Beyond the Achievement Gap: Where is it working?

June 5, 2009

Presenters:

• Barbara Bearman, long time civil rights and desegregation activist
• Caty Royce, Midwest Director of the Fund for an OPEN Society, a national organization to support integration of our nations' communities
• Geneva Finn, attorney and research fellow at the Institute on Race and Poverty at the U of M Law School.
• Tonya Glover FAIR parent and integration activist
• Kevin Bennett, principal of FAIR and the Interdistrict Downtown School
• Jim Hilbert executive director of the Center for Negotiation and Justice at William Mitchell College of Law and one of the plaintiff attorneys for the two desegregation lawsuits in the mid-1990s

Caty Royce

First meeting recap: The Achievement Gap resides in an opportunity gap, a broader, more systemic problem. As we look at the achievement gap, we automatically look at schools. We have to look well beyond the school silo. This is as much about residential segregation as it is about school segregation. How can we alleviate school segregation? We can’t until we look at the larger issue of residential segregation, the lack of equity in schools, the lack of equity in our economic system. 

Integration, a second look: The last time we did the integration thing in the 50s, we didn’t do it right. We are ready to say that. Things didn’t happen that needed to happen to desegregate communities. We need to do it again and do it right. It means getting at the opportunity gap. This is a huge, complex issue. The complexity keeps many from going at it. We have national and local examples of where it’s working.

Geneva Finn

Metro solutions needed: The greatest amount of school segregation happens between districts, not necessarily within districts. Twin Cities’ schools are segregated, fragmented and inefficient. We have school districts like Hopkins that encircle other school districts. Others have long arms.  We don’t bus kids based on efficiency, we bus them on their school district. There are a number of places in the country that organize school districts on metropolitan models. In the 1970s there were a lot of court orders to consolidate where you had splinter school districts.  

National examples: Two school districts have maintained a strong commitment to large scale integration and succeeded. Both are well regarded: Wake County in North Carolina and Louisville Kentucky. They are examples of what large scale integration could look like in our region. 

Wake County NC: The district’s racial demographics are 50/50 white and students of color, relatively low poverty, around 30 percent free or reduced lunch. It is a fast growing region. 

• History: In the 1970s, some wealthy businessmen worried about Raleigh. White parents were moving to the suburbs. They were losing businesses and population. The region was becoming segregated. The Raleigh Chamber and some officials pushed for a county-wide school district. A county vote rejected it 3-1. The Chamber took the issue to the state legislature, which forced the creation of the Wake County school district.

• Assignment plan: In about 1990, the school district moved to school assignment based on socioeconomic status. Every Raleigh school has a goal to be about 40 percent students receiving free- or reduced-priced lunch and less than 25 percent scoring below grade level. They created attendance nodes based on the neighborhood’s socio-economic status and student performance. Those nodes are assigned schools. Students choose between their assigned school and magnets. About 70 percent of Wake County students attend school within 5 miles of home. Because of growth, boundaries change a lot.  Parents sometimes react to that, but at no point have integration plan opponents turned the school board.

• Benefits: The county district can deal with the emerging demographic trends. They can project what will happen in the metro region pretty accurately and decide where to build elementary schools most efficiently, with the best mix of students. (Smaller districts have a more difficult time predicting trends, depending on what happens in neighboring districts.)

More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake_County_Public_School_System  

Louisville: Louisville was one of two districts involved in a U.S. Supreme Court case that struck down race-based student assignment. Still, Louisville kept integrated schools by changing assignment rules. The Jefferson County Public School District is well regarded. Parents choose it. They feel a good portion of the success is based on maintaining integrated schools.  

• School assignment: They needed to redesign an assignment program that met the Supreme Court ruling. They divided the district into two regions. Area A includes census blocks where people have below average income, below average education and above average students of color. Area B is everybody else. The School Board decided every school should have between 15 and 40 percent of their students from Area A. That way you have racial and socio economic and educational level integration in schools.

• Meets Court ruling: Justice Kennedy wrote the controlling opinion for the Supreme Court. It said racial integration is a laudable goal but districts couldn’t assign individual students to schools based only on race. They could assign students based on an area’s overall demographics, including race. Assignment is based on three factors: race, income and educational attainment of parents. One of the nice things this does, you go to school with the kids who live around you.

More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_County_Public_Schools_(Kentucky)  

Housing piece is missing: It’s not perfect. School districts don’t deal with housing. They try to predict trends but they don’t work on affordable housing placement.  

