Getting to Excellence: What Every Educator Should Know About Consequences of Beliefs, Values, Attitudes, and Paradigms for the Reconstruction of an Academically Unacceptable Middle School

By James A. Johnson

This book is about a journey with the Center for Strategic Alliances in Education for School and District Improvement with stakeholders in a school targeted for school improvement. The first chapter puts into context the notion of school, its purpose and the incumbent variables of values, attitudes, organizational and leadership behaviors and instructional practices. Throughout the book, the authors look at three contextual boundaries: (1) historical, (2) the lens of former students and their perceptions of the presence or absence of those variables and (3) a comparison of labeled schools and the views and perceptions of stakeholders with regard to quality, equity and adequacy. This is a compelling journey which utilizes quantitative and qualitative data to take a critical look at the processes involved and the strategies used in Americas journey in the quest for excellence. The authors story is one of the pursuits of innovation, reinvention, equity, excellence and culturally relevant education experiences that inspire and reframe the discussion about getting to excellence. The book is replete with illustrations of weaknesses hidden in abstract policies, institutional persistence, and culturally void programs, methodologies and practices. It advocates a methodology for arriving at well-conceived processes for achieving acceptance and academic excellence through collaboration among those to whom education is important - the children and the communities where they live.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Mar 29, 2013
• ISBN: 9781481713955

James A. Johnson

James A. Johnson is a lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Chicago. His work centers on the lifecourse of urbanism in the Eurasian steppe and Central Europe in the Bronze and Iron Ages. His particular focus is on how urban centers breakdown and how such events are mediated through reuse of the landscape and continued use of material traditions. He received his PhD from the University of Pittsburgh in 2014, where his doctoral research centered on how pastoral communities disintegrated but during population dispersal began to use historical capital (pottery traditions) as a tool for social and political legitimation.

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© 2013 Circle of African American Scholars, Inc.. All rights reserved.

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Published by AuthorHouse 4/17/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4817-1393-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-1394-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-1395-5 (e)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dedications

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter One:   The External Environment

Chapter Two:   Evoked School Experience Stories

Chapter Three:   Perceived School Histories

Chapter Four:   The Reconstruction of the Willie Ray Smith, Sr. Science and Medical Technology Magnet Middle School: A Case Study

Chapter Five:   The Center for Strategic Alliances in Education for School and District Improvement (CSAE)

Chapter Six:   Lessons Learned

Chapter Seven:   Biographical Sketches

References Consulted

DEDICATIONS

•

I express my deepest appreciation to

my mother Mimi P. Andrews and my father Wilbert J. Andrews, Sr. (now deceased)

for their nurturing and care.

Also, I sincerely thank my Loving wife, Felecia,

for her understanding and patience during this process.

I gratefully acknowledge my sons,

Caleb, Christian, David and Daniel.

Wilbert J. Andrews Jr., M.Ed.

•

An Expression Of Acknowledgement And Appreciation Is Genuinely Accorded:

my children, Darryl, Toi, Jabari, Brandi, Jordan, Trent

and their mothers Darlene, Francine and Victoria

for informing and nurturing my scholarship, humanity and peace of mind.

Jay R. Cummings, PhD

•

I dedicate this book to my loving wife,

Mrs. Shari L. Johnson

who encourages and supports me during the dark and bright days,

and gave me the time and space to contribute to this work,

and to the broad array of citizens who have a stake in

The Willie Ray Smith, Sr. Science and Medical Technology Magnet Middle School’s

Getting to Excellence.

James A. Johnson, Jr., PhD

•

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;

In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths."

Proverbs 3:4-6, King James Version

I praise God for having this opportunity and for this finished product.

A special Thank You is extended to my mother, Annie B. Scott Moyé for her

continued prayers, positive attitude, friendship, love and guidance.

I express gratitude to my husband, Larry, for sharing his time

and for his constant belief in me.

Also, I gratefully acknowledge my sisters, Melanie and Aamora;

my brothers Eugene and Fabian;

and my nieces, Mia, Kali, Geneca and Aashawna, and Aunt Gwen

for their unwavering support of me during this project.

