What has changed?
"The Problem We All Live With is a 1964 painting by Norman Rockwell that is considered an iconic image of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States.[2] It depicts Ruby Bridges, a six-year-old African-American girl, on her way to William Frantz Elementary School, an all-white public school, on November 14, 1960, during the New Orleans school desegregation crisis. Because of threats of violence against her, she is escorted by four deputy U.S. marshals; the painting is framed so that the marshals' heads are cropped at the shoulders, making Bridges the only person fully visible.[3][4] On the wall behind her are written the racial slur "nigger" and the letters "KKK"; a smashed and splattered tomato thrown against the wall is also visible. The white protesters are not visible, as the viewer is looking at the scene from their point of view.[3] The painting is oil on canvas and measures 36 inches (91 cm) high by 58 inches (150 cm) wide.[5]"
The Problem We All Live With - Wikipedia
Our society is in many ways much better than the days of Rockwell, but there is still much work to do to meet the expectations of the American Philosopher, John Dewey.
"What the best and wisest parent want for his own child, that must the community want for all of its children. Any other ideal for our schools is narrow and unlovely, and acted upon, it destroys our Democracy. All that society has accomplished for itself is put, through the agency of the school, at the disposal of its future members. "
(John Dewey)
Stop the school-to-prison pipeline. Students, families, and communities can help
· Black and Brown students as a group are not performing as well as Asian and White students. We also know from the “School to Prison Pipeline” data that there is a strong correlation between lack of success in school and entering the pipeline to prison. So, what do you do? The easiest thing to do is to paint a target on the back of teachers, principals, the schools, and the system, and then carry on as usual. Before doing that, do a little research. Start by breaking the day down into a 24-hour day. Students are generally in school about 6 hours a day. Give them 8 hours of sleep every night. There are generally 10 hours left in the day. There is research indicating that during that 10-hours, in general, White and Asian students spend about twice as much time or more studying and preparing for school the next day (Use your browser to verify or challenge that statement). If that is the case, perhaps we should look more to parents, community, and low performing students to help close the achievement gap. Thus, doing what is proven to work. Besides having students only 6 hours a day, schools only have them 180 days out of the year, whereas parents and community have them 365 days in the year. Other research indicate that one of the best indicators of how well a student will perform in school, is what the family and the students do at home to support classroom learning at school. Frankly, this information is obvious from mere observation. Teachers have enough issues as society tends to put too many of it’s problems on educators and the education system. We need students, parents, and community to do their part. Besides the teachers and other educators there are community organizations that can tell you how to help your student improve.
Dr. Kunjufu imphasized the urgent implication of reading scores, as have others. Is this still an issue today?
by Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu
"Governors review fourth grade reading scores to determine prison growth. What strange bed fellows. This has become an epidemic in the African American community where 63 percent of its fourth-grade students are below grade level. . . . Prison recidivism hovers near 85 percent. . . . In 1980, there were less than 100,000 African American males incarcerated. In 2002, that number swelled to 1.5 million. The African American community must marshall every available resource to enhance literacy among African American youth and particularly African American males. Every African American adult should volunteer a minimum of two hours per week as a tutor and mentor. How could a child stay in a school five years (kindergarten fourth grade) and remain illiterate? How could African American parents not be cognizant that their children are having severe reading and math problems? How could Homeland Security be more concerned about the Middle East when its greatest security challenge is its illiterate citizenry?
Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu is the author of State of Emergency: We Must Save African American Males
The Two Videos Below
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
"Is a book by Michelle Alexander, a civil rights litigator and legal scholar. The book discusses race-related issues specific to African-American males and mass incarceration in the United States, but Alexander noted that the discrimination faced by African-American males is prevalent among other minorities and socio-economically disadvantaged populations. Alexander's central premise, from which the book derives its title, is that "mass incarceration is, metaphorically, the New Jim Crow".[1]
13th
"Is a 2016 American documentary film directed by Ava DuVernay. The film explores the prison-industrial complex, and the "intersection of race, justice, and mass incarceration in the United States";[3] it is titled after the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, adopted in 1865, which abolished slavery throughout the United States and ended involuntary servitude except as a punishment for conviction of a crime. This allowed for a constitutional loophole in which black Americans became criminalized and faced involuntary servitude in the form of penal labor."
Parents/Family: How to get involved with your children's education
A few Types of Involvement
- "Although most parents do not know how to help their children with their education, with guidance and support, they may become increasingly involved in home learning activities and find themselves with opportunities to teach, to be models for and to guide their children.13
- When schools encourage children to practice reading at home with parents, the children make significant gains in reading achievement compared to those who only practice at school.14
- Parents who read to their children, have books available, take trips, guide TV watching and provide stimulating experiences, contribute to student achievement.15
- Families whose children are doing well in school exhibit the following characteristics:16
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1. Establish a daily family routine. Examples: Providing time and a quiet place to study, assigning responsibility for household chores, being firm about bedtime and having dinner together. 2. Monitor out-of-school activities. Examples: Setting limits on TV watching, checking up on children when parents are not home, arranging for after -school activities and supervised care.3. Model the value of learning, self-discipline, and hard work. Examples: Communicating through questioning and conversation, demonstrating that achievement comes from working hard. 4. Express high but realistic expectations for achievement. Examples: Setting goals and standards that are appropriate for children's age and maturity, recognizing and encouraging special talents, informing friends and family about successes. 5. Encourage children's development/ progress in school. Examples: Maintaining a warm and supportive home, showing interest in children's progress at school, helping with homework, discussing the value of a good education and possible career options, staying in touch with teachers and school staff. 6. Encourage reading, writing, and discussions among family members. Examples: Contact Us Important Links Info & Materials"
Achievementhttp://kentisd.org/kssn/aboutkssn/justforparents/parentexpectationsandstudentachievement/
[12/16/2011 4:08:41 PM
Studies on Parent and Community Organizing Efforts to Improve Schools
Studies on Parent and Community Organizing Efforts to Improve Schools
"Parent and community organizing is a renewed area of activity and research. We included these studies because they forecast developments in this field and because the initiatives they cover are aimed at improving student academic achievement and other outcomes. There is one major finding:
Key Finding Organized initiatives to build parent and community leadership to improve low performing schools are developing in low-income urban areas and the rural South. These community organizing efforts use strategies that are aimed at establishing a power base to hold schools and school districts accountable for low student achievement. They have contributed to changes in policy, resources, personnel, school culture, and educational programs.
In a growing number of districts across the country, community groups are organizing a power base of parents and residents in low-income communities. "
"The more-recent wave of organizing is spurred by neighborhood-based community organizations that had previously focused on housing, economic development, and youth service. Now they are turning their attention to school improvement."
What is community organizing? Kavitha Mediratta, Norm Fruchter, and their colleagues developed five criteria that define groups doing community organizing. Such groups are:
1. building a base of parents, young people, and/or residents who engage in collective action to address poor performance and create excellent public schools for all children. 2. focusing on winning concrete changes in schools and employing such strategies as mobilization (bringing together large numbers of people), direct action (picketing and demonstrations), negotiation, training, and forming coalitions with other groups. 3. supporting democratic decision making by members in all aspects of the organization. 4. developing leaders from within an ever-growing membership. 5. building a strong, lasting organization to alter the power relations that lead to failing schools.
Source: A New Wave of Evidence - The Impact of School, Family, and Community Connections on Student Achievement.
More information and resources at this link: https://synrgy.teachable.com
