Blog – Page 14 – West Wind Education Policy

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Iowa Latin@ Conference Engages, Embraces Growing Population

Posted on November 8, 2011November 10, 2011 by Alyssa Rodriguez

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Earlier, we wrote about the planning of the Iowa Latin@ Conference [1]. Every year for the past thirteen years the conference has occurred in a different town across the state – it was Muscatine’s turn in 2011. In just about the same span of time (about 10 years), Iowa’s Hispanic population has doubled, still totaling just 5 percent of the whole[2].

The selfish urgency to attend to an increasing Latin@ population for the greater good of the majority is a notion I increasingly see in a lot of public messaging as Latin@’s populations increase in many places across the US. But, that was not the message behind this conference.

The conference convened over 200 Iowa youth and adults over two days to learn about the importance of uniting, becoming informed and advocating for the good of [our] people who are dispersed across Iowa’s changing communities. West Liberty, Iowa City, Dubuque, Waterloo and other Iowa towns were represented at the Youth Development Summit portion of the conference and individuals came from as far as Michigan to attend the Professional Institute portion.

Two sophomores, Joanna and Areli from West Liberty High School attended the conference for the first time with one of their teachers and some of their classmates.

One thing Areli, originally from New York, enjoyed about the Youth Development Summit was the opportunity to meet new, Latin@ youth. Both she and Joanna agree that being Latina in Iowa is something they appreciate and embrace– recently their West Liberty place of residence (also located in Muscatine County) was recognized as the first Hispanic majority town in Iowa.

With an offering of a variety of workshops – from a showcase of indigenous dancing by Omeyocan Dance Co. to a session on trading Gang affiliation for Academia and a screening of the film, “abUSed: The Postville Raid,” there was much to take in.

The girls’ favorite part of the Youth Development Summit; however, was its Keynote Speaker, Michael Benitez Jr.

Benitez Jr., a doctoral candidate at Iowa State University engaged the over 150-student audience during his 45-minute speech and encouraged them to become young activists. He urged them to be willing to listen to and believe in the stories their elders (“wisdomkeepers”) told them. But, he also asked the same of the wisdomkeepers – that they take the time to hear what young people (“wisdomseekers”) have to say, even if it isn’t stated politically correctly.

What Joanna and Areli took away most from Benitez Jr.’s speech was the significance of being bicultural; that we must adapt to and continually learn from our Latin@ identity in the United States (and Iowa). In other words, while understanding American culture, “we have to be proud of our culture, [too]” Joanna said.

One example Benitez Jr.’s used to illustrate this notion took place in his classroom experiences, long before his doctoral candidacy days—“I got all A’s in my classes except for in Social Studies, History…because I didn’t see myself [in the books].”

Much like the duality of cultures, American History cannot be considered without considering Latin@ History, too. They are one in the same. Unfortunately, though as Benitez Jr. sought a raise of hands from the audience, asking what pertinent Latino history—i.e. the 1930 Lemon Grove, California desegregation case and the Bracero Movement of the 1940s, they have learned (as high school students) in their classrooms, few hands were raised.

The conference was successful for bringing Iowa Latin@s face-to-face with each other and for giving them a rare chance to embrace their impact on the state. Those who were there to learn also were given a thorough picture of what it means to be Latin@ in Iowa today. As such, we look forward to supporting the conference again in the future.

Click the respective links to read more about Muscatine’s first time hosting the conference and Benitez Jr’s keynote.

[1] The “@” is used in the term ‘Latino’ where it can apply to Latinos of both the female and male simultaneously.

[2] Schaper, David. (October 10, 2011). A look at Iowa’s first majority town. NPR. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/2011/10/10/141150607/west-liberty-is-iowas-first-majority-hispanic-town

“We tried that, but…”

Posted on November 7, 2011November 7, 2011 by Deb Hansen

Reading Time: 3 minutes

I recently served as a process observer during a discussion about how to best support the central office leadership of a local school district as they planned school improvement efforts. The individuals who offered support to the district leaders commented on how frequently they heard these school leaders say, “We tried that, but…” followed by the discouraged refrain, “we didn’t get results.”

