#chalkbeat

The last few decades have seen the gutting of local news reporting in the US. As deep reporting and investigative journalism are increasingly concentrated in just a few cities across the country, local-scale failures and corruption have been misreported or overlooked entirely. This lack of local reporting has meant that, when elections come around, voters unequipped to make informed judgments about what the local issues are, or which local candidates can be trusted.

Votebeat was created in 2020 to combat a shortage of local news reporting on electoral issues and election integrity. VoteBeat reporters embed for three-month stints in local nonprofit newsrooms that provide expert knowledge of their communities. In addition to providing critical coverage of election-related issues at all levels of government, VoteBeat seeks to revitalize political reporting at the local level.

To understand why Critical Race Theory, or CRT, and the 1619 Project — a New York Times magazine series about how slavery has shaped the U.S. — draw the ire of many Republican legislators, we can look to the late Brazilian philosopher Paulo Freire for guidance:

Conditioned by the experience of oppressing others, any situation other than their former seems to them like oppression. Formerly, they could eat, dress, wear shoes, be educated, travel, and hear Beethoven; while millions did [none of those things]. Any restriction on this way of life, in the name of rights of the community, appears to the former oppressors as a profound violation of their individual rights.

But it is not oppression.

It is entirely plausible that the lawmakers passing these bills feel that any restriction to or challenge of teaching and learning from a Eurocentric lens is a profound violation of their rights and those of their constituents, specifically because they’re white. That would explain why so many white people levy the claim of reverse racism on CRT or the 1619 Project.

There’s anxiety regarding America’s changing demographics and perceived direction, but the reality is that, even in this increasingly diverse nation, power and authority remain largely in the hands of white people. Roughly 80% of all teachers and administrators in U.S. public schools are white. These are the individuals who set the tone for what is taught and how it is taught.

By contrast, white students make up only 46% of American public school students

…

I’ve heard these arguments numerous times from colleagues and superiors alike who didn’t understand the need for things like culturally relevant pedagogy and culturally responsive texts, more Black and Latinx teachers, and a Black Student Union. I’ve heard it in personal conversations with white people. I’ve heard it from some Black people, too.

But as a teacher and student of history, I am well aware of the truth of our society’s white supremacist roots, its racist systems, and its white spaces. It is responsible, for example, for white teachers suspending Black children at disproportionately high rates.

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I also understand that white teachers may be unaware of the systemic racism within the Constitution or the nation’s history oppressing Black and brown people outside of its borders, such as in Haiti and its role in overthrowing governments in Black and brown lands like Hawaii. I never learned those truths in school. Why would teachers and parents and politicians be comfortable with history lessons they were never taught and ones that debunk much of what they always believed to be true?

So what is the solution? Thankfully, there are some things that district leaders can do.

First, they must really invest in their professional development programs — ones that teach about historical truths surrounding white supremacy and racism and ones that teach educators how to apply this knowledge to their content area and the grade levels they teach.

Second, district leaders must identify teachers willing to teach — or willing to learn how to teach — these necessary truths to students in all content areas. It certainly doesn’t hurt to hire more Black teachers. Not that white teachers can’t do it, but speaking as a former Black social studies teacher, I wanted to teach about racism, enslavement, and the Africans who arrived in the Americas before African enslavement, and I wasn’t scared to do it.

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Certainly, some will disagree with these suggestions, just as my children disagree with eating their vegetables. However, it doesn’t stop me from putting the vegetables on their plate, nor should we fail to teach the truth of American history. 

There are about 2.6 million students who attend schools in New York State. 1.1 million of those students are in New York City, the nation's largest school district. In a nation with 50 million children in public schools, that means about 5% of all children in the country go to a New York State public school. So, when New York makes a major change to the way it holds public schools accountable, people notice. And the state did precisely that on January 17th, 2019. As reported by Andrew Zimmerman of ChalkBeat: State officials released a new list of struggling schools Thursday including 124 in New York City, the first round of designations under a new method of identifying low-performing schools. Eighty-four of the city’s schools are on the lowest rung — known as “Comprehensive Support and Improvement Schools” — and will be required to craft improvement plans approved by the state. The remaining 40 schools are only in need of “targeted” support and will face less intense oversight. The lowest-performing schools were identified partly because they were in the bottom 10 percent of schools across the state on a combined measure of growth and proficiency on state tests — the biggest factor that went into their rating. Zimmerman notes that state test scores factor more heavily into the new formula than they did historically. He is also quick to point out some of the incongruities that follow the changes. For instance, there are schools that were doing pretty well according to the old metrics but are now listed as among the worst in the state according to the new metrics. Subtle changes in standing are to be expected; strange changes merit pause. One example is Central Park East 1, an elementary school in East Harlem.

How can that be? How can it be that a school that does well by official measures one day suddenly performs so poorly the next? The tests themselves didn't change very much. So what is going on? It is reasonable for students, parents, and the public to ask such questions, which are not just about the schools themselves, but equally about the integrity of the state's method and motive. In response to his school's poor labeling, the principal of Central Park East 1, Gabriel Feldberg, penned a letter to his community explaining what appeared to be going on. For him, the state seemed to be choosing to calculate their new ratings using some odd math. He explained:

New Post has been published on https://www.topbreaking.news/education/rise-shine-devos-places-halt-on-special-education-ruling-chalkbeat-indiana.html

Rise & Shine: DeVos places halt on special education ruling - Chalkbeat Indiana

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Rise & Shine: DeVos places halt on special education ruling Chalkbeat Indiana PRESSING PAUSE: The U.S. Department of Education is placing a two-year pause on an Obama-era rule requiring states to study how school districts identify and serve minority students with disabilities. Chalkbeat. GRAND MARSHAL: Thirteen-year-old Ella …

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New Post has been published on https://www.topbreaking.news/education/rise-shine-board-of-education-approves-guidance-for-graduation-pathways-chalkbeat-new-york.html

Rise & Shine: Board of Education approves guidance for graduation pathways - Chalkbeat New York

Rise & Shine: Board of Education approves guidance for graduation pathways Chalkbeat New York Rise & Shine is Chalkbeat’s morning digest of education news. Subscribe to have it delivered to your inbox, or forward to a friend who cares about public education. BUDGET CUTS: The Indy Chamber proposed a plan to save Indianapolis Public Schools …

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Asian-Americans: Mayor Bill de Blasio ‘Pitting Minority Against Minority’

Asian-American activists are blasting a plan proposed by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to end admission testing to the city’s top high schools in order to increase black and Hispanic enrollment, a move, they say, that is creating greater divisiveness.

“The mayor is pitting minority against minority and that’s really messed up,” said Kenneth Chiu, president of the New York City…