Schools Challenges and Opportunities September 26, 2015 - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Achieving Equity and Excellence in Our Schools

Challenges and Opportunities September 26, 2015

Co-Sponsors:

• Chapel Hill Carrboro NAACP
• CHCCS Multicultural Student Achievement Network
• Organizing Against Racism
• CHCCS PTA Council

Excellence Gaps Chapel Hill – Carrboro City Schools

Grade Level Proficiency, 2014-15

100% 42% 47% 41% White African Am Latino Low Income 90% 58 % 53 % 59 %

Reading Gaps Have Been Widening

Source: Diane Villwock, Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools, 2015

Math Gaps Have Been Widening

Source: Diane Villwock, Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools, 2015

Some District Schools Doing Better Than Others

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

% White % Low Income

Grade Level Proficiency, 2o14-15

Grade Level Proficiency, 2014-15

Carrboro Elementary Ephesus Elementary Estes Hills Elementary FPG Elementary Glenwood Elementary McDougle Elementary Morris Grove Elementary Northside Elementary Rashkis Elementary Scroggs Elementary Seawell Elementary Culbreth Middle McDougle Middle Phillips Middle Smith Middle Carrboro High Chapel Hill High East Chapel Hill High

Source: NC Dept of Public Instruction, 2015

Good News-90%+ Graduating

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 110%

All Af Am Asian Latino White Low Income

CHCCS 4-5 Year Graduation Rate

2015 2014

Source: Dianne Villwock, CHCCS, 2015

Disproportionate Discipline Issue CHCCS, 2013-14

Source: Nancy Kueffer, CHCCS, 2015

Disproportionate Discipline Issue CHCCS, 2013-14

Source: Nancy Kueffer, CHCCS, 2015

Are CHCCS Schools Excellent?

Excellence Through Equity = E2 But, how do we get there?

Wonder what happened to that fish? How could it have lived and thrived?

Should we be examining each fish or the lake itself?

Implicit Bias: What Is It?

• Attitudes or stereotypes that affect our

understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious matter.

Implicit Bias: Why?

• Research shows that we only have conscious

access to 2-5% of our brain’s processing

• The rest is unconscious.

Implicit Bias: Why?

• The unconscious brain is fast; the conscious

brain is slow (Kahneman, Thinking Fast and Slow)

• This is adaptive for efficiency and for safety.

Implicit Bias: How?

• As infants and young children, we consciously

and unconsciously learn to categorize things and to develop associations.

• Food, animals, weather, fire, people.
• We might be taught that all people are the

same, but there are many messages in our environment that teach us otherwise.

• Harmful, when our associations make us

categorize people.

How is it harmful?

• Employers; apartment managers
• Health practitioners
• Law enforcement
• Judicial officers
• Bankers/loan officers
• Retail clerks
• Teachers/college professors

Some examples from Education

• Low expectations
• Disproportionate discipline for the same
• infractions. Black and brown students referred

to the office for less serious and more subjective offenses.

• Black and brown students disproportionately

tracked (out of advanced coursework, into special education)

• Stereotype threat

What Can We Do?

• First what not to do: Cannot be COLORBLIND.
• It’s impossible, disingenuous, and
• counterproductive. Gives the impression that

the color of skin & America’s racial history should be politely ignored.

Can we change unconscious thinking?

• More education in the causes &

consequences

• Implicit bias does not mean we are

racist or bad people; it means we are human.

• Recognizing that we have it allows us to

hold it in check

• Denying it increases it!

Can we change unconscious thinking?

• Practice & develop tools (e.g., Desk Card)
• Recognize times when implicit bias is likely to

be greatest (stress, fear, busy, low accountability about our decisions)

• Critically evaluate school practices, curricula,

media and other exposures that create and/or reinforce implicit bias.

• Educate students about unconscious bias & to

be agents of change to improve opportunity

GOALS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Excellence for All is Possible—Montgomery County Example

Source: RAISING ACHIEVEMENT AND CLOSING GAPS IN WHOLE SCHOOL SYSTEMS: RECENT ADVANCES IN RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 2008 Conference Report, Harvard Achievement Gap Initiative

Excellence for All is Possible— Taft High School in Ohio

Excellence for All is Possible— Learning Focused Work in 57 Schools

Source: Learning Focused

Excellence for All is Possible— Learning Focused Work in 57 Schools

Source: Learning Focused

Excellence for All is Possible— Learning Focused Work in 57 Schools

Source: Learning Focused

Recommendations For Consideration

Starting Point:

• Commitment to Help All be Successful
• Accountability For Results

Create climate in which

• All students value themselves and each other
• All parents, teachers, and staff feel valued and supported
• All students recognize that they can achieve much
• Excellence is the norm for all ethnic and socio-economic

groups

• Disproportionate discipline is eliminated

Establish Definitive, Aggressive Targets

Example:

• Achieve 10-15 percentage point annual increase in percent

proficient for groups not currently being reached effectively

• Eliminate disproportionate discipline within 2 years
• Achieve proportionate and successful access to all

accelerated classes within 3 years