As an observer of those coaching the district, I wondered why they didn’t probe further. Whenever I hear “we-tried-that-but,” a series of questions comes to mind: What did you try to implement? How do you know teachers used the strategies? Did they use the strategy often enough for students to get the anticipated benefit? Did the teacher use the strategy long enough to change student learning? Did the teachers use the strategy or method the way it was intended or did they change it? What were the students’ responses to the changes in instruction? Were enough students engaged to make a difference in the results? If teachers struggled to use the strategy, why did they have difficulty? Did they need more professional development to fully understand the new practice? Did they have time to practice using the new approach and work with their colleagues to plan new lessons and discuss how to best use the practice in the classroom? Were the working conditions and culture safe for teachers to try newly learned skills? How were teachers involved in planning the roll-out of the effort? What role did principals and other school leaders play in supporting teachers’ application of new practices and removing barriers that teachers experience when trying something new?…among others.

I wonder how often school administrators and teachers have voiced disappointment about not getting the intended outcomes from various initiatives without looking further into the implementation of the effort. Without answering these and other questions about the implementation of a reform effort, it is not possible to make good decisions about what works or doesn’t work.

At another level, how often have state and national leaders said, “We tried that, but….”? Looking at implementation from a macro-level — reformers have advanced legislation, funded expensive reform agendas, pushed various curriculum and assessment models with the goal of improving student learning, established task forces, organized new departments, created new positions, and a myriad of other strategic actions. I suspect many were tried and abandoned, because the data indicated that student outcomes didn’t improve. It is impossible to tell if the innovation had the capacity to fulfill the promises intended by the policy makers without studying implementation. What was actually known about how widely the reforms being advanced through policy were implemented?

Implementation Science provides the understanding of systemic implementation practices needed to help local district leaders, as well as state and federal policy makers, to design and support reforms in ways that intentionally attend to the factors necessary to achieve full implementation. The National Implementation Research Network(NIRN) offers research and frameworks for understanding effective implementation processes. Educational reformers should study NIRN’s core implementation components and their conceptual model for designing and creating the conditions needed to operationalize and advance full implementation. Dean Fixsen and the other authors of the monograph Implementation Research: A Synthesis of the Literature (2005) state, “There is broad agreement that implementation is a decidedly complex endeavor, more complex than the policies, programs, procedures, techniques, or technologies that are the subject of the implementation efforts. Every aspect of implementation is fraught with difficulty, from system transformation to changing service provider behavior and restructuring organizational contexts.”[1]

The lessons learned from implementation science should provide hope for reformers at all levels of the educational system who are struggling mightily with these challenges. Anyone listening to the often-cited mantra “We tried that, but…” should suggest they carefully study implementation and seek out these resources.

[1] Fixsen, D. L., Naoom, S. F., Blase, K. A., Friedman, R. M., & Wallace, F. (2005). Implementation research: A synthesis of the literature. Tampa, FL: University of South Florida, Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, The National Implementation Research Network.

Why “Closing Achievement Gaps” Is Not Our Rallying Cry

Posted on November 4, 2011November 4, 2011 by Circe Stumbo

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Closing achievement gaps.” It’s a catch phrase that has become the rallying cry for equity advocates; the vision that provides the impetus for many education policies, regulations, and programs.

And it’s a catch phrase we are trying desperately not to use.

In our work, we have found that the phrase re-inscribes negative stereotypes about children of color and their families and sends us down the wrong solution path. That is, the way we talk about a problem does several things:

It locates the source of the problem, which defines the solutions we consider
It conveys messages to others about what is happening
While sometimes it debunks beliefs, it most often reinforces them

For example, if we face a problem of underachieving students, almost universally the solution is to fix the kids (i.e., remediation, supplemental Educational Services, double-dosing, Reading First) or to fix the parents (i.e., parent “involvement”). Toting around chart after chart that graphically display differences in performance between white students and students of color rarely signifies for an audience the deep and historic divides between white people and people of color related to access, equity, and outcomes. Instead, it reinforces deficit thinking about students of color and their families. It reinforces a deep-seated myth that “those” children just are not as smart as white children. When we spoke with the National Assessment Governing Board, we shared with them how their representations of racial achievement mirror a figure that was in a prominent publication when I was entering kindergarten.

As long as we are only focusing on underachieving students, we shift the burden/ blame for low achievement onto students, their parents, and their communities. It takes our focus away from the system and puts it at the feet of children as the source of our problems.

