Transcript Unpacking the Difficulty of Reframing “Racial Achievement Gaps” Racial Stereotypes

Unpacking the Difficulty of Reframing
“Racial Achievement Gaps”
So Data No Longer Reinforce
Racial Stereotypes
National Conference on
Student Assessment
Los Angeles, CA
June 23, 2009
Who We Are
• Kee Edwards, Principal, Rosa
Parks Elementary, Middletown, OH
• Deanna Hill, Senior Policy Analyst,
West Wind Education Policy, Inc.
• Circe Stumbo, President, West
Wind Education Policy, Inc.
West Wind Education Policy Inc.
• Help state and district leaders
imagine and enact a system of
education that overcomes
historic inequities and engages
all students in learning
Rosa Parks Elementary,
Middletown City Schools, OH
• School district:
– 6,000 students
– 75% White, 17% Black; 3%
Hispanic; 4.2% Multiracial; .5%
Pacific Islander
• Rosa Parks Elementary School:
– 450 students
– 35% White, 65% Black
What We Hope To Do Today
– Describe 5 problems we have with
the phrase “closing achievement
gaps,” including the ways it reinforces
negative stereotypes and focuses us
too narrowly on a problem
– Encourage all of us to think about
how our work contributes to these
problems
– Think together about what to do
Let’s Talk
• What is your earliest
memory of race?
• What is your most
recent experience
with race?
Warm-Up Discussion
Pair-Share and Report-Out:
Why do we disaggregate
student achievement data
by race?
Why Disaggregate?
Middletown City Schools
• Middletown City Schools’
Initial Strategy
– Helped us to identify gaps
among our subgroups
– Allowed us to focus our
efforts
– When attached to
accountability, brought some
people to the table
Why Disaggregate?
A National Perspective
An equity-focused standardsbased reform strategy:
– Exposed that many schools
are NOT providing students of
color with opportunities to
learn.
– Identified schools serving
students of color very well—
and broadcasted that
information
Why Disaggregate?
A National Perspective
The Education Trust is a major
advocate for disaggregated data
and equity.
The Council of Chief State
School Officers also has been an
advocate.
Some Schools Have
Closed the Gap
Percent Meeting Graduation Requirements
Elmont Memorial, Higher %-age of Students Meeting Graduation
Requirements than the State, Class of 2004, Regents English
100
99
99
100
100
88
85
74
80
99
72
75
60
Elmont
New York
40
20
0
All
African
American
Latino
Poor
Source: New York State School Report Card, compiled by The Education Trust
Non-Poor
How we typically approach
the data, Middletown
• When we pull our staff together to
look at the data…
… we pull together teachers
… we immediately go to conversations
about the students’ home life, their
parents’ expectations, their levels of
poverty, etc.
Let’s Talk
What does the term “racial
achievement gap” mean?
What do we mean when we say
there is an “achievement gap” by
race?
What words do we use when we
talk about racial achievement
gaps?
What’s Wrong With This Picture?
1. The way we use data reinforces
existing beliefs about the
intellectual inferiority of children
and communities of color.
Making Meaning
• When a school is described as
90% black and Latino, what
mental images would many people
have of that school?
Making Meaning
• So, what is it about disaggregating
data that challenges people’s
beliefs about the innate ability of
kids of color?
Myths of Superiority, Meritocracy, Neutrality
What’s Wrong With This Picture?
2. When we talk about solving racial
achievement gaps in reading or
mathematics,
… how often do we talk about
race,
… instead of talking only about
reading/mathematics?
What’s Wrong With This Picture?
3. When we talk about solving racial
achievement gaps in reading or
mathematics,
… how often do we talk about
race,
… instead of talking about
remediation?
Limited Solution Set
• If the problem is underachieving
students, the solution is…
…to fix the kids (i.e., remediation)
• Supplemental Educational
Services
• Double-dosing
• Reading First
Limited Solution Set
• If the problem is underachieving
students, the solution is…
…to fix the parents (i.e., parent
“involvement”)
What’s Wrong With This Picture?
