This is the 2nd time that Trini Garza High School, headed by principal Dr. Macario Hernandez wins national Blue Ribbon school. In 2018, the school won National Title I Distinguished Award as captured in this earlier post on the school's accomplishments that delves into why they are so successful: Dallas early college campus singled out as one of the nation’s top schools for low-income students

That piece references the importance of having teachers that come from the community. Dr. Hernandez himself is a member of this community. This aligns with a growing research literature that points to the power of community-based teachers to educate the children in their own communities.

You did it again, Macario. None of this happens without excellent leadership—and to do so in the throes of a pandemic is no small thing. 

I hope you get a promotion. You're amazing! 

Felicidades! Congratulations!

-Angela Valenzuela

4 Dallas-area campuses named National Blue Ribbon Schools

The coveted honor recognizes schools for high performance and closing achievement gaps.

Kathlyn Joy Gilliam Collegiate Academy was just recognized as a 2021 National Blue Ribbon School for the first time since 2014. It's one of four Dallas-area campuses that received the National Blue Ribbon School honor Tuesday.(Emil Lippe / Special Contributor)

Four Dallas-area campuses received National Blue Ribbon School honors Tuesday, recognized for their high performance and work to close achievement gaps.

The schools, among 26 receiving the status in Texas, were Dallas ISD’s Trinidad “Trini” Garza Early College High School at Mountain View and Kathlyn Joy Gilliam Collegiate Academy; Mesquite ISD’s Porter Elementary School; and Christ the King Catholic School in Dallas.

The program selects campuses based on either how well students perform on standardized tests or how much progress they make in closing achievement gaps among student groups.

Students at Garza and Gilliam typically earn college credit while completing their high school diploma as well.

The majority of those at Garza will be first-generation college students, principal Macario Hernandez said. Among its 431 students, 88% are Hispanic and about 8% are Black. More than 85% come from families that are struggling financially.

The honor is “validation for all the hard work of our teachers and our students and our parents,” Hernandez said. He added that the status is a celebration for the teachers and students who persevered despite the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The school staff values students’ home culture, racial backgrounds and lived experiences, he said, which allows teachers and students to build relationships that transform the experience for the entire campus community.

“It’s a family that really builds on each other’s strengths,” Hernandez said. “Humility and valuing and respecting and working with people with compassion and empathy can go a long way.”

Gilliam principal Gayle Ferguson Rodgers said the award is proof that a school can perform at high levels despite its at-risk population.

A majority of its students, most of whom are Black or Hispanic, also come from low-income families.

“This award is a celebration of everyone’s efforts as we do our mission here at Gilliam, which is to have college access and success for all,” she said.

Ferguson added that being named a National Blue Ribbon School “wasn’t a goal,” but that the school’s community only focuses on delivering on its mission every day.

The staff’s commitment to the school’s vision “Every Child. Every need. Whatever it takes.” became abundantly clear for Porter Elementary Principal Leeann Englert when she began working at the Mesquite school. She credited parents for pushing the school to meet high expectations.

“The campus exudes this vision in every conversation they have and in every decision they make,” she said in a statement. “Everyone is deeply invested in the success of our children.”

The schools join more than 9,000 others that the National Blue Ribbon Schools program has recognized in the past 39 years.

“I commend all our Blue Ribbon honorees for working to keep students healthy and safe while meeting their academic, social, emotional, and mental health needs,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a written statement. “In the face of unprecedented circumstances, you found creative ways to engage, care for, protect, and teach our children.”

The four local campuses are among 302 public and 23 private schools honored across the U.S. on Tuesday.

The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.

The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from The Beck Group, Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, The Meadows Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University and Todd A. Williams Family Foundation. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.

Valeria Olivares, Education Lab Reporting Fellow. Valeria is a reporter for The Dallas Morning News Education Lab focusing on higher education. She was born in El Paso, but was raised across the border in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. She has previously interned at The San Antonio Express-News and The Texas Tribune. She loves internet culture and green tea-flavored sweets.

valeria.olivares@dallasnews.com ValeriaOliEsc valeriaoliesc

We have a dearth of African American, Latina/o, and Native American teachers in this country.  This piece gets at why this is so for these, as well as other, under-represented groups in the teaching profession. So unfortunate when teachers of color are so desperately needed.