Alternatively, if the problem is defined as underserved students, the solution set is different. Understanding the problem this way, we might look for solutions related to targeting resources (per pupil expenditures, equitable distribution of highly qualified teachers) or improving instruction (using formative assessment, differentiating instruction, implementing research-based practice).

How often have you heard someone decry racial achievement gaps in, say, reading, and then go on to focus solely on reading? Probably the most insidious problem with our hyper-focus on “closing achievement gaps” is that when excellence is defined purely as academic achievement, we can have “excellent” schools that still allow for racial insensitivity that harms children. See Tyrone Howard’s TCR article, Who really cares? The disenfranchisement of African American males in PreK–12 schools: A Critical Race Theory perspective,[1] for examples of such lived experiences of students of color. Or go back and read Ann Arnett Fergusons, Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making of Black Masculinity. Unfortunately, our hyper-attention to test score data narrows our focus and we ignore aspects of the student experience that matter deeply.

Why do we have widespread acknowledgement of racial achievement gaps but not widespread acknowledgement of race?

We are hopeful that explicit work on race could be what will allow us to crack the historic AND PERSISTENT challenges that most US schools have faced in serving children of color. We have seen that when we define the problem we are trying to solve about schooling today as systemic racism, a whole new solution set is opened up to us. Now we can begin to engage in courageous conversations about race[2] and systemic equity leadership as solutions to the problem of historic and persistent inequities.

We have been deeply moved by educators who are willing to examine their own racial identity and their complicity, even collusion, with white privilege—and the children they encounter as they work in earnest to change. Unfortunately, very few of our education policy discussions get to this framing of the problem. Are you tackling systemic racism in your school, school community, or education policies? If so, we’d love to hear and learn from you!

[1] Howard, T.C. (2008). Who really cares? The disenfranchisement of African American males in PreK–12 schools: A Critical Race Theory perspective. Teachers College Record, 110(5).

[2] Check out our colleagues at Pacific Educational Group for a powerful example of a framework for courageous conversations about race.

University of Iowa to offer MFA in Spanish creative writing

Posted on November 1, 2011November 4, 2011 by Circe Stumbo

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Beginning in Spring 2012 the University of Iowa will offer an Master of Fine Arts degree in Spanish creative writing. The new program is one of only three in the nation, with the others being the University of Texas, El Paso and New York University.

The UI program director, Ana Merino, associate professor of Spanish said, “I often speak of ‘the theory of two houses, a person with two lovely homes—one in the city, and one at the beach—wouldn’t give up either place if he didn’t have to. Likewise, if an individual identifies with two cultures, he’d prefer to retain and celebrate both. This program will help bilingual writers do just that.”

More information about the program can be found at: http://t.co/nwn0mk5n

Willing to Learn: Reactions to President Obama’s Back-to-School Speech from Finn

Posted on October 5, 2011October 11, 2011 by Mandi Bozarth

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Last week on September 28, 2011, President Obama addressed the students of the nation from Benjamin Bannecker Academic High School in Washington, D.C. This was his third annual back-to-school address to the nation’s students and the second one I watched with my son, Finn. Finn is in first grade and will soon be seven. For the first time, this year he was old enough to know that the President was speaking to him and his classmates. It was truly enlightening for me to sit with him this year and hear what the President had to say from the perspective of a six-year-old.

His class had spoken about the speech at school and he brought home the beautiful picture you see here, complete with the President standing alongside the White House. When we sat down to watch the speech he told me that he didn’t know the President of the United States had time to talk to a bunch of kids, but that he heard Mr. Obama (as he calls him) say that he and his class were really important and needed to work hard. We sat back on the sofa, me with my notebook, and Finn with a stash of homemade playing cards he has been working on. We listened together, occasionally looking over at each other to gauge our reactions.

Of course, what I heard as I listened was different than what Finn heard. He spent some time fumbling with his cards, fidgeting in his chair and looking at the ceiling as I took notes. During the speech, I could feel myself nodding in agreement to the calls for students to work hard and take responsibility for education; I felt called to action as the President spoke about making America’s schools as strong as they could be; I was emboldened to think more about reforms to our system as he talked about rising as a country to once again have the highest percentage of young people with a college degree; I felt pride in the accomplishments of the young entrepreneurs he used as examples; as a parent, I felt obligated and determined to make sure my children get a great education; and I felt determined to make sure all the children of this country have that same opportunity.

