Changed Agency

Changed Agency:
A Research to Practice Reflection on Achinstein and Ogawa's, Change(d) Agents

Toward a Culturally Relevant Developmental Framework for New Urban Teachers of Color

This research to practice report serves as an examination of Change(d) Agents: New Teachers of Color in Urban Schools by Betty Achinstein and Rodney T. Ogawa and as a critical reflection on how topics in that text relate to my personal perspectives and professional development as an African American urban educator. Further, this project aims to construct the beginnings of a practical framework for the urban teacher of color newly approaching the multifaceted profession.

The first section of the report consists of text reflections on eight topics – each considered for connections to personal experiences, connections to course learning, critical questions for further study and implications for practice. The second section contains a brief concluding overview and the consequent framework – built to address the following Focus Question: How might the personal and professional developmental needs specific to new teachers of color translate into an empowering framework that validates their perspectives, supports their priorities, and promotes their passions?


Text Reflections

01. Key Idea or Concept: Three Cultural/Professional Commitments
Throughout their text, Achinstein and Ogawa highlight the three cultural/professional duties of urban educators as identified by almost all of the teachers of color in the multicase study: (a) providing positive role models; (b) engaging in linguistically and culturally responsive teaching (CRT); and (c) working as agents of change (2005). This is something I want to think more about because, upon reflection, it absolutely comports with my thoughts. I have long felt it important to set a good example – academically and socially.  I’m dedicated to CRT, and I see myself as a change agent. It is clarifying to know that other teachers of color share these views.
Insights or Connections to Experience: Looking back over my lengthy career as an urban public school and university student, I can only recall having a handful of teachers of color.  In fact – from grade school to grad school – I can think of several teachers I admired and who serve as role models, but not a single one of them is Black. Certainly, part of my reason for wanting to teach is due to a desire to be the role model I never had.
Related Course Topics or Readings: It is comforting, reassuring and empowering to see these roles formally detailed and explained. It occurs to me that, at no point, as either a preservice or in-service teacher, have I had an opportunity to discuss these teacher of color – cultural/professional commitments. This points to teacher development matters mentioned in Reflective Practice to Improve Schools (York-Barr, et. al., 2005), in terms of the need for reflecting in small groups and teams. Perhaps, by extension, there is a need for teachers of color to reflect together. “Technique is what teachers use” says Parker Palmer in The Heart of a Teacher “until the real teacher arrives” (1997). He suggests the novice’s top mission is to find ways to help that real teacher show up. Palmer advises that teachers must find their heart. They must connect to, explore, and be open about their inner lives. So, developing the identity and integrity good teaching requires takes both critical self-reflection and reflection with others.
Critical Questions for Further Consideration: (1) What are some ways I can chart my thinking about priorities in these three cultural/professional roles? (2) What groups or organizations are dedicated to exploring schooling issues particular to Black educators? (3) What local cultural/social groups or organizations exist?  (4) What are some available ways to improve my understanding of CRT techniques?
Implications for Practice: Establish cultural resources, social groups and community connections as a network of support to sustain your personal and professional development.

02. Key Idea or Concept: Definitions and Constructs of Race and Ethnicity
In Chapter Two of Change(d) Agents, the authors note that “the language of naming group identification is highly contested” and that the extremely generalizing phrase “people of color” is problematic (Achinstein & Ogawa, 2005, p. 13). This is something I find important because understanding ‘race’ as a concept is central to developing cultural competence.  ‘Race’ is socially constructed. It is not a material fact of life. It is a created fiction with no basis in biology. Humans do not have separate subspecies or races.
Insights or Connections to Experience: I connect this issue with the story of Rachel Dolezal – the Spokane NAACP official whose racial identity was questioned and widely debated in news and social media (O'Hehir, 2015). Though Donezal, for years, had maintained that she was a Black woman, her parents came forward and insisted to reporters that she was White. The story ignited heated passions from both Black and White pundits.  The pages of American history are replete with examples of African Americans trying to “pass" as White in an effort to escape racism, discrimination and persecution. Instances of Whites attempting to live as Black are less common, for obvious reasons, but it certainly has happened. Since ‘race’ uses socially constructed definitions, it invites us all to attach to lies that we then use to construct our individual identities. This issue connects to my understanding that culture and identity are not fixed in time and space, and that each individual is multi-dimensional and multicultural.
Related Course Topics or Readings: This points to research items in both Teacher Reflection and Race in Cultural Contexts (Milner, 2003) and Reflective Teaching (Zeichner & Liston, 2013). Both texts stress the need for teachers to situate reflections in a broad, social context, and the importance of including critical examinations of race in reflections to extend “what is tacit or routine to consciousness in an intended manner” (Milner, 2003, p. 174).
Critical Questions for Further Consideration: (1) What are some classroom tested, prepared Language Arts lesson plans that explore race and ethnicity? How have these issues been approached? (2) In what ways do urban learners think about race? (3) In what ways might tracking data by race negatively affect urban learners?  (4) How valid are race-based measurement strategies if race is a social construction to begin with?
Implications for Practice: Invest in critical research and reflection that acknowledges and prepares for the potential impact of ‘race’ and racialized ideation on learning in the diverse urban classroom.

