In case you missed some of it, National Teacher’s Month is celebrated from September 5th through October 5th, by virtue of Presidential Proclamation No. 242.
And since October 5th is World Teachers’ Day, we reached out to three local educators who are determined to move the needle on our country’s notoriously low test scores.
As background, know that in 2023, U.S. reading and math scores dropped to their lowest level in decades, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
National math results showed widening gaps based on gender and race. Scores decreased by 11 points for female students over 2020 results, compared with a 7-point decrease for male students.
Among Black students, math scores declined 13 points, while white students had a 6-point drop. Compared with the 35-point gap between Black and white students in 2020, the disparity widened to 42 points. These results are gleaned from the NAEP Long-Term Trend Assessment, administered every four years by the National Center for Education Statistics.
Never underestimate a public school teacher.
– Vice Presidential candidate, Minnesota Governor and former schoolteacher Tim Walz
These sharp drops are generally attributed to the pandemic, which closed many public schools for a year or more. Many lower-income families lacked access to a computer for at-home learning.
This decline has not spared California public schools. In fact, reading and math skills among public school students in California are lower in some demographic categories than the current national averages.
Hardest hit: Black sons.
We spoke with Helen Chan Hill, Ed.D, Chief Academic Officer for Pasadena Unified School District, about the growing crisis in lost literacy and math skills. She cites the 1970 landmark Spangler case, which prescribed racial culling to reduce segregation, defined as a majority of any racial minority in any District elementary, junior or senior high school.
Hill says, “Over time, beginning in the 1970s, this resulted in what may be described as Black flight. Black principals, teachers and staff were de-prioritized.”
She states that in 2023, Black students comprised 10.4 percent of PUSD’s general student body, a decline of nearly 50 percent from the early aughts.
“Many stable, prosperous Black families took their kids out of our schools and put them into other schools, such as Pasadena Rosebud Academy. This destabilizes the experience of Black students now enrolled in PUSD classes. There’s been a loss of respect,” says Hill.
In response, in 2022 Hill assembled a team which formed the Black Student and Family Task Force, intended to enrich the learning experience of Black children in PUSD. In collaboration with the African American Parent Council, after much data-gathering and many focus groups and Town Hall meetings, the current result is what’s tentatively being called the Pan-African Immersive Storytelling Academy. It is planned to launch in a yet-to-be-named PUSD middle school in 2025. The longer-term goal is to expand the program across 6th, 7th and 8th grades by 2028.
Hill notes that “Start-up funds are currently committed to the development of the program, and called out explicitly in the district’s Local Control Accountability Plan. Additional funding is being sought via grants and partnerships.”
Consultant Kimi Wilson, PhD was enlisted by Hill and her team to help develop the program. An author and educator, Wilson is the founder of Equation2Success,Inc. which defines its mission as “…to revolutionize education systems that prioritize the holistic well-being and success of every child.”
Early in his career, Wilson taught second graders in Compton Unified School District, and recalls that some parents removed their children from his class during that first week.
“That response was shocking and saddening,” he says. “This was not the segregated American South of the 1950s. This was our city, not so long ago.” The experience, he adds, “…made me deconstruct and understand just how blessed I was as a middle-class child. Learning was faithfully nurtured in our home.”
Wilson went on to teach as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Curriculum and Instruction at Cal State Los Angeles, but in 2019 finished writing his book and decided to leave university to create what he calls his “educational playground” in the form of Equation 2 Success. “I felt a calling to do more,” he says.
As a STEM enthusiast, Wilson contends that sitting at desks and memorizing mathematical formulae is no longer effective in reaching students, especially students of color. “This is how children were taught back when classrooms were small, and the student body was culturally and ethnically more homogenous,” he says.
“Math in particular is still taught procedurally, rather than conceptually, which misses the point that math is actually a language, in fact a very beautiful language. It’s not unusual for bright kids of any color to flounder in algebra, for example, because memorizing the algorithm has no meaning for them other than passing that week’s quiz,” says Wilson.
The Academy curriculum Wilson’s now facilitating utilizes physical movement, affirmations, and virtual reality technology to provide cultural relevance and engagement among Black students.
“I know that describing Black boys and men as vulnerable may seem ironic, with all of this talk lately about white fragility,” says educator and author Dr. Tyrone Howard, the Pritzker Family Endowed Chair and professor in the School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA.
“But there’s a long laundry-list of how and why Black children, especially our sons, learn to fail, first in school, then at life. Black sons in particular are marginalized by many aspects of the system, including our approach to education.”
As the former Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, the Compton native serves as the faculty director for the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools, and is also the Founder and Director of UCLA’s Black Male Institute. Howard has supported numerous initiatives conducted by PUSD as a resource for research into systemic inequities.
Drawing upon his research examining equity, culture, race, teaching and learning, Howard describes Black sons as “vulnerable, because they experience what Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King called ‘the subtle racism of lowered expectations’.”
The stats are grim. To state the obvious, America fears Black boys-to-men. Blackness itself is often depicted as dangerous, “…and kids internalize these misconceptions” says Howard. Economic disparities contribute, although data suggest that even Black males from financially stable backgrounds run a greater risk than their non-Black counterparts of social derailing.
Black people, especially Black male adolescents and men, face a higher likelihood than others of being policed, violated or killed. The Black family itself may contribute to this trend, with some studies suggesting that Black parents expect more performance and achievement from their daughters than their male siblings, and apply their available resources accordingly.
Howard suggests that part of the needed change has to do with a better understanding of boy-ness as well as Blackness. “Children, and especially boys, have big energy. They need to be able to jump, stretch, run, and be present in their bodies. That’s why our sons especially respond well to a school-day that begins with cheer and chants, kinesthetic movement, and a safe space to make some noise. This understanding of physiology facilitates concentration and quiet study later in the day.”
“What our kids don’t need,” says Howard, “is the pity, the sorrow of it all. Sometimes white society seems to feel that sympathy is enough, but that helps no one. What we do need is to interrogate assumptions and uncover bias. From there, we then need to create equity-centered learning that meets every child with a sense of possibility.”
As one part of the remedy, especially when Black students are taught by Black teachers, he cites the modern version of Freedom Schools, four to six-week programs following the end of the school year, offered by many nonprofits to “prevent what teachers call the summer slide, or regression.”
“We need to de-program to re-program,” he says. “Systems are slow to change, and it’s a lot of effort to do the heavy lift to move this thing. We need a hard re-set, and adults making policy decisions, in positions of influence, are where it all has to begin.”
Howard adds, “I sometimes hear teachers complain, ‘I’m not a social worker,’ which raises a critical point. Schools have to be central to the community, and absolutely do need to address social issues that children face, especially children from low-income families. Many of these children experience food insecurity, and some are unhoused. And Black children are disproportionately represented in the foster system. All of these factors converge to create distinct challenges, and teachers and schools need to be part of the immediate solution in this struggle to change hearts and minds, as well as public policy.”
Hill agrees, adding “Our District makes services available to families in transition, including access to temporary housing when needed. Right now, ten of our schools are identified as ‘community schools’ and receive specific funding for visa and immigration counseling and other services. We have a community liaison at every school in the District, and we offer robust health care including vision and dental care for our students. And every PUSD student receives a TAP card for free Metro transportation.”
She says she’s all in favor of recruiting more Black teachers as powerful role-models for Black students, but adds “Any teacher who loves Black children, and loves to teach Black children, can make a world of difference. And the direction we’re going with the Academy will ultimately address the needs of all students, and support their path to academic achievement and excellence.”
