The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) recently hosted its second National Black Parents’ Town Hall Meeting on Educational Excellence at the Gethsemane Community Fellowship Church in Norfolk, Va.
The event, which was livestreamed on Facebook and jointly hosted across the country in Los Angeles, kicked off the NNPA’s annual convention.
Panelists for the event, where questions and comments were discussed regarding the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), were Linda Langley Davis, the director of educational services for Hampton Roads, Inc.; Fred Smoot, a former Washington Redskins cornerback and motivational speaker; Rev. Dr. Kirk T. Houston, the founder and pastor of Gethsemane Community Fellowship Church; and Deidre Love, the executive director of the nonprofit Teens with a Purpose.
Dr. Elizabeth Primas, the program manager for the NNPA ESSA Public Awareness Campaign, moderated the panel.
“I’m a product of the Norfolk public schools and I’m also the mother of a child educated in the public school system and, as someone who’s taught for 33 years, I know the struggles teachers endure and it’s an uphill battle,” Davis said.
Each of the panelists acknowledged that teachers wear many hats, should be paid more, and all need the support of parents.
Smoot, who’s now a motivational speaker, said its important that educators realize that each student is different.
“Every child succeeds when they are taught in a different way. We have to stop the exit test and find out in the beginning what they need,” he said.
Houston, who once served on the local school board, said everyone, including parents, need to be educated about ESSA.
“One thing I learned on the school board was how little I know about education policies,” he said. “We need parental enlightenment and stakeholder participation,” Houston said.
Love, whose students gave an inspiring spoken-word performance before the town hall, said that the voice of the youth must be heard.
“Our mission is to create that platform to encourage young people to use their voice,” Love said.
The panelists and moderator all noted the sobering statistics facing African American youth, including that 45 percent of Black students attend high-poverty schools compared with just 8 percent of Whites.
The high school graduation rate of Black students is 76 percent, the second lowest among all ethnic groups, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
“In 40 percent of U.S. schools, there are no teachers of color on staff,” according to a report by the Center for American Progress. “As a result, White students—and teachers—in these schools may miss opportunities to question assumptions about race, class, and privilege that they might encounter in their communities…”
As one parent at the meeting noted, school segregation today is worse than it was during the Civil Rights Movement.
One young person in attendance said that sobering fact has made life difficult for him.
“In some schools, I feel very uncomfortable, because I’m like the only Black person in the school while other schools I feel comfortable where teachers are African American, and they can relate to me,” said 11-year-old Doran Glass. “At school, I feel like I’m being looked at as a criminal.”
Glass’ sobering dialogue shifted the discussion of the meeting.
“That was a brave thing for this young man to stand up and be heard,” said NNPA President Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr.
Another young person asked what could be done to encourage more students to participate in discussions about education.
“The question came up about how to get young people more involved in events like this and the right answer is to ask that young person who asked that question is: what is it that he thinks should be done,” said Gregory Huskisson, the vice president of content and audience for the Wave newspaper in Los Angeles. “We need to do a better job of getting young people involved. The second thing is what kind of structural thing can you build into the program that would be more enticing for young people.”
Huskisson said it was a privilege to take part in the town hall from Los Angeles.
“The issue is critical to organizations like the Wave and the NNPA and we need to be focused on getting together and collaborating on getting solutions, because we are solutions-based organizations and we’re involved in a lot of community-based programs and projects,” Huskisson said. “Anytime the NNPA creates programming that’s focused on solutions in our community, especially ESSA, we are all about it and I applaud Dr. Chavis and the NNPA. I look forward to the next ESSA town hall.”
Stacy Brown is an NNPA Newswire Contributor and co-author of “Michael Jackson: The Man Behind the Mask: An Insider’s Story of the King of Pop.” Follow Stacy on Twitter @stacybrownmedia.
A new study investigates inequity beyond college doors, showing that even Black and Hispanic students who earn tertiary degrees face disparities.
The report, The Neglected College Race Gap: Racial Disparities Among College Completers, which was authored by the Center for American Progress, went beyond the usual examination of education disparities in graduation rates and college access rates. And, in focusing on college graduates, the report found what it called “serious inequities” in areas such as the type of degrees and quality of education.
Among the major findings:
Compared with White students, Black and Hispanic graduates are far more likely to have attended for-profit colleges and less likely to have attended four-year public or nonprofit institutions.
Black and Hispanic graduates are more likely to attend institutions that have less money to spend on quality education.
Black and Hispanic students are less likely to hold degrees in critical fields such as engineering and education, mathematics and statistics, and the physical sciences.
Recommendations from the report include investigating means by which students of color may be discouraged from pursuing certain degrees, such as by higher tuition pricing and poor or biased student advisement.
The authors concluded by saying, “Finding a path to equity in the types of credentials students get is not only a moral imperative for this country but is also crucial to its future success.”