03. Key Idea or Concept: Culture of Control
Chapter Five of Change(d) Agents speaks to an environment the study participants found in urban schools that the authors refer to as a “culture of control.” One teacher, Inez, expresses the idea well. She says the control culture confronted her learners because of her school’s “large size and racial tensions,” which restricted the relationships she could have with students (Achinstein & Ogawa, 2005, p. 104). Due to large class sizes, Inez spent as much time controlling her students as she did teaching them. This school culture problem is something I have seen in my work and have identified as a major impediment to increasing the academic achievement of urban learners.
Insights or Connections to Experience: At one point, I had the opportunity to teach the exact same English course to two very differently size classes. I was able to see how much more material could be covered in the smaller class of 12 students as compared to the class of 29 students. Not only was more work accomplished, but the learning was of a far higher quality. I also noted that my relationships with the students in the smaller class were rich, respectful and productive. This greatly reduced the number and severity of discipline problems.
Related Course Topics or Readings: The school “culture of control” concept bridges to ideas explored in Unfinished Business: Closing the Racial Achievement Gap (Noguera & Wing, 2006). The so-called Discipline Gap is seen in “schools that use discipline policies as a strategy for removing disruptive students.”  These schools are described as being “stuck in a vicious cycle of reproduction” that disproportionately penalizes the neediest students by denying them basic learning time in the classroom. The authors point out that there is no evidence that such policies succeed “at either changing student behavior or to improving the climate for learning” (p. 122).
Critical Questions for Further Consideration: (1) What are the outlines of established research concerning discipline, class size and urban learners? (2) How does the Discipline Gap feed into the School to Prison Pipeline? (3) In what ways can urban educators dismantle the culture of control present in schools and combat it in their classrooms?
Implications for Practice: Seek urban classroom management strategies that are effective at preventing, limiting and accounting for student removal.

04. Key Idea or Concept: The “Hard-to-Staff” Schools Dilemma
Practically all of the teachers profiled in Change(d) Agents say they were drawn to work in urban schools with high proportions of students of color. They felt a need to improve the school experience for students from their own communities. The dilemma is that these are the schools most likely to have systemic problems. New teachers of color are often staffing “hard-to-staff” schools. Beyond professional development issues, this raises a larger social justice dilemma pertaining to equity in practice and policy (p. 82).
Insights or Connections to Experience: My experiences connect to this topic. I share similar stories to the teacher participants who expressed having difficulties with administrators and administrative policies. During observations and evaluations, I felt that I was often judged unfairly and out of context with the reality of my classroom. I got precious little support as a new teacher, yet the district seemed very interested in evaluating me. I decided to withdraw when I came to the conclusion that I was going to have to either manage my classroom as I saw fit, or conform to the system in such a way as to fit my teaching with the trappings of what constitutes indicators of proficiency.
Related Course Topics or Readings: I relate this topic to a Parker Palmer quote found in “Holding the Tension of Opposites” from Burned In (Friedman & Reynolds, eds., 2011). Palmer says he strives to "understand that the tension that comes when I try to hold a paradox together is not hell bent on tearing me apart. Instead, it is a power that wants to pull my heart open to something larger than myself" (p. 86).
Critical Questions for Further Consideration: Questions posed by Achinstein and Ogawa in Chapter Four . . . (1) Is it problematic to promote retention policies that persuade teachers of color to continue to work and remain in schools that are often characterized as under-resourced with poor working conditions? (2) How can policies support the retention of teachers of color, particularly in high-needs schools, without reproducing patterns that can be associated with unequal access to learning opportunities for both students and teachers of color?
Implications for Practice: Remain critically reflective about your core values as a person and as a teacher. Nurture and maintain your passion and teaching heart.

