you empower schools: teachers and administrators will empower the students that they teach and create a future for Du Shawn.
Quiz Answers: Dwayne Wade: An NBA player with the largest selling jersey. PRP: An electronic device that can play video. Gold Digger: A Kanye West hip hop classic.
18 Comments:
1 jd2718
· Mar 18, 2006 at 1:50 am
“A cursory look at the data that confronts large high schools is depressing.
* 30-40% of students of students in schools are 9th grader by credit.
* In many high schools of about 20% of students enter having met ELA Standards.
* 30-40% enter high school over age.
* More than a quarter of high school students are absent every day.
(data from online School Report Cards)”
How do I find these numbers? And the second (about ELA) is unintelligible. What did you mean to say?
2 institutional memory
· Mar 18, 2006 at 9:27 am
In reference to the ELA number, I would interpret that to mean that in many high schools, 80% of entering ninth graders performed at “Level 1″ or “Level 2″ on the eighth grade ELA exam.
3 Peter Goodman
· Mar 18, 2006 at 11:52 am
The School Report Cards are all available online at the DOE website … one category is entering students who have not met ELA and Math standards … needless to say the DOE does not “advertise” the data … it is far too depressing … in the innards of Tweed their “solution” is probbly seen as the equivalent of “moving off shore” … vouchers, privitized charter schools and non union public schools.
4 jd2718
· Mar 18, 2006 at 6:25 pm
“The School Report Cards are all available online at the DOE website ”
I can’t find aggregated data, only individual schools. Do you have a link?
Jonathan
5 phyllis c. murray
· Mar 18, 2006 at 6:50 pm
To Peter Goodman:
Re. When Will Klein Speak to Du Shawn?
As a teacher in the NYC Public School System, I share your concerns. I joined a cadre of parents to address this issue in my hometown once attention was drawn to the phenomenon of a noticeable drop-out rate among black youth in the schools.
Therefore,on Tuesday, March 29, 2005, I made a concerted effort to attend a forum on Education which was presented by the African American Men of Westchester at Pace Law School. “The Plight of the Black Male in Education: Strategies for Improvement” was the topic for the evening. The Keynote Speaker was David C. Banks, Esq. Founding Principal of the Eagle Academy for Young Men, Bronx, NY.
The evening was the beginning of an effort to shed some light on the enigma of a disproportionate number of black males dropping out of schools throughout New York State. Also on the agenda was an open discussion of ways in which one might:
Ensure that black male students in all districts have an equal opportunity for success
Make sure schools stress academic excellence
Increase parent involvement and guidance to help students succeed
Explore potential solutions to improving our pubic schools.
Although the speakers were excellent, I was most impressed with the program of excellence that is already in place
at the Eagle Academy for Young Men in the Bronx. The students from the Academy were present. Honor students from White Plains HS, Peekskill HS, and Yonkers HS were also present. All of the students spoke of their hopes and aspirations. The seriousness of purpose of these young men was palpable.
Educational forums are necessary to take a closer look at what is happening to black males in all communities. We must examine the plight of black males in urban cities like the Bronx as well as the plight of black males in suburban communities such as Scarsdale. All black males are in need of academic empowerment. In fact, no child should be left behind if we seek equity for all.
And so as promised… “The Plight of the Black Male in Education II — Dialogue to Action will take place on Thursday, March 30, 2006, from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Mount Vernon, High School. The forum will examine Best Practices (Programs and Polices) that Empower Young Black Males: Programs that are well designed to promote the academic, career, personal, and social empowerment of young black males.(The Forum is Free and Open to the Public.)
As indicated by Melvin Burress, President of the African American Men of Westchester: “It is hoped that the awareness and knowledge gained as well as the knowledge developed from this forum on a most important challenge, will make us all a part of the solution.”
And certainly, as educators and concerned citizens, if we are not a part of the solution, we are part of the problem.
Phyllis C. Murray
UFT Chapter Leader
District 8
Region 2
6 Chaz
· Mar 18, 2006 at 10:25 pm
Phyllis;
I would think, without doing a study, that the difference between the black males in Scarsdale and the Bronx can be traced to the family unit and income. Further, I’m sure the graduation rates of black males in Scarsdale are much higher than the Bronx.
Let’s see what findings and possible solutions these highly-motivated and educated leaders come up with. Any ideas that can increase the black male graduation rate would be welcomed by society.
7 phyllis c. murray
· Mar 19, 2006 at 8:24 am
Chez:
If one child drops out, we must find a way to bring him back into the fold. In Scarsdale, there is a greater concern because less than 2% of the population is African American; 4% is Hispanic. Hence the loss of even one child is great because the children are so few in numbers.
