ASCD Urban Panel causes reflection

Below is a transcript of the Urban Education Panel at ASCD that causes me to really reflect on whether or not we should be tracking our kids heterogeneously amongst other things.

March 27, 2011

ASCD: Urban Education Panel: Tim King, Linda Nathan, and Baruti Kafele

What does it take to lead an urban school where all teachers, students, and staff are focused on success? King: (1) A belief in the ability that every child can learn. Q: Is it possible for every one of our students to succeed in college. You don’t hire anyone who doesn’t say unequivocally yes. (95% of their students graduate college). Kafele: Culture and climate. One can’t maximize one’s potential in a climate or culture that are toxic. They have to be conducive to young people wanting to soar. Kids can’t take their masks off in a toxic culture. Nathan: Vision has to be bigger than the school; it has to encompass the community—especially with colleges. You also have to love the adults even when they aren’t loveable. How do you work with the adults to change the tone and language that’s negative?

Besides test scores and graduation rates, how do you measure success? King: (1) student growth (2) what does our school look like (3) 100% college acceptance and supporting those students after they leave. Nathan: What are you doing after high school? Senior project has to show artistic and academic skills. Each student has to write a grant to graduate. High school is not a timed test. You will finish when you are done. Until you have learned the necessary skills, you are not ready to move on. Kafele: We still have a population of young men who are going home to a household where there is no male presence. How is that young man going to learn to become a man when no one is teaching manhood? I focus on math and language arts, but I also know I have to teach these boys how to become men so they will know their role in life. He has monthly seminars that provide models of what a man is. Kids are required to wear belt, ties, slacks and collared/button-down shirt on Power Mondays to get into school. He who cannot dance will say the drum is bad.

What are some practices for making connections with students? Nathan: Advisory! Every adult in the building is responsible for 12 students. Every student is required to bring in a family member at some point in the year or at least conduct a phone conversation with the advisor and family member. Every advisory is mixed grades to provide mentors for the younger students. Have a program called Caught in the Act of Shared Values. Kids nominate one another for this award. Students who get all A’s are taken to lunch each nine weeks. We focus on our boys of color getting all A’s and we talk about it. Kids won’t discuss it if adults won’t. King: Know our kids! The excuse that it’s the parents’ job is not an excuse; maybe it shouldn’t be your job, but it is. They have school-issued cell phones for every teacher and administrator which are turned on until 10pm at night. Parents can call cell numbers at any time to ask a question. We have a group of full-time volunteers. You can look at a child and see what’s wrong with them, but if you never look at them, you will never know. Kafele: Kids need to walk into a building and see administration first. Because when they see us, we know they know we see them. I use the PA system every day to tell my students that this is a day of learning. It sets the foundation for the day and lets them know we are here. My cell phone is posted everywhere and I leave it on 24/7. Parents and students know they can contact me at any point in the day or night. Do you believe in your students or not? The achievement gap is caused by the relationship gap. How can I teach you if I don’t know you? How can I learn from you if I don’t know you? The achievement gap is caused by the opportunity gap. Students need the opportunity to learn from someone who cares. If they go into a hostile environment, there is possibility of them learning complex material? Kids are drawn to the .75 bandanas because he doesn’t see a relationship any place else. King: Be relentless and be resilient. Part of the evaluation matrix in our school is how well teachers get along with their students. Nathan: We must fight in this country for healthy food coming from the USDA. The food that comes into our kitchens is sub-par. It’s also a travesty for teachers to be angry with late students who were eating. Chips and a soda is no way to make it through the day. It is critical as leaders that we talk about our kids getting what they deserve and that is good nutritional food.

What should we ensure is a part of the curriculum and how do we ensure rigor and relevance? King: This is an impossible question because the amount of time we have with students is limited. We need to lengthen the school day and the school year. Chicago students will go to school an average of 4 years less than Texas students. We focus on English and reading. All students get 12 years of ELA instruction because it is the one-skill students will always need. Students articulate themselves in a way that will not help them professionally, so we need to unlearn that. Our teachers have to have professional development opportunities in literacy. Nathan: We are part of an expanded learning time program from 8-4. 7:30 is too early to expect any student to come to school. We have an extensive summer school program that focuses on literacy skills. Their literacy coach develops a program that all teachers are expected to incorporate into their classes. All teachers are teachers of writing and reading. All students have 7^th period seminar every day that teaches the basic skills students need to survive. PD is focused on that course. All teachers are dual-certified in literacy, which was made possible through school funds. Kafele: The Miseducation of the Negro: When you control a man’s thinking, you don’t have to worry about his actions. He will find his “proper” place and stay in it. When we take a photo, we always look for ourselves first. The same is true of curriculum and instruction. If we don’t see ourselves in it, we stop looking at it. When students look at the photo of their classroom, they see holes in it. I posed for the picture, but you ripped me out. Where is the relevance for me? How do I take this back to my community? Kids are born brilliant and curious. They lose that in school because they no longer see themselves in what they are doing. Relevance is about whether or not you see yourself. That’s part of being culturally responsive in the classroom. My daily affirmation: I am the number one determiner to the success or failure of my students. You will be successful because I refuse to lose. I am the best. It’s about attitudes and decisions.

What are the most important instructional practices in a classroom to support student learning? King: Teachers must have clearly defined goals to which they are held accountable. Those goals should be posted in the classroom. The teacher has a checklist of what must be done to meet that list of goals and that must be clear to students. People speak often of goals, but less often of how to help students meet their expectations. People never talk about the students who don’t meet those expectations in regards to what they need to do to change that. We have to have a plan for students who fall of the ladder. How do we get them back on? Nathan: Students have to create portfolios twice a year based on RICO (Refine, invent, connect and own). Students have goals that they reflect on with their advisor and family member twice a year. Each class has a daily agenda with explicit objectives. There is a tutorial period each day for students to meet with teachers and get extra help where needed. Kafele: It cannot be a teacher-driver classroom. Students must be in control while teachers participate. Tracking is a bad system. All classrooms should be heterogeneously grouped. How do I teach all students together so they all can succeed? King: Building the right school culture is essential. Know your students and then apply strategies to those kids. Nathan: If we continue to marginalize our arts programs, we can never truly create students who are ready for the real world because we don’t teach them enough about creative thinking—a skill them most have to meet 21^st century challenges.

How should professional development be run in a school? Nathan: You do not need to bring in a consultant. Your teachers need to form professional groups and teach one another as part of professional learning community. Also, teachers meet in (1) grade level groups (2) advisory groups (3) faculty-wide groups. In departments, we switch sets of papers to grade in order to calibrate. When people say there isn’t enough time in the schedule, change the schedule. Kafele: Instructional leaders have to lead instructionally. Staff has to know one another. There needs to be opportunity to collaborate in groups you don’t know. You should never meet in departments; you should always meet in ways that encourage new interactions. King: We don’t pay teachers enough in this country and we don’t have the level of respect and admiration for teachers in this society that we should. So, at the very least, within our world we can treat our teachers professionally. This is not just some gig you are doing between point A and B. Make sure our teachers have the tools and training to be professionals. We need to protect time and treat each other as professionals.

Final Thoughts? Kafele: Motivating our black males is an important conversation that needs to be continued. Nathan: Thank you to those of you who are out there and know that it matters that you stay. King: urbanprep.org website. Be the keeper of your culture. We can create a culture inside our building, which is in the best interest of our students. For 8 hours are students can feel loved, praised and supported. Our schools can change the broader society.