Historical Advice to the Chicago Board of Education  

For those youngsters out there, you will not remember Casimir "Casey" Banas, whose four decades of reporting on schools for the Chicago Tribune made him one of the city's best known and most respected education writers who died  too soon at age 64 in 2001.

Casey always knew what he was talking about as it related to education and did not mind talking about it no matter who took the brunt of his incisive reporting.  And because I was an admirer and avid supporter of most of Casey’s views on education, I always “clipped” articles  written by Casey.  And then I ran across this May 1980 article about the Chicago Board of Education that could have been written today. 

Casey outlined a plan which was then directed to the new Board of Education, which had just been appointed by the new Mayor Jane Byrne.  Historians will rate the Mayor and her new Board of Education, but Banas began by indicating that since only two of the board members had a good working knowledge of the school system, he was offering the following advice:

     "Find veteran school observers not employed in the school system to give you a  

      thorough grounding in the issues".

      "Appoint a search committee to submit a slate of candidates for school superintendent". 

Thanks to the Illinois legislature and its “Mayoral  control legislation”, we no longer have a school superintendent (one that has to pass the Illinois State Board  of Education’s (ISBE) tests and meet other criteria), but a CEO that does not have to meet any  criteria other than political ones that the Mayor dictates.  BBB has educational credentials, but never went through ISBE's credentialing. Three of her four most recent  predecessors had no educational credentials, including Arne Duncan, now SOEOTUS.

 "After you get a feel for the schools….have some extensive discussions about what makes a good
  school".

"The greatest need is to improve the education of black children from poverty-level  families.  Discuss
this issue at length.  If you do, even one thoughtful debate on the question will be a first"        

"Chicago receives $55 million a year in federal funds for compensatory programs to elevate the education of children of the poor ....Demand a thorough accounting of how this money is used".
It will take a budget analyst to understand the formula that determines how much is allocated for compensatory education in 2013. And it will take an investigation to determine if the funds actually get to the children of the poor.  

"Parents throughout the city are frustrated and angry because they believe the school system does not respond to their needs".  
We protest and march in 2013 for the same reason, this time on steroids.

"There are many excellent teachers, principals, administrators, and other employees.  There also are many who perhaps should be fired.  The process of firing a teacher is cumbersome.  It is also difficult, at times, to evaluate their wor:k". 
We know how to evaluate their work now. We just use student test scores that negatively correlate with poverty.

Casey ends his column with  hope. "Finally, realize that you have a city looking at you for leadership to turn this school system around.” 
Nothing has changed so the parents, educators and other right thinking individuals have decided to take things into their own hands, realizing that the Board will not provide the leadership Casey indicated. Now we have to have Civil Rights marches all over the city to bring attention to the the plight of children of the poor. Together with the Chicago Teachers Union on May 18, 19 and 20,  we are marching across the city. We will continue contacting our legislators to ask for intervention on behalf of the children of the poor. And we are going to keep talking about the inequities and injustices against children of the poor through 2013 media outlets. Perhaps after 33 years we will see some move toward equality.

A Tribute to King and a salute to future kings and queens

I attended a "King"production yesterday at my church, Stone Temple Baptist Church in North Lawndale, produced by the children from the ages of 3 to 16, with extraordinary help from their "teachers."  The first thing I thought about was that these are the same 100 children that the Chicago public schools label as at-risk underachievers.  Then I listened as the children read their scripts from a written composition without flaws and with the feelings of comprehension.  There was the PAST (Act I) and the audience learned what catapulted Dr. King to greatness. There was only a brief mention of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream Speech".  That mention was to say that we would return to it when Act III presented the future.  There was the PRESENT (Act II), and the children reviewed the lives of heroes and she-roes of today, like their mothers, our pastor, their teachers, and of course well known names like The Rev. Jesse Jackson, President and First Lady Michelle Obama, and Gabby Douglas.  Some included Ex-President Bill Clinton (as you see the children were not limited to noted Blacks).  But Act III, the FUTURE, brought tears to my eyes and hope for the future of Dr. King's Dream. About 20 children ( also from three to 16 years old) walked up to the microphone,  stated their names and their ages and said what they WOULD BE, not what they wanted to be, when they grew up.  Interspersed between these children's ambitions was the reading of the poem authored by our pastor. You weren't there, but imagine, the dulcet tones of  Anything Is Possible, a three year old saying proudly, "When I grow up, I will be a vegetanarian (sic), and the following poem, written especially for our Black children being read appropriately in-gs and between. Too often these children will not live to see their dreams come true, but the poem is our promise to them and the real meaning of the present and the future of the  " Dream" and the dreamers.
                                                              The Dream Still Lives
           So you tell me the dream is deferred!  So you tell me the dream is delayed!  No, you tell
           me the dream is denied!
           But, as the phoenix rises from the ashes- I stand in living testimony that the dream is still
           alive.
           Did the dream die in Alabama, or did the dream die in Chicago?  Did the dream die in
           Memphis on some dark dreary day? Maybe the dream simply died in our heads and in our
           hearts!
           But as the sun sets, surely it will rise again.
           As the phoenix rises from the ashes, I stand as living testimony that the dream is still alive.
           As a brilliant sun with its hues of purple and red brings us to the end of a long hard day, I'm
           not convinced that the dream is denied, even if it may be delayed.
           Don't just ask me what happens, show me, tell me of the things that can be.  Show me what I
           can do!  Show me where I can go!  Tell me that anything is possible.  Show me what I can do
           and who I can be.
           So maybe time has passed and the dream seems to have been deferred. Maybe the dream
           seems to have been delayed but I'll never stop believing.  I'll never stop dreaming. If I keep
           dreaming, I assure you the dream will never be denied.  In me, the dream is still alive.
           So if you ask me a question about the dream-my response is simply this:  There is a new
           renaissance arising- Not up in Harlem, but in my head and in my heart.  There is a new day
          dawning.  The possibilities of a brand new start have come. So I hope I've answered your
          question, the question from the Harlem Renaissance.  What happens to the dream that seems to
          have been delayed?  The dream they told me was deferred, no even denied.  I believe anything
          is possible.  So understand, the dream they said was deferred, it lives in my heart.  There is an
          explosion taking place and the dream will not die!  As the phoenix rises from the ashes the
         dream is still alive!
         

