tag:newamericamedia.org,2009-04-06://19 2013-06-18T14:07:57Z New America Media is a nationwide association of over 3000 ethnic media organizations representing the development of a more inclusive journalism. Founded in 1996 by Pacific News Service, New America Media promotes ethnic media by strengthening the editorial and economic viability of this increasingly influential segment of America's communications industry. tag:newamericamedia.org,2013://19.11600 2013-06-18T08:10:00Z 2013-06-18T14:07:57Z

Peter Schurmann ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=64 Ed. Note: In 2010, California became one of 45 states to adopt a new set of national education standards in English and math for all students. Full implementation across the state is scheduled for 2014. Described as “the most far-reaching experiment in American educational history,” the Common Core promises to revamp the way in which schools both instruct and assess their students, placing greater emphasis on critical thinking and analysis and moving away from the test-based instructional models currently in place. EdTrust West Executive Director Arun Ramanathan says the Common Core is a welcome change, particularly for special needs students across California. Though he notes the new curriculum’s success will depend largely on how well districts, and the public, prepare for the changes ahead. He spoke with New America Media Editor Peter Schurmann.

New America Media: Critics of the new Common Core standards warn that it could widen the achievement gap between low and high performing students. What are your thoughts on that?

Arun Ramanathan: It’s such an old argument, and to some degree it’s a racist argument. The notion that if you heighten standards for poor kids and kids of color, and then you also improve and enhance the teaching that they receive is somehow a negative … I actually think it’s the low expectations that hamper students and that are far worse than saying, “We’re going to have high expectations and then we’re going to teach to those high expectations.”

When people put their preconceptions about poor kids and kids of color aside and do that kind of teaching, you see kids as young as kindergarteners and first graders engaging in a whole different way, learning in a whole different way. I think that’s what the Common Core is about. When you change your expectations, you have a huge chance to transform the lives of children, particularly their educational lives.

NAM: How do you respond to those who say the Common Core is an example of government overreach in standardizing education?

Ramanathan: The Common Core is not about standardization … it is about simplification and depth. The essence of the standards is that they allow teachers to take a smaller but more in-depth set of standards and teach them in much less of a rote way, and in much more of an experiential and project-based way. That’s the essence.

Yes, you may have standards that are consistent across states, but the way those standards are taught will vary from classroom to classroom and from school to school. What will be interesting, though, is to see how students are doing in one state as compared to another under a common set of standards. Finally, you can create true cross-comparisons … and be able to highlight what is successful.

NAM: What will some of the indicators be going ahead to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Common Core?

Ramanathan: The success of Common Core is going to hinge on us rethinking the way that we instruct and construct curriculum. If we take Common Core and just run it through the same standard curriculum that we’ve used … if we give teachers three or four professional development sessions and then say, “Hey, this is the Core. Go at it!” … if we just use iPads as glorified test booklets, nothing will happen.

But if we use these new standards in the right way, if teachers are able to utilize the standards in a way that allows them to differentiate instruction in the classroom to the real diversity of learners; if teachers are able to use technology to accelerate and support that; and if they’re able to cross-collaborate and take things off the net; if we see that occurring, and if we see students more engaged in their learning; if we see better outcomes in English Language Arts and Math … that’s what you should look for.

What you’ll need to do is take a look at what’s happening in the elementary and middle school levels, because that’s where you’ll see some great benefit. For our high school students, who will already have been exposed to the previous system, the transition may not have as great an impact. But what does Common Core mean for early learning, in particular? That is going to be fascinating to watch.

NAM: Gov. Brown has set aside $1.25 billion for implementation of the Common Core. What are you seeing in terms of how districts will use that money?

Ramanathan: It’s been highly variable. Some districts have sort of ducked their heads and said, “This too shall pass.” Then there are districts that have churned ahead. The interesting thing about that $1.25 billion is that it’s going to both kinds of districts. So the districts that have surged ahead will know what to do with the money. What we hope to see happen is that these districts are raised up as examples and that people don’t just recreate the wheel across California.

NAM: What are some of your concerns regarding implementation of the Common Core?

Ramanathan: The [Common Core] discussion has been an insider education conversation, and so the public isn’t fully engaged. We see with New York that when standards are upped and instruction changes, there is significant pushback. And so the public has to be prepared. If we’re going to change our testing systems, if we’re going to change our API (Academic Performance Index) measures, we have to keep in mind people’s connection to their schools … people have to be prepared. The change is going to be jarring, and people will push back if they think it’s not in their benefit or in the benefit of kids.

[As far as assessments], we’re talking about the expansion of computer adapted testing for all students in California. That’s six million kids! It is clear at this point that districts are at very different places in their ability to deliver computer-adapted assessments. Even something as simple as bandwidth … with that influx of money, districts may buy a bunch of tablets. But what we don’t want to see happen is that those tablets don’t run because schools don’t have the bandwidth and connectivity. And even if they do have the connectivity, if you’re going to buy 500 tablets, don’t turn them into glorified test booklets. Use them as powerful tools for instruction.

NAM: Will the Common Core put English Language Learners and their families at a disadvantage?

Ramanathan: At this point I think the Common Core has some work to do in terms of thinking about how best to allow all students to access the standards. But by being more streamlined than [the current] California Standards, and by being less rigid, the Common Core allows for teachers to differentiate instruction based on the needs of their students.

For non-English speaking parents, the entry point will be the math. But we still need to think about how best to bring parents in on the language arts. Simultaneously, we need to think about the primary language materials that are available for parents. Language should not be a barrier to accessing good content, and I think that’s a challenge that the Common Core folks have to take on as a top priority, especially in California.

NAM: What are three things parents need to be aware of around Common Core?

Ramanathan: The first is that it’s here. If we do it right, it will accelerate student achievement; it will better prepare kids for college and career. The second thing I would say is that the testing is going to come in a couple of years. That’s going to be a big change. We have to be prepared for that. We have to understand that when something is implemented, you will see changes in how school performance is viewed and how your child has performed academically. And the third thing is that you have to ask your district how they’re going to prepare for the new demands of this curriculum, and for the process of taking the test and understanding the results of it.

Arun Ramanathan is Executive Director of EdTrust West, an Oakland-based educational policy, research, and advocacy organization working to address the educational needs and challenges confronting California’s low-income students and students of color.]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2013://19.11598 2013-06-17T20:17:06Z 2013-06-19T00:15:14Z

Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103
“I cannot speak for all districts, but I can tell you that we have worked extremely hard in Anoka-Hennepin to meet the academic and social-emotional needs of all students of color,” stated Anoka-Hennepin spokesperson Mary Olson. The district had a nearly 33 percent Black suspension rate in 2011-12 while only 10 percent of its overall student population is Black.

Anoka-Hennepin has been using cultural competency and culturally responsive teaching strategies by the Seattle-based Gary Howard Equity Institute for nearly four years, added Olson. In an email response, Gary Howard last week told the MSR, “There has been a sustained effort to reduce the number and rate of Black students’ discipline suspensions… My work has been just one part of their district-wide effort in this area. This effort is still very much a work in progress.” Read more here.
]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2013://19.11577 2013-06-12T23:18:04Z 2013-06-12T23:19:46Z

Koream Journal ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103
Lee will take over for Christopher L. Eisgruber, who was elected to be the prestigious university’s next president.

As provost, Lee will serve as the school’s chief academic and budgetary officer, and will be responsible for coming up with long-term plans for the university. The former president of Harvard University, Neil L. Rudenstine, and the president of the University of Pennsylvania, Amy Gutmann, both previously served as provosts at Princeton.