05. Key Idea or Concept: The Double Bind
Achinstein and Ogawa use “double bind” as a metaphor to describe the nature of a central paradox that confronted the new teachers of color in their study. On the one hand, these teachers identified strongly with the low-income, non-dominant cultural communities where they taught. On the other hand, the ability of teachers to act on their commitments was challenged by the “culturally subtractive” conditions commonly found in their schools. The educators internalized this systemic paradox, and “experienced it in deeply personal and sometimes quite troubling ways” (p. 148). The bind plays out on three levels: (a) the individual level in the shifting cultural associations of teachers; (b) the classroom level regarding the many subtle issues around cultural match; and (c) the institutional level in the willing participation of teachers of color (and professed change agents) in the reproductive functions of schooling.
Insights or Connections to Experience: It is helpful and clarifying for me to read Achinstein and Ogawa’s supporting research on the importance of teachers of color as “empowerment agents who seek to disrupt the status quo of social reproduction” in schools . Change(d) Agents mentions research pertaining to cultural match and “the power of the presence” (p. 158). It also references an article by Ricardo D. Stanton-Salazar that characterizes the value to students of color of having teachers of color in four ways – as advocate, cultural guide, decoder, and bridging agent (p. 159).
I connect to the paradoxes described in this study. One connected teaching experience involves Shakespeare’s Othello and my determination on how it was to be taught. Similar to the teachers in Change(d) Agents, I think it is just as important to be culturally responsive as it is to expose students to the ‘culture of power.’ That was my purpose in choosing to teach the play. I was not concerned with testing students on the spelling of character names or the tick-tock of events. I was focused on critically examining the text. My plan was to give background on Shakespeare and introduce the basic issues of the play. We would then have discussions based on reading parts of the play, watching parts of a filmed version and viewing a contemporary film adaptation set in a high school. The last piece of the lesson unit was that I arranged for all students to see a live production of Othello at Minneapolis’ Guthrie Theater. Students were asked to create a final project exploring themes in Othello and comparing/contrasting Othello in two types of media.
It was an uphill battle on two fronts: administrators and students. An administrative observer from the district, who evaluated me toward the end of the unit, took issue with my approach. She seemed to think it basic that learners should have been made to read the entire play. She also took issue with my use of the film as a ‘substitute’ for reading, and the use of so much time on showing videos connected to the Othello story. The students objected to the very idea of studying Shakespeare. There was, at least initially, a very poor reception to the unit. Some learners were vocal in their opposition. I distinctly recall one student loudly declaring, “I ain’t gonna read this stupid Shakespeare s***!” Regardless of my new lesson approach and my critical, culturally relevant purposes, most students rejected my plan to spend two months on Othello and saw it as tired, dusty, worthless and unrelated to their lives. The final field trip, which also put me at odds with administrators, ended up as a bit of a disaster with students who were disruptive before and during the public performance and who broke other school policies.
It would have been simpler to have chosen a different text – an easier text. It would have meant smoother evaluations had I followed standard teaching strategies and purposes. But, I felt it important to pursue my aims as a culturally responsive educator, and this put me at cross purposes with other professional priorities.
Related Course Topics or Readings: This item relates to course topics concerning diverse learners, culturally relevant pedagogy and teaching in cultural contexts. Among other descriptors, cultural responsiveness is evidenced in teachers who (a) build relationships with and respond to the needs of learners across all cultural groups; (b) maintain a classroom environment where learners are able to discuss differences and inequities – and strive for social justice; and (c) reduce liminality by drawing from learners’ cultural backgrounds and experiences to create connections to the curriculum.
Critical Questions for Further Consideration: (1) How have culturally responsive educators and agents of urban school change successfully dealt with the pressure to conform to traditional approaches to teaching and learning? (2) What are the main areas of research regarding cultural match and the effect of African American students having African American teachers?
Implications for Practice: Draw from learners’ cultural backgrounds and experiences to create bridges and connections to the classroom.