So buck stops here! And, as educators, if we are not a part of the solution, we are part of the problem. Certainly, the family unit is important to the growth and development of a child. However, in today’s society the definition of the family unit is changing. The traditional nuclear family (which was characterized by a common residence, economic cooperation and reproduction and contained adults of both sexes, and one or more children, own or adopted), is no longer the only acceptable family unit on Planet Earth. There is a family of one … we see this among widows/widoweres and the homeless. There is a family with two mothers; a family with two dads; and an extended family in America which like the kibbutz movement in Israel, serves to raise children communally without any associations with a traditional nuclear family. Furthermore with in vetro fertilization, more permutations of the family unit are possible devoid of a traditional father figure in its equation.
Thus, we come to the concept of the entire village raising a child. And in that village there are educators who should be
willing and able to do what they are trained to do: Teach. And there must be a school system that supports instruction. Public education was what the early immigrants relied on to move from abject poverty to prosperity; from lower class status to the middle or upper class; from their mountain of despair to hope. It worked for the early children of immigrants in America; it must work for all children, today.
Lest we forget, Martin Luther King Jr.,spoke on the issues which surround equity in education at the UFT Spring Conference in 1964 : “Through most of the past decade the field of education has been a battleground in the freedom struggle. It was not fortuitous that education became embroiled in this conflict. Education is one of the vital tools the Negro needs in order to advance, and yet it has been denied him by devices of segregation and manipulation with equality. Historically to keep Negroes in oppression, they were deprived of education, in slave days, in many states, it was illegal to teach a slave to read or write.
With the end of slavery and the emergence of quasi-freedom, Negroes were only partially educated–sufficient to make their work efficient, but insufficient to raise them to equality. The exceptionally gifted rose above the staggering obstacles, but the huge masses were left handicapped in the shadows of ignorance. It is precisely because education is a road to equality and citizenship that it has been made more elusive for Negroes than many other rights. The warding off of Negroes from equal education is part of the historical design to submerge him in second class status.”
And therefore, the fight for the opportunity for a decent education, continues as we wrestle with the plight of black males in education, today. And, as educators, if we are not a part of the solution, we are part of the problem.
Phyllis C. Murray,UFT Chapter Leader
8 Chaz
· Mar 19, 2006 at 3:32 pm
Phyllis:
No disagreement here with much that you said. However, our acceptance of the non-traditional family may have something to do with the low graduation rates, especially of black males.
I can’t buy into your statement that every child counts. Even in the best of circumstances you cannot expect a 100% graduation rate otherwise your buying into NCLB’s illogical conclusion that a school does not meet academic progress unless it has a 100% graduation rate.
By the way the Kibbutz movement had fathers around as role models.
9 Peter Goodman
· Mar 19, 2006 at 3:53 pm
Jonathan: You expect the DOE to accumulate and make available negative data? I created a protocol and collected data from randomly selected large and small school within each region …
Chaz: What is particularly disturbing is that black males, across income lines, achieve below expectations, see Ogbu’s work in Shaker Heights, a middle class black Cleveland suburb …
10 jd2718
· Mar 19, 2006 at 4:51 pm
“Jonathan: You expect the DOE to accumulate and make available negative data? I created a protocol and collected data from randomly selected large and small school within each region …”
Actually, yes, I assume that NYC needs to report as a district to NYS. I’ll look for some data for you, but it might take some time. When I find something good, I will report back.
In the meantime, this is not what we are looking for, but close:
http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/irts/press-release/20060213/home_files/textonly/home.html
I would really prefer real data.
Jonathan
11 Chaz
· Mar 19, 2006 at 4:59 pm
Peter;
I’m well aware of Ogbu’s work. In particular I was very upset when an interview of smart black males in Shaker Heights on why they don’t do better in high school resulted in a comment that if your too smart your accused of acting white!
12 jd2718
· Mar 19, 2006 at 5:10 pm
Peter,
parts of your post were difficult to read.
In particular, I would like clarification of:
“How do we enter the world of Du Shawn…? The education powerbrokers continue to seek out some magic bullet: the only approach that will change the future for Du Shawn is caring adults in smaller settings.”
Are you asserting that smaller settings is the only approach that will change the future?
I hope not.
Or are you saying that this is the DoE’s mistaken attempt to find a “magic bullet”?
— — — —
You wrote: “The creation of small high schools was a well intentioned and initially poorly implemented plan”
That would seem to imply that the current implementation is good, but I can’t belive that this is what you meant. Could you clarify?