Gatsy Moyé-Lavergne, M.Ed

•

I dedicate this book to at risk children in our schools,

To let them know their voices have been heard;

to my family who has always heard my voice and

To the children of color in our schools who have yet to be heard.

Margaret Stroud, EdD

•

FOREWORD

By Dr. Yvonne Blanchard Freeman

Honor is as honor does. Indeed, it is my single honor to have been asked to introduce this standard of open, honest, edifying dialogue, discourse, and probing insight that embraces the pages of this timely book, What Every Educator Should Know about Consequences of Beliefs, Values, Attitudes, and Paradigms for the Reconstruction of an Academically Unacceptable Middle School. It provides some unifying insight on the construction, deconstruction and reconstruction of schools that compromise the shared futures of children and the careers of good teachers.

What came to mind as I began to insert myself in this rich tapestry of swift insights in public education myths, realities and disarming dysfunction that we find in schools and school systems all over this nation, is the need to be unafraid, to be honest with ourselves about what works, for whom, when and why. Education is not one size, one teaching strategy, one learning style nor one pedagogy. I am saddened to be reminded that in many instances, our schools have crippled and compromised the creativity and genius of countless children who might have become diplomats, pilots, physicists, presidents, chemists, biomedical engineers and greatly needed oncologists. Two thoughts continue to dot my landscape, chief among which is the famed Gettysburg Address:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. This immortalized passage with its mixed messages and meanings is preached and recited by many, but is limited in realization and practice. The pages of this book, however, are vivid reminders that we have promises to keep and miles to go before we sleep.

These words flow from the mouth and heart of one of the nation’s presidents whose deep abiding conviction, at least on the surface, was devoted to a cause that gave many men pause - the right of All to experience equality and full access to quality education, quality of life, and all of the residual benefits that equality invites. The jury in some chambers, classrooms and policy circles is still out as to whether this provocative call was truly intended for ALL.

The illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot read. It will be the person who does not know how to learn. -Alvin Toffler

This book argues that if we are truly committed to getting to excellence, then we must seek to understand, define and embrace the problems that undermine quality education in our schools; transform our thinking, expectations, leadership, educators and pedagogy. If we are going to secure our shared future, we must stop blaming each other, work together, and be willing to unlearn and relearn.

We have to be careful that in our constant efforts to overhaul educational practices and processes that we do not begin with defective legacies, judgments and skewed cultural illiteracy. As educators, policy makers, and business leaders, if we are indeed honest with ourselves, we will realize that it is later than we think. Our schools are not positioned to prepare children in every school, school district or community for success. What is sad about this albeit reality is that we are informed, instructed, astute on policy and outcomes and know well that children learn best when they know that their educators, parents, and community leaders care about them and demonstrate that the education of this nations children is our nation’s highest priority.

We are uniquely positioned to celebrate innovation and new ways of thinking and learning. In many instances, our children learn better on their own without the interference of standardized tests and teachers who believe there is no salvation for this nation’s inheritance - her children. Too many community leaders and politicians embrace each day in disbelief that some children can or will ever learn. Some children are written off before they come to school, as some who arrive poorly or inappropriately clad are judged by how they look, rather than by how they think and reason. Some are misunderstood because of the way they walk, and other often misguided and misunderstood social, culture, and religious symbols of belonging. Some children demonstrate a kind of cultural arrogance which is usually a defense mechanism, a facade to protect them from that thing many children fear most, rejection, which paralyzes the spirit, the will to excel, creative energy and the desire to participate and learn.

In some schools and communities, to succeed in learning results in exclusion by the very groups children want to be included and accepted into, so they fail on purpose- just to belong. Schools have imposed so many superficial demands and requirements on our children that many are anxious, exhausted and depressed. There is little in the lives of so many children that is acceptable and noteworthy of celebration. Hence, unacceptable schools are born.

We need to avoid excavating the failure of our children or ruminating about what’s lacking, and their performance on standardized tests, and mount up like eagles and demand quality education and respect for this nation’s seed. Our children live in a world where paranoia is their mental health and the thing they trust most. We must ask, what is the cost of a standardized test that leaves one on the periphery of acceptable cognition; or unacceptable ranges of achievement; or that sends a message to education leaders, educators and policy analysts that there is no salvation for some children? There is a notion that circumstance may have left some children bent; but rest assured they are not broken.

