Rant d'Jour; Equal Opportunity vs Equity in the Ivy League

Rant d'jour: Affirmative Action, Equity and Equality at *Harvard University. 

In reality, Harvard only accepts the best students with the highest scores. 

If they are so damn good at educating our youth, let them take those who can benefit the most from such an education. 

The truth is, if Harvard only accepts the best students, their job (presumably, to turn out highest achievers; the creme de la creme; the best of the best) is *that* much easier. 

Think  how easy their job is given their baseline population. 

This makes no sense! 

If Harvard is so damn good at teaching people, let them take the worst and make them the best. 

Give the Academic Elite a real challenge. 

Are they up 

for it? 

Are you? 

Elyssa D. Durant, Ed.M.

Research and Policy Analyst 

Footnotes: *I used Harvard synbolically to represent elite Ivy League colleges and Univeristities. 

Could jusr as easily subsitute Vandervilt University, Columbia, Cornell, Brown etc.

Casualties of War: Violence in American Schools by Elyssa D. Durant

Casualties of War: Hired Guns in American Schools

by Elyssa D. Durant, Ed.M.

Over the last decade, there has been mounting concern for the safety of teachers and students in the American public school system. This is particularly true of urban high schools, where students must walk through a metal detector before entering the building. School violence has become epidemic, and educational researchers have looked long and hard for a solution to the problem.

School administrators and elected officials bear the responsibility of keeping students safe during school hours, and a number of districts have implemented violence prevention programs. School security has become a top priority, and while improved security measures may have contributed to a decline in school related deaths, it has not been without significant changes in the school environment.

The added security has effected the traditional school environment by disrupting the chain of command within public institutions. The presence of school security guards appears to have a negative impact on the overall school climate. The presence of security guards disrupts traditional roles within the schools, and teachers report feeling at odds with security personnel. Increased security tends to fragment the school environment, and teachers report feeling a false sense of security. The secured environment is an indication of how students are expected to behave.

Under these conditions, it is not surprising to learn that students also report pervasive feelings of fear and do not feel secure despite the added presence of security personnel on school grounds. For these students, school is a mere extension of the violent communities in which they live.

Studies consistently report lower academic achievement in these neighborhoods. Children growing up in urban neighborhoods have a much higher incidence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Most researchers believe this to be the direct result of living in stressed communities plagued with street crime and violence.

Despite the severe implications of this realization, there is virtually no research on how pervasive fear affects the academic performance of urban adolescents. Previous research has found that people who suffer from acute stress process information differently (Sapolsky, 1996; McNally, 1995; Metcalfe & Jacobs, 1996). Individuals who feel threatened by their environment are acutely aware of their surroundings and have a heightened sensitivity to visual cues. As a result, they tend to hyper-focus on potential sources of threat, and shift into a different cognitive gear.

Individuals under stress not only store information differently, but their ability to retrieve information is also largely dependent upon emotional states (Metcalfe & Jacobs, 1996; Sapolsky, 1996; Perry, et al, 1996). Interestingly enough, information learned in song, rhyme, or rap is more easily retrieved in a state of high arousal. If this is in fact true, then popular culture may affect adolescents considerably more than previously believed. In addition to helping us understand the cognitive framework of individuals under stress, this can help us to find alternatives teaching methods to help urban schoolchildren who have not responded to traditional teaching methods.

Research has found the school climate to be a critical factor in reduction of school violence (Walker, 1995; Sabo, 1993). Disruptions in the traditional organization structure places additional stress on the school climate. The effect of school violence on teacher relationships is not known. In response to the public outcry for action, school boards implemented violence prevention programs and zero tolerance policies long before there was a chance to evaluate the severity and prevalence of the problem. The literature tends to focus on classroom management and violence prevention programs (Ascher, 1994; Walker, 1995).

Literature on school violence tends to focus on statistics and incident reports that do not provide an adequate understanding of school related violence. The research on school violence fails to address the importance of the organizational culture and the various components that are critical to effective schools. It is not surprising that students are unable to learn in this environment.

Teachers have become fearful of their students, and students fear each other. The presence of school security will certainly affect the organizational balance of American public schools, and sensitizes all members of the school environment to the roles they are expected to play. Many teachers feel a social responsibility and commitment to their schools, and feel they have a direct impact on the livelihood of their student body.

Together, the urban public school and the community it serves are a constant reminder of the poor living conditions and social reality of urban America. Students understand what is expected of them, and teachers are sensitized to conduct which reinforces their experience. Since urban communities have many different sources of stress, it is important to examine how school policies contribute to the learning environment in public schools.

Elyssa D. Durant © 1996-2014

edd, edm

Decontextualizing Assessment Policy: Does It Make Economic Sense?

Decontextualizing Assessment Policy
Does It Make Economic Sense? 

by Elyssa D. Durant, Ed.M.

Little discusses the three phases educational development in Africa, and questions whether reform was based on "indigenous needs of the people" or the perceived needs of the colonizers. 

She discusses the new technology being used in assessment and the economic indicators which brought about the rapid "reorientation phase" of African education chanictcri/cd by the rcftppraisul of basic questions such as, access to education, educational inputs and outputs, internal efficiency, 'fractionalization", "lack of coordination, and 'drift' in the educational sector as a whole". 

Within her discussion of policy change and implementation, little reviews the notion that international involvement provides an opportunity to bring advancements in technology and evaluate international ideas to help solve indigenous problems. 

