You Belong Here: Helping Underrepresented Students Thrive in Independent Schools

You belong here: Helping students of color and students receiving financial assistance to thrive

in independent schools

April 16, 2015

Middle Schools• Adda Clevenger Junior Preparatory and

Theater School for Children• Alt School• Alta Vista School• Cathedral School for Boys• Children’s Day School• Convent of the Sacred Heart Elementary

School• The Hamlin School• Katherine Delmar Burke School• Kittredge School• Live Oak School• Marin Country Day School• Marin Preparatory School• Mission Dolores Academy• The Nueva School• Presidio Hill School• St. Anthony of the Immaculate Conception• San Francisco Friends School• The San Francisco School

• School of the Epiphany• Stuart Hall for Boys• Synergy School• Town School for Boys• West Portal Lutheran School

High Schools• Convent of the Sacred Heart High School• Gateway High School• Immaculate Conception Academy• International High School• Lick‐Wilmerding High School• The Marin School• Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory• San Francisco University High School• San Francisco Waldorf High School• Stuart Hall High School• The Urban School

• 60+ PARTNER PUBLIC REFERRAL SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITY BASED ORGANIZATIONS

partner schools

• Athenian School

• Aurora School

• The Bay School of SF

• Bentley School

• The Berkeley School

• Black Pine Circle Day School

• Branson School

• Brentwood School

• Buckley School

• Bush School

• The Carey School

• Castilleja School

• Children's Day School

• Chinese American International School

• College Prep

• Crane Country Day School

• The Crowden School

• Crystal Springs Uplands School

• Curtis School

• École Bilingue

• French American International School

• The Gillispie School

• The Hamlin School

• Head Royce School

• Hillbrook School

• International High School

• Jewish Community HS of the Bay

• Kalmanovitz School of Ed, SMC

• Katherine Delmar Burke School

• Lick‐Wilmerding High School

• Los Gatos‐Saratoga Observation Nursery School

• Marin Academy

• Marin Country Day School

• Marin Primary & Middle School

• Mark Day School

• Marlborough School

• Menlo School

• Montessori Family School

• Moses Brown School

• Mount Tamalpais School

• National Cathedral School

• Pacific Ridge School

• Park Day School

• Peninsula School

• Presidio Hill School

• Prospect Sierra School

• Redwood Day School

• Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton

• St. Gregory College Prep

• St. Mary’s College

• St. Ignatius College Preparatory

• Samuel Merritt University

• San Francisco Day School

• San Francisco Friends School

• The San Francisco School

• San Francisco Waldorf School

• Stuart Hall for Boys

• Town School

• The Urban School of San Francisco

• Vacaville Christian Schools

• Viewpoint School

• Village School

• Westridge School

• Wildwood School

Other clients:

• Education Outside • EPA, Region 9• Siemens Healthcare

Diagnostics• SMART

Conferences:• Affinity Group Educators

Workshop• Asian Educators Alliance• CAIS• Creating Balance in an

Unbalanced World• EBISA• Equity and Inclusion

Through a Leadership Lens: What Works in Education

• Lick‐Wilmerding Asian‐American Student Conference

• NAIS• POCC• POCIS of Northern CA• PSPP• White Privilege Conference

Our purpose today

© 2012 Blink

• Explore individual, community and institutional issues, opportunities and responsibilities in helping students and families to thrive

• Identify useful tools and lenses for helping students and families thrive

• Have a professional conversation about identity, diversity and inclusion

Guidelines

• Confidentiality

• Yes, and…

• Make this useful

© 2011 Blink

Hello…

What was the first thing you noticed about

Alison?

© 2011 Blink

What we notice in a split second(Elsea, 1985)

• Skin color• Sex• Age• Appearance• Facial expressions• Eye contact• Movement• Personal space• Touch

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Racist sexist babies?• 3 months: show a positive bias toward attractive faces (Langlois, 1987)

• 6 months:‐ interested in skin color and gender differences (Bisson et al., 1955‐1989)

‐ able to “discriminate between different races” (Katz & Kofkin, 1997)

• 24 months: – notice and ask about differences (Bisson et al.)