Local history: In the Twin Cities we tried to address segregation on a metropolitan level in the ‘90s. One of the few things that ended up as part of our desegregation rule, the Metropolitan Council was supposed to work with the school districts and housing officials and assure fair affordable housing placement. That hasn’t happened. 

Integration Districts: One of the other things we have in the Twin Cities are three integration districts. These meta districts organize magnet integrated schools for specialized programs. They are little known and underappreciated. They may provide a blueprint for creating integrated school districts in the Twin Cities region. 

More here:

• East Metro Integration District, http://www.emid6067.net/
• NorthWest Suburban School Integration District: http://www.nws.k12.mn.us/
• West Metro Education Program (WMEP), http://www.wmep.k12.mn.us/ 

Tonya Glover (WMEP parent)

Institutional changes: The two WMEP schools, the Fine Arts Interdisciplinary Resource (FAIR) and the InterDistrict Downtown School (IDSS), have successfully addressed on a small scale what others have not yet figured out: How to address subconscious and sometimes conscious discriminatory practices in institutional settings.  We have created an institutional culture where every child feels accepted and valued and where their heritages are embraced. At his previous school, my son would complain about going to school in the 3^rd grade, complaining how teachers and staff treated him. One teacher made her son feel stupid and inadequate.  At FAIR, teaches and staff hold one another accountable for success. Before going to FAIR, her son’s 3^rd grade test score ranked in the 5^th percentile. At FAIR, he is now in the 50^th percentile.

Kevin Bennett

Principal for FAIR and IDSS 

The 25-point checklist: At FAIR, we have a framework of equity and excellence, a 25-point checklist of what we should see taking place in the classroom day in and day out. There are no ifs, ands or buts. If you are not committed to seeing every child be successful, you are not the type of teacher of staff person we want in the school. The framework covers three broad areas: 

• Relationships and respect: How does the teacher create a learning environment in which all students feel accepted and supported? We believe it is critical to establish positive relationships with students.
• Meaningful and relevant learning: There is no sense in educating kids about things they don’t want to retain or can put to use. We have to make sure the curriculum is meaningful.
• High expectations and excellence. We need all students to be successful.

For the complete 25-point checklist, go here: http://www.ed.gov/admins/comm/choice/magnet-k8/edlite-figure4.html  

The three C’s: No different than other schools, we look at the 3 C’s: Culture, Climate and Community.  

• Culture: In 2004, in a school of 550 kids we had 142 out-of-school suspensions. I believe about 60-70 percent were African American students even though they made up 30 percent of the population. This year we have about 20 suspensions. That means more time kids are in classrooms learning and that kids are having positive interactions with teachers and staff.

• Climate: Our entire staff is immersed in the work of Glenn Singleton. http://www.aeispeakers.com/print.php?SpeakerID=1654 You do not remain as an employee if you do not participate in Beyond Diversity training. It is absolutely necessary for teachers and staff to understand the students’ background and culture. We make sure that staff and students are involved in conversations about race, and have the platform to share their experiences. We extend those conversations to families as well.

• Community: Students feel a sense of belonging. If you have all the black kids sitting together in the lunch room, they may have connections, but if that is what they do day in and day out, you have a problem building community.

Engaging families When our program was in question, about 400 parents came out to advocate. They wouldn’t come if we weren’t making a difference with their kids.  

Arts: We are a fine arts magnet. We believe the arts increase critical and creating thinking skills. Arts shouldn’t be the program that gets cut when things gets tight. 

No drill and kill: Students need to see a connection between all of the disciplines throughout their school day. Underperforming schools use the drill and kill, and kids are turned off to reading and math. 

Screening teachers: You have to hire good people. I have been in interviews with teachers and they are uncomfortable with conversations around equity and diversity. I tell them I am uncomfortable continuing the interview. It is not our responsibility to make them feel comfortable, it is to make sure that students have teachers who are high quality. I think in some places teachers have hijacked the schools. It is not about the kids and the kids know it. I don’t have tolerance for teachers who don’t get it. 

Measuring success: We need to look at students’ annual growth, fall to spring. We have to know what kids know and use data that will help our practices. 

Federal award: The U.S. Department of Education (USDE) named FAIR one of the top schools in the country. This summer USDE will feature approaches and strategies we use at FAIR on their website to invite and encourage others. (Here’s one USDE link: http://www.ed.gov/admins/comm/choice/magnet-k8/report_pg27.html )

Jim Hilbert

Organizing effort: We are building a coalition around integration. We have shared examples from around the country and our backyard. We invite anyone in this room to join us. We will have a meeting June 25 at William Mitchell Law School at noon. Sign up if you want more information.