Professor Lee, who will begin his term on July 1, earned an undergraduate degree in economics from Harvard University as well as a master’s degree and Ph.D. from Princeton University. He previously taught economics at Harvard, U.C. Berkeley and Columbia University.]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2013://19.11561 2013-06-09T14:07:10Z 2013-06-11T17:56:33Z

Walking around a high school campus at this time of year you will notice the air floats a little lighter and the sun reflects off smiles a little brighter. Everyone is looking forward to the last day, and the mood...

Matt Amaral ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103 Walking around a high school campus at this time of year you will notice the air floats a little lighter and the sun reflects off smiles a little brighter. Everyone is looking forward to the last day, and the mood can aptly be described as celebratory. Seniors can’t wait for graduation, teachers can’t wait to sleep in, and even the students with straight Fs are showing up again just to tighten up their game for the summer.

You also cannot help but notice all of the end-of-year celebrations. Senior Awards Night, Hispanic Awards Night, Grad Night, AVID Banquets, Band and Choir concerts, Dance Shows, Leadership Rallies, and to top it all off Graduation. Everyone is getting awards and being recognized. Students are getting scholarships and teachers and counselors are being lauded for their work with these amazing students. The only people you don’t see celebrating are, well, the students who aren’t amazing and the teachers who teach those kids.

There aren’t any Sheltered Awards Nights at my school. We don’t give out anything to the Juniors who read at a 5th grade level. And for the kids whose parents don’t make enough to feed them three meals a day, and therefore get free lunch at school, we don’t add cake to the menu at the end of the year. The sad reality is that the only teachers on campus who aren’t being recognized with balloons, and awards, and gift certificates, and thank yous, are the teachers who teach the toughest classes at our public schools.

I think there should be an award for the teacher with the most difficult schedule on campus, and at the end of every year that teacher should get a standing ovation from the staff and an all expense paid trip out of whatever city they have to teach in. They should get a year off. Instead, no one will say thank you. Students might throw up a peace sign on the way out the door, and the teacher will clean up their room in silence. When they step outside they will see students from other classes hugging teachers, and giving them gift cards to Starbucks, taking pictures, and laughing, and the Sheltered teacher will wonder what they are doing wrong, and spend the next three months wondering why they never have kids say thank you at the end of the year. Here’s the reason:

There aren’t any happy endings for teachers in the trenches.

We always bemoan the fact that teachers with experience have easier schedules. Of course there is the argument that “easier” can be construed in many ways, because when you teach AP students it is much, much harder from a content standpoint. But in this way teaching is like most jobs—we don’t give the most rigorous intellectual workload to newbies, and you also have to PROVE yourself to move up the ladder. I don’t think anyone can argue with that. That said, I still would like to see every teacher, especially the cagey veterans, teach at least one Sheltered class every year. But here’s my little secret—I’m not.

This year is the first year I haven’t taught a Sheltered English class.

I actually want to teach a Sheltered class next year, but being a veteran teacher has almost made that an impossibility. I already have four preps, so even though I requested a Sheltered 9 class next year, it won’t fit in my schedule. And because I’ve been here so long and am now in charge of great programs, I am basically beyond the trenches by virtue of having lasted so long. I should be teaching a Sheltered class next year, but I’m not. So at the end of next year, me, and all the other teachers who teach the great kids, the AP kids, the Leadership kids, the Band and Choir kids, will be treated like the saviors of education.

I’m not sure we deserve all that.

At the end of the year, there is no potluck for the teacher with five 9th grade classes, three of which are Sheltered. Those kids aren’t making lists at the end of the year for who is going to bring a salad, entrée, or desert, on the last day of class. Those kids are trying to figure out what the word entrée means. Or they ask, “How am I supposed to bring an entrée to class when I ain’t even had one at home for months?”

I’ve been recognized by students at two different banquets this year. I’m signing yearbooks and taking pictures and seeing kids off to college. The kids are amazing, and because I have a couple classes where I teach amazing kids, it seems I am amazing too. But looking back at all the Sheltered classes I’ve taught, I would argue I was just as amazing; it just didn’t seem like it because those students were failing all of their classes, rarely came to school, were suspended all the time, and had home lives that would make you gasp. At the end of those classes, even when I did an amazing job, there wasn’t anything tangible to show for it—certificates, awards. And those kids, for many reasons out of their control, were not the kind of kids to plan celebrations, or even say thank you.

Of course our Sheltered classes are shouldered by the newest teachers. At the precise moment you are trying to figure out how to make lessons work, you are given classes in which lessons NEVER work. We all have to go through this. It is like starting in the mail room and working your way up to VP. New teachers have to prove they can do the job, and you have to figure out the intricacies of teaching the content in your area to kids who really do need differentiation and scaffolding. But it won’t be like that forever, and if you made it through this year, I’m betting next year’s schedule looks a little easier.

So to all the Sheltered teachers out there with six classes and no prep, below is a certificate. I used this template this year at our Awards Nights. Print it out on one of those certificate papers with a nice border, and put a gold seal on it. I just want to say I see you, and I see what the work you’re putting in. Nobody else might ever say it, but I will. “Thank you.” And now you have to picture me getting out of my chair and giving you a standing ovation.

Real AWARD

Matt Amaral is a writer and high school English teacher from the San Francisco Bay Area. He is a featured blogger at EducationNews.org, a leading international website for education issues. You can also follow his work on the blogsite, Teach4Real.com
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Vivian Po ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103 Editor’s Note: On June 8, New America Media held an awards ceremony in New Orleans, LA for The Teacher Who Changed My Life essay contest. A collaboration with six local ethnic media partners, three contestants out of a pool of 54 entries were awarded cash prizes for their essays in three separate categories – Teenage, Adult and Teacher in Memory. During the ceremony, winners were honored alongside the teachers profiled in their essays. A booklet of 28 finalists' essays was also distributed. They will be available soon on the contest site. Below are the winning entries.

Learning Admirable Behavior From Beowulf
Winner, Teenage Category
Profile of Benjamin Davis by Tyrone Clay

Ill-natured, arrogant, and ill tempered, I was not a model scholar early on. However, I always aspired for greatness. Yet, this aspiration remained merely a dream for many years until I moved to New Orleans and started to look into high schools. I was on my way to enroll at another school, but a man, Mr. Davis, stopped and told me about Sci Academy.

After hearing his plea, I decided to trust this man and this school with my education: it was an excellent choice. My first few weeks were behaviorally horrible. I walked out of class, yelled at my peers—awful actions indeed but Mr. Davis changed me. I was angry and engaged in one of my odious tirades when he approached me. Instead of admonishment and a consequence, he commenced with a didactic, touching speech. From his caring nature, exemplified in these talks, he earned my respect, respect that I could not afford to lose to unacceptable behavior. As I matured, I found that my social maturity seeded from this conversation, which in turn, inspired pure admiration for Mr. Davis.

He also brought me out of my shell. I was always strong in my academics, but I was very shy to talk in class because of my broken teeth. To make me feel more comfortable, he allowed me to sit in the back of the class. This worked until the start of the second quarter. Then, he moved me to the middle of the class and encouraged me to be more vocal and elegant when talking. After stumbling and struggling, I mastered my defect and can now speak with eloquence and strength.

Perhaps most pivotal in my life was his friendship. When I believed my mother was dying, I fell into a deep depression and felt like I couldn’t leave my house for school. However, one day, I went into the bathroom and cried, and incidentally he was in there with me. Sensing my distress, he talked and reasoned with me. Then, he took me to lunch and shared his childhood memories. I’m a very timid person, so I rarely made friends. However, at the end of the conversation I left with not only encouragement to stay in school but a life-long friend.

