K12 Integration for the 21st Century

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Carlos Mariani

Can Minnesota’s integration program spawn innovation for our K12 schools, making them what we need for the new age of globalization?

Minnesota’s 2011 legislative session resulted in an agreement with the Governor to “re-purpose” the state’s integration revenue, which are used to support efforts to racially integrate schools. This followed an attempt to eliminate the integration rule altogether and restrict the funds to literacy programs.  A task force (on which I sit) was created to develop recommendations for future use of the $100 million currently allotted for integration plans.

I am opposed to retreating from the morally and legally correct effort to prevent racial segregation in public schools. Prior to the Brown v. Board U.S. Supreme Court decision, school segregation was used to perpetuate race based inequalities and discrimination. Minnesota has an opportunity to revolutionize policy and become a world leader in education.

Critics of the current program are correct to point out that the program is not currently a good fit. Our classrooms are increasingly diverse but academic achievement rates of students of color continue to lag far behind those of white students.

Defenders are also correct: a school system built on racial segregation is bad for society. It weakens academic outcomes, and destroys underfunded schools where poverty and race intersect. It leaves all students – even white students –without the ability to develop an aptitude for thriving in our multiracial, multicultural world.

Our integration program is not being held accountable for these outcomes, and so it must change. But meaningful change demands more than mandating classroom diversity – as important as that legal compelling interest is for the state.

Minnesota schools must help students develop the skills to operate powerfully in the new era of globalization. Our current third graders will need to negotiate with their Chinese, Brazilian, German, South African and Indian peers in finance, manufacturing, bio-engineering, food and green energy production; failure means sacrificing prosperity and Minnesota’s global potential.

If our students cannot appreciate diversity at home, they certainly will not be able to navigate a planet full of different races, languages and belief systems.

Minnesota’s integration program shouldn’t be about funding another literacy intervention. Instead it offers us a way to commit to developing global-era skills: multicultural communications, unique problem solving techniques, and use of technology to promote digital creativity. We should create racially and culturally integrated learning environments so students can practice these skills. Such exciting dynamics will drive greater achievement of our present academic standards.

Minnesota smartly created the Integration Revenue program years ago, but we’ve outgrown the program and academic achievement and our potential is suffering. It’s time to update it.

Posted in Transform K-12 Education | 1 Comment

Start Seeing Black Male Teachers

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Brandon Royce-Diop

If the phrase ‘lead by example’ holds weight, then Minnesota’s Black male student population never stood a chance. Black males perform at eerily low academic levels. They have the highest unemployment rate, and are arrested, imprisoned, and sentenced to death exceedingly more often than their white counterparts. Myriad reports, conferences, summits, forums and other data carnivals exploit the same obvious truth: Black males are failing. But let’s tell the whole truth: we are failing them!

If you are committed to educational equity, social justice and human rights, you need to ask yourself: What lies beneath the numbers? Every approach must move beyond superficial analysis to pinpoint the problems, and actually work to change them.

Only 2% of American teachers are Black men. Less than a half of 1% of Minnesota teachers are Black men, and almost 30% of them are in Minneapolis Public Schools. 60% of schools in Minnesota do not have even one black male teacher on staff. A majority of our students have never and will never have a Black male teacher in a K-12 public school. Nationally, 85% of teachers nationwide are white and female – clearly the status quo is a spectacular failure for Black male students.

Nationally, Black students are three times more likely to be suspended than their white counterparts. Black students in Minnesota are suspended six times more often than white students. The ratio is even greater for Black males. Why? Because our teachers have more difficulty working with and problem solving with them. Otherwise one would have to conclude that Black students in MN are six times more aggressive, disruptive, and violent, and it is therefore justifiable to suspend them at such extraordinarily oppressive rates. How does a young Black male grow into a leader when those charged with his progress are suspicious of him?

Points of emphasis:

  • All students and teachers need to actively learn to develop trust and love for Black men in positions of power and authority.
  • Black males need to consistently communicate with others who deeply, authentically identify with their situation and offer authentic words of solace, rooted in a common experience.
  • White students must learn how to work with, respect and expect to see Black men in power.
  • Our schools support a cycle of white supremacy that must be broken. Black male teachers are a threat to the doctrine of white supremacy that function in both overt and subversive interactions and curriculum.

Fifty-seven years after Brown v. Board of Education, Minnesota’s teachers and student body remain segregated, our Black male students are performing no better than they were than, and the school to prison pipeline for Black men is real and predictable. We must recommit ourselves to creating new and creative initiatives to support them, and one of the most vita ways to do this is to start seeing Black male teachers. Black boys and all boys need Black male role models in the classroom and in their lives.