06. Key Idea or Concept: Pragmatic Accommodation to Accountability
Achinstein and Ogawa found that their teacher participants wanted to bring culturally relevant perspectives and content to students. Yet, these teachers were faced with the school system’s emphasis on raising standardized test scores and teaching to state curriculum standards. This left little room for the teachers to include their own “cultural resources” or those of their students of color. While the educators described their strong beliefs against the emphasis on standardized testing, they nearly all reported a pragmatic accommodation to it. They were resigned to the idea that students would have to learn how to cope with testing.
Insights or Connections to Experience: Though I have not intensely encountered this particular teaching tension, it is still an aspect of schooling I view as important for me to explore and understand. I reject the dictates of the current test-driven era of ‘accountability,’ but my attitude toward the system is admittedly one of accommodation and acceptance.
I painfully remember the urban education horrors that prompted the rise of accountability movements. Not only were many low-income and minority children being left behind – failing schools were gleefully passing out meaningless grades to students while touting academic progress. Many (supposedly) successful urban schools were little more than diploma mills with football teams.
The accountability movements became corrupted by politics and have certainly had some unintended negative consequences – often for the very types of learners the reforms were intended to help. However, as anticipated by so many, the focus on accountability and implementation of standardized measuring of academic progress revealed hidden achievement gaps among student populations, notably a gender gap in the area now known as STEM. The push for accountability also helped usher in the idea of a common set of core standards.
Speaking generally, in my experience there is a great deal of talk and concern about test scores, but little attention is paid to directly instructing students on the culture, purposes and philosophies of testing. There seems to be almost no attempt to demystify the issue and address test anxiety. I have seen students freeze up at merely hearing me saying the word, “test.” A range of experiences and discussions with students have made it clear to me that schools could substantially raise test scores by even slightly altering student confidence levels and attitudes toward testing, and by providing, school-wide, explicit instruction on test preparation and test taking strategies. Of course, teaching to the test means the test becomes the teacher. Currently, the way we test students is at odds with what we know about how students learn and the diverse ways they can express their knowledge, learning and skill proficiency levels.
Related Course Topics or Readings: The paradox of accountability standards and pragmatic accommodation issues speak to course topics pertaining to the effect of teacher beliefs and attitudes on urban learners and on the teaching and learning process.  These matters also connect to the “Pygmalion Effect” in schools – the principle that the greater the expectation placed upon learners, the better they perform. Holding high expectations is mentioned first among the four priority elements required for positive urban school change listed by researchers in the article, Got Opportunity? (Quaglia, et. al., 2010).
Critical Questions for Further Consideration: (1) In what ways does teaching students the things needed for academic success become teaching students to conform? (2) To what extent do teachers have a right to insert their personal political beliefs into their professional practice? (3) What general attitudes and understandings do students of color have about testing?  (4) How might negative public perceptions about Common Core standards potentially serve to undermine the progress of diverse urban learners and city schools?
Implications for Practice: Hold high expectations of your students and of yourself. Maintain a critical awareness of the ways in which your attitudes, thoughts and beliefs can affect learners and learning.

07. Key Idea or Concept: Conditions Supportive of Cultural Commitments
In Chapter Five, Achinstein and Ogawa catalogue the conditions that support new teachers of color in enacting their cultural/professional commitments. They are here emphasizing the three priorities of many teachers of color (myself included): being a role model, instituting CRT, and being a change agent. Most of the challenges teachers in the study reported were linked to their lack of agency, constraints on instructional decision-making, and an unsupportive school climate.
Insights or Connections to Experience: A specific challenge that was consistently mentioned, and one that resonates with me, is the cultural liminality associated with being a teacher of color.  One teacher participant, named Alejandra, characterized the contrast between her life before college and her life as a professional as a “contradiction” that made her feel “disjointed” from her community and “culturally suspect in the eyes of some Latina/Latino students” (Achinstein & Ogawa, 2005, p. 90). Many teachers of color experience the liminality of being an agent of change in the system while also being changed by the system.
Related Course Topics or Readings: This item points to Teachers as Civic Agents (Mirra & Morrell, 2011) and the authors’ conception of teachers, not as transmitters of information, but as civic agents who prepare students to become “self-actualized and critically empowered.” Their definition repositions both teachers and students as powerful social producers of knowledge. This Pedagogy of the City centers on connecting what is learned – to why it is relevant to the learner. Mirra and Morrell suggest that this type of learning environment will increase student motivation and engagement and will enhance student-learner relationships.
Critical Questions for Further Consideration: Questions posed by Achinstein and Ogawa in Chapter Five . . . (1) How and to what extent are the personal and professional backgrounds of new teachers of color associated with their performance as role models, culturally/linguistically responsive teachers, and agents of change? (2) How have these issues been approached? (3) How and to what extent are conditions in schools associated with supporting the performance of new teachers of color in their cultural/professional commitments?
Implications for Practice: Help students connect what they learn in school to civic agency and empowerment outside of school.

08. Key Idea or Concept: Multicultural Capital
Achinstein and Ogawa identify an organizational quality that their findings indicate has an impact on the career decisions of new teachers of color: Multicultural Capital.  In their exploration of turnover rates for new teachers of color, the authors saw that teachers left schools that were characterized by (a) low expectations or negative attitudes about students of color, (b) lack of support for CRT, and (c) limited attention to cultural diversity and equity.
Insights or Connections to Experience: I would define the idea of cultural capital as the ability to communicate and transact across cultures and languages. This definition places issues of ‘race,’ gender, religion and the like, back in the educational context of developing cultural literacy – or what I identify as cultural competence. I personally connect to the experiences of some of the teachers in this study and the broad reasons they left their schools.
Related Course Topics or Readings: The concept of developing cultural capital goes to course topics concerning the purposes of urban schooling. I would state one basic purpose in the following way: to equip urban learners with the necessary knowledge, skills and understanding to thrive in a diverse, multicultural society.  James Baldwin is clear on the purpose of schools. In A Talk to Teachers (1963) he forcefully declares that schooling should not instruct individuals but rather, construct individuals. Baldwin says schools serve to create in each student the ability to look at the world for him or herself, “to ask questions of the universe, and then learn to live with those questions” (p. 46).
Critical Questions for Further Consideration: (1) What other researchers have looked at multicultural capital in schooling? (2) What are the outlines of research on social capital and the benefits of social networks in other fields such as sociology and economics? (3) In what ways might an urban school or school system be rated in terms of its multicultural capital?
Implications for Practice: Find ways to develop cultural competence in yourself and in your students.


