The Oakland Education Week in Review: 5/19-5/26

Last week, lived experiences of integration, more changes in the OUSD finance office, a look at space sharing and the law, Angela Davis visits Manzanita SEED, looking at grad rates, lots of action in Sacramento on charters, the polls on an education tax, the pitiful numbers when it come to Black students’ reading, all that and much more with links, please read, share, and get involved.

Oakland:

California:

Other Stories:

Resources:

Oakland:

California:

Other Stories:

  • Transgender Students, Athletics, Bullying: What the Equality Act Would Mean for School
    • The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Equality Act Friday, greenlighting a bill that would amend Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to add explicit federal protections for gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation to existing federal civil rights laws alongside similar protections based on race and national origin.
  • Richard Carranza held ‘white-supremacy culture’ training for school admins
    • City Department of Education brass are targeting a white-supremacy culture among school administrators — by disparaging ideas like individualism, objectivity and worship of the written word.
  • What’s so Special about “Special” Education?
    • “Special” education shouldn’t be that special.   Our current system artificially divides students, provides excuses for failure, and tends to hurt rather than help the intended beneficiaries, all the while walling out a whole range of students who should benefit from additional resources but don’t technically qualify.
  • Sharif El-Mekki: Leading With Equity and Justice
    • On the first day of school at Mastery Charter Shoemaker, principal Sharif El-Mekki welcomes students and staff not only back to school, but “back to nation-building.” The school serves almost 800 middle- and high-schoolers. Add the adults and the roster nears 900. That’s more than double the population of the world’s smallest country. So, technically, Shoemaker could be a small nation on its own.
  • Students With Disabilities Deserve Inclusion. It’s Also the Best Way to Teach
    • Students with disabilities face substantially increased rates of abuse and restraint in schools. As an education and disability advocate seeking to change that, I frequently encounter well-meaning arguments for separating higher-needs students from the general population.
  • The 74 Interview: Iconoclast Howard Fuller on Brown v. Board, Segregation and Race in America’s Schools — the Debate That ‘Will Go On Forever’
    • Howard Fuller hails from Milwaukee, the most segregated major city in the country. He says it doesn’t bother him, though.The decorated 78-year-old activist and educator has spent a lifetime agitating for civil rights as a social worker in Chicago, a community organizer in North Carolina and a superintendent of schools in his hometown. At an age when many would consider retirement, he’s still among the country’s loudest and most eloquent voices for educational equity.
  • 65 Years After ‘Brown v. Board,’ Where Are All the Black Educators?
    • Sixty-five years ago this week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional.
  • 6 Spanish Teachers Under Fire for Wearing Zarapes & Sombreros for Yearbook Photo
    • Despite people being constantly called out for being culturally insensititve after wearing sombreros, zarapes, and mustaches, many have yet to learn their lesson. This week, six Spanish teachers at San Pasqual High School in Escondido, California, were called out for wearing these items for their yearbook photo. Each of their names includes “Senora” or “Senor” (yes without the ñ) before their names.
  • Teachers of Color Get Lower Evaluation Scores Than Their White Peers, Study Finds
    • Teachers of color are disproportionately more likely to be rated minimally ineffective or ineffective on evaluations than their white counterparts, a new study finds.
  • The Statue of Liberty was created to celebrate freed slaves, not immigrants, its new museum recounts
    • The new Statue of Liberty Museum in New York Harbor boasts a number of treasures: the original torch, which was replaced in the 1980s; an unoxidized (read: not green) copper replica of Lady Liberty’s face; and recordings of immigrants describing the sight of the 305-foot monument.
  • Kaiser Permanente Gives $20M to Social Determinants Programs
    • Kaiser Permanente has awarded over $20 million to programs that address and support young people’s social determinants of health.
  • There Is No “Charter Movement” and Why That Matters
    • As a purported member of the so-called “charter movement,” I have to tell you: there is no such thing.  Seriously, the “charter movement” is a movement in the same way a bowel movement is a movement (anyone with a capable infrastructure, some inputs, and a little luck can have one).   In California it includes 5 Keys, who focus on programs in jails, and a lot of district schools, since 1/4 of charters are dependent charters started by districts. Some do very well, some don’t, many are in the middle.  These folks share little except the use of the charter vehicle, many times for good, sometimes not.
  • Charter school showdown in Sacramento: Assembly moves forward with package of powerful regulations as proponents and teachers unions clash
    • As a purported member of the so-called “charter movement,” I have to tell you: there is no such thing.  Seriously, the “charter movement” is a movement in the same way a bowel movement is a movement (anyone with a capable infrastructure, some inputs, and a little luck can have one).   In California it includes 5 Keys, who focus on programs in jails, and a lot of district schools, since 1/4 of charters are dependent charters started by districts. Some do very well, some don’t, many are in the middle.  These folks share little except the use of the charter vehicle, many times for good, sometimes not.

Resources:

  • Teachers, You Can Never Know the Demons Your Students Face, But There Is Something You Can Do to Help
    • Many children live in a similar world of insecurity or fear, with their protector haunted by demons. But that is the only world you have as a child—or at least it is better than your other choices. And you learn early on to keep that world private and invisible to the outside world.
  • Three Ways School Leaders Can Undo Grading Inequities
    • Public education has charted an exciting trajectory over the last 20 years. 1996 saw the publication of “Breaking Ranks: Changing an American Institution,” which laid out a model for school transformation based on collaborative leadership, personalizing the school environment, and curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices to enhance student engagement and learning.

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