The Problems of Housing Discontinuity

A few weeks ago I came across a local newspaper entitled Word on the Street which “aims to educate the community and expose the underlying causes of homelessness.” The front page story of the issue was titled “Lack of affordable housing key to homelessness and poverty”.  It explored the history of budget allocations for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and how they have attributed to a stark increase in homelessness in Baltimore. In particular, the article mentions the effects of the HOPE VI program initiated in the 1990s. HOPE VI manifested itself in Baltimore with the demolition of existing housing projects and replaced them with mixed-income developments, which displaced over 20,000 residents, of which only a small fraction of would end up living in the HOPE VI sites.

As a proponent of the Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) and community schools, I couldn’t help but see homelessness and/or frequent relocation as significant obstacle that would have to be addressed. Not only does this affect children’s ability to focus one getting to school and to focus in school, but it also compromises the continuity of a child’s education. Part of the allure of what Geoffrey Canada has been able to set up so successfully in Harlem is that there is sustained support for children and their families. These supports, from parenting information to test prep to healthcare access, are able to have a compounding effect for the children and families in the neighborhood, but what if you have to move out of the neighborhood? In my opinion, what is so critical about the HCZ and the concept of community schools is that they provide the stability to build up positive momentum over a long period of time. Unfortunately, families that move in and out would have a difficult time building up enough momentum to see significant educational outcomes.

For community schools or HCZ-like endeavors to be successful in Baltimore, I believe ensuring that students have stable living accommodations must be a priority. While this may not be an issue in some communities, in others this is sure to be a significant challenge. Although the HUD programs of the past may not have been helpful in this area, this agency could be a very strong ally for school and community leaders. After all, the Department of Education shouldn’t be the only one looking out for the best interests of children.

You can find more information about Word on the Street at http://wordonthestreetbaltimore.wordpress.com/

Rewinding a Year

Just one year ago today, everybody in our class was surviving the intensive Teach for America summer training program called Institute. I thought back to that time, when I was so full of hope, so full of inspiration, and so full of the belief that students everywhere can achieve. Fast-forward a year, to this School Reform class, and I hear on a daily basis the same complaints that cynics everywhere shower upon our inner-city children. If it isn’t being short on resources, it’s having an under qualified administration, a central office that makes poor decisions, or a curriculum that doesn’t make sense. What happened to the belief that our children can achieve?

I stumbled on this story earlier, about a woman named Dr. Camika Royal, who was a TFA Baltimore member in 1999, and gave the speech at the opening ceremony of induction recently in Philadelphia. Speaking of school reform, Dr. Royal has kept a close eye on the happenings in Philadelphia, where they are completely eliminating the school district in favor of charter management organizations. Her point is that, as teachers, we are the ones who, in her words, “control the weather.” Educators, she says, and I agree with, are not bad, but they are tired and reform weary. And our students are more than test scores, subgroups, and graduation rates- they are human beings, who want the best for themselves and for the people around them.

A year later, I feel that a part of me forgot that simple truth.  The simple truth that, despite the challenges we face as educators on a daily basis, we are here because we believe that our students can do well for themselves and for the world. Maybe there are some things that schools or school districts can change along the way to make our jobs easier, such as creating smaller schools, supplying us with more resources, etc. But, in the end, our job is to teach. Whatever reform the school districts have in store for us shouldn’t effect our simple ability to teach to our fullest.  

Why Higher Order Thinking Should be Abolished (according to GOP Texans)

 While I was home in Dallas, Texas,  I came across an article on the Huffington Post that stated that the 2012 GOP platform opposes "higher order thinking skills." Naturally, I guffawed. Isn't this what we want to happen in classrooms across the country? Apparently, Texas Republicans think not.

The GOP platform believes that higher order thinking skills and critical thinking skills challenge "students fixed beliefs" and, ultimately, undermine "parental authority." At the heart of the matter are parents' roles in their child's education. If students are taught to think critically, then they must eventually challenge what their parents have taught them, Republicans believe. What is more frightening to me, though, is the notion that we should not challenge students' fixed beliefs. I'm sure some of us can imagine what would happen if we didn't challenge some of their beliefs, or if some of our beliefs were not challenged when we were students. As teachers, and as future parents, we must begin to question what our roles in our children's education might be. Will we be the primary source of not only knowledge, but also beliefs, in our children's lives? To what extent should our children question what they have been taught by parents and teachers?