Posted in African American Males in Education, Teachers and Faculty | 1 Comment

Getting it Right About Parents

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Carlos Mariani

White parents attend school meetings. Black parents help with homework. Who is more involved in their children’s education? Who is the better parent?

In calling for “better parents” NYTs Tom Friedman unfortunately underplayed some of the findings of the National School Board Association’s Center for Public Education study.

We agree that most parents want to be involved and that schools can do much to promote that. But, by not noting – as the study does – that parental engagement from home is as valuable as appearing at school, he runs the risk of painting parents of color as “poorer parents.”

The study found that Latino and Black parents are more likely to check homework than take part in parent groups. This makes no visual impact in the building, but it is consistent with the best parental practices identified in the study:  monitoring homework, making sure kids get to school, rewarding their efforts, and talking up going to college.

The study highlighted the “TIPS” model based on in-home activities that reinforce parent-student relationships, and called on schools to be responsible in implementing such efforts.

The study also asserts that even effective parent involvement is not a substitute for good classroom instruction. Yet Freidman, in resorting to language about “better parents” seemed more interested in defending teachers from not having to carry the entire “burden” for student achievement.

Since when has expecting quality instruction become a “burden?”

We would not assume that White parents do not help with homework. Let’s stop stereotyping and start structuring school practices that build on the strengths of parents of color as co-educators as opposed to selling them short.

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Measuring the Impact of Expectations

Posted on September 20, 2011 by Jennifer Godinez

We know the cliché “It Takes A Village,” which implies what we intuitively understand: the care and education of all our youth is our collective, community-wide responsibility.

But when test scores are released it’s rarely evident if or how we rise to the role. We’re fond of discussing what test scores say about students of color. Let’s also examine how we measure the role of community – your role, my role – in building a culture of high educational expectations.

Tavis Smiley’s PBS documentary, “Too Important to Fail,” showcases the issue of African American young men and education. It addresses the role of academic training (i.e. literacy, good classroom management), but also directly discusses the impact of high community expectations. In Chicago, Urban Prep Academy students rise to such high standards of dress and conduct that people call them “Little Obamas” – if that isn’t high expectations, I don’t know what is!

Smiley reports that young African American men felt they would do better academically if they saw their community’s stories, heroes, etc. reflected in the academic content. They told Smiley they need images of high community expectations fulfilled. Smiley highlights researchers and environments where this is being implemented through literacy institutes and teacher development programs.

We need trends and test score data to guide policy and achieve equity. But we also need to weigh how community expectations influence student achievement.

Posted in African American Males in Education | Leave a comment

With help from MDE, waivers can work

Posted on August 31, 2011 by Carlos Mariani

The MN Business Partnership (MBB) blasted the MDE for seeking waivers to No Child Left Behind requirements, warning of the impact on our state. They see waivers as permission to back off high expectations, especially of students of color. Continue reading →

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Can we support our schools and still want them to change?

Posted on August 31, 2011 by Carlos Mariani

I believe so, and according to a recent Phi Delta Kappa/Gallop Poll so does the American public. Yet the way education issues are used as part of political and culture war agendas, you could be excused for thinking otherwise. Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Are Minnesota Students of Color Prepared for STEM fields?

Posted on August 31, 2011 by Jennifer Godinez

According to the U.S. Department of Education, 62 percent of jobs by 2018 will require some kind of postsecondary degree. In particular, STEM fields (the academic and professional disciplines included in science, technology, engineering and mathematics) will demand 25 percent more associate’s degrees and 20 percent more bachelor’s degrees than are currently graduating. Continue reading →

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MMEP Hires New Office Manager/Communications Specialist

Posted on August 31, 2011 by Staff

Minnesota Minority Education Partnership has appointed a new Office Manager/Communications Specialist. Shauna JeMai Ames was hired to support the MMEP’s staff and board of directors, and manage their enhanced communications initiative.

Ames is an office support professional and freelance writer with experience in journalism, public health, nonprofit management, fundraising and education. She is particularly excited about connecting the agency’s mission to constituents through social networking.

“This work – advocating for equity and excellence in education – demands that we appreciate new ways to lift students, inform legislators and support educators,” Ames said. “Right now that means offering mmep.org as an educational equity resource and tweeting advocacy opportunities and research news.”

MMEP welcomes Shauna!

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