Concluding Overview

Many of the topics raised in Change(d) Agents center around the paradoxes and potentially paralyzing teaching tensions faced by educators of color. Negotiating paradox is a central theme. This need to build up a tolerance for what Parker Palmer called “standing in the tragic gap” provokes reflection on the concept of mindset. One theory of creating a positive mindset is to actively replace defensive pessimism with strategic optimism. Defensive pessimism is used to manage anxiety and limit let downs. Strategic optimists set high expectations, and then actively avoid dwelling on consideration of the many ways things might go wrong. 

In terms of the use of Achinstein and Ogawa’s work as a course text, I would comment that the book is a little thin. Well over a quarter of the 200-pages of text are actually filled with notes and documentation. But, more importantly, I appreciated the option of a text that addresses issues which specifically relate to me as an African American urban educator.

Culturally Relevant Developmental Framework for New Urban Teachers of Color

	Core Theme	Issues/Indicators	Directives/Action Plan
1.	Agency	Multiple roles Supportive school conditions Change Agent	Establish cultural resources, social groups and community connections as a network of support to sustain your personal and professional development. Help students connect what they learn in school to civic agency and empowerment outside of school.
2.	Identity	Critical Reflection Cultural competence	Invest in critical research and reflection that acknowledges and prepares for the potential impact of ‘race’ and racialized ideation on learning in the diverse urban classroom. Find ways to develop cultural competence in yourself and in your students.
3.	Liminality	Paradox Cultural Responsiveness	Seek urban classroom management strategies that are effective at preventing, limiting and accounting for student removal. Draw from learners’ cultural backgrounds and experiences to create bridges and connections to the classroom.
4.	Intentionality	Attitude and Mindset Self-Evaluation	Hold high expectations of your students and of yourself. Maintain a critical awareness of the ways in which your attitudes, thoughts and beliefs can affect learners and learning. Replacing defensive pessimism with strategic optimism.
5.	Sustainability	Vision and Values Heart	Remain critically reflective about your core values as a person and as a teacher. Nurture and maintain your passion and teaching heart.

References

Achinstein, B., & Ogawa, R. (2005). Change(d) agents: New teachers of color in urban schools. [Kindle DX version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com

Baldwin, J. (1963). A talk to teachers. The Saturday Review, 21, 42-44.

Friedman, A., & Reynolds, L., eds. (2011). Burned in: Fueling the fire to teach. Teachers College Press.

Noguera, P., & Wing, J. Y. (2006). Unfinished business: Closing the racial achievement gap in our schools. Jossey-Bass, a Wiley imprint.

Milner, R. H.(2003). Teacher reflection and race in cultural contexts: History, meanings, and methods in teaching. Theory Into Practice, 42(3), 173-180.

O'Hehir, A.(2015, June 20). Rachel Dolezal, Dylann Roof and the tragic history of White America’s love-hate relationship with “Blackness”. Salon Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.salon.com/

Palmer, P. (1997). The heart of a teacher: identity and integrity in teaching change. The Magazine of Higher Learning, 29(6).

York-Barr, Jennifer; Sommers, William, et.al., (2005). Reflective practice to improve schools. (Edition: 2nd). Corwin Press.

Zeichner, K. M., & Liston, D. P. (2013). Reflective teaching: An introduction. (Edition: 2nd). Routledge Press.

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The New Jim Crow

Encountering The New Jim Crow:
Reflections on Mass Incarceration and Urban Education

Although I had heard much talk about The New Jim Crow, I had never actually read the book by highly regarded civil rights attorney and legal scholar, Michelle Alexander. The clear and concise work is a devastating indictment of America’s Mass Incarceration policies and a compelling call for change. My first encounter with The New Jim Crow prompted reflection in several areas related to urban education and teaching – starting with thoughts about incorporating the book into the urban literacy classroom.

Michelle Alexander

Reflections on the Text

More than just managing to weave together a wide web of historical, legal, social and political strands of information, Alexander has modeled a new culturally connected research format which heavily relies on language that humanizes the individual victims of Mass Incarceration. In this way, the format documents and demonstrates as it advocates.

Alexander’s text never feels preachy or manipulative. The understatement of her straight-forward language and approach actually serves to highlight the enormity of the human toll. It is shocking to consider the numbers of poor people and people of color locked in our prisons. Most disturbing is the fact that – a felony record forever restricts a person’s opportunities to secure housing, employment and education. Despite having served the full sentence for a drug-related conviction – released prisoners remain trapped behind the label of “felon,” permanent members of the American undercaste.

