The Second Line Blog

Big win for Two New Orleans HBCUs

Danielle Dreilinger of the Times Picayune writes about two local HBCUs — Dillard University and Xavier University — winning the College Pathways Pilot Project. The project is developed to strengthen the relationship between businesses and universities to help graduates transition into the workforce.

“This is transformational for Dillard,” said Carretta Cooke, director of the university’s career development center. “For the first time, a program will connect our academic affairs and career services to business stakeholders to enhance career readiness and placement in this increasingly competitive job market.”

Read more: 2 New Orleans HBCUs win $2.25 million in career grants

Strong Connections

Jim Mustian of The Advocate writes about Xavier University and New Schools of New Orleans joining forces in an unprecedented way to develop a program dedicated to educating and preparing college seniors to become public school teachers.  This first of its kind partnership between a charter school and an HBCU will be called the Norman C. Francis Teacher Residency and its mission is to diversify the teaching force in New Orleans Public Schools by providing coursework, training, and a pathway to certification.

“I am excited to see an influx of teachers in training who reflect the racial makeup of the public schools in New Orleans and who already have ties to our communities,” Jamar McKneely, chief executive officer of InspireNOLA Charter Schools, said in a statement.
“We will work in tandem with Xavier University to ensure that these teachers have the professional development and support that they need to fall in love with the profession and educate the students of New Orleans for years to come.”

Read more: Xavier partners with charter schools in bid to diversify New Orleans’ teaching force

Relationships Are Restorative

restorativejustice

Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like. -Rita Pierson

If you don’t listen, you don’t learn. And if you don’t learn, there are far fewer opportunities for success. Relationships are the foundation that drives anyone, including students, to want to listen and learn and this is particularly true of low income students of color.

Despite all that we know about their importance, relationships between students and teachers continue to be undervalued in far too many schools. But that is certainly not the case at Net Charter School here in New Orleans. Here’s an excerpt from a recent Huffington Post piece about the school:

It was a pattern Net Co-Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Ostberg had seen before. Ostberg, a young, Harvard-trained educator who volunteered to work with youth in crisis, arrived in New Orleans the year after Hurricane Katrina. By the time she opened the Net five years ago, Ostberg had decided that restorative justice, an approach to discipline and conflict resolution that involves talking through conflicts, was the best way to throw some of the city’s most struggling youth a lifeline — not to mention keep them in school. “It gives the students more internal control and improves their relationships,” says Ostberg. “There’s the hope that if we build students’ conflict resolution skills, if they are in a conflict on the street maybe they can avoid it.

And Ostberg doesn’t mince words in a recent Op-Ed in Huffington Post:

This is not a school for teachers who are only interested in content.

Ostberg’s statement speaks volumes about the priority she places on relationships and restorative practices. The positive changes that she and her team, as well as the students, are seeing are a good starting point for more New Orleans schools to push themselves on the issue of school discipline and focus more on following:

  • An overall approach to making students collaborators in their learning
  • The implementation of less punitive discipline practices to build and strengthen the school community.

It’s no secret and data certainly supports that our kids, especially low income children of color,  have been exposed to varying degrees of trauma. And trauma can have a dramatic impact on how children perceive and respond to interactions with adults and classmates. When schools strip students of a voice and choose to focus solely on education rather than skill-building and empowerment, no matter the GPA or ACT composite, we ultimately end up failing the kids,  future leaders.

This is where Restorative Practices comes into play.  The International Institute of Restorative Practices (IIRP) describes Restorative Practices as the following:

Restorative Practice is a social science that studies how to build social capital and achieve social discipline through participatory learning and decision making.

The use of restorative practices, when executed well, should meet the following goals:

  • reduce crime, violence and bullying
  • improve human behavior
  • strengthen civil society
  • provide effective leadership
  • restore relationships
  • repair harm

There’s no doubt that for veteran teachers just being introduced to restorative practice as an alternative to the more traditional and punitive model,  the shift can be extremely challenging. But because schools work best when they foster support and growth in all areas, it is no wonder that school districts across the United States are seeking out a more community-focused and relationship based approach to discipline.  

