The Earth Shifted A Bit This Last Week Here In Austin and Texas

 by Angela Valenzuela

On Wednesday, the march for Mexican American Studies to the capitol took place. 

On Thursday, a Civil Rights Conference that brought Presidents Obama, Carter, Clinton and Bush to the Lyndon B. Johnson Library and Auditorium at the University of Texas commemorated 50 years since the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.  Accordingly, two important reports came out that underscore the continuing importance of civil and human rights struggles:

New Civil Rights Report Confirms Racial Inequity in US Schools

A Future In The Balance::  Confronting Inequities And Creating Equal Opportunity For Austin’s Poor And Minority Students

Simultaneously, outside of the LBJ auditorium, immigrant rights students, parents, organizations, and community organized a Not 1 More Deportation Rally and March.  
 Specifically, they protested, asking President Obama to halt the deportation of the mostly undocumented Mexicans.  

Impassioned pleas were made and three arrests took place.  Ironically, this rally and march calling for an end to deportations mirrors that very same call for social justice and human dignity that fueled the legislation that expanded civil rights to U.S. minorities 50 years ago. 

Surely, if Martin Luther King were alive today, he would have  stood with us outside of, rather than inside, the LBJ Auditorium.  He would never have turned a blind eye—and most importantly, would have stood up to the savagery of our nation's immigration policies.

Our local, state, and national leaders really do need to hear the suffering of our children and families as a result of harmful, unjust deportation policies.  Here are links to testimonies that I gathered at the rally outside of the LBJ Auditorium.  

Although the first recording is in English by one of the three young people that got arrested shortly after this testimony, you will certainly hear and understand the acute pain and suffering of the remaining three testimonies in Spanish that our inhumane deportation policies have wrought:

Listen to this moving testimony of Patrick Fierro who got arrested in today's demonstration (April 10, 2014), along with Emily Freeman and Alejandra Gomez on either side of him for crossing federal jurisdictional lines in front of the LBJ Library.— at LBJ auditorium, University of Texas at Austin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHhfae4ufag

 

A poignant shout out to President Obama by Cecilia Hernandez, immigrant rights advocate, leader, and parent. Ms. Hernandez is one of our beloved, trusted leaders in the immigrant rights movement and community in Texas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJeccf2kj0g

This young boy asked me to share his story. He is sharing a very terrible experience. He says that his father was put in jail after having a traffic accident. He was put in jail and then deported. His father found his way back to Austin and he was caught again and his father was put in jail again. Currently, he is in jail. His family is very sad and it is very hard for his family right now. — at LBJ auditorium.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S8bG3Ru1pM

Another beloved, tireless leader, Maricela Galvan, speaks about the unconscionable 2 million deportations of undocumented immigrants and urges the President to use his power to stop them.  She also points to how his re-election was not only enabled by the Latino vote but that he also promised in his campaign that he would institute comprehensive immigration reform.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1wr2LBbYt8

 

Despite the intransigent, reactionary resistance to righting wrongs in many quarters with respect to these unjust immigration policies, (more) just education policy was developed by the State Board of Education which is indeed the culmination of decades-long advocacy, scholarship, and activism.  I list an assortment of articles that can give you a good sense of what played out this week:

1) State Board of Education Plans Mexican-American History Course

by Patrick Michels Published on Thursday, January 2, 2014,

2) The Jury's in: Texas Wants MAS, Mexican American Studies is Act II of the Civil Rights Act

3)  More Texas Educators Throw Support Behind Mexican-American Studies 

Posted: 04/04/2014 7:34 am EDT

4)  Why Mexican-American Studies Is 'Going To Spread Like Wildfire' In Texas   

Posted: 04/10/2014  

5) Texas mulls adding Mexican-American studies course By WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press | April 8, 2014 | Updated: April 8, 2014 11:30am

6) Mexican American History Supporters Urge State Board to Approve New Cours Accessed: 9 April 2014

7) Students push for Chicano studies minor - News - The Battalion - Texas A&M by Pallavi Kaushik Wednesday, April 9, 2014

8) Mexican-American Studies, Other Cultures Now Electives in Texas BY RAUL A. REYES

9) MEXICAN-AMERICAN STUDIES COURSE REJECTED BY TEXAS EDUCATION BOARD

by KRISTIN TATE 10 Apr 2014

The apparent growing strength and diversity of the protests community  led me to think and feel that  the Earth shifted a bit this past week.  This was a much-needed offsetting of the status quo with a shifting of the political center of gravity with respect to our state curriculum.  

This is actually no small thing as curriculum is very much connected to the development of critical faculties in our young people that will go on to graduate and vote in greater numbers with an enhanced, more meaningful sense of who they and their communities are in the world.  

