I recently had a conversation with one of the Elementary School Directors in the Los Angeles Unified School District. First, let me explain what this high paid school district official does. The principal reports to the director. The director reports to the Local District Superintendent. The local district superintendent reports to the Superintendent who takes direction from the School Board. Whew! That's a lot of people to find out why Johnny can't read.
But I digress. I recently had a conversation with one of the Elementary School Directors in the Los Angeles Unified School District. She expressed to me the confidence that she had in my abilities as an educator. Then she looked at me and said, "If you make a good impression, you will be out of that classroom in no time." I was stunned.
There is no room in education for making a good impression. This is not Ford or GM. This is not even Lehman Brothers. This is education. Making a profit in our business is making sure that our customers will be able to succeed in the school system, higher education, and in life. Our customers are students and the parents of students and the grandparents of students. How does making a good impression to principals, directors, and superintendents help students achieve?
If we really want to make a good impression in education, let's close the achievement gap. Let's spend a little less time smiling at the principal and taking on insignificant duties and more time teaching our students and taking on duties that help our students achieve. I good impression in education. . . teaching. Now that's a good impression. What do you think?
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION
I recently sent out a mass email and shouted from the mountain tops to all that would and could hear my voice, that my days of serving under the regime of ineptness better known as the Los Angeles Unified School District were over. Then I took a deep breath and plotted my next move. . . and surely there would be a next move.
You see, once my position was cut in LAUSD, I took another position with a nonprofit organization that actually cared about children. The organization was an advocate for gifted and talented children. Having two GATE children myself, I know how they can be overlooked in school. They are wanted for their grades and high test scores, but often pretty much an afterthought when it comes to enlightening their minds or differentiating instruction. No Child Left Behind has mandated that all children be proficient by 2014. So who really cares about children who are already proficient or advanced? Well, we all should. These students begin to underperform because they aren't being challenged. A large percentage of our GATE students actually drop out of school because of boredom. Imagine that! Our best and brightest are not graduating from high school. That means that our mediocre are the ones we sent out into the world to cure cancer, develop new technology, and right the wrongs of our current economic system. This organization saw the need to correct that. I was pleased to work with them.
However, the summer is over. Although LAUSD was nice enough to pay me my salary all summer (I had not worked a day for them since June 5th), they decided they wanted me to report back to work. . . somewhere. They didn't know where yet, but I needed to report somewhere. I'm assuming that the person who made this decision was the same person who urged positions be cut in order to balance the budget, but all the while pay me the same salary for 3 months to work for someone else. Neither decision was that smart, but this is LAUSD we are talking about. Obviously the mediocre and not the best and brightest.
Be that as it may, my email was met with a round of applause and well wishers. As the summer has progressed, it is evident that the state of African American children in and around Los Angeles has not. LAUSD posted a 60% drop out rate for African American students this school year. The release of the California Standards Test (CST) has indicated that all subgroups are doing slightly better than they did last year. . . except African American students. Is it just me or it is impossible to believe that all the other subgroups can improve except African American students, many who happen to be some of our best and brightest? Is it reasonable to believe that an English learner in the country for less than a month prior to the first day of testing produced better test results than an African American student who has never missed a day of school?
And it is for those reasons that I am now Dr. EBlack, Education Consultant. I realized that the school district has no option but to leave students behind. I have no option but to make sure that doesn't happen. . . not again, not to another generation of at-risk children, not this time.
You see, once my position was cut in LAUSD, I took another position with a nonprofit organization that actually cared about children. The organization was an advocate for gifted and talented children. Having two GATE children myself, I know how they can be overlooked in school. They are wanted for their grades and high test scores, but often pretty much an afterthought when it comes to enlightening their minds or differentiating instruction. No Child Left Behind has mandated that all children be proficient by 2014. So who really cares about children who are already proficient or advanced? Well, we all should. These students begin to underperform because they aren't being challenged. A large percentage of our GATE students actually drop out of school because of boredom. Imagine that! Our best and brightest are not graduating from high school. That means that our mediocre are the ones we sent out into the world to cure cancer, develop new technology, and right the wrongs of our current economic system. This organization saw the need to correct that. I was pleased to work with them.
However, the summer is over. Although LAUSD was nice enough to pay me my salary all summer (I had not worked a day for them since June 5th), they decided they wanted me to report back to work. . . somewhere. They didn't know where yet, but I needed to report somewhere. I'm assuming that the person who made this decision was the same person who urged positions be cut in order to balance the budget, but all the while pay me the same salary for 3 months to work for someone else. Neither decision was that smart, but this is LAUSD we are talking about. Obviously the mediocre and not the best and brightest.
Be that as it may, my email was met with a round of applause and well wishers. As the summer has progressed, it is evident that the state of African American children in and around Los Angeles has not. LAUSD posted a 60% drop out rate for African American students this school year. The release of the California Standards Test (CST) has indicated that all subgroups are doing slightly better than they did last year. . . except African American students. Is it just me or it is impossible to believe that all the other subgroups can improve except African American students, many who happen to be some of our best and brightest? Is it reasonable to believe that an English learner in the country for less than a month prior to the first day of testing produced better test results than an African American student who has never missed a day of school?
And it is for those reasons that I am now Dr. EBlack, Education Consultant. I realized that the school district has no option but to leave students behind. I have no option but to make sure that doesn't happen. . . not again, not to another generation of at-risk children, not this time.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
THE DAY OF RECKONING
"This is no place for a black man."
I've repeated that statement more than a few times since I started with the Los Angeles Unified School District in 1996. True, more than a few black men made their way up the ranks from teacher to administrator and beyond, but for every success, there was the expendable black man. That was the black man who was good enough to step in and take over a classroom after the first teacher quit mid-year, but was not good enough to offer a contract to after the school year was over.
As a black man in LAUSD, I was relegated to discipline. Discipline primarily meant African American boys. I knew when a school recruited me, what they really wanted was for me to deal with some of the African American boys they couldn't handle. I usually accepted the challenge. However, I knew my days would be numbered.
The state of California is going through a crisis. Crisis usually means money. Money means the state doesn't have any. That generally means budget cuts. Education is always at the top of the budget cuts. California school districts have been slashing jobs since April 2008. Today was the day LAUSD sent letters to those who were getting their jobs cut. Black men, caught unaware, have been calling me all day. Their jobs are gone. "What am I supposed to do?" they asked over and over. I answered, "Just wait until the first day of school. The boys will be back in school."
What is it that makes some people so afraid of even the youngest African American male student? Should we be frightened of them because they are so frightened of our boys?
I've repeated that statement more than a few times since I started with the Los Angeles Unified School District in 1996. True, more than a few black men made their way up the ranks from teacher to administrator and beyond, but for every success, there was the expendable black man. That was the black man who was good enough to step in and take over a classroom after the first teacher quit mid-year, but was not good enough to offer a contract to after the school year was over.
As a black man in LAUSD, I was relegated to discipline. Discipline primarily meant African American boys. I knew when a school recruited me, what they really wanted was for me to deal with some of the African American boys they couldn't handle. I usually accepted the challenge. However, I knew my days would be numbered.
The state of California is going through a crisis. Crisis usually means money. Money means the state doesn't have any. That generally means budget cuts. Education is always at the top of the budget cuts. California school districts have been slashing jobs since April 2008. Today was the day LAUSD sent letters to those who were getting their jobs cut. Black men, caught unaware, have been calling me all day. Their jobs are gone. "What am I supposed to do?" they asked over and over. I answered, "Just wait until the first day of school. The boys will be back in school."
What is it that makes some people so afraid of even the youngest African American male student? Should we be frightened of them because they are so frightened of our boys?
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