When the speech finished, Finn and I had a conversation about what we watched that went something like this:

Me: You said President Obama thinks that you and your classmates are really important? Why might he think that?

Finn: There’s two reasons, I think. We have to do our very best and if he didn’t tell us to we might forget. And our teachers work really hard, even harder than I thought. If we don’t work hard for them, then they would just work hard for nothing.

Me: I think you understand a lot about what he was saying and you are probably right about those two reasons. We want to please our teachers and work hard like they do and it is helpful to have the President remind us of something we should do. Can you think of some reasons why working hard would be important for you and your classmates at school too?

Finn: Well…you remember when I didn’t know what addition meant and I got mad when you made me play Addition Bingo. I learned all about addition at school and now when we play I always win. Oh, and the President said we have to go to college and get jobs. I am going to be a race car driver and you said I had to know how to read to drive.”

Me (laughing): That is true. I am glad you watched with me. I never would have thought the President’s speech might be relevant to your plans to become a race car driver.

Finn: You know what else the President said, Mom. He said that school is about trying new things. I am going to try new things and when I don’t do them right I will just try again. Next time we have art I am going to listen to what the teacher says and not just work on my comic book.

As we turned off the computer screen we had been watching on, I felt proud that he was thinking about school and learning as positive opportunities—and, I must admit, I felt a little disappointed that he hadn’t been listening in art.

But the thing I took away from that conversation wasn’t something that made me proud as a parent or something the President said. It was the amazing ability children have to try new things. Learning addition or the basics of calculus, learning that a group of letters is a sound and that sound is a word, or learning the proper technique for a great jump shot are all big, sometimes scary steps and they require faith in your teachers, coaches and school leaders. And they require a leap into the unknown that stems from a belief we all have to have to grow up: Change is necessary to grow.

Change is necessary for growth in our educational system too. As we work towards reforming educational policies and practices to create stronger schools and to support our teachers and students, we have to be willing to make big changes and to learn the lessons offered from past experiences, new research and other types of systems from around the country and the globe.

So as I continue with my work here at West Wind and at home, I will take a cue from Finn and his classmates and pledge to be willing to learn and push myself and my thinking to new levels, even if that makes me uncomfortable sometimes.

What Binary?

Posted on September 30, 2011October 7, 2011 by Alyssa Rodriguez

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Everyone looks out their own window.

White and black make up a spectrum that our society resorts to in conversations of race. By today’s standards, this binary is simply not sufficient. My vacation to the Southwest was a harsh reminder of this.

Recently, I returned to the Southwest for a range of reasons. First and foremost, it was a vacation. But by today’s standards, that does not mean I was not busy. As a former AmeriCorps volunteer in San Antonio, Texas; I find it important to not treat my year of service as only a year of service. It has shaped me in immeasurable ways. I was born and raised in Iowa, but have felt strongly rooted and cultivated in Texas.

I was 23 years old when my AmeriCorps placement in 2009 took place at a local community center. My primary responsibility was to interact with youth between the ages of 5-17 in an after school setting. That experience largely inspired me to further my work with youth, hopefully impacting their lives for the better and providing them a role model as fellow children of color.

Yesterday I visited the community center and spent the afternoon and early evening catching up with the youth I had previously worked with. This visit was bittersweet. On the one hand, it was like any other day at the community center, as though I had never left. However, some of what I saw as a visitor reminded me of why I am so grateful to work at West Wind—why working to infuse race and equity into education policies is important.

Having recently moved back to Iowa , I am still experiencing the impact my year in San Antonio has had on me; spiritually, vocationally, etc. I reflect on my own childhood, growing up as one of the only Latina children in my classroom(s). To witness the youth at this community center in quite a reversal of settings (their neighborhood being 98% Mexican), and in relating it to my work thus far at West Wind, I have gained many insights:

Being the majority, obliviousness to “the other” is almost unconscious.
The other is either and both invisible and hypervisible at once.
Being Latino further complicates the self-identification process for all Latinos; including those who are a part of a majority group like the youth I served on the San Antonio Westside.

These youth freely use the n-word. With conviction. To which their peers laugh. This created for me lumps in my stomach and pain in my heart. A third-grader, knowing how to use that word so harshly and not knowing at all the hurt it stemmed from and its persistent consequences is difficult to see.