— — — —
Finally, I remember you explained who you were on EdWize some time back, but I don’t recall the details. Was it a retired teacher now working for the UFT in some special representative capacity? It would certainly help understand better where you are coming from.
Jonathan
13 Persam1197
· Mar 19, 2006 at 11:38 pm
I work in a school that is right next to Bronx Central Booking. My classes have so few black young men because they are boarding buses to their assigned correctional facilities. This is especially painful for me since these are my young brothers going off to feed the criminal justice industrial complex. It’s going to take a lot more than so-called “small schools” with supersized class registers to fix this problem.
We do have models that work in NYC. We need the political will to force the City and State to do more than offer lip service.
14 phyllis c. murray
· Mar 20, 2006 at 6:57 am
To Persam 1197
“The criminal justice system is out of control. It is sentencing and locking up citizens, especially young African-Americans, at a frightening rate, far greater than any other industrialized country in the world. From: “Prison Labor, Slave Labor: Where Are We Going?” Tom Lowe
If we look carefully at the government spending patterns, we note that the cost of incarceration in the U.S. is estimated at $26.8 billion annually. Estimated costs of incarceration for African-American males are $11.6 billion annually. Yet the government cannot fund supportive early intervention programs within our public schools. Such programs would prevent the warehousing of inner city minorities in prisons; it would lower class size; and provide for academic, medical and emotional intervention of troubled youth. Tom Lowe has reported the following:” Our leaders in Congress have put 21,000 federal prisoners to work in prison industries, currently making goods for the Federal government. The federal prison population is swelling by leaps and bounds. It’s sitting at 130,000 at the moment and expected to climb to 200,000 by 2006.”
Phyllis C. Murray
15 Peter Goodman
· Mar 20, 2006 at 12:55 pm
For too many kids schools, whether large or small, are not a vital part of their lives. The standard model – five classes a day with 150 plus kids is unworkable … for kids and teachers. There are large school restructuring models that have been effective … however simply imposing them on facilties guarantees failure … smaller setting in large or small schools are just a beginning … as Ms Murray so eloquently explains schools are only one piece of a dysfunctional society.
16 jd2718
· Mar 21, 2006 at 8:35 am
Classroom teachers often get stuck trying to hold the middle against ideologues or extremes or as some have called them “fads du jour.” In mathematics this means working against the worst constructivist excesses, while trying to avoid falling into the “back to basics” trap. We are driven by the needs of the students to bring together elements of both. One anonymous poster touches a similar theme, in a way, in http://edwize.org/deconstructing-education
Likewise, our union supports, rightly I think, a mix of types of schools, including large and small. We hold the middle against the extremes. It is essential that we examine the differences between similar schools, to see what makes some large schools work better than others, or to see what makes some small schools work better than others.
Even within the awful Bronx there are huge differences among schools of similar size. Look here, to see what makes some small schools work, or not. Look here to see what makes some large schools functional, or not.
You won’t find tremendous absolute success in most of this borough: * the socio-econeomics make that tough; * the Board’s systematic overcrowding of our schools makes it tougher; * inexperienced administration contributes; * and the newness of our teaching corps – itself a product of (relatively) lousy pay, poor working conditions (including physical plant), (and to a diminishing extent retirement incentives of past years) also contributes.
The Board overcrowded the large schools in the Bronx, pushed the weakest and neediest students into them, then proclaimed that those schools had failed. Teachers should critically examine the history that has been manufactured in pursuit of a “breaking up the large schools” agenda.
Because even in the Bronx, there are differences between schools of similar size and with similar demographics. There are (relatively) good small schools, and bad. There are big differences among large schools. We should look. We should learn. That’s what a teacher would do.
I am concerned that, instead, this space is being used, openly in some cases, subtlely in others, to promote the idea that small schools are better. That is a disservice to our members and a disservice to our students.
The UFT supports a mix of schools, including large and small. It would be nice to see that reflected in this space.
Jonathan
17 Chaz
· Mar 21, 2006 at 9:02 pm
Jonathan;
I couldn’t have said it better. The UFT silence on what is happening to the large schools is deafening!
18 jd2718
· Mar 22, 2006 at 11:01 pm
Thanks Chaz.
This stuff is sort of easy. In the Bronx we see the effect of the rapid creation of lots of small schools in dramatic relief. It’s not good for the kids, and it’s certainly not good for the UFT and our memebers. But even for those who don’t see the effects up close, we have the UFT’s small school task force report, which takes a critical view.
Jonathan