Now, I am a confident, well-mannered, and proud man. Great schools are now possible futures. Also, my dream of being Supreme Court Justice is now more plausible, and Mr. Davis heavily influenced all of this potential. Mr. Davis’ impact reminds me of a quote from the epic Beowulf: “Behavior that is admirable is the path to greatness among people.” I am grateful for Mr. Davis’ mentorship and will work to fulfill my potential in his honor.

Treasuring A First Grader’s Book of Poems
Winner, Adult Category
Profile of Mrs. Delphenie Butler by Juwanda G. Ford-Williams

My first grade teacher, Mrs. Butler, taught me many things: to read, to write and to be quiet sometimes. However, the most important thing she taught me was something long after first grade; elementary; and even high school. I was 26-years-old, when she taught me the “power of teachers.”

At that time, she saw my grandmother, and asked about me. When she learned that I had graduated from college and moved to New York to pursue a career in publishing and writing, she immediately sent me a package. It was a book that I had made as a student in her class, along with a note that said, “I always knew you would do it."

When I received the book, I was just floored. I had forgotten all about it; but because she was such an intuitive teacher, she knew it was something special, and she kept it all those years. And it was in pristine condition. There wasn’t one scratch on it. That’s when it all came back to me. How she had noticed how much I liked to write, and that I was good at it -- even in first grade. How she had encouraged me to put all of my poems together in a book, and had sat with me in class to make the book. I remembered how we discussed the cover, and that she went out and bought the “Winnie-the-Pooh” contact paper I wanted for the cover. It all came back to me, and it was then that I knew how “powerful” my first grade teacher was.

Well, now, I am blessed to have several published books; but my favorite is still the one that she helped me to make. You see, none of my editors sit patiently waiting for me to finish. No one discusses the covers with me - the publishers just decided what they think is best. And no one keeps a copy of my books safely packed away. I am just one of “many” writers. But with her, I was not just one of “many” students - I was one of “her” students; and therefore, I was special.

Today, I keep “our book” on my desk. Everyday it reminds me of the little elementary school I attended at the edge of the housing “Project”. And of the first grade teacher who taught me to read and write, and that I could do anything I set my mind to do.

I take “our book” with me every time I visit a school as a writer. It has traveled all over the world with me. I tell teachers and students about her; Mrs. Butler, my first grade teacher. How she was the first person to tell me that I was a good writer, and how she helped me to make my first book; and how she kept it safe for me for 20 years. When I show them the book, they can’t believe it. “Our book” is proof to them, of the “power of teachers."

A Hellfire Teacher On My Back
Winner, Teacher in Memory Category
Profile of Mrs. Gloria Humphrey Scott by Asali DeVan Ecclesiastes

“Gloria. Humphrey. Scott.” She announced her name in a booming voice to her new sixth grade class. She was everything my fifth grade friends warned me she’d be. Tall, loud, MEAN! “Oooh you got Mrs. Scott?!?” they lamented. With her dark brown hair, peppered silver and carefully coifed, her starched white linen skirt and button down shirt, she reminded me of an usher from the Pentecostal church at the end of my block. They never smiled. Mrs. Scott looked like she never smiled.

I wondered if it was because she was so tall ... could a smile work its way to a face that far from the ground? To my little 11-year-old self, her 6’2” frame made her seem of legendary proportions. Her reputation certainly was. “Mrs. Scott not gon’ letcha use da bafroom like talkin’ bout it”; “Mrs. Scott give detention like it ain’t nothing”; “Mrs. Scott don’ kept back mo’ kids den all the teachers at Valena C. Jones put together”; “You definitely CANNOT have fun in Mrs. Scott class!”

I felt doomed. After having made it through the new school blues last year, in spite of being a geeky girl with short natural hair, who loved to read all day, I was looking forward to relaxing this year with my new friends and popularity ... but how could I do that with a hellfire teacher on my back?

Yet as she spoke that day, I realized that my friends didn’t tell me everything Mrs. Scott was. Yes she was strict and demanding. Yes she was exacting and fearsome. But she was also engaging, brilliant and sensitive. She was insightful, caring, and knew how to get the best out of her students, from the most productive and creative to the most reluctant and resentful of us. She taught more than reading, writing and arithmetic; she taught us ancestral pride and human dignity, health and self-worth. With a hearty laugh, she gave us much more than we ever knew we needed - on a daily basis, because Gloria Humphrey Scott never missed a day of school!

Sixteen years later, I was pregnant with my first child, walking down Rampart Street reading a book with an African name. I heard a booming voice from behind, “Asali DeVan, walking down the street reading a book like you’re eleven years old, you’re gonna fall in a hole.” I spun around. It was Mrs. Scott! Still tall and imposing, still dignified and beautiful. She was waiting for a friend, I was late for work, so we quickly caught up and shared how great it was to see each other. I walked away feeling happy to have seen her and glanced down at the book. The first name my eyes landed on was Camara, meaning teacher in the Malinké language. Today when I look at my son, eleven years old - we call him Ra for short - I know that the legend of Mrs. Scott, and all good teachers like her, are the stuff that legacies are made of.

The Teacher Who Changed My Life Essay Contest was supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.


]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2013://19.11555 2013-06-06T21:33:58Z 2013-06-06T22:09:34Z

Two schools in San Francisco will be scaling back courses and other programs for newly arrived Chinese immigrants starting next year, reports the Sing Tao Daily. While the decision has caused alarm among parents and teachers, district officials say it...

Sing Tao Daily ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103 Two schools in San Francisco will be scaling back courses and other programs for newly arrived Chinese immigrants starting next year, reports the Sing Tao Daily. While the decision has caused alarm among parents and teachers, district officials say it will ultimately benefit students struggling with the English language.

Lincoln High School says it plans to eliminate the position that oversees administration of its Newcomer Pathway program for Chinese students, currently offered in both Mandarin and Cantonese. The program is designed to allow newly-arrived immigrant students time to adjust to their new school setting by placing them in either full-immersion or bilingual Chinese language courses in key subject areas, including math and science.

Principal Barnaby Payne insists the move will not impact services for the school’s English Language Learner (ELL) student population, adding the decision was based on budget reductions made at the district level.

Beginning next year, San Francisco Unified will reduce funding for programs like those at Lincoln, the Sing Tao notes. The move comes as the district is hoping to place more ELL students into English-only courses.

There were some 360 ELL students enrolled at Lincoln for the 2012-2013 school year, more than 30 percent of them Chinese speakers. District wide there are just under 15,000 ELL students in the K-12 system.

Olivia Huang is a community coordinator and Chinese-language translator for SFUSD. Citing research by the district, she says putting students with limited English ability into English-only classes will help enhance their language learning, as well as better prepare them for college and integration into society.

Francisco Middle School, located near the city’s Chinatown, is planning on eliminating its Chinese-immersion class, the report notes. The school’s principal echoed Huang, citing evidence from other schools in the district, where ELL students performed well despite the lack of newcomer services.

Not everyone, however, is convinced.

"The Chinese and American education systems have their own peculiarities," says Chris Gao, who serves on the English Learner Advisory Committee at Lincoln High School. “It was one of the roles of the [Newcomer program officer] to help explain those differences to the parents.”