While Mexican American Studies and other area studies that will surely get taught in our public schools with much greater frequency, this will not happen automatically.  As an advocacy community we must remain ever vigilant in order to extend this right and opportunity to every school, community, and child that seeks this opportunity—and there are many.

 Finally, our community celebrated the re-opening of Resistencia Bookstore casa de Red Salmon Arts at it new site at 4926 E. Cesar Chavez St., Unit C1 Austin, Texas 78702. It was a beautiful ceremony that consisted of prayers, dance, and poetry reading.  Here is one photo that I took of Rosa Tupina Yaotonalcuauhtli, Susana Almanza,Yvette Mendez , and Diana Barragan, thanking them for their leadership and prayers for our community—prayers for respect, dignity, human and civil rights, peace, inclusion, and a more just and caring society.

 

While this shift suggests the growing political power of the Latin@ community, we must not forget all the incredible work and sacrifices that have been made for this to occur.  Indeed, this is a community that embraces democracy  and core uniting values like tolerance, inclusion, due process, fairness, the rule of law, equity, civil society, and the public good.  We should all feel encouraged.

Not 1 More Deportation Rally and March 4.10.14

 Listen to this moving testimony of Patrick Fierro who got arrested in today's demonstration (April 10, 2014), along with Emily Freeman and Alejandra Gomez on either side of him for crossing federal jurisdictional lines in front of the LBJ Library. Ironically, today was a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. This rally and march calling for an end to deportations mirrors that very same call for social justice and human dignity that fueled the legislation that expanded civil rights to U.S. minorities 50 years ago.

-Angela

https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=aHhfae4ufag

Students push for Chicano studies minor - News - The Battalion - Texas A&M

Students push for Chicano studies minor - News - The Battalion - Texas A&M

 Panel to generate buzz for petition Wednesday

By Pallavi Kaushik

Published: Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Updated: Wednesday, April 9, 2014 00:04

Jenna Rabel

Curriculum
and instruction graduate student Jose Luis Zelaya discusses media
strategies for the Latino-Chicano studies panel Wednesday.

While the University offers a Hispanic Studies minor, some students believe there is a need for expansion of the curriculum.


Aggies advocating for the addition of a Latino-Chicano studies minor at
A&M will convene a panel to discuss the proposal and generate
publicity for online and paper petitions.


Jasmine Jimenez, panel organizer and sophomore political science major,
said the University doesn’t offer enough courses relating to Hispanic
culture aside from those related to literature.


“The University currently offers a Hispanic studies course path, which
concentrates mainly on Spanish literature and arts and a linguistic
course for the Spanish languages,” Jimenez said. “But for someone like
me who wishes to learn about the history, problems and relevant issues,
like immigration and laws, of my people, it’s pretty inadequate.”


According to the current petition, the standing Hispanic Studies minor
has a focus on the Spanish language and literature but fails to
adequately cover disciplines such as history, sociology and political
science.


Joseph Puente, forefront speaker for the panel and senior
telecommunication media studies major, said the addition of the minor
would enrich the educational opportunities at A&M by allowing
students to learn more about the influence of Hispanic cultures.


Puente said he hopes advocating to adopt the Latino-Chicano minor will
empower and create a greater future for those who belong to or are
studying these communities.


Student advocates on the panel are involved with the Council for
Minority Student Affairs, Hispanic Presidents’ Council, Mexican Student
Association, Committee for the Awareness of Mexican-American Culture and
Phi Lota Alpha.


Adam Brennan, author of the petition posted at change.org and freshman
business administration major, said one of the most important aspects of
this movement is to help accomplish the University’s goal of Vision
2020 by diversifying the A&M undergraduate community and educational
standards.


Alfredo Garcia, CMSA president and senior economics major, said the
idea to push for the minor is a culmination of his experiences
advocating for minority students and his conversations with a professor.


“I wished to work together and unite the Latino community at Texas
A&M and so I spoke with sociology professor Pat Robio and he gave me
the idea and inspiration to further the movement for a Latino-Chicano
studies minor here,” Garcia said.


Jose Luis Zelaya, curriculum and instruction graduate student involved
with the panel, said the push for the minor is part of a greater social
legacy that these student advocates aim to leave at A&M. Zelaya said
those advocating can inspire the next generation of leaders to be
better informed of the “Latino reality” and more involved with the rise
of a large minority.


“Texas A&M is where ideas can grow and we wish to allow our
community to be inspired and more educated on a culture that we have
built our communities in America on,” Zelaya said. “We are aiming for
realistic and a beneficial, positive social change.”