The selective outrage of partisan ideologues in the education space is a well-known phenomenon and nowhere is that more on display than in the muted reaction to the scandal surrounding the 2017 graduation rate that has been unraveling in Washington in recent weeks. With the release of the final report of the audit ordered by the city’s mayor, Muriel Bowser, we know, unequivocally, that more than one-third of the Washington public schools’ class of 2017—a total of 900 students—were only granted diplomas because their teachers and administrators flouted attendance policies and misused credit-recovery programs.
One would think that the loudest accountability hawks in the education reform movement would be beside themselves, writing op-eds, and taking the battle to Twitter in the name of justice for students. But as the details of the graduation-rate investigation by NPR and Washington’s local public radio station (WAMU) have emerged, these avatars of accountability have been uncharacteristically silent. The very same folks who are quick to jump on the slightest whisper of wrongdoing in virtual charters and voucher programs, for example, have suddenly lost their aversion to dishonesty and fraud. When the reforms they support are carried out by people they like and align with politically, their commitment to accountability appears to soften. And maybe that would be understandable, except that students and families suffer when silence settles over a deliberate and well-orchestrated injustice inside a school system.
Read the full article here: May require an Education Week subscription.
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which is the primary legislation related to federal K-12 education programs. ESSA replaces many provisions contained in the previous reauthorization—the No Child Left Behind Act—to give states more authority in the design of their school accountability systems and to encourage them to use measures beyond test scores to measure school performance. States, districts, and schools also have greater autonomy to design and implement school improvement strategies for struggling schools.
The law, however, continues to require states and districts to track and respond to low performance of schools and subgroups of students within schools. They must also be able to disaggregate the data they use to determine interventions by race and ethnicity, disability status, English language learners, and income. These critical protections ensure that all students—including the most disadvantaged—cannot be ignored.
Sixteen states and Washington, D.C., submitted their ESSA plans—which cover multiple provisions of the law—to the U.S. Department of Education for review during the first submission window. The Center for American Progress reviewed these submissions for their school classification systems and school improvement plans. The summary provides critical context and methodology. The 17 individual state fact sheets break down each state’s school classification system in addition to school improvement timeline, grant structure, types of schools identified, and key improvement strategies.
Laura Jimenez is the director of standards and accountability at the Center for American Progress. Samantha Batel is a policy analyst with the K-12 Education team at the Center.
By Laura Jimenez, Director, Standards and Accountability, Center for American Progress (article source: The Hunt Institute)
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) passed in 2015, ending the reign of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) as the nation’s major K-12 education law. ESSA makes key changes in education policy that, in tandem, allow states to transform failing schools into pillars of learning.
With the first regulations governing NCLB’s turnaround program, called “school improvement grants” (SIG), schoolsreceiving funds under Title I of NCLB failing to meet any state performance targets for six consecutive years could receive any amount of additional improvement funds. Schools implemented specific remedies and received a small portion of SIG funds to do so. Few of the 5,000 failing schools improved by 2008.
The later 2009 SIG regulations modified SIG drastically. States granted schools funds directly to implement one of four specific “turnaround models.” Eligible schools performed in the bottom five percent of those receiving federal funds. Schools could receive anywhere from $50,000 to $2 million annually for three years.
The new law eliminates this program. Instead, states are required to set aside at least seven percent of ESSA’s Title I funds. States grant these funds to districts with two types of low-performing schools, now making districts directly responsible for turnaround efforts. Funding amounts also vary, from $50,000 to $500,000 annually. Districts support schools in implementing “evidence-based” interventions that also fit the school’s needs.
These changes align with broader changes under ESSA that, viewed collectively, guide states to develop robust systems of education that prepare students for college and careers. States must implement academic standards that align with credit-bearing coursework and relevant technical education standards. States classify school performance according to multiple measures that offer a broader view of school and student success, including non-academic measures. Finally, states can use funds to build the capacity of teachers to implement supports known to improve student outcomes.
These requirements also apply to low-performing schools.
Since states must have a more comprehensive turnaround approach, they would proceed most purposefully if they develop consensus on two things before designing their turnaround strategy.
The first is developing a measurable definition ofcollege and career ready. What knowledge, skills, and abilities ensure students are ready for thepostsecondary pathway of their choice?
Students need academic content on a range of subjects, including a state’s technical education standards. They also need to gain skills that help them become lifelong learners. Research lists a gamut of these types of skills. In addition, students need exposure and access to the range of postsecondary education pathways that lead to in-demand and high-growth careers.
The second consideration is developing a definition of the types of teaching and learning that produce college and career readiness for students. What knowledge, skills and abilities do teachers need in order to help students reach college and career readiness? Here, states or districts may pursue strategies like deeper learning; use competency-based education to measure student mastery instead of classroom seat time; and/or useprofessional learning communities to allow teachers to use collective expertise to grow their capacity to use these techniques.
Other state-level approaches to turnaround can promote or hinder schools from taking on these strategies.
A recent Center for American Progress (CAP) report identifies seven tenets for states to consider when fostering successful turnaround at the local level. These considerations range from funding and authority strategies to accountability and local capacity building. Applying these tenets sets the conditions for failing schools to thrive.
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