Youth Radio - Topic: Policy

"Silver Bullets" In Education Cannot Fix Everything

rgee — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:38:21 -0500

18-year-old Maya Cueva is a senior at Berkeley High School, which recently divided their 3,000+ population into small learning academies. Does this impact her learning experience? Definitely. She said she sees students benefitting from tighter relationships with their teachers and more academic attention. The question is whether schools across America should adopt the small learning community model based on Cueva's story of success.

Dr. Tony (Anthony) Frontier is an Assistant Professor of Doctoral Leadership Studies and the Director of Teacher Education at Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, WI, and he is skeptical about macro-level education reform, and whether the big initiatives eventually translate into changes in the classroom. For example, small schools might be all the rage, and adopted as a "silver bullet" for solving educational inequity, but are small schools actually changing the way students learn?

Frontier explained that structural changes are visible initiatives aimed at reorganizing the way schools operate. Frontier calls the popular ones “silver-bullets” because school districts adopt them under the misconception that they will fix everything.

Some of these initiatives include:
- smaller class size
- block scheduling
- gender-separate classes
- breaking large high schools into small academies

Meanwhile, the White House released a fact sheet about President Obama’s goal to “out-educate” our global competitors by spending money on programs like Race to the Top, a competitive program which dedicates $4 billion to embrace policy and practical changes in school districts around the country.

Then there’s Investing in Innovation - a program that dedicates $650 million to programs that support high-needs students and work towards closing the achievement gap. Since the point of this dedicated money is to support new, innovative ideas, we don’t know all of the programs this budget will fund, since some of them have yet to be created. However, it’s a good opportunity to examine whether we’re even focusing on the right KINDS of change.

“Adults may notice the difference with these changes, but unless it reaches the point of contact between teacher and student, these ‘silver bullet’ initiatives exist only as potentials,” said Frontier. For instance, students might have the exact same experience in a class of 30 students as they do in a class of 10, if the teaching is the same. Frontier said the key is making structural changes that are based on strategic changes pertaining to actual instruction, like teacher professional development, and instructional strategies to teach certain kinds of lessons.

“The misconception is that charter schools will take care of everything, smaller classes will take care of everything , or summer school... No. It’s what you do during that time that is the difference between effective schools and ineffective schools,” said Frontier.

Therefore, a trend in education might not be appropriate to follow, if there is no strategy underneath the structural change, according to Frontier. One "silver bullet" initiative that has caught on lately in education is punishing teachers for not achieving results on test scores, or instituting merit-based pay for teachers. Frontier disagrees with this inititative. He said more so than in other spheres of public life, being certified as a teacher does not signal expertise. “It’s about creating a culture where you can ask, ‘How do I get better?’ and where it’s valued to ask, ‘How do you teach this kind of lesson?’” he said - as opposed to punishing a teacher for not being an expert already. “Teaching is too complex a task to not acknowledge that it takes a career to experience mastery,” said Frontier.

So what’s the answer? How do we make sure that Obama's investment in structural change actually becomes a change in student learning?

“We have to go beyond the idea of reorganizing and thinking that things will magically get better,” said Frontier. “You have to improve teaching, you have to change students’ conceptualizations about themselves as learners. Kids at failing schools - those are kids who have been playing a losing game for ten years, and it takes time to change people’s thinking,” he added. In addition, it takes time to change teachers’ perceptions of their own profession. “We need teachers doing their craft with more clarity, complexity, and more nuance,” said Frontier, instead of relying on big levers to make the change for them.

Will Georgia's Immigrant Student Ban Become National Trend?

rgee — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 10:48:10 -0500

The decision by the Board of Regents in Georgia last week regarding the admittance of undocumented students to Georgia institutions, has already sparked discussions throughout the country about what is coming next. On October 13, the Board of Regents decided that beginning in 2011, students who are not lawfully living in the United States, will not be allowed into the University System of Georgia institutions.