-Angela Valenzuela

How Black Student Debt Affects the Teacher Pipeline

BY MARY ELLEN FLANNERY

Public school students are more diverse than ever, but their teachers? Not so much. Even as research shows that students, especially students of color, benefit from a diverse workforce, more than eight in 10 teachers in American public schools identify as white.

One reason—which is receiving more attention from policy makers—is the unequal amount of money that students of color, on average, must borrow to pay for college. On the day they graduate from college, black students owe about $7,400 more than white students, according to a Brookings Institute analysis.

That kind of debt, paired with the prospect of low teacher wages and other factors, makes education an impractical choice for many black and Latino students, say the authors of a 2019 report from the Center for American Progress (CAP) that takes a close look at student debt among teachers of various races.

Many think they simply can’t afford to be teachers.

And they may be right: CAP researchers found that 91 percent of black students who studied to become teachers were forced to borrow from the U.S. Department of Education to finance their college education, compared to 76 percent of white students. Among Latino students studying to be teachers, it was 82 percent. In graduate school, which may be required by states for licensure and certification, the disparity grows even larger: about half of black teachers borrowed, compared to about one in three Latino teachers and one in four white teachers.

These include educators like Tremayne Wootten, a Maryland high school teacher who owes around $115,000 for his undergraduate and master’s degrees. Until the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he was driving Uber to pay for his summer wedding. And Shaniqua Williams, a Virginia school counselor, who owes about $97,000 for her degrees, and testified on Capitol Hill about the problem of educator debt last year.

And yet, students need more teachers who look like Wootten and Williams. Research shows that all students benefit from diverse teachers, but black students specifically do better on tests, attend school more regularly, and have fewer discipline issues when they’re paired with a black teacher. Black students also are more likely to be identified as gifted by black teachers than by white teachers.

These effects may be true for other ethnic-minority groups—Native American teachers and students, for example—but those groups are smaller and have been less studied.

Meanwhile, the trend is heading in the wrong direction. Federal education data shows that the percentage of black teachers actually has declined over the past decade.

“Without specific policies designed to address these issues, the United States is unlikely to solve its persistent diversity problem,” the CAP authors conclude.

What are the answers?

For its part, NEA and its state affiliates have long acknowledged the value of a diverse educator workforce and have invested in programs to develop—and sustain—teachers of color. These programs range from a Nebraska initiative to increase passing rates on the Praxis exam to an anti-racism, professional development program by Education Minnesota. Recently, Connecticut Education Association members advocated for a new state law that would help high school students to consider a career in teaching.

Meanwhile, NEA leaders also are pursuing legislative solutions to the specific issues of student debt, including:

* Increasing Pell Grants, which are federal grants to low-income college students. They helped sustain 57 percent of black college students in 2016;

* Protecting Public Service Loan Forgiveness, which erases the student debt of educators who make 10 years of qualifying payments.

* Increasing support for historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and minority-serving institutions (MSIs), which confer 33 percent of the degrees earned by black students; 44 percent of the degrees earned by Hispanic students; and 28 percent of the degrees earned by Asian students.

NEA lobbyists and members also are asking lawmakers to provide a minimum of $30,000 in student debt cancellation, per borrower, in their next COVID-19 relief package. In a letter to Congressional leaders, NEA and its partners note that the “student debt crisis has hit Black and Latinx communities and women particularly hard,” with half of Black borrowers and one-third of Hispanic borrowers forced to default on their loans within 20 years.

Ask your lawmaker to support student debt relief in its COVID-19 relief efforts. 

Bill Aims To Expand Teacher Workforce Program To High School Students—Pls Make Calls

Our Monday press conference on our Grow Your Own Educator bill went really well.  Many thanks to Steffi Lee of KXAN for covering it.  

Friends, I urge you to place a quick call to whoever represents you in support of House Bill 3893 and companion Senate Bill 2425 so that we can get a hearing.

House Bill 3893 has gotten referred to the Higher Education Committee in the House. Calls to Chair Chris Turner at (512) 463-0574 would also be most helpful.  

On the Senate side, Senate Bill 2425  got referred to the Senate Committee on Higher Education.  Calls to Chair Brandon Creighton at (512) 463-0104 would be very helpful.

Again, ask for the bill to get heard and let's get these bills moving!

Thanks,

-Angela Valenzuela

Bill aims to expand teacher workforce program to high school students

Dr. Angela Valenzuela, director of the Texas Center for Education Policy, speaks at the Texas State Capitol. ( Steffi Lee/ Nexstar  Broadcasting)


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