The panel, which will involve students and University officials, will be from 7-8:10 p.m. Wednesday in Rudder Hall 308.

Authentically caring teachers make a big difference in the world.  Exactly what I found to be the case in my case study research, SUBTRACTIVE SCHOOLING:  U.S.-MEXICAN YOUTH AND THE POLITICS OF CARING (1999).

What Americans like best about their favorite teachers

• By Valerie Strauss

• April 5 at 1:00 pm

(freepik.com)

What attribute do Americans find most compelling in the teacher they have identified as having the greatest impact on their lives?

I learned the answer recently when I was listening to a speech by Brandon H. Busteed, the executive director of Gallup Education, about public education and what polls show about how Americans view their teachers.

He noted that a strong majority of Americans say they have trust and confidence in public school teachers (even if many school reformers don’t).  He also said that when asked to describe the teacher who had most affected their lives, the attribute that was seen as most important wasn’t smart or demanding but, rather, “caring.”

The 2012 Gallup study, titled “Public education in the United States: A nation divided,” said this:

Over 40% of Americans describe the teacher who had the most positive influence in their lives with words such as caring, compassionate, motivating, and inspiring; while just 17% of Americans thought intelligent, knowledgeable, persistent, hard-working, and demanding were words that describe the teacher who had the strongest influence on them.

I’d like to see how teacher evaluations linked to student standardized-test scores measure for “caring.”

Chicana/o Psychology: History and Relevance of Mexican American Contributions

Students, Friends and Colleagues:

Dr. Manuel X. Zamarripa will be delivering a seminar on Chicana/o Psychology here in Austin on April 22nd at 4:30PM at South University in Austin. As you can see from the flyer, he will speak on contributions of early Chicana/o psychologists, ethnic identity, acculturation, indigenous traditions of healing, and elements of teaching a Chicana/o Psychology course.



Bio

Dr. Manuel X. Zamarripa is the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program Director for South University’s Austin campus. He has fifteen years of university teaching, including teaching graduate courses in mental health since 2003. His clinical ex-perience includes working with individual adults, adolescents, couples, and families in community and school settings (rural and urban) from varied economic and cultural backgrounds. He is a Licensed Professional Counselor and approved supervisor. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Counseling Psychology, his M.S. from Our Lady of the Lake in Counseling Psychology, and his B.A. from the University of Notre Dame in Psychology.

Wish I could make this. Haven't heard a talk like this in years.  Pass this along to anyone who you feel may find this of interest. 

Please direct any questions or inquiries to Manuel Zamarripa .
Best wishes, Manuel!

Dr. Angela Valenzuela

Colorblind" Policies Harm Our Diverse Public Schools

http://www.tc.columbia.edu/news.htm?articleID=9440

Colorblind" Policies Harm Our Diverse Public Schools
Published in Research/Publications
4/1/2014

Images

Amy Stuart Wells, Professor of Sociology and Education

A policy brief by Amy Stuart Wells explains how so-called “colorblind” educational policies fail to support the diverse public schools more parents are demanding.

So-called “colorblind” educational policies not only fail to address racial inequality in American classrooms, they worsen and perpetuate it, according to an evidence-based policy brief by TC’s Amy Stuart Wells, professor of Sociology and Education. The brief, recently published by the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder, concludes that education reforms that ignore racial differences and disparities have worsened, rather than corrected, racial inequalities in student access to high-quality schooling.

In Seeing Past the “Colorblind” Myth of Education Policy: Why Policymakers Should Address Racial/Ethnic Inequality and Support Culturally Diverse Schools, Wells describes “mounting evidence to suggest that so-called ‘colorblind’ accountability and school choice policies, premised on narrow definitions of school quality and absent interventions to support diversity, exacerbate racial and social class segregation and inequality.”

Wells, who is also the Director of the Center for Understanding Race and Education (CURE) at TC, concludes that the most popular education policies of the last 30 years – namely, school choice policies and strict accountability systems – rarely consider race, diversity, or the dramatic racial and ethnic demographic shifts taking place in the public school population. As a result, she argues, these policies advance an ineffective “colorblind” approach to educational reform that ignores stark racial inequality when implementing policies and then bemoans vivid racial inequalities in educational outcomes.

The policy brief raises serious concerns about the capacity of the current education policy agenda to promote racial equality and prepare children for the 21st century. The U.S. Department of Education’s enrollment data suggest that by this fall the public school student population will be less than 50 percent white, non-Hispanic for the first time in U.S. history.  On March 21, the Department’s Civil Rights division released another report finding that minority students are more likely to be suspended from schools – including from preschools – and have less access in general to preschool, advanced courses and college counselors.