A Board of Regents news release explained that USG institutions will verify the lawful presence in the United States of every admitted applicant out of concerns that academically qualified, legally documented Georgians were being denied admittance to institutions. Five institutions had to turn away qualified applicants this past year: Georgia College & State University, Medical College of Georgia, Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and the University of Georgia.

Regent James Jolly, who chaired the Residency Verification Committee, told the Board of Regents, “These new policies do strengthen our ability to ensure proper tuition classification for all students – a process and a commitment the System has undertaken and met since being formed in 1931.” According to Daniel Costa, Immigration Policy Analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, policies like these are likely to show up in states that have seen a drastic demographic change. “It’s hard to tell whether the policies are due to cost issues or xenophobia. It’s an educated guess to say that we will probably see these policies in states with large influxes of immigrants.” He said that in 1990, the immigrant population in Georgia was 7.9% and by 2008, had grown to 12.5%. Costa explained that the fiscal impact of the immigrant population is different on individual states than it is on the federal government. “The net fiscal impact of immigrants on the federal level is positive. However, at the local and state levels, immigrants are a financial burden largely because of the cost of education. This could be why states are more upset than the federal government.” In the long run, Costa sees policies like this one being a cost to the economy. “If you think about it, if many college-age students are kicked out of college, they will earn less and be less educated. The will contribute less to the economy and end up costing us more in the long run.”

Zero Tolerance Policy Curbed In North Carolina

rgee — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 10:01:48 -0500

Last week, Youth Radio interviewed Henry Robinson, the At Risk Specialist for the Milpitas School District in California about the recent study that showed more students of color were being suspended from school than white students. The study attributed the high amount of suspensions to the increasing number of zero tolerance discipline policies being instituted around the country. Robinson said that unfortunately, teachers and administrators sometimes feel that they have to make an example of one student to establish their discipline policy.

Zero tolerance discipline policies are being challenged all over the U.S. One recent example comes from North Carolina. Two high school girls got into a brief fistfight and were suspended. There were no injuries or weapons involved. The girls were then denied access to alternative schooling as well as help with their independent academic studies. According to the New York Times, this harsh punishment was not designed for minor infractions like this. It was designed to, “weed out dangerous children.”

The case was brought to the North Carolina Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the girls, and decided, “Schools must provide strong reasons for denying alternative schooling or tutoring to students after they are suspended for misbehavior.”

Q & A: Minority Students Suspended More Often?

rgee — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 07:30:31 -0500

Who’s getting suspended from school? According to a study published recently by the Southern Poverty Law Center, black students are being suspended at a rate of 15 percent, while white students are getting suspended at approximately five percent. The study reports that poor and minority children are consistently suspended more often, and therefore experience the effects of the loss of instructional time more profoundly.

The report examined middle school suspension data from the Department of Education for the years 2002 - 2006. The study authors suspect that the general increase in suspensions is due to more schools adopting zero tolerance discipline policies, which usually mean that consequences for poor behavior are issued quicker. But are these policies affecting some students in harsher ways than others?

Youth Radio spoke with Henry Robinson, the At Risk Specialist for the Milpitas Unified School District in California to get his opinion on the study’s findings. He is based at the Milpitas Police Department and works in conjunction with the school district.

Why do you think more and more students are getting suspended in general?

I already know about this phenomenon, and I think part of the reason that these numbers are so high is that it’s easier to suspend than to expel. When you suspend a child from school, you are using the local rules of the school district. The local administration will say, “Okay, your child talked back, you violated our rules, and you’re suspended.”

To expel you have to go through a hearing. A suspension can happen without a hearing.
Some school districts in urban areas, rather than deal with the kid’s problem, just get rid of the student. Expulsion happens when there’s an issue of school safety, for instance if someone brought a gun to school.

What’s your reaction to the racial disparity in the suspension numbers?
I think that suspension is being used as a crutch, rather than addressing the larger issues as systematic problems. It’s easier for schools to just get rid of the kids for a period of time. Suspension becomes a method of problem-solving rather than dealing with the root of the behavior.