Portions of Alexander’s book could also be used in the urban literacy classroom to supplement study of works of fiction – specifically, Toni Morrison’s novel, The Bluest Eye, which contemplates many of the concepts Alexander explores related to “racial” stereotypes, media images, perception and self-identity.



Reflections on Self

The topics in Michelle Alexander’s book hit close to home. My family has been impacted in many ways by policing, drug laws and drug enforcement policies. My father served 20 years on the local police force in my hometown – McKeesport, PA – which is just outside of Pittsburgh. My father was, in fact, the city’s first Black chief of police. So from an early age, I was aware of crime, criminality and the law. As the son of an officer, my perceptions about “The Police” were not typical of the other young people of color with whom I went to school.

ed.

These and other family-related situations and experiences have certainly shaped my views about drugs and policing issues as they relate to young people of color. Unlike the views that would perhaps be held by a White person with little actual interaction with the Black community, I appreciate that stereotypes and media images are not real and that each person swept up in the War on Drugs is an individual with an individual story. I understand how prevalent drugs are in certain neighborhoods and some of the common attitudes toward drugs. As the son of a police officer I can also appreciate some of the law enforcement perspectives.



Reflections on Community

While the specter of Mass Incarceration is grim, this is not reflected in the physical buildings and spaces connected to the justice system.  Visiting the clean, quiet, orderly local police station, County Courthouse and Family Justice Center produces a feeling of sanity and security – a jarring disconnect with the feel of the justice system described in Alexander’s book. The courthouse is anything but grim, with its tall, shiny beams, polished floors and bright signage. The staff is professional and polite, and even the security guards are relaxed and friendly. From a government perspective, justice is being dispensed in well-lit, well-cared for, well-ordered institutions. The only witness to Jim Crow is peeking into windows of courtrooms on dozens of floors and keeping count of how many of the defendants are people of color. But, as a community space, the physical encounter with our justice system betrays no hint of the vicious cycle of Mass Incarceration in America.



Reflections on School Policies

Alexander’s outline of the New Jim Crow system is here related to aspects of the school system.

New Jim Crow

1. "War on Drugs"
2. "Mass incarceration policies . . . are a comprehensive and well-disguised system of racialized control that functions in a manner strikingly similar to Jim Crow."
3. "Federal drug authorities publicized the problem, using scare tactics to generate support."
4. ". . . expansion of law enforcement activities in America's inner city neighborhoods. . .”
5. "More aggressive enforcement of federal drug laws resulted in a dramatic increase in street level arrests for possession."
6. ". . . a growing and permanent undercaste" . . . "stigmatized racial group locked into inferior position by law and custom"

Schooling & Discipline Policies

1. “Accountability Movement” “Zero Tolerance”
2. Statistics on the types of students subjected to removal from the general classroom, suspensions and expulsions reveal part of a disguised system of racialized control.
3. Politicization and news media marketing of urban school failure and discipline problems.
4. Students who are failing, for whatever reasons, are labeled and tracked, leading to de facto school segregation
5. Focus on testing – leading to student labeling and tracking; tying test scores to teacher evaluations – leading to school staff cheating.
6. Once swept up in the school's behavioral system – or given a particular label – children of color become academically marginalized.

Reflections on Students

To gain a bit of insight into urban family perspectives, I viewed the stories of two young people – Christel (15-years-old) and Demetria (14 years-old) – who were featured in a 2014 PBS report entitled, Prison State: An intimate look at the cycle of mass incarceration in America.

Both teenagers are from Beecher Terrace, a housing project in Louisville, Kentucky where a large majority of the neighborhood has been to jail or prison. In this community, incarceration has been thoroughly normalized. The report notes that many of the incarcerated are people returning to prison for technical violations – not adhering to the conditions of their release in some way – rather than for committing a new crime. This applies to Christel and Demetria. For both, ongoing involvement with the system centers on probation violations.

Christel lives with her mom. For most of Christel’s life, her father has been in and out of prisons. She says her father, uncles and most of her cousins “are all in jail.” The lack of a relationship with her father seems to be central to Christel’s story. Christel mentions her father’s absence several times, as does her mother who believes it is a major contributing factor to Christel’s emotional and social maladjustments. As a student, Christel’s mother says her daughter would sometimes “act up” in elementary school but that it was when she went to middle school that “things got really bad.” Christel has been diagnosed as a student dealing with Bipolar disorder and ADHD. Her main schooling violations seem to be truancy and fighting. She was eventually sent to some sort of “alternative school” which is not described in the PBS report but which clearly was not a place that served her needs. The system was busy correcting Christel but failed at connecting with her. Christel’s mother speaks of her dilemma as a parent, explaining that her daughter leaves for school but does not actually go, forcing her to take out a ”Beyond Control Warrant” so she won't be prosecuted for Christel’s truancy. Along with charges for skipping school, Christel was, at one point, charged with the violation of “Resisting Arrest” after a school fight. This resulted in several negative interactions with the criminal system. Christel, who made at least one suicide attempt, offers the following self-assessment: “I'm an evil pathetic problem child. I'm useless . . . I'm tired. I'm confused . . . I'm just ready to die."