They mention a student in their class who they make fun of because, “she is brown”.

“But, you’re brown; too,” I retort.

“No miss, I’m white. I’m Mexican.”

In a world where labels are forced upon all of us, but with the complexity of having to be succinct in our self-labeling , we rush to fit ourselves into boxes that can be easily checked. White. Latino. Non-White. Latino/Hispanic, and so on.

I grew up, the rare Latina in my classroom(s), molding into that binary of black or white. (No in between existed, or at least it wasn’t prioritized in conversations on race.) I wanted badly to be positioned with the white majority, but learned that would never happen, no matter how hard I tried because of how I looked. I responded by aligning with my black peers.

These youth grow up, only surrounded by “Mexicanness” in their homes and classroom(s). But they also are unconsciously aware that, “White is right”.

In 2011, narrowing one’s identity down between White and Black is not that simple.

As I experienced while living in San Antonio, most of these youth will be born, raised, rooted and cultivated in their current neighborhoods. They will only encounter other Mexicans and, if a black person is seen walking the sidewalks, he/she would be immediately questioned. If, by chance, one of their classmates is black, that student will struggle to confidently identity as such.

Black, white, brown, Latino/Hispanic or not. The checkmarks we so frequently are asked to make in a hurry, imply a lot more than we realize; more irreversibly than we realize.

Instructional Rounds: A Powerful Reform Strategy

Posted on September 29, 2011September 30, 2011 by Deb Hansen

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Collaboration, networking, school improvement, instructional support, a collaborative learning culture, knowledge building, and rigorous and relevant teaching—these are all attributes and practices school reformers strive for by awarding funds, promulgating rules, instituting strategic plans, launching training initiatives, and extending promises to stakeholders. One approach that truly advances all of these attributes and practices is the instructional rounds process – “an explicit practice that is designed to bring the discussion of instruction directly into the process of school improvement.”[1] Instructional rounds are adapted from a routine used in medical education in which interns, residents, and supervising physicians visit patients, observe, discuss evidence for diagnoses, engage in dialogue to analyze the evidence, and share ideas for possible treatments. Educational rounds brings networks of educators together using protocols and routines to articulate a theory of action, identify a problem of practice, observe classroom instruction, debrief with colleagues to analyze any patterns that emerge, and recommend the next level of work to help the school achieve their desired goals.[2]

Richard Elmore, Lee Teitel, Liz City, and their colleagues from Harvard have developed processes, protocols, and technical assistance resources for establishing networks to implement instructional rounds. They have worked closely with networks and district leaders to apply the practice of rounds, refine the model based on lessons learned, and to expand the community of learners who are able to facilitate the rounds process. Examples of these networks include the Cambridge Leadership Network, the Connecticut Superintendents’ Network, the Ohio Leadership Collaborative, and the Iowa Leadership Academy Superintendents’ Network. I have had the privilege of being a member of the Iowa Leadership Academy Superintendents’ Network – an experience that has allowed me to participate in intensive training provided by Dr. Elmore and the Harvard team, engage as both a member on various rounds teams and as a facilitator of the rounds process in several Iowa school districts, and to continuously learn from my fellow rounds facilitators through our Network meetings.

The instructional rounds model seems to be gaining more traction and is recently being advanced as a model for school leaders and teachers as a means to transform educator practice. What I have noticed in my work with the rounds model in Iowa is that it offers tremendous benefit to the Network members and to the participating schools. The process focuses the district’s efforts on, what Elmore calls, the instructional core. Engaging in rounds builds the capacity of superintendents to recognize quality instruction, enhances trust among Network members, increases their willingness to take on the challenges of influencing change, and leads to a culture of inquiry that enhances professional learning.

On a cautionary note, I have also noticed some aspects of the model that anyone aspiring to adopt this approach should consider. Some of the lessons learned from my own work with rounds and from sharing experiences with other facilitators in Iowa are listed below.