Gao added that while the school does have a Chinese-speaking parent contact, the one person alone cannot possibly “meet the needs of all the students.]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2013://19.11531 2013-06-03T19:40:48Z 2013-06-03T19:43:26Z

Colorlines ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103
In March, the Justice Department reached agreement with the Meridian Public School District to decrease excessive suspensions and expulsions of mostly young black students for trivial infractions like wearing the wrong colored socks. Kids were lucky if they were only suspended — in many of these cases, schools called the police to arrest the students, as young as 10 years old, and send them to juvenile facilities, as reporter Julianne Hing found last November.

This consent decree essentially cancels most, if not all, police intervention for any issues that ca be “safely and appropriately handled under school disciplinary procedures.” This includes: disorderly conduct, school disturbances and disruptions, loitering, trespassing, profanity, dress code violations, and fighting that doesn’t include physical injury or weapons. Further, the school district can not share any information on students’ discipline records with any law enforcement agency unless court-ordered. It also requires schools to track discipline data, including by race, and then take corrective action if they find racial disparities. Read more here.]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2013://19.11524 2013-06-01T09:05:00Z 2013-05-31T21:13:05Z

Tanya Lee ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103 Image: Catawba Indian Nation Head Start children attend a Dental Hygiene Awareness Program meant to educate them on the importance of keeping their teeth healthy. Courtesy of Catawba Indian Nation Head Start. This is pt. 1 of a two part series. Click here to read pt. 2.

Educators in Indian country are working feverishly and creatively to deal with the cuts to federally funded preschool-to-grade 12 programs mandated by the so-called “sequester.”

The sequester, a series of automatic federal spending cuts totaling $85 billion in 2013 and copy09 billion for each year from 2014 to 2021 for a total over copy.2 trillion, was authorized by the Budget Control Act of 2011. It went into effect in March because Congress could not agree on a budget that would reduce deficit spending by $2.4 trillion over the next decade as part of the effort to deal with the country’s nearly copy7-trillion debt.

Head Start, intended to promote school readiness in children from birth to five years old from low-income families by supporting their cognitive, social and emotional development, serves 1 million children a year nationwide. The program was developed in the mid-1960s as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty. Sequestration is expected to knock out five percent of Head Start funding across the board, even though most Head Start programs cannot currently accommodate all families who apply, according to the Health & Human Services Department’s Administration for Children & Families, under which Head Start operates.

Approximately 70,000 children are expected to lose access to the program because of these cuts.

In 2013, Head Start programs nationwide will take a $406-million hit as a result of the sequester. Of that amount, nearly copy2 million will come from Indian Head Start, according to the National Indian Education Association. Melissa Harris, director of the Catawba Indian Nation Head Start in South Carolina, is proud of her program, which serves 80 children, most of them from the tribe, at one center on the reservation, for the full year. She says the sequester is devastating her program. “Right now, we’re downsizing from five days of service to four days for the summer.”

Not only will this reduction affect the children’s preparation for school but, Harris adds, “we’re concerned about meals. We serve two meals a day. On Fridays, will the children have a meal? Will they be watched by siblings or adults? Every weekend this summer will be a three-day weekend and we’re not sure the children’s basic health and safety needs will be met.

“We recognize the responsibility to get the U.S. budget in order, but this is not where you start, at the foundation of our children’s lives.”

Of the copy2 million in cuts Indian Head Start must deal with, more than one-tenth, or copy.4 million, will come from the Navajo Nation’s program, which serves 2,115 children in Early Head Start and Head Start and through home-based education activities. Director Sharon Singer notes that it costs more to serve rural areas, which often do not have accessible services and where transportation is always a challenge. “We’re looking for ways to cut costs and still serve our children and families,” she says.

The Navajo Nation began restructuring its Head Start program in November 2012 to build a high-quality program. That initiative will help cope with the funding cuts. “As part of the restructuring program,” says Singer, “we expect to reduce employees by 30 percent. We’ll combine positions and hire highly qualified teachers who can each be responsible for more children. And we’ll streamline our program, cutting out middle management and offering direct services to children and families.”

For now, says Singer, the Head Start program will be able to continue serving the same number of children, but further funding cuts will affect services. “Head Start provides a continuous program from Early Head Start to Head Start to kindergarten, which is so critical now that Common Core standards require that children be able to read by third grade or not be promoted. Our job is so important. It provides the foundation in learning and literacy for our children.”

The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon’s Head Start program will take a much smaller cut—$48,000, but its program is smaller and the impact will be serious. DeAnn Brown, director of the program, says they will close one week early this year and start two days later next, and they will need to cut supplies to classrooms and teacher training dollars.

Brown says her program serves 112 children and about the same number of families. It is a center-based Head Start program with seven classrooms. The program operates 3.5 hours a day, 4 days a week during the school years and serves both breakfast and lunch. “The cuts will be felt by everyone,” she says. “It’s only a week, but families are still dependent on Head Start for childcare. They’ll have to make other arrangements for that week. A week’s worth of childcare is a lot for our families.” Another concern, again, is nutrition. “Children rely on Head Start for two-thirds of their nutritional needs four days a week. Some kids might not get the nutrition they count on when Head Start is not operating for those days.

“We hope there are no further cuts. As it is, we still don’t serve all the kids we could. Further cuts would impact our enrollment. We hope there aren’t any.”

The copy2 million in cuts to American Indian Head Start programs is not just a matter of consequence for the nation’s tribes. National Indian Education Association President Heather Shotton says, “When the federal government does well by our Native children, it does well by everyone’s children…. When budget cuts hurt the education of Native children, they harm education for everyone’s children.”]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2013://19.11520 2013-05-31T16:37:31Z 2013-05-31T16:52:48Z

India West ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103
The 13-year-old from Bayside Hills, New York, was making his fourth and final appearance at the annual competition. Eight of the 11 finalists in the closely-contested evening event were Indian American students, none past the age of 14.

Mahankali came in third in 2011, incorrectly spelling judgenstil in the final round. Last year, Mahankali also took third place, after he was bested by schwarmerei. Judgenstil and schwarmerei are both German origin words, and, as he started the finals, Mahankali, who will start high school this fall, told judges he felt a “German curse” had been cast upon him.

But this year, he correctly spelled dehnstufe in an early round, portending a championship wind. His winning word was knaidel, a German origin Yiddish word for a soft, cornmeal ball found in soup or eaten alone as a snack.

“My German curse has turned into a German blessing,” said Mahankali holding up a giant trophy, after his family rushed to the stage to hug him, breaking his motionless pose. “I’m retiring on a good note,” he said, noting this was his final year of eligibility. Read more here.
]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2013://19.11513 2013-05-30T20:01:55Z 2013-05-30T20:08:07Z

India West ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103
The Scripps National Spelling Bee is the nation's largest and longest-running educational spelling bee, administered on a not-for-profit basis by The E.W. Scripps Company and local spelling bee sponsors in the United States, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Department of Defense Schools in Europe; also, the Bahamas, Canada, China, Ghana, Jamaica, Japan and South Korea.

This year, 281 spellers will compete for the title of 2013 Scripps National Spelling Bee Champion scheduled for May 28 to 30.

The Indian youth competing, according to state or country, are:


Read more here ]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2013://19.11509 2013-05-30T08:00:00Z 2013-05-29T21:05:29Z

Racquel Rendon ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103 OAKLAND, Calif. – Gerald Reyes, co-principal of Oakland’s ARISE Charter High School, is one of a small number of Filipino American educators in California. While his background makes him something of a minority, it also informs an educational approach that is proving both effective and perfectly suited to the charter setting.

“I was inspired by ARISE’s potential,” says Reyes, 41, a Bay Area native know simply as “G” by his students.

The school’s name stands for Authenticity, Rigor, Inspiration, Success and Empowerment. With a graduation rate topping 95 percent, it does seem to be living up to its name.