Little also reviews Heyneman and Ransom papers, and ultimately concludes that examinations are a powerful, lowcost means of influencing the quality of teaching and learning in schools. She states that while Heyneman and Ransom give data supporting the existence of a wide gap betweur) developed countries and Third World Nations, they gave no data to support the idea that this gap is getting wider. 

Little reviews the main points Heyneman and Ransom's argumciit, but states it's weakness lies within the foundations of the argument which are based upon qiuititativu ditta frorri ; 1970's. Little questions whether Ihe same analysis can be applied; interpretation has become irrelevant, in today's world. This research concluded that attempts to change curricula failed at the implementation stage because the new Western-inspired chiingcs were inconsistent with national examinations. uses topics for further discussion

(1) Can we generalize the current data to each and every in the world?

(2) Would an external lending agency aiding the aiding the foundation of a centralized examination body in England or France make good examinations a contingency upon the the receipt of external funds?

(3) How would a banking agency revive the issue of notions of "good examination practices"?


Elyssa D. Durant © 1995-2014

NAACP Challenges Funding for Charter Schools

The possibility of locating a charter school on Nashville’s affluent west side has emotional hooks that reopen old wounds while creating new ones.

Black leaders who still see the lingering effects of white flight fear a taxpayer-funded school that functions more like a private academy for white students. A predominantly white group of charter school supporters argues that it wants the best opportunity for its children and shouldn’t be denied it.

And, finally, the school board, fresh from being sued over racial balance in schools — the district won that suit last month — doesn’t believe the charter school, Great Hearts Academies, is doing enough to ensure racial balance. On Tuesday, it defied a state order to approve Great Hearts.

The result: A dramatic, ongoing war of words waged live and in social media.

Councilman Jerry Maynard took to Twitter after the board vote and called it a “stand against tyranny.” Also tweeting that night was Townes Duncan, one of the founders of a political action committee aimed at stacking the school board with pro-charter members. He took aim at Ed Kindall, a school board member who led opposition against Great Hearts, and lost in the Aug. 2 election.

“Good riddance Ed Kindall,” Duncan wrote. “A pathetic legacy of mediocrity, cronyism and kids who can’t read. Contemptible.”

Kwame Lillard, an activist and member of the local NAACP chapter, spoke to the board directly: “No tax dollars for disguised lily-white academies.”

Racial balance in schools has been an issue since Nashville’s 1970 court-ordered desegregation. By 1985, the district had lost 32,000 students and dropped to an all-time enrollment low of 63,000. It just regained that enrollment last year, but while the city is predominantly white, school enrollment is mostly minorities.

“This is what it boils down to,” Kindall said Thursday. “Every year, every board tries to bring middle-class white families back into the school system.”

He said Great Hearts was invited to Nashville to do that.

“I just want to tell the truth,” Kindall added. “If we open the door in this city, if we approve this without adequate transportation that will ensure opportunity and access is there for all children, we have set a precedent. ... It negates everything we’ve done.”

Dedicated to diversity?

School board members and Great Hearts representatives disagree on whether the charter school has created a transportation plan that would encourage diversity at the school.

State Board of Education Executive Director Gary Nixon examined Great Hearts’ application and found the charter school has lived up to its responsibility, according to his report, issued July 25. Nixon said Nashville’s own charter school review committee recommended approval of the school and touted the diversity plans as “detailed.”

The review committee also said the plan “promotes diversity and equitable access to school choice options,” according to the documentation.

But the board disagreed with that review and voted down the application 7-2, even after the state Board of Education ordered it to accept it.

“Seven of us decided we aren’t satisfied with what we have been shown,” said board member Anna Shepherd. “According to seven of us, they haven’t proved they’re dedicated (to diversity).”

West Nashville parent Mary Pierce, who is white and whose children attend regular public schools, said she finds the racial allegations offensive. She wants to see Great Hearts open in Nashville because she wants a different type of education for her children — one where excellence is expected, she said.

Pierce has investigated other charter schools in Nashville. The only reason she hasn’t attempted to enroll her children in any of them is because they require extended school days.

“I just want great schools,” Pierce said. “I want somebody calling these children up to their very highest. I wish Metro schools would just try a high-expectation experiment.”

Racial imbalance

So far, charter schools have not made Nashville’s education system more diverse.

Two charter schools in Nashville are mostly Hispanic; theother nine are mostly black, with percentages of black students ranging from 72 percent to 99 percent, according to figures supplied by Metro Nashville Public Schools. The school system as a whole is 46 percent black, 33 percent white and 17 percent Hispanic. Almost 75 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.

Racial imbalance in charter schools became an issue in a lawsuit filed by two black families against the school district over a controversial rezoning plan they claim was aimed at segregating black students into North Nashville schools.

The plaintiffs’ attorneys argued that the district would have two segregated systems — one consisting of regular public schools, one of charter schools. Judge Kevin Sharp indicated from the bench he’d limit the weight given to the charter school argument.

It’s expected that Great Hearts will gain school board approval Sept. 11, the date of the next meeting. The board announced it would reconsider the application a day after state officials began talking about possibly withholding funds from Metro schools and other sanctions if the board does not comply with the state directive.

Great Hearts representatives also say they have a transportation plan in hand that addresses the board’s concerns.

The board’s new makeup could be a factor. Four new members will be taking office — Jill Speering, Elissa Kim, Amy Frogge and Will Pinkston. Pinkston said they are attending a legal briefing on the issue this week.