 

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After all, restorative practice is about working with our kids and not for or against them.

Healthy relationships between teachers and students must be a top priority because it is from there that so much good often follows. Students who once snapped at having their behavior corrected learn to respond positively to redirection and to celebrate their accomplishments both around behavior and academics.   

The proof is in the pudding

Here’s an excerpt about one’s student’s experience with restorative practice at Net Charter.

Meanwhile, Symphony Lee went from barely showing up at school to receiving accolades on her recent report card. She is due to graduate in May 2018, joining nearly 150 other students who have received Louisiana diplomas since the school opened. By its own calculation, the Net’s 2015-16 graduation rate was 88 percent.

 

Lee’s dream is to attend Southern University at New Orleans, a historically black college. She feels that she’ll be ready. Lee used to tune out when she didn’t understand class material, she says, but now she’s learned how to ask for the help she needs.

 

That’s sometimes difficult to do. But it’s certainly easier to find help in school, in class, than out on suspension.

“Now,” says Lee, “I ask questions.”

Click here to read more about restorative practices and here to learn more about  Net Charter High School’s work.  

3 Questions Every Teacher Should Ask Parents About Their Child

I have spent nearly 5 years in education. Before that I worked for a non-profit working with students encouraging them to pursue a career in the medical field. Since graduating from college, I have been committed to seeing the success of children. I have worked in three different school settings and seen a wide variety of students. As a result, I have also had my encounters with a wide variety of parents.

My goal when I became a teacher was to ensure my students would not only graduate but also to equip parents with the resources they needed to continue the education from school at home. Many of my students had parents who were absent or disengaged by the school or, like me, had active parents that did not know anything about college. Even as a new teacher I was never afraid to ask my students’ parents questions because I know and value the importance of hearing about my students from the people who know them best. Their parents. And my best chance of supporting and helping my students the way they need and deserve depends on me having extra information about each child to guide my decisions.

We as teachers often worry about parents being involved in their child’s education. Sometimes we even bemoan how disengaged they seem. But far too often, we fail to ask them even a single question about their child before we teach them, everyday, for an entire school year.

Here are the 3 questions that every teacher should consider asking parents about the students in their class. These questions are not specific to any particular grade, age, or ethnicity and they are equally effective regardless of school model.

What does your child aspire to be? This was an important question when I wanted to know how to motivate my students. And while it isn’t the most original query, knowing the answer can really make things a lot easier for a teacher. One the first thing that successful teachers do with their students is connect with them. The easiest way to connect with your students is to know what is it that they want to be. You can motivate a student to learn by tying in their interest and passion into what they are learning.

How often are you available to meet about your child? This is the question that affirms to everyone that this child’s education is a team effort. The parents who hear this question know right right out of the gate that I want to support them in making sure their students is successful. This question tells the teacher that I know I can count on the parent to support me in educating the student. And perhaps more importantly, this question gives the student the confidence to be able to say, “my teacher and my parent are on the same page and they both want to see me succeed.”

Does your child like to read? If so what is his/her favorite book? As a teacher I pushed reading for two reasons: one, I was an English teacher and reading was the majority of my classroom instruction. And two,  most students struggle with reading or do not like to read. I have this underlying goal to teach my students the joys of reading and the importance of reading regardless of their reading interest before meeting them. I believe there is a correlation to students that enjoy reading and those that eventually become successful. If the parent answers yes to the question, then I have to continue fostering that love for reading in pushing them to tackle complex reading materials. If the answer is no, then I know I must figure a way to help this student see the joys in reading and overcome their dislike or lack of reading.

I promise that knowing more about your students from the start will make all the difference later, not only in the relationships you are able to build with students, but also in the relationships and trust you are able to establish with parents.

And that trust, along with a love of reading, are total game changers.

David McGuire is an elementary teacher in Indianapolis, IN. He blogs at Indy Ed.