The child of immigrant parents, Reyes says his own upbringing played an important part in his decision to become an educator. “I recollect very little from my education. My father, like a lot of [Filipino] fathers, was in the military, so I ended up living all over country.” The result, he says, was a “fragmented education” that left him with major gaps in his learning.

It also led him down a dangerous path.

At 15, Reyes says he began using drugs. By the time he arrived in the Bay Area to attend high school, violence was becoming an increasingly prevalent part of his life, while college seemed increasingly remote. He later turned things around, he says, and eventually enrolled in California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo.

“It was predominantly white,” he recalls of the campus. “The first two years, I went through a shift there. I was never around a lot of Filipinos, but at Cal Poly I joined the Filipino club and I became politicized.” It was then, he says, that he began to want to learn “more about myself, and others.”

California is home to the largest Filipino American community in the country. According to the latest Census data, there were some 1.5 million Filipinos in the state, accounting for roughly 27 percent of the overall Asian population.

Still, compared to other Asian communities, Filipinos have lagged in educational attainment, with higher dropout rates and far lower rates of college completion. Of those that do receive a bachelor’s degree, less than 5 percent major in the field of education, according to data from the California Preliminary Credential Examination.

Those figures make Reyes an extreme minority in a profession that statistics show is growing less – not more – diverse. Still, he insists, “Filipinos have a place in education … we can help work towards transformation.”

Reyes began his career in youth development, working with the non-profit Oakland Leaf, which uses art and music to bring education to disadvantaged students. He helped launch ARISE – located in the Fruitvale neighborhood -- in late 2007. Almost 95 percent of the school’s first cohort of seniors graduated in 2010, far exceeding the state average of 74 percent for that same year.

“It is unacceptable to not pass a class here,” he notes. That may mean an added year at the school, but by the time students graduate, “colleges see A’s and B’s on their transcripts.”

Students at ARISE are not penalized for repeating courses, and in fact cannot move to the next level until they either meet or surpass course requirements. The school’s wraparound services -- which include partnerships with nearby Mills College, as well as Outward Bound and the Oakland Unified School District – also look to address student needs both in and out of the classroom.

It’s an approach that Reyes describes as “ecological,” emphasizing that each student is part of a greater whole. Part of that has meant additional time spent on the students most likely to slip through the cracks.

“We focus on youth leadership,” Reyes explains. “We focus on the ones who've been in gangs and dealing drugs. We put them all in same room and say you're going to be leaders of the school.”

Latinos make up 90 percent of the 200 plus students there, followed by 11 percent African American and 5 percent Asian and Pacific Islander. Of the students, 85 percent qualify for free or reduced meals, while 90 percent are from families where neither parent has a college education.

“I'm the only one that has made it to high school,” says 11th grader Angih Hernandez, who notes that her aunt dropped out in ninth grade. “None of my family went to high school. They feel proud of me.”

But for Reyes that success has not taken his attention away from the very real challenges that the school and its students face. “There are failures every day. When Miguel doesn’t come to school, that’s a failure … when a young person is feeling suicidal, [or] when another person goes through a violent rape; when someone got high at lunch. Those are all failures.”

Indeed, says Reyes, these are all things that “happen regularly.” But for the staff and faculty at ARISE, the key question is how to support students on their educational journey.

ARISE is one of 33 charter schools authorized to operate in the Oakland Unified School District, serving up to 18 percent -- or 8500 students – of all students enrolled in the district. Two years ago its charter came up for renewal, with OUSD officials faulting the school for its low Academic Performance Index (API) scores, a state standard used to measure student progress.

In 2012, the school’s API score stood at 554, down slightly from the year before.

“The API scores are not indicative of our student growth,” stresses Literacy Coordinator and English Teacher Mary Kelly. “One of things to know as a teacher is that those [API] tests are inherently discriminatory … I place value on individual growth and the way we view students as a whole, a holistic picture rather than a test score. ”

Ultimately ARISE’s charter was renewed and will come up for review again in 2016. Until then, Reyes and his staff will continue to build on the work they’ve started.

“Often times, it’s said that you need to get out of the hood and then don’t come back,” Reyes says. “Here at ARISE, the idea is that you continue on past here, get the skills and agency you need, and then you come back.”

Racquel Rendon is a producer for the Emmy-award winning lifestyle magazine show, “Adobo Nation” at (TFC) the Filipino Channel in Redwood City, CA.]]> 56740365 tag:newamericamedia.org,2013://19.11497 2013-05-28T13:30:00Z 2013-05-28T20:12:42Z

De-Bug High ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103  
Editor's Note: The cell phone video of a Texas high school student speaking out about what's wrong with packet education has become a viral sensation -- garnering millions of hits and launching online debates around the status of public education. Students at various high schools in California's Silicon Valley share their thoughts on the video in the context of their own educational experiences, and what they think could be done to better engage students. 

Earlier this month, Duncanville High School student Jeff Bliss became a YouTube sensation as his rant against a common form of classroom education went viral. In the cell phone video, Bliss tells his teacher, "If you would just get up and teach them instead of handing them a freaking packet, yo." Bliss's spontaneous monologue struck a chord with students across the country, who Facebook liked, shared, and tweeted the video to more than 3 million views in a week. In a moment of raw frustration, Bliss shared what students, teachers, and educational experts all say is needed if we are to create classroom settings of true learning and intellectual development -- engagement. During a subsequent interview with a local network WFAA-TV, Bliss said, "I want to see a teacher stand up and interact with the students, get involved, discuss, talk, question and dig deep into the subject.”




Learning is a Two-Way Street
Courtney Coufman, 17

Just this last week a new topic has been set ablaze as a passionate student's standing up against a disagreeable teacher goes viral. Many have joined in to bash previous instructors they had. The world is turning its head to check out what some consider to be America's failing education system. While I do empathize with those who believe we need more engaging teachers, for I have had my fair share of "packet-learning" classes, I also believe there is another side to this equation. Students.

My current third period economics is a stellar example. Imagine kids yacking away with their friends, others perusing their phones, one boy shouting about his boredom, three girls standing up singing Taylor Swift songs, a continuous opening and slamming of the door as kids escape by going to the bathroom, and a single teacher elevating her voice to continue the lesson. "Shut up!" she shouts, but a phrase that once managed to hush the class now goes unnoticed.

This is a casual day for this period, and as my teacher whines about our lack of respect for the 100th time, a boy bluntly states, "This class is a joke." I believe this is what the student realized in the video, that the school system has become more of a babysitting jail than an encouraging place to learn. Yet you can't only point a finger at the teachers, for many of my peers also behave in a way that inhibits learning. Even just one disruptive loud mouth can deteriorate the learning flow, and in a room full of second semester seniors, the disruptiveness only grows.

As we re-assess the teaching of our country, I also hope we take a good long look at those who are "learning." For no matter how professional a teacher is, it means nothing if they speak to a brick wall.


He Said What Many Students Feel Every Day
Amanda Zapien, 17

As a senior in high school, I feel like I can relate to this upset student and how frustrated he is. A lot of teachers nowadays seem like they don't really care about the students actually learning anything. Some teachers give off a vibe that they just need to give kids busy work so they can get paid. I'm not saying that all teachers are the same in this way, but there are many. Everyone learns differently and I'm sure that there are students who just don't care how the class is being taught. But then there are students that are on a whole other level and have high expectations for the teachers. I'm happy that this young man spoke his mind and told it like it is. It's just something a lot of us think every day, but never speak up about. Just because a teacher has their "credentials" doesn't mean they are going to be successful in that work.