Meanwhile, Wells writes, ostensibly colorblind policies fail to support the multiple “educational benefits” of diverse universities, schools and classrooms.  Such benefits include lessening stereotypes while supporting better-informed class discussions, greater cross-racial understanding, and preparation to succeed in an increasingly diverse society. At the same time, a growing number of parents are seeking such diverse and dynamic educational settings for their children.

Wells notes that the Civil Rights era of the 1960s and 1970s saw several race-conscious education policies, including affirmative action and school desegregation, which directly addressed racial inequality. The same period, she writes, “coincided with the largest reductions in the black-white achievement gap in the nation’s history.”

By contrast, in perpetuating segregation of all kinds, contemporary “colorblind” policies “are also at odds with a multi-racial and ethnic society in which a growing number of parents and educators see the potential educational benefits of paying attention to diversity and difference as a pedagogical tool.” Racial achievement gaps, Wells contends, can only be closed “if policymakers are not blind to the role that race plays in our educational system.” She argues that education inequalities must be proactively addressed with a new set of 21st century policies that embrace diversity and support diverse schools.

Wells offers a series of recommendations that address policies, practices and conditions that perpetuate segregation and inequality while simultaneously tapping into the changing racial attitudes of Americans. Educational benefits can accrue to all students in schools and classrooms that are diverse.

The report was made possible in part by funding from the Ford Foundation.

To read the full report by Amy Stuart Wells please visit http://bit.ly/1hOfazi

Scientists Gather to Finalize Dire Warning for Planet's Climate Future | Common Dreams

Important, potentially planet-saving report that we only ignore at our own peril. See other related report, too.  

Panel’s Warning on Climate Risk: Worst Is Yet to Come  

by JUSTIN GILLISMARCH 31, 2014

-Angela

SUNDAY, MARCH 30, 2014

Scientists Gather to Finalize Dire Warning for Planet's Climate Future | Common Dreams

Important, potentially planet-saving report that we only ignore at our own peril. 

-Angela

Scientists Gather to Finalize Dire Warning for Planet's Climate Future | Common Dreams

Published on Tuesday, March 25, 2014 by Common Dreams

SCIENTISTS GATHER TO FINALIZE DIRE WARNING FOR PLANET'S CLIMATE FUTURE

World's scientists meet in Japan to complete summary of report that paints bleak future if climate inaction continues

- Jacob Chamberlain, staff writer

Sunset on the Arctic (Kathryn Hansen/ NASA Goddard Photo / Creative Commons license)The world's leading climate scientists gathered in Japan on Tuesday to begin hashing out the final details of a "grim" climate report, which both leaked drafts and those familiar with its contents say will call on policy makers to take immediate action or face a climate future that will otherwise be marked by widespread ecological and human catastrophe.

Of those harsh challenges, the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report—according to a draft version of the leaked earlier this year— will show that the four degrees Celsius rise that we are currently careening towards will undoubtedly cause increasing natural disasters, including: more violent storms, forest fires, devastating droughts, flooding, widespread hunger, disease, and a rise in ocean levels by up to a meter.

However, as Kaisa Kosonen explains on the Greenpeace blog Tuesday, the difference in their latest report from previous work by the IPCC and other similar warnings from the global scientific community is its emphasis on the stark "choice" now before humanity.

This latest message from the IPCC, Kosonen writes, is that people—both inside and outside of government— either "reduce and manage the risks ahead and do what’s needed to keep warming as far below 2 degrees Celsius as possible, or we continue to do too little too late, drifting from crisis to crisis and on towards a disastrous 4 degrees world."

"The IPCC will paint a picture of both these possible futures," Kosonen notes.

Over the course of this week the scientists will be finalizing a summary of the 2,000 page report directed at policy makers. The report and summary will be released Monday, March 31, following the week-long summit.

"I think everybody who works on the climate issue understands that climate change is truly one of the defining challenges of the 21st century," Chris Field, of the U.S.-based Carnegie Institution for Science, told the event's opening ceremony on Tuesday. However, said Field, the IPCC is "uniquely positioned" to enable policymakers to "deal effectively, robustly and optimistically with challenges for the future."

The IPCC report is the second installment of the group's Fifth Assessment Report—a four year project that has combined the work of thousands of scientists around the world.

The first installment, released in September, said warming in the climate system is "unequivocal" and the cause of current and future weather-related catastrophes.

"Today we are in a situation where governments have promised to keep warming below 2 degrees Celsius but are heading instead towards a 4 degree world," writes Kosonen. "They are neither preparing for a 2 degree nor a 4 degree world, trying to ignore the megatrend of climate change."