Demetria, whose mother was murdered, lives in Beecher Terrace with her aunt. Demetria is described by her aunt as extremely angry and defiant, saying, "she doesn't like for people to tell her what to do." Of course this leads to trouble in the typical school environment. A social worker asks Demetria, “How mad are you on a scale of one to ten?” Without hesitation, she responds, “Ten.” The root causes of her anger are not fully identified or explored in the PBS program, but the loss of her mother can fairly be assumed to be a major factor. Demetria’s father is not mentioned. For whatever reasons, he has no presence in the young girl’s story. Demetria has a record of truancy and behavior violations at school. She was also once jailed for assaulting her aunt. The report does not list any specific cognitive or emotional behavioral disorder, but it is clear that the young lady is wrestling with intense emotional issues. She continues to have difficulties at home and school because she has an inability to handle her own emotions. At the time of the report, Demetria is being housed in a juvenile shelter. Prior to violating her probation and running away from the shelter, Demetria expresses some powerful thoughts about her future. How could the system fail to connect with this? –  “I'm going to finish school. I'm going to be something when I grow up."




Reflections on Urban Teaching

Mack

While teaching Language Arts at North Senior Academy (NSA), I had many varied discussions and interactions with students centered on drug use, prison and policing. I recall my dealings with one specific student – hereafter referred to as Mack. Mack was hardly a “model student,” but he had a good head on his shoulders. He had street smarts, and despite some poor work habits, he had a solid attendance record and knew how to “do school” well enough to pass.

I assumed he may have been a marijuana smoker, but if so, I felt it was none of my business. I certainly never thought he was using drugs at school. As far as I was concerned, Mack was a real person, living in the real world, doing the best he could to get through school. Based on talk from students, I knew that Mack had somewhat of a notorious reputation, but he was generally very respectful of the classroom rules and of me personally. However, the other teachers on the NSA staff (all White) saw Mack quite differently. Because his movements and mannerisms were sluggish, his eyes were often sleepy looking, and his disposition was somewhat oppositional and cocky – the teachers were convinced Mack had a drug problem. It went from teacher lounge complaints and conversations to the point where Mack was named during a staff meeting as needing special interventions and calls home. Somewhat aware of Mack’s family situation, I saw this as needless, pointless and potentially disruptive and damaging to Mack – however, I did not speak up in his defense. At the time, I simply did not want to interject myself into the situation. In retrospect, I see that my selfish silence contributed to what I knew amounted to unfair harassment and a bit of hysteria. There never were any inventions, but subsequently, on two occasions, Mack was sent home from school on the report of a single teacher who, in both instances, claimed she had noticed Mack smelling of marijuana.

I eventually spoke privately with the student. It turned out to be a very enlightening and humbling conversation. Although he said he definitely had not been smoking pot on either occasion, he nonetheless, happily agreed to leave the building when confronted about the smell – so he could go home early. He laughed about it, saying the teacher thought she was hassling him, when actually she was doing him a favor: he got out of classes. The school never officially disciplined Mack, filed formal accusations against him or, as far as he knew, made any sort of record. According to Mack, neither the reporting teacher nor any other staff member ever even contacted his mother about his unacceptable odor problem.

Mack explained that, while smoking pot was no big deal – and most of his family and friends smoked it – in fact, he was not much of a drug user. He revealed that an older brother of his was serving a lengthy prison sentence for drug-related crimes, leading him to decide not to use marijuana or any other drug. Mack expressed that he was extremely scared of going to prison. As for his clothes smelling like pot, Mack explained it was due to the fact that he was often around people who were smoking drugs – including his mother.

So, it turned out that, not only were the other teachers wrong about Mack, even my basic assumptions about him were wrong. I too, believed that he was at least an occasional pot smoker – based only on my perceptions of him and his outward behaviors. In reality, here was a young Black man – with the saggy jeans and saggy posture of the stereotyped drug user from the ‘hood – that had actively chosen to be drug free. Mack did not need interventions for a drug addiction; he actually needed support in his efforts to avoid the trap of drugs while being surrounded by them. He had chosen to stay in school as a way to avoid prison. He directly told me that.