It would be better if teachers had an open class for administrators and other superiors to sit in and watch. Teachers are taking advantage of their position when they just give out packets and getting off easy with just giving students busy work every day.


Schools Failed, and Fixing Them is a Group Thing
Victor Pardo, 17

Education seems to be nothing of value for a lot of young people I know. That's why when adults ask youth what they would want to be when they are older, they will be clueless. It used to be that a child would go to school, learn, pass all classes with good grades, graduate then move on to college. A simple mission. Now, becuase we feel teachers don't care, we just go to have fun. For example, I personally would wake up go to school just to go see my friends and then we would ditch and go out to eat. And when we go out to eat, it's young people just a couple years out of high school who are serving the fast food. They aren't going to college. The education system has failed.

Kids that are in school show up and don’t do work. They don’t pass their classes and always get in trouble. Who is there to blame for such actions? The students? The teachers? The parents? Truth is all three. A student needs to go to school and actually make themselves want to learn. That's step one. Second, the teacher needs to get the student involved and want to learn. Lastly, parents should be checking up on their kids to see how school is going for them and ways they can help out. This is a group thing. No child can raise himself or herself and be on the right path. We as students need help.


Teachers Got Taught a Lesson in This Video
Kaylani Stewart, 13

After watching the YouTube video of the student getting mad at his teacher, I feel that this student was brave enough to stand up in front of his class and tell the teacher what she needs to hear. Yes, he could have told the teacher individually, but he told himself in the moment, "It's time to show this teacher what I feel and probably what other students feel too." I agree with this guy. Not only do I think what he did was right but I think what he did was fair.

I too want to sometimes tell my teacher what's going on, like what they are doing wrong. It's just that I can't really put what I need to say in words. I wouldn't exactly approach my teacher how he did, but I can relate to him. Because a teacher will let you ask questions, but only about the subject. Teachers don't really want to hear you bicker about why they teach like that or why they just give us packets. I feel that video is a simple lesson for teachers to pay attention to how they are teaching us. And hopefully they will react and try to change.


Duncanville Was a Wake Up Call
Kymeira Stewart, 15

After watching the video, I agree with what the student at Duncanville said. Especially when he said that students should be taught on their strengths and not in simple worksheets and packets. I later found out that he had no regrets to what he had said. I'm actually glad that he said what he said because it's really like a wake-up call to all teachers. Also he dropped out of Duncanville High a year earlier which obviously makes it seem like either the teacher or the student is doing something wrong. Both are needed if students like him, and us, are going to be able to get an education.


Students Speak Out All the Time, Hope He's Heard This Time
Semaj Hawthorn, 13

I've seen a lot of people speak out like that, but nothing happens. I was happy that somebody got it on video. I hope that teachers around the world see this video and learn from this student. I think it's about time somebody says something that's actually right and smart, not something ignorant. Some people will speak out but will do so ignorantly, and will cuss out their teacher, which automatically puts them in the wrong and in the position to get in trouble. The kid was talking about how his teacher doesn't teach, she just gives them packets. I go to an independent studies school and they just give me packets. I wrote an article about it called,"Packet Schools." I wasn't learning and it was hard for me to understand the work, but I wasn't comfortable talking to my teacher about it because he didn't seem to care about me. I hope this story goes far and teachers change after watching this video and not just give packets without teaching.



]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2013://19.11487 2013-05-26T08:00:00Z 2013-05-24T23:15:27Z

Ivory Toldson ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103 During a graduation speech this month at Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Magnet High School in Nashville, Tenn., Michelle Obama told students, "When something doesn't go your way, you've just got to adjust. You've got to dig deep and work like crazy, and that's when you'll find out what you're really made of during those hard times. But you can only do that if you're willing to put yourself in a position where you might fail, and that's why so often failure is the key to success."

She used several examples of people -- including her husband, President Barack Obama, and Oprah Winfrey -- to illustrate that triumph is a natural byproduct of adversity.

According to the U.S. census, about 2.6 million black boys and girls attend high schools across the United States. If current trends continue, a little more than 80 percent of the males and 84 percent of the females will complete high school or obtain a GED diploma.

Although the vast majority of black children complete high school, most (pdf) do not complete college. Many first-generation college students have fewer financial, family and community resources to persist through the more challenging aspects of college, such as dealing with financial obligations, meeting academic requirements and finding opportunities for postbaccalaureate life.

High school graduation speakers meet students at a critical juncture. Many black high school students have persisted through an environment that often felt unwelcoming. Studies show that black students are more likely to attend schools in a high-security environment and less likely to perceive care and respect from their teachers. In addition, most black high school graduates have had to adapt to a racially biased curriculum that undermines their culture's contribution to any field.

Within this context, graduation speakers have a unique opportunity to impart wisdom and inspire postsecondary success among black students by reaffirming black culture and helping black students create a personal narrative of success. Unfortunately, many graduation speakers use the opportunity to denigrate and dispirit black students through a mind-numbing recital of poorly sourced statistics, which imply that, for example, black students have a better chance of going to prison than to college and have a corrupt value system that attributes being smart to "acting white."

These types of speeches elicit a range of emotions from students, ranging from boredom to unease. Students who internalize such messages often conclude that the only path to success is to distance themselves from their peers, community and even their culture.

For this graduation edition of Show Me the Numbers, I offer suggestions to graduation speakers and others, including teachers and parents, who have the attentive ear of one, or more, of our nations' black high school graduates.

Black Graduates Need to Understand Their Greatness

Recently I asked a group of teachers and school administrators if their black students would be more inclined to revere Gen. Andrew Jackson or Gen. Garson. Most of them had not heard of Garson. Garson was a free black man who was the commander of a British outpost known as the "Negro Fort" on Prospect Bluff in Spanish Florida in 1814. After the War of 1812, British troops left the fort to Garson and a militia of about 400 black militiamen.

From the outpost, Garson provided refuge to Africans who had escaped from plantations in Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina. Eventually the militia organized attacks on plantations to rescue other Africans held in slavery. After much angst among Southern plantation owners, Jackson illegally sent troops into Spanish-occupied Florida to attack the fort, killing at least 200 free black men, including Garson, by firing squad.

One must acknowledge the humanity of black and Native people to understand that the battle between Garson and Jackson, along with the ensuing Seminole Wars, was a civil war, not unlike the War Between the States. This is only one among hundreds of lessons omitted from black students' curricula. True U.S. history involves black people making a material contribution to the development of this nation as well as to the liberation of black people, often through armed resistance and social diplomacy.

Contrarily, black students are constantly confronted with a cultural mythology in education that embraces historical figures who were complicit in victimizing their ancestors, against a faded backdrop of black victims, bystanders and a few isolated black protagonists. One of my students for life -- a gifted conscious hip-hop artist from Oklahoma named Marcel P. Black -- once told me that he left home to attend college at Southern University before he learned of his home state's legacy of "Black Wall Street."

He firmly believed that if he and his peers had learned their history in school, more of them would have aspired for greatness. Graduation speakers have the ability to help black students realize their prominence by revealing rich information about their legacy. If we want black students to be serious about education, we need to be serious about educating them about who they are.

Black Graduates Need Help Defining Themselves for Themselves

During in-service training for staff members at an inner-city high school, I asked participants to describe the neighborhoods of their students. I heard phrases like "crime-ridden," "broken homes" and "drug-infested." I then asked if anyone had grown up in neighborhoods that were similar to their students'.