Though the steps for conducting rounds may seem straightforward, in practice, it is a very difficult program for participants to implement.
Establishing a network takes an extraordinary amount of work and leadership. In Iowa, Bonnie Boothroy of School Administrators of Iowa and several of the Area Education Agency Chiefs have committed extensive amounts of time and effort to establish and sustain Iowa’s Network.
Being a member of a network takes a lot of time, commitment to learn, and perseverance to follow through and apply new learning. It is not a model for anyone who wants their professional growth to be quick and easy. Becoming a facilitator is an extremely valuable professional learning experience, but the work of developing the skills needed to support a network and run the rounds process can’t be shortchanged. The “faint of heart” should not apply.
New capacity building is needed to do this work. School leaders shouldn’t consider running rounds without background knowledge. Instructional Rounds in Education: A Network Approach to Improving Teaching and Learning a well written book by City, Elmore, Fiarman, and Teitel (2009) is a great resource, but just reading the book is not a substitute for learning how to conduct rounds from those who have had extensive direct experience.
Going to scale across multiple districts and running rounds with fidelity is a constant effort and requires ongoing vigilance. Our network meets several times a year to address how best to support the rounds process and we continuously confront issues that have the potential to seriously domesticate the delivery of the model.

It takes a community of committed practitioners for the networks and rounds process to work well. Isolated implementers who just pick up the book are likely to implement the model partially or incorrectly. Plus, the experience of engaging in collective learning in an organized way will serve school leaders well as they work to establish learning communities in their schools.

School reformers might want to take a look at this promising and exciting approach to school reform. While they should be excited about the potential, reformers also need to be cautious about selecting a model that is demanding to implement. To fulfill the promise of this approach, school leaders will need to make a serious commitment to engage deeply in the work and be intentional about fully learning the model from experts. The policy makers and administrators who are responsible for designing the roll-out of the rounds networks must attend to the all the factors that are necessary to advance a model to scale and be vigilant about expecting careful replication of the model.

[1] City, E., Elmore, R. , Fiarman, S. and Teitel, L. (2009). Instructional rounds in education: A network approach to improving teaching and learning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

[2] Ibid.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: A Story Worth Telling and a Model for Storytelling

Posted on September 12, 2011September 12, 2011 by Circe Stumbo

Reading Time: 3 minutes

I just read the New York Times best-seller “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.” Henrietta Lacks was a black woman treated for cervical cancer at John Hopkins in the early 1950s. It was during this treatment that her cancer cells were taken without her knowledge, grown in a laboratory, and sold to scientists around the globe. Henrietta died in 1951 at the age of 31, but her cells, known to scientists as HeLa, live on in laboratories and medical schools around the globe. HeLa was vital to the development of the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, in vitro fertilization, and much more. In 1996, Roland H. Pattillo, M.D., a professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Morehouse School of Medicine, began the annual HeLa Women’s Health Conference, and the BBC filmed part of its documentary “The Way of All Flesh” at the event. Yet, before this book, her family was virtually unknown to the general public and could not afford health care that would give them access to the medical advances their own mother made possible.

While the book could have easily been couched as a “historical” account, white, female author Rebecca Skloot carefully demonstrated the very real, very contemporary significance of the story. As noted on the author’s website: “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells a riveting story of the collision between ethics, race, and medicine; of scientific discovery and faith healing; and of a daughter consumed with questions about the mother she never knew. It’s a story inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we’re made of.” In fact, the last chapter of the book describes the yet unsettled legal context in which these debates continue. I hope we can expect the same treatment by the Oprah Winfrey/Alan Ball HBO movie being made.

I was especially impressed with the author’s continuing commitment to Henrietta Lacks’ family and to others like them. The author founded the Henrietta Lacks Foundation. According to the foundation website: “The Henrietta Lacks Foundation strives to provide financial assistance to needy individuals who have made important contributions to scientific research without personally benefiting from those contributions, particularly those used in research without their knowledge or consent. The Foundation gives those who have benefited from those contributions — including scientists, universities, corporations, and the general public — a way to show their appreciation to such research subjects and their families. The Foundation has already awarded 19 grants, including grants covering tuition and book expenses, health care expenses and emergency needs of multiple members of her immediate family. The Foundation’s goal is to continue to help the Lacks family as well as others with similar needs who may qualify, such as descendants of research subjects used in the famous Tuskegee Syphilis Studies, those injected with sexually transmitted diseases without their knowledge by the US Government, and others. To be eligible for a grant, an applicant must prove financial need and have made, or be the descendant of someone who has made, a significant contribution to scientific research as a research subject, including those who have unwillingly or unknowingly been used in research or contributed biological materials for research.”

