Affirmative Inaction - Part 1

The Robbinsdale Area Schools, like so many surrounding districts, has seen enrollments fall and diversity rise.  Fewer students mean less revenue, putting pressure on class sizes and the relatively fixed costs of facilities.  Meanwhile, more diverse student populations require more specialization that also contends for those decreasing revenues.  Trouble is, that specialization, even when revenue was abundant, has not prevented disturbing, rising differences in results.  I speak of course of achievement gaps and graduation rates, Minnesota oddly scoring high in average results and wide in the disparity of those results.

At its November 9, 2009 Work Session, the District 281 heard reports from Board Clerk Helen Bassett and Tyrize Cox, newly appointed Program Director for Integration and Equity.  This included a report from Bassett on her trip to the Pacific Education Group (PEG) Summit for Courageous Conversation.  Before continuing, let me note that PEG has run into some controversy as The Activist Next Door has been chronicling.  Several Board members touched on this last night, apparently uncomfortable with following PEG’s programs too closely, as they should be.  PEG won’t blow up like ACORN did,  but their abrasive approach including some reverse racism could still prove embarrassing and counter-productive later.

Bassett’s report also touched on the District’s participation in WMEP and the District’s 2008 Strategic Plan.  It was a good presentation, which I would recommend be summarized for a formal public presentation at an upcoming Board Meeting.  Following that was Cox’s report on our 2009-10 Equity and Integration Goals, again well presented.  A number of goals, policies, programs, even a couple of new ideas were listed, all aimed at getting better results for the underperforming “cohorts” in 281.

Folks, this is serious business, with another generation of minority students at risk.  I cannot do less now than speak truth to power.  This is old wine in new bottles.  It’s been tried before.  It didn’t work before.  I see no reason to believe it will work now.

As I posted previously, turnaround efforts within the boundaries set by the various “Statutes of Limitations” have yet to produce the scalable, repeatable results we all seek.  Indeed, Superintendent Sicoli observed last night that there is no template whereby you do this, this, and this, and the problem is solved.

No, we’re just exchanging reworded bromides about welcoming environments, cultural understanding, racial balance, staff diversity, socio-economic disparities, equal access, and multi-culturalism.  We’re being presented with the same old approach of more awareness, more research, more programs, more experts, more resources, more training, and of course, more money, and none of this is new.  What would be new would be some honest evaluation and explanation as to why these prior efforts failed, and how these new recommendations would avoid those mistakes.

As I said, there actually were a couple of new concepts, one of which deserves further commentary which I’ll save for part two.

Comments

[The Big Stink]

I know how to fix this problem. A referendum. (Sarcasm added at no extra charge).

[anonymous]

Thanks for the thoughtful look at this, Speed. It's a complicated issue, and I wish there were easier answers. I'm interested in what Part 2 brings.

I'm not sure there's some brilliant new solution out there. More likely a different mix of some of the partitially successful programs that have been tried over the years.

Schools can be part of the fix, but I suspect there are bigger social/cultural/economic issues at play here that need more than what any school can provide.

[Speed Gibson]

I always find it puzzling that the public schools say that they can't be expected to succeed for those social/cultural/economic reasons, but then turn around and claim to have new programs that can transcend them.

[Give2Attain]

I guess I have never heard anyone say they have a new program that can transcend the "kids not prepared for school" challenges. (ie poor academic prep, belief systems, values and support systems) Except possibly by Consulting Firm's sales force...

Typically the school personnel say they will use the new program to try to do the best they can with the cards they are dealt. Hopefully helping more kids to succeed than without the new technique.

Usually they say they need the kid's earlier and for more hours per year. Unfortunately we would need to pay for that. By the way, have the readers interested in education read "Whatever It Takes" yet... It is sooooo related to this discussion....

[CDO]

Thanks Speed for an excellent and thought provoking post. I have some thoughts I will be sharing in the near future.