Today in a staff meeting we spent almost two hours doing courageous conversation work. Courageous conversations is Seattle Public Schools label for talking about race and working to overcome the achievement gap. It’s hard because when talking about race, it is really easy to talk about class and special ed and all sorts of other factors. The truth is that if you look at it through the lens of race, it doesn’t look good. I don’t have the exact numbers, but something like 7% of the black and brown kids in SPS passed the 7th grade math WASL compared to like 55% of white kids. Statistics like that make it clear that something about being black or brown makes it difficult to succeed in Seattle Public Schools.
I don’t mind using black and brown and white in my language, as long as you know that I am talking about people of color. In groups in public, I usually use “European American” for white because it just a reminder to myself that white people are the dominant culture and that white does not mean transparent. Even though for white people who live in a dominant white culture, the white culture appears transparent.
What I am about to say is radical among educators. The problem is not the kids and it’s not their parents and it’s not their level of poverty. Those things don’t help any students become school savvy scholars and so can easily become scapegoats of a racial achievement gap.
The problem is that most teachers in SPS are white and that for most white teachers like me it takes more effort to teach kids of color. It requires that teachers go the extra mile to connect to their parents and cross the boundaries of fear around relating to a different culture. Race can be an added chasm between students and teachers. It may mean that I have to go the extra mile or two for a kid to help them or give them more attention or (gasp!) get to know them.
These things are scary for white teachers like me because I grew up in a white mono-culture that is dead set on maintaining the status quo. This culture of fear thrives on the idea that some people are like me and important and some people are not like me and are unimportant. I’m not saying that is my life view, I’m just pointing out the atmosphere I experienced in Bellevue in the 1980’s. (Can you tell I have some frustration with dominant white culture?)
I have around 10 kids of color out of 140 and I can tell you that I am not perfect. Being righteous like this reminds me that there are 4 or 5 of those kids that I have not taken the time to reach out to and make a better connection. I got my wake-up call this week when I entered my grades and noticed that, statistically, my kids of color are not doing as well as my white kids. I’ve only been here a few weeks, and I can only take partial responsibility for their grades, but I can tell you that I have gotten my wake up call. I can’t save the world or bridge the achievement gap for all the black and brown kids in the USA, but I can do more to support these students in my class in the next five months I have to teach here. I don’t want to be part of the racial achievement gap problem, I want to be part of the solution.
I’m not an expert on race, so I am reminding myself to speak from my personal experience and to avoid judging others.
For those of you who know me and have been in conversations about race and school, you know that I feel passionate about this issue. During the school-wide meeting today about race, I felt like I helped bring the conversation of race around to the issue of race and the dominance of white culture here at the school. One of my colleagues approached me after the meeting and said something to the effect of, “Wow, you’ve only been here a few weeks and you had the guts to bring up the issue of race in a conversation about race. You’re not afraid of getting fired are you?” He meant it as a compliment to my lack of fear around issues of race, but I took it as a warning. There are those out there who do not think the achievement gap is worth changing for and will never change their teaching styles to bridge the achievement gap. By bringing up the topic of race in a conversation about race, I fear that I may be branded here at my new school as someone who rocks the boat.
One component you don’t mention is strong parental involvement/engagement. How solid are the home environments of the kids who are struggling? How do you think the value of education is presented there? How much parental involvement/reinforcement can you count on? You can bust your hump in the classroom but if the student goes home to an atmosphere with no support for academics, no value for education, your effort will be largely wasted.
Thinking back to the school we have in common, consider the emphasis on education and good study habits that can be laid down in those formative years. I’m not perfect either, but I work with kids in that very school who are struggling with basic reading comprehension in 2nd and 3rd grade. The pressure to make that right is immense: with only two years to middle school, they need to master those skills. But with 24 hours in a day, they’re only in school for 6. And at 7 or 8, they have only been in school for 2, 3, or 4 years. At what point do we make clear what the expectation is for parents?
This could be a cultural thing, getting back to the black/brown/white business, but rather than being based on simplistic color-based terms, we can look at it as a metter of choice. I can’t say it’s easy to look for help or even know when you need it, but surely most parents must have hopes for their kids that include academic mastery: are schools not making clear what kids need to know when they enter a school and what they hope to teach them before they leave? Are we willing to say that only European-Americans (I’ve used that phrase too: I’m not white, especially in the summer) are the only ones who are about academics?
I’m not claiming that everyone has the luxury(!) of being able to spend a lot of time reading to their kid(s) or indulging their questions. Sometimes the best help we can provide is three square meals and a good night’s sleep, but in a survey conducted by our Health & Fitness expert, a surprising number of kids in our North End school don’t even get that.
This is a long way of saying that this whole business of helping kids succeed is very holistic and interdependent: you try to look at one thing and find that it’s connected to everything else. The home and school environments have to complement each other for things to go well: I don’t suggest giving up on kids that don’t get the support they need at home, but I don’t think school teachers should feel they are failing their kids if they’re not getting adequate support from the family.
Good, we need more people rocking the boat. It seemed like at the outset of the meeting we were being invited to rock the boat. I don’t remember the exact quote, but it was something like “if we continue to do things the same, then we should continue to expect the same results” (e.g. the achievement gap). I think the school culture has changed much in the past many years that it has gotten much safe to speak one’s mind. The harder part is actually making a change that would close the gap. That would require an even greater culture shift.
Sounds familiar. I am a teacher in Cleveland and we are enteriing into the conversation here. I’m interested in the course the conversation took and any ideas stemming from your talks. I share similar views and am very interested in progressive minded educators dealing with this issue. look me up at mrwheelerrocks@sbcglobal.net