Q&A with Kevin Bennett

Q: How do you get rid of teachers who are underperforming?

A: You don’t get tenure if students are not achieving. I have non-renewed staff because they were not being effective. You offer them training and support. But ultimately you have to be effective. It is not about trying; it is about doing. Even tenured teachers, if you are not effective, there is due process. If it doesn’t work out I politely encourage them to pursue other interests. My interests are making sure that kids learn. 

Q: Are there patterns to where your best teachers come from?

A: I believe good people are everywhere. I believe is starts with your passion and beliefs. I believe that is the biggest battle. I think there are people who don’t think we can close the achievement gap. I don’t wait to see what applications I get, I go out to schools and universities to find them. 

Q: From integration standpoint, what is a successful mix or composition?

A: Currently at FAIR it is 65 white and 35 percent students of color. I am comfortable with that. I believe that is a healthy balance. We are in Minnesota. At IDSS it is the opposite, about 65 percent kids of color, 35 percent white. At the end of the day, regardless of the background, you still have to educate them.  Everyone wants quality. It is illegal to set a quota …  

Q: Say something more about the reasons behind the emphasis on art. ..

A: If you look at brain research, you will find that the way the brain works, the way kids learn, there is a natural connection with the arts. Sometimes additional math and reading can be very abstract for kids. When you connect it with the real world and culture and the arts, it becomes something they can grasp and understand. The arts allows kids to express themselves in a number of different mediums .. Maybe they can’t write the best research paper, but you put a camera in their hands and they can put together a multi-media package that will blow you away. The world we live in is much more multi dimensional.  

Q: You talked about being intentional about integrating the study body, so that all the black kids don’t sit at the same lunch table. What have you learned about what works?

A: Kids come in with experiences that their parents have carried, good or bad. It is part of who they are. If mom goes to work and thinks she is not appreciated or she is not validated because of her gender or her race, those kids pick up on that. If you have parents who are outgoing and make an effort to have friendships groups that are integrated, those students are looking for those things, too. So educating parents and making sure that parents are part of the school community, that is very important. It makes no sense for us to do all this work in the school to integrate the kids, and they go home and they get a different conversation. 

Q: The culture needs to change in the district office, too. As we try to put reforms in for interdisciplinary teaching, we get push back.

A: I have a small district, not a lot of bureaucracy. I tell my superintendent, give me the chance to be successful. If I am not successful, do due process with me and remove me. As long as I am on the path—80 percent of African American kids proficient in reading—he will have a difficult time telling me no. When I have parents who are committed, involved and engaged, he will have a more difficult time telling me no. I build alliances with parents, staff and kids. Children in my schools feel I am their best friend. I need them to feel that way. If they don’t, then they feel like they don’t have a voice to the most powerful figure in the school. They don’t have an avenue to get their ideas on the agenda. 

Q: Elaborate on being a student-centered school.

A: It is not like this is how you have to act and how you have to conform to fit into the school. We say, You come as you are and we need to make sure that the school is flexible enough to meet your needs, your strengths, skills and talents. You don’t conform to the school. It is the other way around. 

Q: How many children?

A: 550 at FAIR (grades 4-8) and 500 downtown, grades K-12. 

Q: Student teacher ratio and additional staff support?

A: Classroom, about 28 kids in a classroom. Next year we will move a little beyond that. But 28 in a class is where the school was structured to be. 

Q: Talk about staff training

A: At FAIR, we focus on four initiatives in the school itself. We build Professional Learning Communities. Last year, we began a one-to-one program, putting a laptop in the hands of every 8^th grader. You find the experts in the school community and you pool those talents and skills together and that is who is driving technology in the building. You do the same thing for equity, for curriculum, for interdisciplinary, for instruction. Everyone has a talent or role they can play. It is up to the administration to organize those skills and align them with initiatives. 

Q: To close the achievement gap, some schools have structured rules around respect, responsibility, even a dress code. You say students get to be who they are?

A: I don’t think we are naturally disrespectful. We do have a program called Think Twice. That is our discipline program. We encourage kids to think before they act or speak. We bring in different theater companies to do presentations on bullying, under the Think Twice umbrella. We give kids arm bracelets that say Think Twice, consistently putting out that message. You are building that culture. I don’t like using the word discipline with kids. It is not about discipline and punishment. It is about growth and understanding. I think in some schools, teachers think some kids are bad kids. Then I say, you are a bad teacher. It is a kid. A child. They still have potential.