"Will we continue drifting from one disaster to another, or will we take control of our future?"she asks. "We're at a crossroads and the choices we make now will determine how history judges us."

______________________

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

At best, these tests are diversionary; at worst, they narrow curriculum and work against inventive and innovative thinking.  They also represent a measurement system that is silent on questions of equity.

"...given the sampling and measurement flaws in the rankings and their negligible role in assessing the overall quality of education systems, much less the strength of economies. Whether or not the United States continues to rank high on competitiveness, international test scores will remain virtually irrelevant."

-Angela

International Scores Irrelevant to Economic Competitiveness

By Invited Contributor Listed Below on March 27, 2014 8:58 AM | No comments

Today's guest contributor is Iris C. Rotberg, Research Professor of Education Policy, The George Washington University.

The ranking of the United States on international tests of science and mathematics continues to fuel rhetoric about economic competitiveness and shortages of scientists and engineers, despite the fact that the United States consistently ranks first, or among the top countries, in competitiveness. Moreover, there is little evidence of shortages of scientists and engineers to fill traditional science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) jobs.  It is sometimes argued, however, that these apparent strengths are fragile and we should not assume that because the numbers look good now they will continue to look good in the future. That is a fair argument--none of us can predict long-term economic and scientific strength with any degree of certainty. But we do know that, regardless of the outcome, it will not be international test-score rankings that make the difference.
The irrelevance of test-score rankings is illustrated in reports of the IMD (a global business school in Switzerland) and the World Economic Forum, which rank countries by international competitiveness. The rankings are based on a set of variables chosen to reflect current knowledge about what is most important in determining competitiveness. These variables include, for example, the soundness of the economy and financial sector; business sophistication; innovation; the quality and fairness of governmental and private institutions; market efficiency;  basic, technological, and scientific infrastructure; and the overall strength of the education system (primarily capacity and access at all levels of education). International test-score rank was only one of the 113 criteria used by the IMD to measure these variables. Performance on international test-score comparisons was not even mentioned among the 114 criteria used by the World Economic Forum--and for good reason, given the sampling and measurement flaws in the rankings and their negligible role in assessing the overall quality of education systems, much less the strength of economies. Whether or not the United States continues to rank high on competitiveness, international test scores will remain virtually irrelevant.
The test-score rankings also have little value in predicting whether a country will produce an "adequate" supply of scientists and engineers. The U.S. rank on test-score comparisons is often interpreted as a proxy for a shortage of talent in STEM fields, despite strong evidence that the United States has a large supply of students capable of going into those fields. It is true that many talented students choose not to enter STEM fields and many others who receive degrees in these fields choose not to work in them. A study conducted by Anthony P. Carnevale and colleagues at Georgetown University, for example, found that only a fourth of high school students who score in the top quartile in mathematics choose to enter a STEM major in college; only half the students who start with a STEM major graduate with that major; and fewer than half the students who graduate with a STEM major are actually working in STEM fields 10 years later. These students, instead, have entered other fields, including architecture, business, finance, or medicine. The point is that the attrition from traditional STEM fields does not reflect a lack of U.S. talent or training in these fields, but rather such factors as interests, salary differentials, a weak economy, or outsourcing of jobs because of lower wages outside the United States. Apple is unlikely to hire U.S. workers to replace the hundreds of thousands of workers outside the United States who are manufacturing and assembling component parts for its products because of more correct answers on a math test.
The United States currently has an ample supply of workers to fill traditional STEM jobs. Carnevale and colleagues, however, frame the question differently and see a potential for future shortages. They ask whether the country can produce a skilled labor force large enough to fill both the traditional STEM jobs as well as the large number of other jobs that might draw on similar skills, such as finance and medicine, taking into account projected retirement rates, possible reductions in foreign-born workers, and a future growth in STEM jobs at sub-baccalaureate as well as higher levels of education.
Whether or not the predicted shortages occur, the international test-score comparisons have become a diversion that detracts attention from the factors that can make a difference in scientific innovation and competitiveness. Indeed, the increasing focus on test scores has led to scripted learning and narrowing of the curriculum--trends that are inconsistent with an approach that encourages problem solving and innovation. That focus is also inconsistent with educational approaches designed to give students a broad set of skills that will contribute to their effectiveness in the workplace and is likely to be counterproductive in both attracting and retaining students in STEM fields.
The focus on test scores also detracts attention from the serious underrepresentation of low-income populations in STEM and the larger problem that underrepresentation illustrates--the growing gap in income and access. The gap will not be narrowed by rhetoric about international test-score rankings. 