What are some ways to prevent suspensions?
In my job, we work to prevent suspensions from happening. We have officers in the schools who provide, among other things, a class dealing with drug prevention, mediation, and peer mediator training. A lot of problems are resolved this way. You have to deal with problems before they start.

If districts had a peer mediation program, they could avoid a lot of suspensions. A place where kids can learn the difference between okay and not okay, and using words instead of hands. That’s our emphasis.

What are common behaviors that result in suspension?
Fights result in three to five day suspensions. Commonly in Milpitas, students are suspended for confrontation and talking back. Also refusing to follow directions, using bad language, and pushing and shoving.

How can we begin to decrease the number of suspensions ?
Schools would have fewer suspensions if they spent more time at the beginning of the year teaching the do’s and don’ts. It’s important to reinforce those daily and weekly. This way, the kids are aware: if i do A, then B is a consequence. Here are some alternatives.

Have you seen some some classrooms do this successfully? What characterizes teachers that do not rely on suspensions?
Teachers that do not rely on suspensions for discipline have their rules fully stated. A copy of the rules is given to students for their binders. The rules are very clear to everyone as a group, regardless of race. When it’s not clear, students tend to say, “I didn’t know, you never told me.”

Some teachers think they need to use a kid as an example for the class. An over-reaction can backfire. The student is likely to say, Why are you picking on me? The teacher says, Get out of here, I don’t want you back in my class.

What do districts need to do to make sure that they are not disproportionately suspending students of one race over another?
Districts need to sit down regularly and ask themselves, Did we apply our rules equally to all groups? If yes, then the numbers should be the same. If not, then districts need to look internally and ask, Why are these kids suspended at a higher rate. What can we do? Districts might begin to see patterns.

One answer is instituting preventative programs peer mediation. Another is instituting a school wide policy on prevention. This results in having a core of basic guidelines for the whole school instead of each teacher enforcing their own policy.

Have you seen schools do this successfully?
I have seen it work. Schools will adopt certain programs, and then the consequences for bad behavior are institutionalized. The language is the same throughout the school, versus hearing seven different interpretations of the policy. Schools can have a rally for students to go over expectations. The other thing that works is rewarding good behavior. Giving students points that they can trade in for something special.

Most importantly, the plan has to be communicated to the families. Schools are posting school rules online now, to encourage families to go over the rules at home with their kid and reinforce them. Without a plan like this, organizations like the NAACP and New York TImes look into it and ask whether you’re treating kids fairly. The ultimate question is whether kids’ civil rights are being violated.

What happens if a school can trace a large number of suspensions back to one teacher?
You might need to have private conversations with specific teachers, but schools should have an in-service for all teachers.

How do you feel about zero tolerance policies?
Having a zero-tolerance policy doesn’t mean you have an action plan. You can’t just say DON’T do this. You also need to have a program to teach and prevent. The policy has to be a living, working document that involves the community, parents, teachers, and students.
For certain things that deal with safety, you need a zero tolerance policy. Having it is one thing, But you have to educate the entire community about what it means.

For example, you can have a zero tolerance policy for athletes, that says absolutely no steroids. But then you find out that whole team used steroids. Do you cancel the season? Or do you suspend some players and not others.

It's Time For The Test... Please Take Out Your Cell Phones

rgee — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 11:53:42 -0500

When I was an English teacher, I fought a daily battle against cell phones. Our school had a no-phone policy: if a teacher saw it during class, they could confiscate it. But with 35 cell phones in a room, there is bound to be some texting, game-playing, and music sharing going on under the desks.

One day, I followed a group of students down to the algebra room. They had forgotten to copy down the homework assignment. They pulled out their phones, and snapped a picture of the white board. Pretty smart, I thought. No chance of copying down the wrong page number.
Teachers and principals are now posing this question: Is there a better way to incorporate cell phones into classrooms?