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A student scenarioA motivated, strongly recommended black male student who “loves school and learning” and was at the top of his class in public school is struggling academically in his first month at your school, turning in incomplete assignments, missing deadlines and not showing up during scheduled tutorials.

… What’s your gut response?© 2012 Blink

Noticing ourselvesWhere is my gut reaction coming from?

• Background• Experience• Cultural norm• Identity and status

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Framing• What don’t I know? What am I assuming?

• What could this situation be about?

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What do we fear?"There’s often an undercurrent of fear or tension between black male students and many white teachers, and even some black ones. This fear can be triggered over something as minor as a black boy walking around the room. On some subliminal level, the teacher is afraid to have even a very young black male defy the simplest rule. She’s afraid his defiance will escalate."

—Harry Morgan, Professor, Early Childhood Development, State University of West Georgia

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Educational disparities• Black and Latino students are under‐represented in “gifted and talented programs” (US Dept of Education, 2012)

• Teachers’ perceptions of African‐American boys ages 7‐9 shift from “cute” to threatening: they become “aggressive,” “hyperactive,” “failing” (Kunjufu, 1985)

• Black students are 3.5 times more likely than white students to be suspended (Southern Poverty Law Center, 2012).

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Individual support

• Recognize the whole student without requiring the student to bare all

• Recognize how identity and culture matter in the student’s experience and the school’s perception of the student

• Partner with the student and their family, leveraging their strengths and resources

• Provide direct and diverse support within the school community, including but not limited to affinity opportunities

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Transforming the coal mine(Angela Park, 2007)

“It’s not just about individual behavior – niceness across difference – it’s about power, the institutional power and structural discrimination and the invisible ways that privilege and this domination mindset play out and are built into all human systems and institutions. It’s a structure that must be altered...”

© 2010 Blink

Working with struggling students

“The problem [is]n’t the students” (Treisman, Mathematics Workshop Program, University of California, 1985)

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Myths about student failure(Treisman, 1985)

• Motivation gap• Inadequate preparation (especially in “vertical” subjects)

• Lack of family support and understanding of education

• Income (race and ethnicity have nothing to do with academic performance)

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Why Treisman’s model works: setting the bar high

The workshop “is an intensive, demanding program for talented students, particularly minority students, who are planning career[s] in mathematics‐based profession[s]... They are told that they are among the most promising freshmenand that the program is seeking students with a deep commitment to excellence. ... The emphasis is on students' strengths rather than their weaknesses ... the direct opposite of tutoring or other remedial programs” (Gillman, 1990).

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Struggling students: a self‐perspective(Treisman, 1985)

Because of their participation in [a special high school program], these students saw themselves as an academic elite group. They were accustomed to being the tutors, not the ones in need of tutoring. ... Knowing the students' sensitivities, I took care that the Workshop not appear to be a tutoring session. The problem sets (called worksheets) were always difficult, with near‐impossible problems thrown in frequently to protect the Workshop's non‐remedial veneer.

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Why Treisman’s model works, cont.• Small peer learning & teaching communities in which

students “ask each other questions ranging from whether one was permitted to write in pencil on a test to how one might circumvent certain University financial aid regulations… critique each other's work, assist each other with homework problems, and share all manner of information related to their common interests. Their collaboration provide[s] them with valuable information that guide[s] their day‐to‐day study.

• Faculty leadership instead of “the traditional faculty response to minority students… to hire someone to deal with them, create tutorial programs for them, and house them in a temporary building on campus somewhere… the mathematics workshop model build[s] a community around the courses and manage[s] the courses by faculty, not tutors in temporary buildings.”

