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A local alternative had an article on Gloria Landsing Billings which I =
thought some may kind interesting. For background, the "Teach for =
Diversity Program" is a special route to a teaching license that escapes =
the traditional school of ed. Its receives most students from other =
departments and explicitly focuses on teaching kids from "hard to reach" =
populations. An interesting side effect of the program is many of her =
classes that focus on multi-cultural education, diversity etc. are =
reserved for that program and its very difficult for those not in the =
program to take those classes. Even so, its really popular for SOE =
students to proclain they are going to grow up and be "Dreamkeeper =
teachers". I recently relooked over her book and for me there was a lot =
of connections between Vygotskian stuff and her ideas.
Nate =20
Teach your teachers well:
Local prosessor pioneers ways to improve the performance of African =
American students.
By CARMEN CLARK
Attending an inner-city public school in Philadelphia, Gloria =
Ladson-Billings had a eacher-mentor who set high standards and didn=92t =
take excuses for missed homework. It was a time when few blacks expected =
to match educations with whites or move into professional careers. But =
Gloria=92s teacher kept her on track, prodded her to learn, challenged =
her to value her education and prepared her to go far.
She has. Today, Ladson-Billings is a UW-Madison education professor, a =
researcher and fellow at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at =
Brown University and a national expert on the issue of low academic =
achievement among African American youth. She says the key to getting =
American African students to excel, as in her own case, is having =
teachers who take the right approach what she calls informed empathy.
They have learned not to feel for the kids but to feel with them, and =
basically say, =91Yeah, I know this is tough, but-guess what?-you=92ve =
got to suck it up,=92 says Ladson-Billings. Teachers are not social =
workers. They have a respon-sibility to push kids academically, =
regardless of personal circumstances.
It=92s not that they are callous or unfeeling, but that their =
understanding of the kids=92 feelings is grounded in a deeper =
understanding of the kids=92 experiences and a sincere commitment to =
their education.
Ladson-Billings research has drawn national attention; her articles have =
appeared in scholarly journals, and she has been quoted in publications =
including, recently, The New York Times. She is the author of a 1994 =
book, The Dream-keepers: Successful Teachers of African American =
Children. Lately, Ladson-Billings=92 ideas have been ap-plied in Madison =
public schools, in a three-year research project called Teach for =
Diversity.
It=92s part of a national research network involving 14 schools =
throughout the country. The goal: to improve the performance of A&man =
American students by altering the approach taken by their teachers. =
It=92s a daunting challenge. When it comes to grades and scores on =
standardized tests, African American students still trail whites. The =
numbers are grim. Combined national average SAT scores for ltl85 show =
that college-bound black high school seniors whose parents had no =
college degrees av-eraged 655 out of 1,999 possible points. White =
students from the same background averaged 792. When at least one parent =
had a graduate degree, whites averaged 1,035 to blacks=92 944. On Third =
Grade Reading Comprehension MARY LANGENFELD Tests in 1996-97,24 % of =
blacks in Madison scored below standard, compared to 15% for Hispanics =
and 4% for whites. Ladson-Billings says stan-dardized test scores in all =
grades show similar patterns, but test scores aren=92t everything. As =
she once told the San Francisco Examiner, We=92re going to have to make =
better tests to show us what kids can do.
For her national research network, Ladson-Billings each year selected 25 =
participants based on their desire to teach black students. AlI had =
bachelor=92s degrees in fields other than education. Many were older =
than traditional college ages, with work experience outside of teaching. =
These student teachers were a wide variety of ages, notes Tom Groff, a =
physical education teacher at Lincoln Elementary School. So I think it =
reflects their maybe being a little bit more committed to working with a =
more diverse student population-that they settled on this as something =
they think is important.
The candidates worked in classrooms all year, rather than the usual =
methods curriculum with nine weeks in one school, nine in another and 29 =
student teaching. Her crew had seminars in teaching methods on the =
teaching site, with doors open to regular teachers. The schools checked =
up on the children=92s performance with standardized tests and =
individual progress reports from teachers.
Now, after three years, Ladson-Billings is tallying the scores and =
evaluating the project. But preliminary results show that black =
achievement rose. Ladson-Billings, who this spring received a $59,999 =
grant to continue her teaching research, says the key may be that the =
teachers in her program all had a profound life experience they could =
draw on as teachers.=20
They could all point to a transformative moment or event in their lives =
that really shook up their thinking: =91The world isn't really this =
way.'
ladson-Billings=92 research shows that student achievement is affected =
by a wide range of factors, from school environments and curriculum, to =
peer and family factors. In 1992, the research network studied black =
students at Evanston High School in suburban Chicago. They found =
high-achieving African American students often isolated in all-white =
classes, sometimes un-dervalued by teachers and jeered by black peers as =
"Oreos"-black on the outside but white on the inside-for buying into the =
school game. Ladson-Billings speculates that many dumbed down to avoid =
losing black friends.
She says upper-class black parents-even highly educated ones-may have =
comfortable lives, but not intellectual lifestyles. They may not read =
much, which doesn=92t modelreading for their kids. The families of =
working-class black stu-dents, Ladson-Billings recently told The New =
York Times, may be very proud of what you=92re doing, but they don=92t =
have any way of really supporting it. Many parents may have more than =
one job, leaving little or no time to help children with homework and =
projects. Another factor, she believes, is the sense of racial isolation =
and stereotyping that blacks tend to feel in their all-important peer =
and learning environment. She says one Ail-ican American student at a =
suburban high school near Madison told her something that left a deep =
impression:
"What I don=92t like about this school is that everything black means =
something", the student said. "If I come to school with a certain shirt =
on, it means something. If I have a pant leg rolled up, it means =
something. IfI part my hair on the other side of my head, it means =
something. But nothing white means anything", he con-tinued. "Hair =
purple and orange-it doesn=92t mean nything. A white boy came to school =
the other day wearing a pink miniskirt-it didn=92t mean anything".=20
Reflects Ladson-Billings, "Black kids are always grouped. Then, if they =
function in a group they=92re told they shouldn=92t be in a group. So =
it=92s a double bind. You never get seen as an individ-ual. And if you =
function in a collective, somehow that=92s wrong too."
Julie Melton, a fiflh-grade "Teach for Diversity" teacher at Lincoln, =
credits Ladson-Billings with playing an important role in improving the =
district=92s approach. Obviously, a lot of kids are not achieving, both =
African American and Latino kids. There has to be a solution, says =
Melton. "Ifthere=92s any-body that I look to for sort of a shining light =
for teachers, to keep us believing and learning about ways we can do a =
better job with Afiican American students, it=92s Gloria =
Ladson-Billings."=20
Nate Schmolze
http://www.geocities.com/~nschmolze/
schmolze who-is-at students.wisc.edu
People with great passions, people who accomplish great deeds,
People who possess strong feelings even people with great minds
and a strong personality, rarely come out of good little boys and girls
L.S. Vygotsky=20
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