What’s Wrong With This Picture?
Not only does it reinforce the
notion that students of color are
intellectually inferior to white
students…
What’s Wrong With This Picture?
4. … this picture does not tell a
story that instills passion, moral
outrage, or commitment to
overcoming racial disparities
5. … and, because we focus on
“achievement,” we ignore some
of the most devastating
experiences students have in
school
What if we sought these
kinds of data?
“A
Girl
Like
Me”
Film clip shown with permission from Reel Works Teen
Filmmaking. To purchase film, visit ReelWorks.org.
Discussion
• What does the video “A Girl
Like Me” say to you?
• Reflecting on the video, what
does the current conversation
about “racial achievement
gaps” leave out?
What if this were how we defined
“the achievement gap”?
Black male student: On the first day in class, I
showed up a little late to this AP Chemistry class.
The teacher said, “You must be in the wrong class,
this is AP Chemistry.” I said, “No, I am in the right
class,” and showed her my schedule. She looked
at it, and said, “this must be wrong, you cannot be
in here.” She didn’t even know me, but she
assumed that I didn’t belong in her class. She
called down to the office, and took about fifteen
minutes calling down to the placement center,
talking to counselors and everything, and when it
was all over, I was in the right class. I’m saying, if I
was Asian would she have gone through all of
that?
—as told by Howard, 2008, n.p.
Discussion
• How does an experience like this
demonstrate to the students in
that class that the teacher/school
holds high standards for all
children?
• What does an experience like
that do to a student’s readiness
to learn?
• How is it a systems problem?
Discussion
• Does our current conversation
about “achievement gaps” capture
these educational realities?
• Does the achievement gap
discourse disrupt these patterns
and dominant mental models?
• We suggest that it does not
Let’s Reflect and Talk
• Do you buy the idea—or are you at
least willing to rent the idea for a
little while—that the way we talk
about the racial achievement gap
re-inscribes negative stereotypes
and focuses the system too
narrowly?
• What are you struggling with?
Change Our Focus
• What about our own practices
reinforce deficit thinking related to
students of color?
• How can we talk
– more about race and
– about more than just
“achievement”?
Questions From the Field
• How can we get to the point where
we focus on our responsibilities as
a system?
• When do we investigate what the
data DOESN’T tell us?
Let’s Reflect and Talk
• What might each of us
do differently?
Possible Solutions
• Augment the Data? Collect more
information than just performance
on standardized exams
• School climate surveys
• Ethnographic research (student
experiences, teacher beliefs,
forces at play)
• Etc.
Possible Solutions
Percent Meeting Graduation Requirements
• Report the Data Differently?
100
99
99
100
100
74
80
99
88
85
72
75
60
Elmont
New York
40
20
0
All
African
American
Latino
Poor
Non-Poor
How often is a
90-90-90
school’s data
shown
ALONGSIDE
the state’s
data?
Possible Solution
• Ask different questions of the
data?
• Ask specifically what the data
reveals about the system
• Look for outliers and seek out
their stories
• Examine intersections
between race and poverty
Ohio’s “Gaps”
Source: Ohio Department of Education
Average ACT Scores by Parental Income and Race/Ethnicity in Ohio, School Year 2005-2006
120
79
76
ACT Score
100
79
80
65
70
83
80
85
76
74
81
80
85
90
103
88
84
90
90
76
Black
70
67
Hispanic
White
60
Asian
All
40
20
0
Less than $24,000
$24,000-$42,000
Income Level
$42,000-$60,000
More than $60,000
Possible Solutions
• Broaden the frame?
• Talk about what the data cannot
tell us
• Ask questions of the system
• Complicate the data and our
interpretations of it (what
matters—% passing?; what is
normed; etc.)
Normalizing Whiteness
Source: Indiana Annual State Report Card, 2003, Indiana Department of Education
Possible Solutions
• More holistically capture the
student experience?
• Talk to our children
• Look at micro-aggressions
• Examine their experiences and
our mental models
Possible Solutions
• Support conversations about
race?