This book will change how you think about race, medicine, science, and your own control of your body. Not only it is a must read, but I believe it is an example of responsible and ethical storytelling with and for the people whose stories are being told.

The Myth of Meritocracy

Posted on August 19, 2011August 23, 2011 by Valerie Nyberg

Reading Time: 5 minutes

People who know me know that I have a healthy National Public Radio (NPR) addiction. As of late, it has become a habit to tune in at work. On Tuesday as I sat at my desk, On Point, a daily opinion call-in show, aired a segment, “Jobless in America” (http://onpoint.wbur.org/2011/08/16/jobless-today-in-america). Two of the guests, both white and unemployed, talked about their experiences with unemployment and their sense of betrayal for “having done everything right,” yet finding themselves unemployed: a situation they never anticipated.

Although I empathize with those who have lost their jobs during the ongoing recession and are experiencing economic hardships, I must admit that I’m also partially annoyed by the notion that White middle class workers should expect a guaranteed job and a certain lifestyle. As the introduction to the show states:

…There are not enough jobs, by a long shot. It’s crushing individuals and families right now. We’ll hear from some today.

And it’s putting a huge dent in our national future. Changing things we love most about this country.

As I listened to the show and even now as I read these words, what I hear is the collective anxiety and loss of identity that middle class White Americans are experiencing. This is not the first NPR or other media outlet show that has broadcast the woes of our society as being the conundrum of those who ordinarily would expect to never have this problem.

From my position as an African American woman, people of color have historically experienced unemployment and underemployment without questioning whether or not we should believe in the American Dream. In fact my favorite poem, Langston Hughes’, “Harlem” or “A Dream Deferred” (depending on the publication source) as well as the Lorraine Hansberry’s play, “A Raisin in the Sun” speak to the frustrations that people of color, in this case African Americans, have suffered historically when they have tried to assert their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Rather than the NPR story continuing to promulgate the notion that our current joblessness threatens the fabric of our society, I posit that this is an opportunity to really question the notion of meritocracy.

We live in a society that promotes the idea that as individuals we all have the right and ability to realize our dreams through our own hard work and effort. But when you peel back the layers of that notion, you find that we are a nation of individuals who stand on the shoulders of those who have come before us. David Horwitt (2008) reminds us that every society employs myths in order to explain how those who are privileged are more deserving that those who are not. In his essay, “This Hard-Earned Money Comes Stuffed in Their Genes,” Horwitt discusses the multiple ways in which people gain advantage through no effort of their own. A primary means of unearned gains is inheritance. Though he cites a Forbes article about the wealthiest 400 people who largely inherited their wealth, consider the more typical types of inheritance: a house that is passed down, or jewelry, stocks and bonds, property, vehicles, and so on. These are all units of wealth that lessen the burden upon the individual who now has a commodity simply because the parent left it to the child. Another form of this is a business. Lucrative or not, it is collateral that can be negotiated for personal profit and gain. Other, less obvious advances are college admissions. Many colleges and universities (particularly those top-ranked colleges and university) admit just as many legacy applicants as they do non-legacy applicants. Today, getting into a college or university has become increasingly important. Even with our current downturn, those who have a college education have lower rates of unemployment[1] 5.4% in comparison to 10.3% for those who only have a high school diploma

We are suffering from an unprecedented economic shift. We are no longer alone, but are competing for jobs in a global economy where no one is safe. However, for me the great concern is the jobless rate among people of color. According to the BLS Monthly Labor Review (2011), although the fourth-quarter unemployment rate for Whites fell by .05% to 8.7% it remained in the double digits for African Americans and Hispanics at 15.8% and 12.9%. Prevailing myths may try to convince us that the disproportionate rates among people of color is due to their lack of educational attainment and experience, but as the recent settlement of a 1995 lawsuit against the Chicago firefighter’s entrance exam demonstrates, African American applicants who otherwise qualified[2] were not hired or denied promotions. As a result, the Chicago Fire Department will have to hire 111 firefighters between now and March 2012 as well as pay the remaining 6000 candidates $5000.[3]

A final example is a recent article in Science which investigated the National Institutes of Health reveals that Asians were 4% and African Americans were 13% less likely to win NIH funding. Even when controlled for education, training, previous research rewards and publication record, African Americans were still 10% less likely to receive funding.