Minority and immigrant children have come to have a high tolerance for pain, neglect, exclusion and betrayal, and they profoundly know the difference. They are often socially and intellectually wiser than their years and for them the damn test will not result in their being hired even if they are the best qualified. That is their history. Today’s children have seen too much, heard too much, and watched the suffocating pain of discrimination claim too many heroes and family hopefuls. They know all too well that performance on a paper and pencil test is not predictive of performance in the work place (or in life for that matter), because the most successful of those they know have too often fallen short of well deserved recognition or success, and are often tasked to train those who will then supervise them in the workplace.

Most of our children have great forbearance skills; they learn how to negotiate in an alien culture, and they will demonstrate extraordinary survival skills, if they believe the teachers and the school community genuinely believe in their ability to succeed beyond the distractions in the halls. Students in unacceptable and underperforming schools tend to know why the schools are under performing, and they have little respect for standardized tests because their personal and collective histories suggest that, even in excelling on a test, a greater quality of life is not assured. Unacceptable schools too often compromise how children learn and they disrespect or fail to value the structure of intellect that many children bring to the school place. Children do not need a standardized test to know, why the caged bird sings. If our children know these things, then… it is reasonable to believe that those in positions of leadership and responsibility in our schools, stakeholders in communities, leaders in our government, and common sense adults know these things as well.

This book serves as a paramedic, committed to stabilizing and ultimately saving the patient, public education, with state of the art educational triage, instrumentation, analyses and good counsel which formalize a treatment plan and trains new standards driven clinicians to render life saving and transforming diagnosis, academic success prognosis, theories of change and organic thinking that translates to realistic and attainable solutions for the reconstruction of schools, and culturally sound and literate teaching and learning practices . This outcome will lend itself to the creation of a community of educators and stakeholders committed and willing to invest in healthy teaching, learning, leading and educational resolve. If educators dare to be conscientious enough to embrace these pages, they then become the surgeons to help students to honor, value, celebrate, care for and respect themselves and transcend unacceptable labels migrating them to acceptable and exceptional educational outcomes.

All is not lost as the pages of this timely book reads like a Sanskrit mantra, systematic in its language, analytic in its research, melodic in its stories, detailing a concert of purpose and action moving from the abstract to concrete realities in its qualitative and quantitative content, comparisons and context. The authors are like a praise team and the book is like a gospel hymn, which constantly restates and recalls realities already digested and sung… but as with good gospel music, you cannot just hum, you really have to pay attention to the words for therein is the context for understanding and healing.

The book is a steadfast concert for distinguishing the abstract from the real, the important from the unimportant, for whom, and why. It emphasizes discrepancies in values, beliefs, paradigms and practices offering noteworthy observations of best practices and laudable solutions and outcomes, only if educators and school leadership dare to embrace edification. The authors clarify and dignify motives and objectives …and the righteous cause for a quality education with excellence as the centerpiece for ALL children, giving each child the confidence and a license to learn; allowing each to be inspired and excited about learning, free from the anxiety of standardized tests that measure only information and episodic events integrated and described on tests that bear little resemblance to the currency of life as they know and experience it or the dynamics of a changing world that they live in, where nothing, not even knowledge is held constant.

I recall my first year of teaching in an inner city elementary school in South Central Los Angeles. I was so excited. I was entrusted with the futures and dreams of forty-two children in a single classroom. Some of the children were bilingual with limited English experience. Further, I had no teacher aide. I was determined, however, that every child in that classroom would be able to read and compute on grade level at the end of the school year. I was young, naïve, enthusiastic and determined to save all children. My parents even discouraged me from initiating an adoption of one of the children.

Standardized tests have shortcomings hence; I was not preoccupied with standardized tests to be administered toward the end of the school year. I was pre-occupied and concerned that every child awakened each morning full of excitement, racing to school to collaborate, cooperate and communicate new understandings. I knew that with many children I had to devise strategies that gave ownership to the students for all aspects of the learning process. I developed a strategy that made each student enthusiastically take responsibility for their success and that of their peers. I used passwords to admit them to the classroom each morning; sometimes in other languages, often using characters in books or things that excited them and made them think.