Time to Burst the Bubble

Maybe we should just be honest and admit that we are kidding ourselves. We say that the election of Trump is surprising but we have seen the writing on the wall for many years now. Voter suppression, a Congress that has refused to work on behalf of the people, and a constant barrage of social injustices have left far too many Americans feeling alienated, grasping at straws and willing to throw anything against the wall in the hope that something will stick.

I am left with no choice but to conclude that anyone surprised by the election outcome has likely spent the past few years living inside of a bubble.

As I think about the adverse effect that this election process has had on so many in our nation, I can’t ignore the parallels I see between the presidential election and the current state of school reform. As many in America are reeling from the election of Donald Trump, we in the school reform community are also picking up the pieces after big school choice losses in Massachusetts and Georgia. Through our lens, those losses represent a direct hit to equity for disenfranchised children who need and deserve better schools.   

And we can’t ignore the spike in racially charged incidents since the election–the kind of racism that seemed to live mostly in the shadows until the day after the election. The impact of these events are hard to measure but common sense tells us that there is an emotional toll when children are targeted for their race, religion, sexual orientation, or residency status.

All of this has led me to ask the question, are ed reformers living within a bubble of their own? When setbacks and even pain of this kind wreak havoc on our mission, it really compels us to take a step back and examine what we are doing and if it is bringing us the results that we want.

Are my efforts reaching the real stakeholders who would most benefit from school choice?

Are my efforts even helping to bring more equity in education?

Are my efforts to get information to families having an impact on their ability to make the most informed choice for their families?

Or

Are my efforts getting stuck inside the bubble and never breaking through to reach the people who I’m most committed to helping?

Burst the Bubble  

Every day I read, share and learn from articles, blogs, and op-eds written by very sharp, intelligent and caring people who spend their days fighting for educational equity, school choice and better quality  schools.

But perhaps that is  precisely the problem.

At this point in my work, I should be known as an engaged parent advocate who will be in the trenches fighting whether I’m affiliated with ed reformers or not.  My support of school choice and quality education is rooted in the uplift of families throughout our communities regardless of who is (or is not) on my side.  And still, there are parents and community stakeholders who are dwelling in a vast untapped demographic. Yes, those voters (and by voters, I mean parents and stakeholders) that no one believed would turn out on election day but were being courted all the same.

So back to these wonderful articles and blogs. They encourage me to move. To act. To be bold on behalf of kids. They motivate me to do research and to learn more. And that is all hugely important. And good. But it does often seem like most of the content written by proponents of school reform gets stuck inside a charter movement intranet, only to be seen by colleagues, or friends of those tagged in the pieces. Sure, these pieces take a spin through the Twitterverse and folks battle back and forth but they rarely seem to break out of the echo chamber.  

A vital constituency is missing from the conversation. And by now, we should all be quite familiar with the consequences of solely paying attention to your opposition or allies and virtually ignoring those who are looking for change and authentic engagement. The people who are calling out for help. The ones being written about and spoken for but who never get a true visit or mention except every 2 to 4 years.

Our movement’s ground game needs a proverbial shot in the arm, a revival and a resurgence that will intentionally engage old supporters and creatively reach out to new ones. A getting back to basics, if you will. It’s important that people continue to write, research, and opine but we also must open our minds to engage the people most affected by the schools we are working to improve.

Moving Forward

I have made a vow since the election to operate with an urgency and vigor that will bring about greater educational outcomes for families in this nation. I am looking to collaborate like I never have before seeking greater results from improved engagement and unprecedented ground work to make education better for kids.

So let’s burst this bubble. Let’s talk to and write for those who have been ignored for too long. Let’s start a new conversation. Shake the hand or even hug someone different each day in an effort to reach out to a deeper and different group of people. I believe in my heart that we, as reformers, want to educate all children well.

Genuinely getting to know those we are trying to serve is an important first step in getting this right.  