• Study race
• Support professional
development
• Facilitate conversations
• Find counterstories
Possible Solutions
• Augment the data?
• Report the data differently?
• Ask different questions?
• Broaden the frame?
• Examine the student experience?
• Support conversations about race?
• Your ideas?
Closing Thought
• We encourage everyone to
eliminate the term “achievement
gap” from our equity work,
research, and activism.
• At least replace with “racial
disparities”
• Please help us to think about
what better we can do!
Contact Info
Deanna Hill, Senior Policy Analyst
[email protected]
Circe Stumbo, President
[email protected]
West Wind Education Policy Inc.
1700 S. First Ave, Suite 17
Iowa City, IA 52240
877-354-9378 (toll free)
www.westwinded.com
Contact Info
Kee Edwards, Principal
[email protected]
Rosa Parks Elementary School
1210 S. Verity Parkway
Middletown, OH 45044
• EXTRA SLIDES
Why Haven’t Things Changed?
• We know this is possible, but we
also know that states struggle
• Conversations about race are
difficult
• We hold back from asking tough
questions
• Can we really know what we need
to know through data?
The
Iceberg
Peter Senge, et al, The Fifth
Discipline Fieldbook Project,
Schools That Learn
Transformational Change
• Peter Senge
• http://www.solonline.org/
The Significance of
Problem Definition
• The way we talk about a problem
does several things:
– It locates the source of the problem,
which defines the solutions we
consider
– It conveys messages to others about
what is happening
– While sometimes it debunks beliefs,
most often it reinforces them
Limited Solution Set
• If the problem is underachieving
students, the solution is…
• …to fix the kids (i.e., remediation)
• Supplemental Educational Services
• Double-dosing
• Reading First
• …or to fix the parents (i.e., parent
“involvement”)
Defining the Problem
Defines the Solution Set
• This focus on underachieving
students and remediation
allows us to focus on “fixing the
kids” and not fixing the system.
• This allows us to shift the
burden/blame onto students,
their parents, and their
communities
• And reinforces deficit thinking
about students of color and
Re-Framing, Take 1
Alternatively, if the problem is
underserved students, the solutions
are different
• Target resources: Per pupil
expenditures, equitable distribution
of highly qualified teachers
• Better instruction: Formative
assessment, differentiated
instruction, research-based practice
Re-Framing
• The problem is that we still aren’t
looking critically at race
• We can have excellent teachers
and schools that still exhibit racial
insensitivity that harms children
Re-Framing
• The problem is that we still aren’t
looking critically at race
• Our hyper-attention to test score
data narrows our focus
• We ignore aspects of teacher
practice that harm children of
color.
• We narrow our focus to think
only about teachers
Re-Framing, Take 2
• If the problem is systemic racial
oppression, the solution is
courageous conversations about
race and systemic equity
leadership
• You cannot address racial
disparities without dealing with race
• It’s not (just) about mathematics
and reading; it’s about race
Let’s Reflect and Talk
• What about disproportionality in
special education assignments?
• … and disproportionality in
discipline?
• What negative stereotypes does
our current work reinforce?
• How can we alter that tendency?
West Wind’s
Systemic Equity Leadership
Our approach builds on:
–
Critical Race Theory (Ladson-Billings
& Tate)
–
Learning organizations (Senge)
–
Systems thinking (Wheatly)
–
Adaptive leadership (Heifetz)
–
Direct Action Organizing (Midwest
Academy)
–
Our professional wisdom and lived
experience
Questions We Ask
• What is the impact of holding negative
stereotypes that children of color are
dangerous and intellectually inferior on
children in school?
… on teachers’ beliefs?
… on administrators’ decisions?
• If children of color are inferior and
dangerous, how should we treat them
in schools?
Discussion
• What is your role in helping
us to understand and
navigate the realities of
race in education?
• … in changing the policy
conversation?
Let’s Reflect and Talk
• What can data tell us?
• What can it not tell us?