They had to knock three times and provide a password to enter the classroom in the morning. The mystery and intrigue gave them something or everything to look forward to, and to imagine, what is this teacher going to come up with next? I wore a patch over one eye for a month to evoke the sympathy of a student struggling with reading and with whom I needed to spend more individual time to develop his confidence in reading. He felt I was infirmed and needed him; hence, when I asked him to read with and for me, he was pleased to do so for he cared so much for me because I cared so much for him. He felt duty bound to help this nearly blind teacher read, when in reality, he was helping himself. It worked! That was edification in real time. I appointed the stronger students as proctors and worked with them individually to prepare them to successfully lead the class in specific lessons periodically or to teach a mathematical function with confidence. It was important that every child experience success at something each day, giving each something special they could reflect upon at the end of each day.

One of the most impressive things I observed happened on the day a student was to lead his or her colleagues in a specific teaching and learning exercise, they all arrived at school, impeccably dressed, completely transformed and arrayed in their Sunday best . It was phenomenal. The students took responsibility to ensure that No Child in That Classroom Was Left Behind. The students with limited English speaking capability learned quickly because their peers demanded excellence and English language proficiency from them in and out of the classroom. My task was to prepare the student leaders well enough so that they would inspire and empower their peers and commend them when their responses and behavior warranted such or when they needed to feel special, appreciated, needed or celebrated. My job was to honk encouragement from behind.

There are no standardized tests to measure the leadership, collaboration, compassion and concern the students demonstrated toward each other. There was no standardized test to measure the Kool Aid smiles that resulted from getting the right answers or for being applauded by their peers for their English fluency or getting the look of joy and approval from the teacher from across the room. There is no standardized test to measure this, and this is the kind of outcome found in the experiences of the authors engaged in Getting to Excellence through transforming an unacceptable school to a more than acceptable and ultimately exceptional school.

My goal was to ensure that each child had a flight plan that developed a love and passion for learning and sharing and that each demonstrated and experienced success at some activity or lesson daily. At the end of the school year, each child could lead, read, compute and leave school excited about school… the learning sanctuary.

This book is replete with illustrations of some of the myths, deficiencies and weaknesses hidden in abstract policies, institutional persistence, culturally void programs, professional development for educators, strategic planning and teaching methodologies and practices. It advocates a methodology for arriving at well conceived, culturally healthy, organic solutions to achieve self confidence, education success, social and cultural acceptance and academic excellence, using electronic and technological tools, social media, simulations and games common to the culture, learning styles, relationships and co-laboratories: a social and educational laboratory where collaboration is an art form, that yields innovation and genius common and important to the children and the communities where they thrive.

The authors and their findings provide an opportunity to define in real terms what best practices made sense and are required to provide a systematic and honest framework for evaluating what’s wrong with education, and what’s wrong with standardized testing , which is primarily a tool, often inadequately used and implemented to assess or change student and teacher behaviors. The tests do not assess or evaluate stakeholder beliefs, values, attitudes and paradigms for flexibility in the transformation and reconstruction of the school environment.

I applaud the authors for their humility and probing insight, research integrity and the audacity to be relevant, truthful, and expressive, and to engage in organic thinking that provokes transformation of public education, and which acknowledges that children are differently abled. Organic thinking exposes absurdities and discrepancies between alien— and often competing— beliefs, practices, values and paradigms that foreclose on quality and excellence in the school place, and elevates the discussion on reinvention and edification of education and schools where students learn.

Their tasteful stories and tireless commitment to Go Tell It On The Mountain must be the centerpiece for truth, understanding and the pursuit of innovation, reinvention, equity, excellence and culturally relevant education experiences that inspire and reframe the discussion about getting to excellence, and which empower educators, stakeholders, and parents, and inspire children and youth everywhere to be well prepared, to perform well and to be unafraid to excel in school and in the marketplace.

Dr. Yvonne Blanchard-Freeman

President and CEO

Alliance for Global Education and Leadership, AGEL, Inc.

