EDUCATING
FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
NEW
LEADERS AND EDUCATION AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE PLAN
JOINT FIELD TRIP
On
May 16, New Leaders and the Education and Human Development
Committee are jointly sponsoring a field trip Vernon Elementary
school on NE Killingsworth. Joan Miller, the principal at
Vernon Elementary, has invited us to take a noontime tour
of the school and learn about the initiatives Vernon has undertaken
in recent years to strengthen the performance of its students.
For details, contact Gwen Millius of New Leaders at gwen@srmstudio.net
or Ba Luvmour of the Education and Human Development Issue
Committee at ba@EnCompassFamilies.org.
A
Report on Linda Christensen's presentation in April
Linda Christensen, fire and tears, erudite and passionate,
and quite insightful about her lifelong commitment to social
justice in education graced the Education and Human Development
Committee this month. A teacher for 30 years at Jefferson
High and national consultant on social justice in education,
Ms. Christensen shed light on No Child Left Behind (NCLB),
testing, and the specifics of the effect of these on Jefferson.
NCLB, ostensibly designed to help the neediest bridge the
achievement gap, has actually added to the problem. It pushes
children to rote learning, utilizes pre-packaged curriculum
often written by the testing companies, and therefore suffers
from an extreme lack of relevancy. Student motivation suffers.
Teachers have no access to the Department of Education in
order to bring this concern to the fore. Their enthusiasm
wanes as well. The two principles in education, teacher and
student, are excised from the education discourse.
Tests reflect cultural prejudices that negatively influence
the scores from minorities. In order to make this point
Ms. Christensen gave us the Jefferson Achievement Test. This
small sample of questions required some knowledge of the Jefferson
culture. Everyone failed miserably.
Once the scores are low the problems worsen. NCLB ties funding
to test scores and so anyone perceived as hurting test scores
is at risk. At Jefferson, low scores led to a wholesale firing
of the faculty in 1998. Teachers had to reapply for their
jobs and many of the best refused as it would have meant that
they were to blame for the problem. Around the same time magnet
schools were formed and Jefferson became the magnet for the
Performing Arts. Parents and teachers objected as they wanted
academics for their children. An exodus followed and enrollment
went from approximately 1,000 down to 500.
These factors contributed to the perception that minority
are dumb. Ms. Christensen told us several stories in which
minority children were ridiculed simply based on the belief
that they pulled down test scores.
She then told us about her work at ReThinking Schools (www.ReThinkingSchools.org).
Their criteria for classroom and curriculum:
• Grounded in the lives of the students—respect
for their innate curiosity and their capacity to learn
• Critical—to evaluate and talk back at the world
• Multi-cultural, anti-racist, pro-justice—even
the SAT’s are racist
• Participatory, experiential—the prepackaged
curriculum insults teacher and student
• Hopeful, joyful, kind, visionary—to make children
feel significant and and cared about by one another and by
the teacher
• Activist—students should see themselves as truth
tellers and change seekers
• Academically rigorous—social justice is more
rigorous for it truly equips children to move in the world
they are to change
• Culturally sensitive—the meaning structures
of the students are important and teachers must be able to
listen and respond
NCLB and testing do none of the above. Critical thinking is
sacrificed at the altar of arbitrary standards set by people
who have little contact with children. —
Ba Luvmour