These examples represent a need for our society to turn and face ourselves. In order to actually have a meritocracy, we have to be able to guarantee equal access and compensation for equal talent and skill which will require the reformation of policies, procedures, and frameworks that continue to marginalize people of color.

Works Cited

“City to Hire, Pay Back Black Firefighters as Part of Settlement.” Chicago Fox News: Chicago. 17 August 2011. Web. 18 August 2011.

“Education Pays…” The Bureau of Labor & Statistics. 4 May 2011. Web. 18 August 2011. http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_data_occupational_data.htm

Ginther, Donna K.; Schaffer, Walter T.; Schnell, Joshua ; Masimore, Beth; Liu, Faye; Haak, Laurel L.; Kington, Raynard. “Race, Ethnicity, and NIH Research Rewards. Science 333. 19 August 2011. 1015-1019.

Horwitt, David. “This Hard-Earned Money Comes Stuffed in Their Genes.” Eds. Karen E. Rosenblum & Toni-Michelle C. Travis. 5^th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008. Print.

“Jobless in America.” On Point. NPR: WBUR, Boston. August 16, 2011. Radio.

Theodossiou, E & Hipple, S. “Unemployment Remains High in 2010” Monthly Labor Review March 2011. Web. August 18, 2011. http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2011/03/art1full.pdf

Vedantam, Shankar. “In the Boardrooms and in Courtrooms Diversity Makes a Difference.” Washington Post . 17 January 2007. Web. 18 August 2011. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/14/AR2007011400720.html

“White Fire Fighters to Share $6M Settlement.” NBCUniversial, Chicago. 11 March 2009 Web. 18 August 2011. http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/White-Firefighters-to-Share-6M-Settlement.html

[1] For more specific information see the Bureau of Labor & Statistics May 4, 2011 graphic showing that in 2010 those who have less than a college education the unemployment rate was 14.9% compared to 10.3% for high school graduates and 9.2% for those who have some college compared 5.4% for college graduates. The graph includes rates of unemployment up to those who have a doctorate degree as well as gives the median weekly earnings for each of the educational attainment levels from less than high school up to the doctorate level.

[2] According to the Associated Press article (2011), “Before being hired, they must pass the physical abilities test, background check, drug test and medical exam” (online, http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/news/metro/chicago-black-firefighters-lawsuit-settlement-city-hire-pay-candidates-20110817)

[3] It’s interesting to note that in 2009 the same fire department settled a lawsuit in which 75 White firefighters alleged that because the 1986 lieutenants’ exam were “race normed” they suffered from reverse discrimination. They received $6 million to distribute amongst the group of 75, with a separate 100 firefighters receiving “tens of millions” with benefits for the same lawsuit. Even in settling litigation disputes, it seems, those who already had the advantage of gaining employment and moving through the ranks still received more compensation for discrimination which was not as economically and socially impactful. For more information see: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/White-Firefighters-to-Share-6M-Settlement.html. Again the notion of a meritocracy where Whiteness should be rewarded for “doing my part” plays a role in the argument.

Back to School

Posted on August 19, 2011August 29, 2011 by Circe Stumbo

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Teachers everywhere are preparing lessons to teach our children. In the minute it takes you to read this, teachers all over the world are investing their time and often investing their own money for your child’s literacy, prosperity and future. Thanks to teachers everywhere for all you do. We appreciate and respect you.

OUR BACK-TO-SCHOOL BUNCH

Bonnie: Doesn’t matter how old you are in my house, you can’t escape the First-Day-of-School photo or the mom and dad send off full of pride and hopes for the future. Pictured top left: BMac, a junior at Tate High School, Iowa City, IA.

Deanna: And they’re off…A picture of the boys on their first day of school—2nd and 5th grade already! Pictured top center.

Valerie: First there were three, now there is one. JMAN on his first solo day at elementary school since big brother is off to jr. high. and bigger brother is off to high school. Pictured top right.

Circe: My baby (ahem, son) off to high school, my daughter off to junior high, our new family member from France who was staying with us off to first day of school too! Pictured bottom left.

Mandi: My oldest off to first grade – and this year he made me stop one block from the school to kiss him good bye. Pictured bottom right.