American Schools Are STILL Racist, Government Report Finds

Though 16 percent of America's public school students are black, they represent 27 percent of students referred by schools to law enforcement, and 31 percent of students arrested for an offense committed in school, according to the survey.

American Schools Are STILL Racist, Government Report Finds

Posted: 03/21/2014 12:01 am EDT Updated: 03/21/2014 11:59 am EDT 

 

Public school students of color get more punishment and less access to veteran teachers than their white peers, according to surveys released Friday by the U.S. Education Department that include data from every U.S. school district.

Black students are suspended or expelled at triple the rate of their white peers, according to the U.S. Education Department's 2011-2012 Civil Rights Data Collection, a survey conducted every two years. Five percent of white students were suspended annually, compared with 16 percent of black students, according to the report. Black girls were suspended at a rate of 12 percent -- far greater than girls of other ethnicities and most categories of boys.

At the same time, minority students have less access to experienced teachers. Most minority students and English language learners are stuck in schools with the most new teachers. Seven percent of black students attend schools where as many as 20 percent of teachers fail to meet license and certification requirements. And one in four school districts pay teachers in less-diverse high schools $5,000 more than teachers in schools with higher black and Latino student enrollment.

Such discrimination lowers academic performance for minority students and puts them at greater risk of dropping out of school, according to previous research. The new research also shows the shortcomings of decades of legal and political moves to ensure equal rights to education. The Supreme Court's landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling banned school segregation and affirmed the right to quality education for all children. The 1964 Civil Rights Act guaranteed equal access to education.


"This data collection shines a clear, unbiased light on places that are delivering on the promise of an equal education for every child and places where the largest gaps remain," U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in a statement. "In all, it is clear that the United States has a great distance to go to meet our goal of providing opportunities for every student to succeed."

Duncan and Attorney General Eric Holder plan to announce the survey results on Friday. The information, part of an ongoing survey by the Education Department's Office of Civil Rights, highlights longstanding inequities in how schools leave minority students and students with disabilities at a disadvantage. For the first time since 2000, the new version of the survey includes results from all 16,500 American school districts, representing 49 million students.

"Unfortunately, too many children don’t have equitable access to experienced and fully licensed teachers, as has again been proven by the data in this report," said Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association, the nation's largest teachers union. "This is a problem that can and must be addressed."

Daria Hall, K-12 policy director at the Education Trust, an advocacy group, also called for action. "The report shines a new light on something that research and experience have long told us -- that students of color get less than their fair share of access to the in-school factors that matter for achievement," she said. "Students of color get less access to high level courses. Black students in particular get less instructional time because they're far more likely to receive out of school suspensions or expulsions. And students of color get less access to teachers who've had at least a year on the job and who have at least basic certification. Of course, it's not enough to just shine a light on the problem. We have to fix it."

Though 16 percent of America's public school students are black, they represent 27 percent of students referred by schools to law enforcement, and 31 percent of students arrested for an offense committed in school, according to the survey.

Students with disabilities make up one-fourth of students referred to law enforcement or arrested, although they represent 13 percent of the student population. Students with disabilities are twice as likely to be suspended out of school than peers, with 13 percent of such students being sent home for misbehaving. One of four boy students of color who have disabilities and one in five girl students of color who have disabilities were suspended. Students of color include all non-white ethnic groups except Latino and Asian-American.

These numbers will likely add pressure to dismantle the so-called school-to-prison pipeline, which feeds troubled students into the justice system. The push to ease discipline sometimes causes tension with schools' efforts to beef up security after school mass shootings, like the one in Newtown, Conn. Last week, a set of reports 26 academics pointed to a few local studies that found that disparate discipline outcomes did not happen as a result of certain ethnic groups acting out more than others.
According to the new data, disparities begin as early as preschool. Black students make up 18 percent of preschool enrollment, but they comprise 48 percent of preschool students receiving more than one suspension out of school. White students, representing 43 percent of preschool students, only receive 26 percent of out-of-school suspensions more than once.

Randi Weingarten, who heads the American Federation of Teachers union, noted that despite a recent Education Department Equity and Excellence Commission report calling for measures to remedy discrimination, little has been done. "It is shameful that not a single recommendation has been implemented," Weingarten said. "We don’t need more data to tell us we need action."

Though 16 percent of America's public school students are black, they represent 27 percent of students referred by schools to law enforcement, and 31 percent of students arrested for an offense committed in school, according to the survey.