© 2012 Blink

Don’t blame the canary(Treisman, 1985)

“Once again, we were forced to deal with the fact that the problem wasn’t the students. Students, in fact, respond to whatever you give them.”

Dealing with the problem of student failure “means that the [school] has to rethink what the collective responsibilities of departments are.”

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Community proaction• Create a shared foundation of understanding for diversity and equity as mission‐vital

• Acknowledge and challenge normative biases, including the public‐private school bias

• Practice having vital conversations about identity, diversity and inequity in the school community

• Equip community with language and tools for “what to say/do when…”

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Deficit perspective(Gorski, 2008)

A deficit perspective holds marginalized groups accountable for exclusion and inequity, locating the problem in “deficient” behaviors and cultures, rather than systemic bias and discrimination. The solution is, therefore, to “fix” marginalized people. In schools, this means “facilitat[ing] change in [minority] students while ignoring the structural inequities of schools.”

© 2012 Blink

Public schools: just as goodControlling for “key” family factors, “students who attend private high schools receive neither immediate academic advantages nor longer‐term advantages in attending college, finding satisfaction in the job market, or participating in civic life.”

© 2012 Blink

Key family factors

• Financial resources• Cultural capital• Educational opportunity expectations • Parent/guardian involvement with schoolwork

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The private school advantage: exceptions(Center on Education Policy, 2007)

“[S]tudents who attended independent private high schools had higher SAT scores than public school students, which gave independent school students an advantage in getting into elite colleges… This finding suggests that while these schools are no better at teaching the subject matter, they may provide students with test‐taking skills that help them further their education, or they may enroll students with higher IQs (aptitude tests like the SAT are a better measure of IQ than achievement tests are).”

“[O]ne special type of private school, Catholic schools run by holy orders (such as Jesuit schools), did have some positive academic effects. There are very few such schools, however; most Catholic schools are run by their diocese, not by an order” (Meyer, 2007).

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Surviving v. thriving: 2 models for schools

Surviving• We don’t see differences.

Everyone is equal.

• It’s up to you to fit in. (We have standards!)

• We make someaccommodations for special cases.

Thriving• We’re committed to

increasing access and opportunity for diverse groups.

• It’s our job to scaffold students to our standards.

• We recognize that some people are already accommodated, and the issue is equity.

© 2011 Blink

Life in independent schoolsWhat does it cost to be an IS student? Consider: – Financial costs

• Academic (including field trip costs), student life (athletics, performance, social and special events), transportation and family giving

– Time costs• Travel, after school, homework

– Social and emotional costs• At school and at home

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Taking inventory: What does it take to be an independent school family?

• Beyond tuition, what do IS expect of parents/guardians? What is “good” parenting, especially for an exceptional need?

• Which expectations are bona fide, and which are unhelpful?

• What access and opportunity do IS provide to families to meet those expectations?

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Institutional commitment • Define the school’s responsibility for students thriving

• Identify the school’s role in learning and experience gaps among student groups

• Integrate cultural competency as a core professional expectation

• Support programming and pro growth to equip educators to empower all groups of students to thrive

• Increase diversity and eradicate “the only one” burden

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A model for inclusion (Banks & Banks, 2004)

• Environment– What diversity and multicultural values your classroom/office explicitly conveys and practices

• Antidiscrimination education– How you empower people to recognize and strive for what’s right and fair

• Epistemology– How you help people to rethink norms and assumptions

• Curriculum– What you teach and how you teach it

• Pedagogy– How you scaffold diverse students to excellence

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Next steps?With the goal of helping traditionally underrepresented students and families thrive at your school:• What growth is vital?• What opportunities for inclusion and equity do you need to pursue?

• What do you need to do? Who needs to be involved? What are your next steps? And how will you hold yourself and others accountable?© 2012 Blink

You Belong Here: Helping Underrepresented Students Thrive in Independent Schools

Education

Transcript of You Belong Here: Helping Underrepresented Students Thrive in Independent Schools