After several raised their hands, I asked, "How did you grow up in such a neighborhood and still become successful?" This question spurred a more meaningful dialogue about inner-city neighborhoods that considered community assets, hope and resilience, against a more measured examination of community challenges.

Black graduates are keenly aware of the problems facing the black community. They are less clear about how to capitalize on the unique opportunities for character building, leadership and civic engagement that germinate in imperfect living situations.

This concept is very difficult for many to grasp who have grown up without struggle. For example, after I told a group of school administrators in a large metro area that they have to impart success within the context of their students' environment, one participant suggested that I was promoting lower standards for black students. She assumed that a "standard" that is unique to the black community is, in essence, "lower." To the contrary, the standard I was suggesting is much higher.

Western culture imposes a value on avoiding problem behaviors and disconnecting from undesirable circumstances. This is reflected in the rather guileless advice we give to teenagers to "stay away from the wrong crowd" -- a near-impossible objective for children in densely populated communities.

Few black students from tough environments will define success in terms of isolating themselves from their peers to prepare themselves for a distant agenda. A standard of success for most black youths would be to influence their peers rather than avoid them, and work to better their communities rather than disconnect. From this view, assessing their success through standardized tests is impossible.

The standards of success for many black students are learning with purpose, applying knowledge to the real world, creative problem solving and verbal acumen. Therefore, when a black student asks, "What does this have to do with me?" when confronted with a difficult subject in school, he or she genuinely needs an accurate response. Graduation speakers can help black students redefine their personal and cultural standards of success so that education can become less passive and abstract and more affirming and relevant.

Black Graduates Need to See Us for Who We Really Are

I recently had the honor of sharing a panel with Raymond Lucas, an executive at a youth-development nonprofit, and president of 100 Black Men of Maryland. I was humbled when he told the audience that my research had influenced him to revise his speeches to black students. He said that he abandoned the trite statistics and chose to focus on what had motivated him to beat the odds. This strategy helped him develop a deeper connection with his listeners.

I also use this strategy. Last February I delivered a keynote address entitled, "You Have the Right to Remain Educated" for the Wisconsin Association of Black Men at the University of Wisconsin. About 20 black male teenagers from Urban Prep Academies traveled from Chicago to participate in the program.

After my speech, a senior at Urban Prep enthusiastically embraced me and said, "I go to church every Sunday, and I've never felt like this ... You woke up something in me, and I'm ready to be heard!" I was humbled to receive such accolades from the teenager, and elated that my words had inspired him to tell his own story.

In many ways, we are selected to be graduation speakers for all the wrong reasons. Our material success gives people the illusion that our lives are, and always have been, perfect. To the contrary, most of us who have achieved success have endured many uncertain, disorderly and painful periods. However, as quantum scientists suggest, chaos is the natural order of life, from which all things perfect spring forth. From that perspective, the mission of a graduation speaker is not to impose order on imperfect lives but to clarify the very essence of success.

As Michelle Obama said, "Often, failure is the key to success." I was designated a "slow learner" in the fourth grade. I graduated from a public high school in Baton Rouge, La., that was marred by drugs and violence during a significant portion of my high school years. I consistently scored within the 20th percentile or less on every standardized test I took, including the ACT and the GRE. So I proclaim "happy graduation" to the Class of 2013, from a man who is successful not despite the blemishes of his past but because of them.

Ivory A. Toldson, Ph.D., is a tenured associate professor at Howard University, senior research analyst for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Negro Education and contributing education editor at The Root. He can be contacted at itoldson@howard.edu. Follow him on Twitter.
]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2013://19.11491 2013-05-25T07:05:00Z 2013-05-24T22:31:59Z

Peter Schurmann ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103 SAN FRANCISCO – It’s lunch hour at Visitacion Valley Middle School, located in southern San Francisco. The halls are filled with screaming kids, when a young Samoan student saunters into Maua Teofilo’s office hoping to kill some time.

Teofilo tells him several times in English to come back later, to no effect. Then he mutters something in Samoan. The boy gets up and leaves.

“It’s more direct when I say it in Samoan,” says Teofilo. “It means more to them.”

Teofilo, 47, is the only parent liaison of Samoan descent within San Francisco Unified School District. In April he was among eight out of about 40 liaisons, paid paraprofessionals who act as “bridges” between the school and parents, to receive a pink slip from the district.

“I was hired in 2005 by the previous principal [at Visitacion Valley Middle School], who was looking specifically for a Samoan-speaking parent liaison,” says Teofilo. Ten percent of the school’s 400 students are of Pacific Islander descent, one of the largest concentrations in the district.

Teofilo says the idea when he was hired was to turn Visitacion Valley into a hub of sorts for educational resources targeting Samoan and Polynesian students. Concentrating such resources under one roof would also make it easier to draw funding from the district, he explains.

Samoans, and Pacific Islanders in general, are among the most at-risk student populations in the city. For the 2011-2012 school year nearly half of the cohort of 94 high school seniors of Pacific Islander descent dropped out, according to district data. There are just over 900 Pacific Islander students enrolled in SFUSD.

Statewide, the dropout rate stood at around 15 percent for the year -- double that of whites and roughly tracking the Latino rate of 16 percent. African Americans had the highest rate at 22 percent. The number of Pacific Islanders in higher education is equally troubling. Less than half of Pacific Islander adults over 24 have gone to college, according to UCLA’s Pacific Islander Education and Retention Program.

Teofilio fears the repercussions of that achievement gap could span generations. “I don’t want my people saying ‘Yes, boss’ for the rest of their lives.”

He put the question of his pink slip to board members during a May 14 hearing. “How can you consider laying off the last Samoan?” he queried, explaining that his work has gone well beyond that of his own community. “I’m very proud of my success at [Visitacion Valley] … in reaching the minorities that can’t be reached.”

Board members didn’t offer an answer.

Parents at the school credit Teofilo with helping to launch its first-ever PTSA group. Elisha Rochel is the parent of a seventh-grader at Visitacion Valley, where the majority of students – 72 percent – are low income. She is also the current president of the PTSA, which claims some 60 members.

An African American who grew up in the neighborhood, she initially did not want her daughter attending the school. “I didn’t like the environment,” she explains. But today she spends most days on campus helping to plan and organize events and, when needed, mediate conflicts.

Rochel, who was among those speaking on Teofilo’s behalf at the hearing, credits him with helping to galvanize the school’s parent community. “This gentleman has empowered us,” she told board members. “He has shown us how to make a presence at our school and be present … for all students.”

Parent liaisons are appointed to traditionally underperforming schools with a demonstrated need for more services. But like teachers and other faculty, they are subject to the annual layoff notices that get sent around as board members attempt to balance the coming year’s budget. Seniority usually determines who gets such a notice.

This year SFUSD issued more than 200 layoff notices, including 35 to paraprofessionals, an unlicensed position that is nevertheless represented by the teachers’ union. The district reportedly plans to move forward with 105 of them, despite a $50 million surplus in its reserve fund.

SFUSD Deputy Superintendent of Policy and Operations Myong Leigh acknowledges the surplus, but says that by the end of the year the figure is expected to fall by about $20 million. “So the fund balance that we project to end the year with is in the neighborhood of $28-30 million.” At the end of three years, the district is projecting a $60 million deficit in its general fund.

Leigh adds that annual notices are issued based on preliminary projections, and that as budgets begin to take clearer shape as the year progresses, “the notices are reduced.”

But critics of the practice say it erodes trust among teachers and staff. For Teofilio, the pink slip felt like a “betrayal of my community.”

SFUSD Spokeswoman Gentle Blythe says district employees who are certified as bilingual can be “skipped” in the layoff rounds, noting in Teofilo’s case that he lacks that credential. She adds that the school will still have a position for a parent liaison and that it can hire from within the district.