North Scott High School in Iowa is taking an innovative approach. Two science teachers, Jason Guerin and Mark Anderson, have started using a site called PollEverywhere to give practice tests. Guerin told the Associated Press, “It’s really neat because it engages the kids.” These two teachers project practice multiple choice questions onto an LCD screen, and students text their answers to the site. The teachers can then access the student response data. If the students do not have cell phones, they use school laptops to send in their responses.

The teachers told the AP that this technology has helped them cater their teaching to each class’s weakness. The teachers can easily and quickly assess where each class is struggling, and then re-teach a particular lesson.

At North Scott High, “Students are allowed to use the phones while passing during school, and the school soon may allow students to bring laptops and other connective devices to school, which is equipped with wireless access throughout the building,” reports the article. Consequences are enforced if the cell phone policy is violated. The school also uses text messaging to alert students of emergencies.

Here are some ideas for suggested cell phone use in classrooms, according to a Suite101 article:

- Students can take pictures of class projects to e-mail or show to parents. Ordinarily, parents do not see projects that are completed in groups in school.
Stu- dents can text message missed assignments to classmates that are absent. A buddy system can be put into place.
- Many cell phones are equipped with calculators—plenty of new math curricula encourage the use of a calculator when problem-solving. A student should become accustomed to having a calculator handy for both homework and real life math applications.
- If a student is slow to copy notes from the board, pictures can be taken of the missed notes and accessed later. Ditto sending notes to absent classmates.
- Students can listen to music with ear buds if the cell phone is equipped with this option during independent study—many students find this relaxing and comfortable and are more productive as a result.

Several educational apps have been developed as well, geared specifically towards struggling readers or math students. Flash card games, spelling games, and logic games are all available on cell phones.

Too Many Guns

rebecca — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 12:22:38 -0600

By Raquel Walker, Youth Radio Atlanta

(Aired on WABE FM on December 20, 2008)

Before I was born, my father was murdered by a person with a gun. After my father died, my mother never wanted to replace him. Fifteen years later, my mother was the victim of an accidental gun shooting. Both these incidents left me and my mother forever scarred. Having two loved ones become victims of gun violence leaves me with nothing but bad feelings about guns.

This year Georgia passed a law that said people can bring guns into public places and places that serve alcohol. How could I agree with this law since the two people who created me had their whole life changed by guns? I guess the people who wrote this new law think more guns lead to more peace but it’s actually the other way around. When I learned about this new law, I felt like my heart had sunk to the bottom of my stomach. Guns left me without a father in my life and my mother permanently in pain.

I wish people with guns would think more about the potential for harm and think about how they’d feel if a gun killed or wounded one of their loved ones.

My Solution to Gang Violence

rebecca — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:24:46 -0600

by Dover Tuft
(aired on WABE FM on November 29, 2008)

My best friend who was like a big brother to me was shot and killed by an AK-47. Growing up as a black man in a rough neighborhood in New York City I was forced to live the gang life. Five of my closest friends died – mostly shootings.

In Atlanta, I see the same problem of ongoing violence in my neighborhood. As someone who has seen it up close, I’ve got an unusual solution to gang culture. I think the Department of Labor should change the age limit for teens to work. Teens with a job at a young age would not be attracted to drug dealing and distracted by gang activities. Having a job is an easier and safer way to make money.

My parent always pushed me to get a job so I would not end up in a gang, dealing drugs, destined to be dead somewhere.

Passing a law like this would actually help teens. With jobs, teens can show responsibility, gain trust, get ready for the real world, and get off the street corners. So many teens have no way to be independent and stay out of trouble. Having a job as early as possible will improve that.