Yes, Schools Do Discriminate Against Students Of Color -- Reports

Posted: 03/13/2014 6:00 am EDT Updated: 03/13/2014 6:59 am EDT

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A so-called school-to-prison pipeline flows from school discipline that lands disproportionately on students with disabilities and students of color, according to a set of reports by 26 experts released on Thursday.
African-American students and students with disabilities are suspended at "hugely disproportionate rates compared to white students," said a report by the Discipline Disparities Research-to-Practice Collaborative, which includes experts from fields such as advocacy, policy, social science and law. Latino students, girls of color, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students also were disproportionately suspended -- a punishment the report said increases dropout risks and helps push troubled students out of classrooms and into the justice system.
"We already knew that African Americans were disproportionately affected, but this new research is also saying that it's also Latino students, it's also students with disabilities, it's also girls of color," said Russell Skiba, the Indiana University professor who directed the project. "LGBT students may be at risk for increased discipline. These things have a big effect on achievement."
The researchers found that black students were 1.78 times as likely to be suspended out of school as white students. Latino students' suspension odds were 2.23 times greater than those of white students. Students with disabilities were suspended at twice the rate of their non-disabled peers, and for longer durations. Worse, 25 percent of black students with disabilities received at least one out-of-school suspension in the 2009-2010 school year.
Research shows that removing so-called "bad kids" from the classroom doesn't help non-disruptive kids learn, according to the collaborative. The group found that some restorative justice programs and prevention programs that call for more student-teacher engagement can help lower suspension rates and minimize disruptions. The researchers also found that school police often make arrests for “what might otherwise be considered adolescent misbehaviors.”
To reach these conclusions, the group relied on research studies, as well as data from the U.S. Education Department. “Several studies indicate … that racial disparities are not sufficiently explained by the theory that black or other minority students are simply misbehaving more," the collaborative wrote.
The idea of a school-to-prison pipeline that punishes students of color and students with disabilities more than their peers has gained steam in recent months. In January, the Obama administration released its first legal guidance on school discipline, telling schools that they may be legally accountable for the disparate impact of their actions on different races, and that they are liable for all disciplinary actions in their buildings -- even those committed by police not employed by the school district. The guidance relied on the Civil Rights Act of 1965.

In late February, President Barack Obama himself highlighted the problem with the launch of the My Brother's Keeper initiative. The program kicked off with $200 million in foundation money aimed to help males of color succeed in school and graduate into steady work through mentorship and communal solutions. Some of those efforts, according to a White House memo, will be school discipline reform.
"School districts have just been put on notice and now we're showing them there's real research to show that there are alternatives to frequent use of suspension that will not just reduce suspensions but also reduce racial disparities," said Dan Losen, a member of the collaborative who directs the University of California, Los Angeles, Center for Civil Rights Remedies.
The report comes more than one year after the mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., which prompted many schools to increase security with more police. But those impulses often create tension with efforts to reduce discipline disparities.
According to the collaborative, evidence “suggests that police presence in schools, particularly armed police, should be a very last resort in school discipline strategies.”

"There is a tendency in times of threat to focus on implementing more extreme solutions," Skiba said. "There are schools that feel they need to use metal detectors or video surveillance but we also need to realize that kids who really get to the point where they want to engage in these incidents, they're looking for ways around those things. Our best bet is to be comprehensive from the start and say let's look at all levels."
The school-to-prison pipeline thesis has its skeptics, including Michael Petrilli, executive vice president of the right-leaning Thomas B. Fordham Institute.
"This is part of the steady drumbeat now of people talking about different approaches to student discipline," Petrilli said. "I have to say, it makes me very nervous that we're going to be making it harder on educators to be able to discipline students when necessary. This push to make it harder to suspend students is going to have a chilling effect on teaching and learning. We would be incredibly naive to think we would stop disciplining kids and not see an adverse impact on learning."

A lot brewing right now in Dallas regarding a proposal to go toward "home rule," that I am told means mayorial control of schools (even though Rep. Villalba cited within suggests something differently).  A discourse on equity is not present; if anything, communities of color are already turned off by both the proposal (what they know of it) and the way that it is getting done—foisted on them.

"A never-before-used 1995 state law allows school districts to switch to a home-rule format. If 5 percent of DISD’s registered voters sign the petition, the school board will have to name 15 people to a commission to rewrite the district’s charter.

The charter would then have to be approved by local voters and the state education commissioner. Organizers hope to have it on the November ballot."

Inasmuch this is indeed about mayorial control, this is a reactionary and very concerning proposal as it de-democratizes public schooling.  It eliminates those structures like our school boards about which people have a vote. 

Angela

Supporters of home rule for Dallas ISD struggle to win over others

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State Rep. Jason Villalba, R-Dallas, and Dallas City Council member Jennifer Staubach Gates are hosting the town hall meeting. 