But chances are Teofilo’s replacement won’t be able to speak Samoan or be familiar with the culture. Teofilo is the only Polynesian liaison in the entire district.

Teofilo came to the United States with his family in 1984 after graduating high school. Back in Samoa, he says, parents typically take a hands-off approach to their children’s education, putting their trust “100 percent” in teachers and schools.

“Here in America, it’s the total opposite,” he observes. “Parent involvement is critical, and that’s the problem.” Teofilio says a lot of the Samoan parents he works with are less interested in hearing about the problems their children may be facing and more insistent that the school simply provide a solution.

“It’s a tough job,” he admits, “trying to get them on board.”

He also cites Samoans’ emphasis on church, as he puts it, over and above academia as another potential hurdle for parental involvement in schools. “The church is like the new village,” Teofilo remarks. For him, it’s the “school that needs to be at the center of community.”

Speaking at the May hearing, Teofilio recalled his late father, who spent close to 40 years working in education. It was something he couldn’t understand, given the high stress and low pay. Now, he said, after his years at Visitacion Valley, he understands.

“I know why he did it,” Teofilo told board members. “Because my people need help.”

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Editor’s Note: New America Media hosted an awards ceremony Thursday in Memphis, celebrating the winners of The Teacher Who Changed My Life essay contest, in collaboration with local ethnic media. During the ceremony, winners were honored alongside the teachers profiled in their essays. Three contestants out of more than 40 entries were awarded cash prizes for their essays in three separate categories – Teenage, Adult and Teacher in Memory. Below are their winning essays.


Rescuing a Student From Abuse
Winner, Teacher In Memory Category
Profile of Isabel Godoy by Yolanda Solorio
Submitted in Spanish, Translated by Liz Gonzalez

To my dear elementary school teacher. To my guardian angel!

I always wanted to tell her that I loved her, that she was special to me, that I was very grateful to her, for her goodness, patience, her advice and for her love.

One day, my father’s friend, who was the school bus driver, molested me. I remember looking for love and protection. I told my hero, my dad, and I remember how I cried – hurt, humiliated and filled with guilt. My father put me down even more. He took off his belt and beat me like an animal while he yelled at me calling me a whore. He told me that if that was done to me it was because I had provoked it. Until this day, at 53 years of age, I do not understand how the abused person has these feelings of guilt. How could I, at almost 7 years old, provoke a married man of 30 or 40 years, with children. Since that day, my life changed, my attitude, my person.

That was where the work of my teacher began. When she noticed my change in attitude, she armed herself with patience until one day, when I told her everything that happened to me -- the abuse I was subject to and the beating from my father.

I remember that my teacher cried, screamed, as if I was hers. She hugged me very tight and kissed me. Later we went to the principal’s office and she had the bus driver fired, but not without first going to slap him and spit on him. Then she went to my house to complain to my father about his macho and unloving attitude.

That day my teacher’s work with me began. She dedicated herself to make my life more bearable with love, patience, and a lot of tenderness. She talked to me a lot, about God, about her trips, about life. She would give me gifts, things that were probably insignificant like a pin, a pencil, etc. but for me they were like treasures.

I thank her from the bottom of my heart for her love therapy. Since that day, I have not been able to call my parents Mom or Dad. Even today they are just Soledad and Juventino.

Currently, I am not happy, but I try to live my life without harming anyone, or attempting once more to take my own life. Every time I am sad or desperate the memory of my teacher comes to my mind, may God keep her in his glory. Thank you for allowing me this homage to my beloved elementary school teacher.

(From El Norte)


A Teacher’s Gift That Keeps on Giving
Winner, Teenage Category
Profile of Anika Graham by LaTreece Tate

In life, you come across someone who has helped you get through things, besides your parents. While I was in middle school, I was a quiet girl who was not active in anything. I only cared about school. Until one day I decided to try out for the step team, but for some reason I was not scared. The next day, I heard my name being announced that I made the step team. I was in a lot of shock. The step team coach, Ms. Graham, was a very kind and thoughtful person, but she meant business.

In middle school, I was the type of person that did not like help from others. During this time, my life went all wrong. My grandfather died, cars broke down, and there were money issues. When my grandfather died, I was torn emotionally and mentally. Sometimes I would just sit in shock. Ms. Graham knew something was not right because that day I didn’t do my work. Also when I got to step practice I did not put all I had into steps. I was moody with a bad attitude. She pulled me to the side and asked me, “What is wrong?” I started telling her everything that was wrong with my life. She told me if I ever needed anything, just tell her. Most people always told my family that all the time, so I ignored it.

After practice, I waited for someone to pick me up for an hour, but no one arrived. Suddenly Ms. Graham came up to me at the bottom of the steps where I was sitting. She told me my mother called and told me to walk home. I thought to myself, “This cannot happen to me on this dark cold night.” I picked up my backpack and headed for the door. Ms. Graham stopped me and said, “Where do you think you are going in this cold?” I told her I had no other way home and walking was my only choice. She told me to sit back down and wait for her.

Five minutes later, I got in the car with Ms. Graham and on my way home we talked about my problems. She told me that she had had a side conversation discussing my attitude and how I do not like to ask for help. As we pulled in my driveway, she gave me a $100 bill. I told her that I could not take it, but she continued insisting. I remember myself repeating, “Thank you,” over and over again.

Now when I see people act like I did that day, I walk up to them and ask them are they alright.

(From The New Tri-State Defender)


The Go-to Person in Case of Emergency
Winner, Adult Category
Profile of Andrew Duck by Maribel Villarreal

I met Mr. Duck (Señor Pato) back in 1998. I came to the United States and started high school with no knowledge of any English. The majority of the students were English-speaking students, with only very few of us Latinos.

Señor Pato always showed us personal interest in our goal to learn English. He would not talk to us in Spanish very easily. He would push us to try our best to speak the words we were being taught in his class. It was very frustrating for me to go to the other classes because other students would always make fun of me and gave me a really hard time. Señor Pato would ALWAYS tell us not to be discouraged. He always said, “They are just a little bit jealous because you guys speak a second language.” Señor Pato reminded us how beneficial it was for us to be bilingual. These words taught me to never give up and always try my best. I have two other sisters who attended the same high school, and Señor Pato was a tremendous help for them too.

My sisters and I were here in the country alone, as my parents were back in Mexico. Señor Pato would take the time to talk to us and tell us to be careful. He asked us how we were doing at work and outside of school. He knew we all had a job and that every day right after school, we went to work. Mr. Duck even helped us in the school library to catch up with our homework in other classes. I admired Señor Pato and was very thankful to have a teacher that really cared about his students’ progress. Sometimes I felt as if he was our “guardian” since he was the only go-to person in case of emergency.

Without him and his continuous encouragement, I would not have finished high school. I believe I would have given up. I am the first person in my family to ever graduate from high school! My sisters and my parents are very proud of me. Right after high school, I worked at a law firm as a secretary. After college, I worked as a bank manager. Right now, I have put a pause on my career due to my three beautiful children.

Recently when I attended a school meeting with my six-year-old daughter, I found out that Mr. Duck is now the director of ESL for Memphis City School. I was so happy to find him and even more so when I found out that he is the director of the ESL program. I could not think of a better person for this position than he. I will always be thankful to Mr. Duck for his words and his dedication to his career as a teacher. I am sure that he’s still making differences in people lives.

(From New America Media)

This essay content is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. All of the winning entries will be available soon on NewAmericaMedia.org.



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