Through this conversation and subsequent interactions with the student, I came to see that Mack’s fears about landing in prison actually explained some of his disruptive behavior and rule-breaking. Mack had experienced the drug-related disasters of friends and family, including shootings and murders. He must have figured that, as long as he wasn’t smoking drugs, gang banging, or involved in any activity that was illegal -- he was being a good kid. Violations of school rules or policies – cursing at teachers or cutting classes – were seen in the context of criminal felonies, and were therefore dismissed as trivial.

In that same sense, I now appreciate that – if a parent’s fear is that, at any moment, the phone will ring with news about a son’s arrest, injury or death, then it is understandable why that parent would shrug off a call from the child’s English teacher about gum-chewing or talking out of turn.



Reflections on Families

Among the potential negative effects of Mass Incarceration policies on urban families as related to student learning and outcomes are the following eight items:
 

• A parent or family member sent away to prison is the removal of a source of student support – not just financial and social, but academic support
  
  
• The new Jim Crow has systematically removed positive adult male role models from neighborhoods and created a vacuum of community leadership
  
  
• The value and importance of an education is diminished when a child feels that four years in prison is as likely a future scenario as four years in college
  
  
• Mass Incarceration fosters a general sense of hopelessness and low expectations
  
  
• Mass Incarceration contributes to the Opportunity Gap in the social and employment sectors
  
  
• A large percentage of parents and students are haphazardly attending school in prisons and detention centers
  
  
• Distrust of police and the criminal justice system transfers to distrust of teachers, school administrators and the education system
  
  
• The new Jim Crow has devastated neighborhoods and thus neighborhood schools

Reflections on School Structures and Systems

I believe it is Joel Spring (Deculturalization and the Struggle for Equality) who points out that, by examining the systems devised to deculturalize and miseducate students from particular communities, we can actually see the systems that are needed in order to include, enfranchise and empower their learning. I’m wildly paraphrasing Spring, perhaps going beyond his point, but in any event – such a theory can be applied to the new Jim Crow. In her critique of the wide-ranging social dilemma, Alexander isolates and pinpoints the various systems (belief systems and institutional structures) used to build and maintain a policy of Mass Incarceration. In so doing, Alexander has identified the systems (beliefs, rules and customs) that must be employed in order to fully address and correct the situation.

In this same vein, the creation of a new equitable schooling system – and schools designed to maximize individual learning opportunities – can be contemplated by charting the old system’s components, here expressed as directives and strategies:


To-Do List of a Dead System

• Fashion an environment with an oppositional, top-down dynamic that demands rule compliance from children
  
  
•  Create conditions that demand silence, stillness and suppression of individuality
  
  
• Divide learners into big class sizes of two dozen or more
  
  
• Divide learning into study of discrete subject areas
  
  
• Use a calendar based on antiquated farming needs and a schedule based on factory shift hours
  
  
• Design spaces for a small staff of teachers -- not a large body of individual learners
  
  
• Ignore the various cultural norms, perspectives and priorities of diverse students and families
  
  
• Employ a largely White teacher workforce to educate a culturally diverse student population
  
  
• Isolate certain types of students from the general classroom through discipline policies
  
  
• Label and track certain types of students into groups
  
  
• Maintain mechanisms that will consistently underserve gifted/talented students from certain cultural groups
  
  
• Tie funding to testing and testing to labels like "ineffective teacher" and "failing school"

Reversing Course

Of the deadly components in the above list of structural elements, large class sizes present the biggest nightmare.

By grouping two dozen or more students into one classroom with one teacher, schools create a situation where students are in a crowd. The set-up means that, first and foremost, students have to be quiet and seated – just simply to maintain order. The hidden curriculum is a lesson about what sorts of attitudes, dispositions and behaviors are valued and "good." Large class sizes also communicate an almost Orwellian worldview of schooling – where every student will be fed the same instruction and assessed in the same way, so the size or make-up of a class is of no consequence. And obviously, it limits teachers’ ability to differentiate, individualize and build productive relationships.

The reverse of this structural element?

Reduce the average class size to 8 - 10 students. While expensive, use of flexible rotating scheduling, time modules, learning teams and other creative ways to organize a responsive schedule with appropriately sized classes would significantly reduce staffing costs. Still, the expense would be quite a leap from the nation’s present level of investment in education. The effort would require a doubling of the teacher workforce with an intentionally diverse new group of educators and specialists, and a reorganization of the physical settings and curricular systems where teachers interact with students.

Four top structural change priorities:

• Wrap-around (social, medical) services
  
  
• Diversify the urban teacher workforce
  
  
• Common Core curriculum for content and proficiency expectation consistency across systems (including juvenile detention centers and prison systems)
  
  
• Urban classroom discussion, investigation and critical consideration of incarceration issues

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