More Stress, More Cigarettes, Please

denise — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:05:29 -0600

Recent data from the federal government shows that cigarette consumption in the U.S has gone down by 28 percent. And according to the American Legacy Foundation, a Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) ten years ago with tobacco companies helped reduce young people’s exposure to pro-tobacco marketing, which has in turn helped decrease their consumption. I have to admit that after reading this news I couldn’t help but to be excited, but the only lasted for a minute.

For the past few months media consumers like me have been drowned with depressing news about the economy, which makes a non-smoker like myself tempted to pick up a cigarette and experience a sense of relief. Of course, other people’s reactions may differ from mine, but I find it hard to believe the consumption of cigarettes will continue to drop based on the depressing road the economy is taking us on.
When I was in high school, two years ago, smoking was the easiest way to release high school stress but it was also an easy way to be cool. I guess I should just cross my fingers and hope consumption of cigarettes continue to decrease.

Green Collar Dreams

kara — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:40:27 -0500

By Olivia Cueva- Youth Radio

I have always been concerned about environmental issues and the unemployment of youth of color. But recently I've had a reason to be hopeful about a solution to both of these problems.

I'm Olivia Cueva with a commentary from Youth Radio

Van Jones, president and co-founder of the Ella Baker Center in Oakland figured out a way to employ young minorities struggling to make ends meet while addressing the global warming issue. His solution is green-collar jobs. He founded the organization Green for All which is supporting a bill that recently passed the state senate. This bill will fund the creation of more green jobs, and provide green economy workshops for residents in urban communities.

Partner organizations such as the Rising Sun Energy Center in Emeryville have already begun to train young people to install energy-efficient appliances in homes in low-income communities.

The young people that I spoke with there say that green jobs have made them aware of the importance of energy conservation and that being a part of the global warming solution is a really good feeling.

Hood Sweet Hood

kara — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 18:20:04 -0600

Richmond is known as "Oakland’s little brother." However, because of its gang violence and drive-by shootings, Richmond is also known as one of the most dangerous cities in the United States. For Youth Radio’s Ayesha Walker, these shootings have become all too familiar.

I live in Richmond, California. Some people call it "Oakland’s little brother."

Richmond has definitely changed over my years of existence. Gentrification has made certain areas unaffordable. I don’t live in Point Richmond, where bike trails surround parks near the San Francisco Bay. Or the Hilltop of Richmond, where fast food restaurants have restroom floors that look spit-shined.

I live on the grimy, gutter, flat land. The Southside of "da Rich", where you can't even rub your bare feet in the sand by the Bay because you might step on a used needle. I’ve heard little boys here brag about living in one of the most dangerous cities in America.

Shootings happen all the time in my city – I’ve even grown to expect them. But soon after my nineteenth birthday, there was one shooting that shook that attitude. It was my 17-year-old cousin Junior - my best friend. That night, I called around trying to get in touch with him. Junior’s friend J-Rock said, “Oh you ain’t heard?” Right then, man, my heart dropped. He told me my cousin was shot.

After the incident, Junior told me it boiled down to the youngsters he kicks it with. The bullet was not intended for him, but someone standing close to him.

He’s all right now. But even though Junior wasn’t the one they were after, I knew there was a slight chance he might consider retaliation. I was scared for his life. I needed my cousin to understand that he could avoid being a victim by doing something productive and getting outside our city more often. I talked to Junior about my fears, and I helped find him a job.

He managed to move on. But I’m not confident his mentality has evolved. In some ways, he’s a testament to the old saying, “You can take the boy out the hood, but you can’t take the hood out of the boy.” No matter what good I get Junior into, the urban distractions will always compete.

My mom says we’re living in a bucket of crabs: the people around you are going to pull you down. In Junior’s case, the people around him are trying to live that street dream: to have money, and still stay in the hood. The dream seems possible, until someone watching gets jealous and tries to take your life. Or the government catches you slippin’ in pursuit of it and you get arrested.

Junior is still caught up in the chase. But for both of us, no matter how bad it is, no matter how many people we’ve seen go down in Richmond, it’s still home. And there’s no place like home.