March 24 - 30
Chapter 2. Race, Oppositional Culture, and School Outcomes: Are We Barking Up the Wrong Tree?
Chapter 2 begins with the idea that black students encourage each other to be low performers for the sake of not acting white but the research and data provided does not substantiate the claim and leads to the attitude achievement paradox in that black students have strong educational aspirations but comparatively, low achievement. We have to ask ourselves why.
Please share what you are thinking, especially in terms of moving forward. We cannot change what we provided for students in previous classes, but we can think about the kids that would be in our class next year.
After reading this chapter, I keep going back to the student in the first chapter who mentioned how each year she felt she had to talk to her teachers and let them know that she is a serious student. Since the research at Riverview clearly shows that black students value education and see it as a way to overcome challenges, it makes me wonder if the problem is teacher beliefs about students. The teacher may not even realize that he or she has those beliefs. I wonder if teacher perceptions are holding students back.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it seems that Riverview has a tracking system where few black students were in the upper level courses. What is keeping them from taking the honors and AP courses? What can teachers do to encourage black students who clearly want to be successful in school and go to college to take upper level courses?
I think Riverview needs to look at their systems -- how do kids get into AP? What is being done to recruit and SUPPORT the students of color once they are in AP classes? When I was at UW in the mid-90s getting my Masters and teaching certificate, our Teaching program recruited future teachers of color...and then they supported them. They gave them extra help writing papers, doing assigments...all the academic stuff that these SoC (students of color) may not have received in their prior schooling. They also had support groups -- like a Black student caucus (Black student union) etc... which his very powerful for these students to find allies and a strong self-identity, which fights against the stereotypes and bias which they face daily.
DeleteI agree, but I think you also have to look at the entire system. To build on your example, I was also chatting with a colleague at the PSESD about why we have so few teachers of color entering the hiring pool as first year teachers, and she told me that the ESD has been working with some of the administrators of tests like the WEST-E and the PRAXIS (or whatever they're called now - ten years ago those were the standardized tests I had to take to get my teaching certificate) because for whatever reason, there's a widespread pattern of teacher candidates of color not passing those tests. She said that the candidates were getting through grad programs and student teacher practicums with flying colors, earning Master's in Teaching degrees, and doing everything else well... and then failing the standardized tests. So it's a big problem and we have to really examine every single step of the process. I think the good news is that we desperately need teachers right now, so light is finally shining on anything that keeps candidates from earning their certificates. But for the last decade we've seen more and more obstacles to becoming a teacher, and some of those obstacles seem to have been exacerbating inequity without anyone noticing.
DeleteYes, I would say we all have unconscious biases, which affect the way we treat people (even the subtle, non-verbal cues we give people). We are all socialized to think about different races differently. I didn't grow up in the US and had almost no exposure to African Americans, but I could tell you the stereotype about them: aggressive -- I got this from watching a few American movies. You don't see this in the movies, until you start to look for it. Then it's everywhere! Wesley (my 2 year old ) is an active, sometimes aggressive child, but I don't worry about him being judged as aggressive because he's white. I don't worry about him being over-disciplined for hitting another kid. Judah (my just 5-year old) is extremely curious and interrupts a lot to ask questions. I don't worry about his teachers judging him as impertinent or disrespectful, because he's white. He's just a curious blond-head. My kids have privilege, because they are white. If they were not white, I would be worried about how their teacher would perceive them or treat them. What's the most important thing we can do as teachers? Develop more awareness and consciousness, and do the deep, internal work of transformation.
ReplyDeleteRosann, How do you recommend we start developing more awareness and consciousness in ourselves and our teachers? Is it through offering Cultural Competency classes? Are there are other things we can be doing as TOSAs to bring about that awareness? Thanks! Amy
DeleteSomething I wish I had understood and assimilated into my job years ago: as a white parent it never occurred to me to worry that my own children would be judged or misunderstood based on race. Yes, white privilege. A parent of black or Latino children, in our schools, do not have this luxury. In the role I had in the building of welcoming new families to our school and introducing the students and parents to the teachers, I wish I would have had the words to assure them that their students were welcome and ask, what do I need to know to make this happen?
ReplyDeleteMe too Nancy - in my role as Reading Specialist I feel like I could have done more to investigate my students' perceptions as well as those of their parents.
DeleteI love, love, love that this chapter debunked the myth of African-American teenagers using negative peer pressure to keep each other from achieving because caring about school is "acting white." I can't tell you how many times I've heard this argument in our district cultural competency classes - "We can have high expectations for our students, but ultimately they listen to their friends way more." It's this weird fatalism that seems to shift responsibility off of our shoulders and onto the very community where we acknowledge there's a problem. I kept hoping to see data that came from a larger sample size, something I could bring to those classes to share, but all I saw was the data gathered by the authors at Riverview. I'll definitely be pulling quotes from this chapter for our May class though!
ReplyDeleteYes, Emily, I really appreciated this debunking as well. I've heard it often throughout the years. It reminds me of the other handy excuse I've often heard: "ELL and/or Latino parents just aren't very involved and supportive of education, and that's out of our hands..."
DeleteMore than 150 articles written on the "acting white" hypothesis? That was not a complete surprise as I've heard that often as an educator. I appreciate the authors thorough investigation of this issue. The student responses were so interesting - especially the one about how teachers give more leeway in AP classes to white students and how teachers look for things to grade down in the black students' work. I also appreciated the assertion that students' educational expectations is a powerful predictor of GPA. This is eye-opening stuff and I'm having to do some deep reflection about the "why" and the knowledge that the link between perceptions and students' educational aspirations doesn't hold.
ReplyDeleteI was amazed that there are more than 150 articles written on the "acting white" hypothesis and have also heard that many times as an educator. The relationship between student expectations and GPA was not surprising but clearly something we need to consider from kindergarten.
DeleteI'm thinking about the idea discussed on the bottom of page 41: Though "levels of effort among [black and white students] are quite similar, ...knowledge, skills, and family background are not." This explains why black students in the study actually spent as much or more time completing homework as white students, but were less likely to turn homework in, thus encouraging the assumption on the part of educators that they cared less about school.
ReplyDeleteThey simply felt less confident in the content, despite spending significant effort and time working on it. It makes me think about other supplemental supports a school/district might offer to all students, like extra after-school tutoring. I know some of our schools do offer free tutoring, but it makes me wonder if there are other options to build our supplemental academic support systems district-wide....in such a wealthy community, might we be able to build alliances with community organizations or even businesses to run more non-profit tutoring centers housed in schools or near schools, and really make them places that kids want to frequent/feel comfortable accessing? I'm thinking back to Dewey here....school as center of community, gathering place....places with free internet for those who don't have it at home, and with trained tutors available after school/in the evenings to assist with homework and re-teaching. In my former high-poverty district, we had all sorts of amazing community centers like this housed on our school campus, and they were well attended by kids of color and ELL kids. We also had a health center on campus that addressed all sorts of physical, emotional, and mental health issues. I wonder about more affluent communities like Issaquah that might not have the benefit of so many social service organizations to partner with, and of so many federal/state grant opportunities. This allows our disadvantaged kids to slip through the cracks without these extra supports in place.
I think everyone has biases that they are not aware exist. We absorb what our culture teaches us from birth, and much of what we learn is unconscious. We see people portrayed on television, in movies, books and the news that impacts or views and thinking about both individuals and races. I think one of the most important things we can do is to educate ourselves and begin the journey of learning to put our biases aside. This is not easy because so much of what we need to uncover in our thinking is unconscious.
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