Voter Suppression and Education

The letter below was shared with me by a friend.  Although we may think that voter suppression does not affect us in education, directly, think about what all the so called "reform" governors are doing to teachers and children by testing and firing and reducing budgets. Think about how the agencies supported by the governors and legislators are affecting how we teach, what we teach, and even that we teach.  Voting for the people who ultimately make the decision is important, even for the presidency. 

A Difficult Journey:  Getting a Required Photo ID

It took a major, cooperative effort of legislators, law enforcement officers and Department of Motor Vehicles officials to score a major accomplishment this week.  No, it didn’t have anything to do with crimes or laws.  I was just trying to help my 86-year-old father get a Virginia-issued photo ID so he can vote.

Dad reluctantly retired from teaching sociology at the University of South Carolina two years ago.   In his words, “We middle-aged people don’t get around as well as we used to.  So he moved to Chesapeake to be closer to his grandchildren.  When Dad got here, it was just as important to him to register to vote, as it was in 1947, when he was a 21-year-old veteran in Alabama.

So, he got settled into a retirement community, with his social security card, his SC driver’s license.    He got his voter registration with no problem.  Then came the 2012 Virginia law -- no photo ID-- no vote. No problem, he said.  “Just take me up to DMV so I can get one."  How hard could it be?

You see, Dad has never had a birth certificate.  In 1926, the mid-wife who delivered him never filed one.  My father is not alone.  Millions of Americans don’t have valid photo IDs, especially seniors.  People over 65 are more likely to lack birth certificates because they were born before recording births was standard procedure.  According to a Brennan Center study, one in five citizens over 65, about 8 million, lacks a current, government-issued ID that many states offer non-driving residents.  My dad actually had a valid driver’s license, but since it was from another state, he still had trouble.

Dad also brought his cherished army discharge papers, hailing the honors he earned serving our country during World War 2.  That usually works.  Gets respect.  Not this time.

Post 9-11. The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles said he had to have an original birth certificate or passport.  Well, Dad had a passport, somewhere.  He has traveled all over the world.  But after moving to Virginia, it was buried in boxes God knows where.  So we went online and applied for a copy of it from the State Department.   $55 and a few weeks later, Dad received it in the mail with an official seal, a signature from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a color copy of Dad’s most recent passport.   Now we thought he had everything he needed.   Wrong again.   Apparently it still didn’t prove his U.S. citizenship to the Virginia DMV.

Fortunately I know the manager of my local DMV, my local delegate, his Legislative Aide and the Special Agent in Charge of Law Enforcement Services for the DMV.  With all of their support and help, we finally got Dad a state-issued photo ID, about two months later!

I appreciate the efforts to protect homeland security.  However, at some point, shouldn’t common sense prevail?  The scary part to me is, what happens to all the other tax-paying American citizens who don’t drive, or have access to transportation, or the internet or time off work?  Would they know who to call?  Will they have a voice?