Inspiring Progress

Della Hasselle, of the Advocate, writes about the progress of a struggling charter school after a major change in management. And while these kinds of takeovers remain controversial and difficult for all involved, this one has certainly led to dramatic improvements. Andrew H. Wilson Charter School in Broadmoor has moved from a state rating of F to a C in one short year. And while there is still much work to be done to be in the A or B range, there is no question that they are on the right track.

Jamar Mckneely, The CEO of Inspire NOLA, described the changes this way. “ We believe that if kids feel good about themselves, they can also succeed academically…and we’ve implemented a strong culture of raising expectations.”

Read more: Under new management, Wilson Charter School in Broadmoor sees academic gains

Helping our children regain certainty

Like many other people, the day after the election, I was feeling shock, fear, and despair about the outcome.  I was en route to a conference on equity in Detroit with a colleague who works with me in education justice. She is also a 10th grade English teacher, and I could tell she wanted to be with her kids. She talked about the lessons she had reviewed with them in class, including Sojourner Truth’s speech, “Ain’t I a Woman” and checked their twitter accounts on her phone. They missed her too. They tweeted her, asking, “Where are you?”  One messaged her about music he was playing to comfort himself, “Black Boy Fly,” which has been described as a song that “celebrates the successes of a couple boyz n the hood who were fortunate enough to make it out.” When she told me this, I thought of the yoga class I had taught the day before. To set the election-day theme of the class, I told the students to send love to themselves in any moments of uncertainty.  At the time I didn’t know how much all of us would need the advice. After the elections results, it was becoming clearer.

For me, the scariest part of the election outcome is the uncertainty of the future, and that includes the future of our children.  It’s the reason why each time I’ve heard a post-election story about children asking if they should pack their bags, I am nearly in tears.  Children are scared, and we as adults, as parents, as aunts or uncles, as teachers or mentors do not have all the answers. We don’t know what will happen or what is to come. It is difficult for us to assure protection against the unknown.  

The media is already reporting a rash of racist, anti-Muslim, and anti-Semitic bullying incidents in schools. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, of the 400 allegations of election-related intimidation and harassment, one-third of these incidents took place in schools.  When I first read a news story about children in Michigan chanting, “Let’s build the wall,” to a Latina middle-school student, I was immediately transported back to the days when I experienced taunting and harassment in my own school. Kids called me a number of racial slurs, and the teachers looked the other way. I felt betrayed that the people in power would not help me. Even though racism and bigotry are a certainty in the life of any person of color in America, there is a new tenor of legitimacy that my generation has never experienced. Now, our President-Elect is the bully.

Admittedly, since the election I’ve considered a number of worst-case scenarios.  Some of them seem to be coming true with the selection of cabinet leaders and department heads, as well as threats to abolish the Department of Education.  But I keep thinking back to one of the most comforting moments at the conference. Looking around, I saw Native Americans, Latinos, Asians, Arabs, African-Americans, and Whites who had all come together for a cause. One panelist reminded us, “Our ancestors have survived worse, and we will survive this.” The strength and resiliency of the human spirit has overcome these trials before and we will continue to overcome them.

In this moment of uncertainty, I feel our path is clear: to love stronger, deeper, and more purely. We must teach our children to do the same.  We can learn from my colleague and her student and find ways to help our young people lift themselves up and remember their own value. For one teenager, it was listening to “Black Boy Fly.” For each child, there is a song, a poem, or maybe just a few words of praise that might make all the difference. As the role models to young people, in this moment of uncertainty we must help our children know what is certain: they are loved.

Did We Pass?!

Well, we didn’t exactly fail. According to a Daniele Dreilinger in The Times Picayune, the state has released the annual capstone results and unfortunately, the trend is a downward one with Louisiana dropping from a B to a C. This comes as a bit of a surprise after hearing Superintendent John White say that “schools actually grew on almost all measures.” So what happened? Here’s how department officials have explained it:

“The reporting system did not fully reflect the gains made by the many schools that are making great progress, particularly with low-achieving students, just as it did not grade schools based on expectations of full preparation for the workplace and college.”

Read more:  Louisiana releases school letter grades for 2016