What was interesting to me, though, was perusing what other items made it onto the section "Educating our Children" on the platform document. If you would like to see the platform document, it is linked here. Along with opposing higher order thinking, Texas GOPs opposes any "sex education other than abstinence," advocates for corporal punishment, and believes that the "Department of Education (DOE) should be abolished."

I recommend reading the full document to understand the entire position from which the GOP is coming. It was not until I read it completely that I found their other recommendations. Regardless of your political beliefs, it is crucial that as educators we understand the platforms of political parties, especially in an election year. It is our duty to know the education platform of these parties and vote for who we think will fight for the best for our students.

David Brooks is one among many journalists to recently lament America’s divided future. Though the divide to which he refers to in his most recent New York Times article is an educational one, and not a political one.  In his article, “The Opportunity Gap”, Brooks reviews recent research completed by Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam.  Putnam attributes the discrepancy in opportunity to social factors that affect children at young ages.  He frames the opportunity gap in terms of two additional gaps: an attention gap and a behavior gap.

Affluent parents spend more time reading to their children when they are young, and have the money, time, and resources to be more involved in their children’s lives.  These days, college-educated parents spend an hour more a day with their kids than non-college educated parents (a gap that has grown over the past 40 years).  The attention gap may also be attributed to a shift in social norms.  More and more children are born in single-parent households.  With the current job market, many working-class parents are too stressed and have less time, money, and resources to dedicate to their children.  This fact puts working-class children at a sad disadvantage, as upper-income parents are spending increasingly more money on their kids’ extracurricular activities.  This last difference has contributed to the behavior gap in students.

Putnam notes that poorer children who are not are not involved in extracurricular activities are more pessimistic and detached than their affluent counterparts.  These attitudes are attributed to the fact that the majority of our social institutions – family, friends, school, and community – have failed working-class youths.  It is no surprise that failed children consequently lack a sense of purpose and responsibility, thus causing a behavior gap.

Brooks ends the article by writing: “Equal opportunity, once core to the nation’s identity, is now a tertiary concern.”  If Americans want to change that, then “…people are going to have to make some pretty uncomfortable decisions.”  Brooks mentions three such decisions to remedy the opportunity gap:

1. Liberals should prioritize marriage over childrearing in order to provide children with two parents and adequate attention in a home environment.
2. Conservatives need reconcile that tax increases and benefit cuts are necessary steps to provide funding for programs that benefit the working class.
3. Politicians need to spend their time trying to remedy class divides instead of exploiting them and making the divide even wider. 

Are such concessions necessary to close the attention and behavior gaps, and ultimately the opportunity gap?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/10/opinion/brooks-the-opportunity-gap.html?ref=davidbrooks

Education Behind Bars

Over the weekend, I read an article about how Missouri rehabilitates juvenile offenders. In many of the "schools" in detention facilities across the united states students attend classes for only a few hours a week in classrooms overcrowded with behavioral problems and special needs. These "schools" often causes juvenile offenders to fall further behind their peers academically, socially, and emotionally. 

The new approach of the Missouri's Division of Youth Services (DYS) has helped thousands of juveniles rehabilitate. Students are taught in small groups fostering communal trust. Students then attend group therapy to develop positive ways of creating relationships with others and positive anger management. 

This article highlights the amazing results that are possible if people are willing to truly be revolutionary. I strongly believe that if a child internalizes an identity of a criminal or a failure, that is most likely what they will become. This new model in Missouri gives students a chance to positively reflect on their poor decisions in the past and use their mistakes and the mistake of their peers to help them make better decisions in the future. This model should not be confined to Missouri. While juvenile crime rates in Baltimore have declined since 2007, the number of youth who would benefit from this therapeutic model is enormous. The students we see or the students that commit crimes and are then committed to detention facilities are not acting out because they want to fail. They have unmet needs and they are doing the best they can with the resources available to them, often using inappropriate methods to meet their needs. By addressing the whole student, their strengths, their weaknesses and transforming the prison educational system from that of a punitive model to that of a therapeutic model, the Missouri DYS is giving these students the best chance for achievement in the future. Their success merits attention from school districts nation wide. This revolutionary shift in educational philosophy could transform the way the youth in Baltimore and other cities are educated. 

If you would like to read the article, here is a link to the PDF of the journal:

http://www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/summer2012/ae_summer2012_sml.pdf