Bonita Billingsley Harris,

Daughter, Wife, Mother, Proud American in Chesapeake, VA

Stop the crazy "Dump Duncan Movement"

This dump Arne Duncan movement is crazy.  Duncan did not dream up the RTT.  In a serious conversation with him, he probably does not even recognize the inconsistencies with statements made by him or his boss.  In a serious conversation with him he probably does not recognize how bad times two RTT is compared to NCLB.  The American education system is broken and the pieces are being scattered and buried by corporate America.  Education is profitable if you own it.  The product is more profit not educated students or happy workers (teachers).  Why don’t we who claim to support students and teachers get this? Where are the unions who ought to be joining hands with the parents and Put an End to Standardized Testing (PEST) instead of tweaking and twisting something that is designed to be broken, so it can be bought lock, stock, and barrel in the name of reform.  Einstein was right about us who claim to want the best for students and the teachers who teach them, we are insane. Let’s do something different, all sing from the same page in each district, county, and state.  If Texas or Connecticut is protesting, let’s not tweet that they are protesting but start the protest with the same template wherever we are.  Do what I understand the National Rifle Association did with the “Stand Your Ground “Law, start a template movement.  All of us are wiser than individuals in the separate states.  And the fist is mightier than the separate fingers.

Comments on "The Schools Chicago's Students Deserve

I just finished reading, “The Schools Chicago’s Students Deserve, Research-based Proposals to Strengthen Elementary and Secondary Education in the Chicago Public Schools” written by  authors at the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU).  It is 55 pages long if you count the eight pages of “endnotes”. It has all the teacher tools: pretty pictures, snappy post-it-notes and plenty of teacher argot. I agree that Chicago students deserve some things that are better in order to educate them, and I even agree with the authors about some of those things. However I am sorely disappointed that the sub-title implies that this is a document based on extant research and not research based on serving the CTU’s purpose, which ultimately turns out to be more money and almost a cry for some top-down intervention.  Oh, I am not so naïve as to think that researchers don’t look for documentation to support their own biases, but I looked for a few citations that provided a different viewpoint, even if the preponderance of the evidence supported CTU’s premises. The lack of opposite viewpoints detracts from the rigor of the report and leaves the field open for researchers to deconstruct the report just enough for us to question the entire report and lose sight of the fact (and it is a fact) that Chicago students do indeed need better schools.

For example, one of the “essential” needs of the students proposed by the CTU is smaller class sizes. As much as we love to hate the curmudgeons against smaller class sizes and particularly Bill Gates who wants to control and privatize all of education, two credible studies should have been examined before CTU declared “despite compelling research….  One of the studies is from Education Week.  The authors stated that “researchers agree that shrinking the number of students in a class does not automatically translate into better learning …..teachers may need to alter their teaching practices” (www.edweek.org/ew/issues/class-size, 2011). The other study was conducted by Dobbie and Freyer (2012), from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).  NBER appears to be a neutral source, although skeptic that I am, I am still trying to determine where it gets its funding.  Dobbie and Freyer put it coherently, concisely and raised more doubt about the effects of class size on achievement

We find that traditionally collected input measures- class size, per pupil expenditure, the fraction of teachers with no certification, and the fraction of teachers with an advanced degree- are not correlated with school effectiveness.  In stark contrast, we show that an index of five policies ---------explains approximately 50 percent of the variance in school effectiveness.

I omitted the five policies because it may show that I need to reevaluate some of my rants.  I want to say I unequivocally support the CTU and what I hope is a sincere desire to get the best for our students’ education.  However, perhaps we need to look at some of the literature about how to educate children of color, the majority in Chicago Public Schools.  But then again, that is not the job of a union.

What Now My Silent Friends?

I spent a lot of time figuring out what was perhaps the most important topic of the day and of course with education being attacked from every quarter, there isn't a most. The education situation is like a pipe with small holes and no amount of epoxy will close all of them so the pipe keeps leaking. However, I persist and this time I will join the crowd and talk about President Obama's Race to the Top (RTT) for higher education.
 *  Setting Responsible Tuition Policy:  Colleges have to keep their costs down, provide a quality education,
    prepare graduates for jobs to pay back their loans and enroll higher numbers of low income students. Or else!
Tall order when states are in budget crisis, jobs are non existent and low income students can't afford to go to college without federal aid that will be lowered at the institutions they attend because lower income students, particularly students of color graduate at lower rates. Huh?
*  RTT for higher education.  Colleges get rewarded if the states create "systemic reforms" and compete for
    funds that help "kids" graduate on time. And besides, RTT for schools has already worked so well that 19
    states now better educate 22 million students for less than one percent of the total education spending.
The states that received the RTT money so far needed to bribe the Teacher Unions, create (buy more standardized tests) and start talking about evaluation of teachers with tests based on standardized test scores of their students some of whom some teachers never teach! There's more to come tomorrow, but join PEST (Put an End to Standardized Testing), speak out, and read the marvelous "Letter to the President" by psychologist Robert Sternberg http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2012/01/30/open-letter-president-obama-his-plans-deal-tuition-increases