By SCOTT GOLDSTEIN

Staff Writer

sgoldstein@dallasnews.com

Published: 21 March 2014 12:07 AM

Updated: 21 March 2014 12:09 AM 

Backers of an effort to convert Dallas ISD to a home-rule district Thursday night struggled to win over a crowd of frustrated parents, teachers and activists.

State Rep. Jason Villalba, Dallas City Council member Jennifer Staubach Gates and others leading a town hall meeting on the issue in northwest Dallas were interrupted on several occasions. They were asked why the campaign is moving so fast, who is funding it, what a new governance structure might look like, and why none of their promotional materials were published in Spanish.

Attendees appeared largely unsatisfied with the answers.

“We’re at a crossroads here,” said Villalba, R-Dallas, who is also a DISD parent. “This is a new process. We need your input. This is not something that is meant to be done by billionaires from another place. This is meant to be done by you.”

Villalba acknowledged that many concerns appear to be centered on possible governance changes. He said that he would not support a school board with members who are all appointed by the mayor.
“I can tell you right now: Having appointees appointed solely by the mayor is off the table,” he said.
The session at the Preston Royal Library was in a hot room that was not nearly large enough to accommodate the crowd that showed up. It was one of three town hall meetings held Thursday night by Support Our Public Schools, the group leading the initiative. The organization launched a petition drive this month to change DISD to a home-rule district.

Villalba and Gates hosted the event. Both have endorsed the campaign. The other meetings were in South Dallas and Pleasant Grove.

Rene Martinez, leader of the District 3 chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said the Pleasant Grove meeting was orderly. But he said the home-rule supporters “got kind of shellacked in terms of a lot of opposition.”

Similar issues were raised at that meeting, Martinez said.

“What is the rush on this thing?” he said. “Why not start the process again and include people? Who’s behind this?”

Mayor Mike Rawlings and other supporters say that changing to home-rule would free the district from burdensome state rules. It could mean an earlier school start date and a modified curriculum, though the STAAR state exams would still be required.

Three sources told The Dallas Morning News this month that the idea was pitched to them with a goal of establishing a new governance structure, perhaps under the mayor’s oversight. Rawlings has declined to publicly share specific goals, saying the process would start with a blank sheet of paper and community input.

A never-before-used 1995 state law allows school districts to switch to a home-rule format. If 5 percent of DISD’s registered voters sign the petition, the school board will have to name 15 people to a commission to rewrite the district’s charter.

The charter would then have to be approved by local voters and the state education commissioner. Organizers hope to have it on the November ballot.

Support Our Public Schools, also known as SOPS, is financially supported by Hillcrest High graduate John Arnold, a Houston philanthropist and former Enron trader and hedge fund manager, and other, anonymous donors.

State records show the group was formed in November as a tax-exempt 501(c)(4) nonprofit. Louisa Meyer, chair of the Dallas ISD Citizens Budget Review Commission, is one of the organization’s five board members. She was among the meeting leaders at the northwest Dallas meeting.

She addressed whether the names of donors would be publicized.

“It’s the privilege of the donors to remain anonymous,” Meyer said, to a chorus of boos.
SOPS has declined to say how many of the required 24,459 signatures it has collected since launching the drive earlier this month.

Thursday’s forum followed a tough meeting last week between Rawlings and Hispanic leaders at an East Dallas church. At that gathering, the mayor spoke for about 10 minutes and was interrupted twice. He walked out after the second interruption.

On Wednesday, DISD Superintendent Mike Miles said he believed his schools could improve without becoming a home-rule district. Miles declined to take an official position on the home-rule effort, but he shot down the key reasons that advocates are citing for the campaign. Specifically, he said state law, the Texas Education Agency and the DISD school board have not stood in the way of his efforts to overhaul the district.

That’s not consistent with the message Rawlings, a staunch Miles ally, has been spreading in his attempt to sell people on home-rule. The mayor and others have argued that the district has performed so badly that it cannot be fixed without a radical transformation.

Thursday’s meeting was disrupted several times by frustrated opponents of the plan. In almost every case, the meeting organizers ignored them, saying that only questions that were written down would be answered.

Organizers did answer numerous written questions, but many others could not be addressed in the allotted hour. They promised to post the questions and answers on the group's Facebook page.
Local activist Carlos Quintanilla refused to be ignored. He demanded to know why the meetings did not also include opponents of the home-rule effort.

“Because this is not a debate,” Villalba said. “Tonight is a town hall forum.”

Quintanilla promised: “We’re not going to make it easy for you!”

Follow Scott Goldstein on Twitter at @sgoldstein.