Atlanta, Georgia

PREFACE

The meaning and value of school depend upon the lens through which they are viewed. Some view them as the backbone of American society; the demise of which could result in the end of America as we know it today. Others view this as an opportunity to enhance their class and social status: while still others in the political arena view strong schools as a sign of great leadership. Since the establishment of schools in 1785, the argument has persisted about what makes a school good, and how to transcend a good school to a great school. Currently, schools where the results of student achievement are low have been labeled as non-performing, underperforming, low performing and academically unacceptable. The genesis for this book was the result of observation of the leaders of these labeled schools and the strategies and techniques utilized to turn their schools around. The authors came to the realization that these transformational and turnaround leaders were implementing research-based practices which evolved during the 1980’s educational reform days, a byproduct of the document A Nation at Risk: An Imperative for Education Reform created by the National Commission on Excellence. The commission was created because of the Secretary of Education’s concern that something was amiss in public education. The report specifically states:

"Our Nation is at risk. Our once unchallenged preeminence in commerce, industry, science, and technological innovation is being overtaken by competitors throughout the world. This report is concerned with only one of the many causes and dimensions of the problem, but it is the one that undergirds American prosperity, security, and civility. We report to the American people that while we can take justifiable pride in what our schools and colleges have historically accomplished and contributed to the United States and the well-being of its people, the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a nation and a people.

Over the years as a result of this report a number of interventions and fixes have been proposed through intervention at the federal level such as Goals 2000, No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Race to the Top. The authors of this book include the rich experiences of ordinary people who have had extraordinary experiences in the public education system. Through their eyes the myths, deficiencies and weaknesses hidden in abstract policies and institutional practices are unveiled. These experiences give us insight on the history of public education as it was lived. Using these experiences as a backdrop the results of a case study is presented of one school which seemingly spiraled from a school of excellence to an unacceptable status in a Recognized district. The findings provide an opportunity for the readers to define in real terms what best practices make sense and also provides a systematic and honest framework for evaluating what’s right with education and the impact of standardized testing on doing what’s right.

This book is about a journey with the Center for Strategic Alliance in Education for School and District Improvement with stakeholders in a school targeted for school improvement. The first chapter puts into context the notion of school, its purpose and the incumbent variables of values, attitudes, organizational and leadership behaviors and instructional practices. Throughout the book, the authors look at three contextual boundaries: (1) historical, (2) the lens of former students and their perceptions of the presence or absence of those variables and (3) a comparison of labeled schools and the views and perceptions of stakeholders with regard to quality, equity and adequacy.

This is a compelling journey which utilizes quantitative and qualitative data to take a critical look at the processes involved and the strategies used in in America’s journey in the quest for excellence. The authors’ story is one of the pursuits of innovation, reinvention, equity, excellence and culturally relevant education experiences that inspire and reframe the discussion about getting to excellence. The book is replete with illustrations of weaknesses hidden in abstract policies, institutional persistence, and culturally void programs, methodologies and practices. It advocates a methodology for arriving at well-conceived processes for achieving acceptance and academic excellence through collaboration among those to whom education is important - the children and the communities where they live

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We take this opportunity to acknowledge the many contributors to this book: Wilmer C. Beasley, Chandra Gail Jones-Brooks, Marian A. Cluff, Leigha Curry, Glenda Daniels, Kimona Dixon, Amy Freeman, Michael Glenn, April Gobert, Everett Hare, Joseph Hebert, Charlene-Mary James, Angela Nauls- Jones, Teryana Lamb, Chatonya Landry, Jermon Malone, Bobbye McCain, Mazie McCoy, Danielle Seymore, Bayana E. Sumbry-Taylor, Minnie Thomas, Lori P. Rochelle , and Torivio Trevino. We apologize to any contributors that we may have inadvertently omitted from this list.

INTRODUCTION

We can whenever, and wherever we choose, successfully teach all children whose schooling is of interest to us. We already know more than we need, in order to do this. Whether or not we do it must finally depend on how we feel about the fact that we haven’t so far."

RON EDMONDS

HARVARD UNIVERSITY

1978

The Center for Strategic Alliances in Education for School and District Improvement (CSAE) is pleased to share results of actions taken by persons who have a stake in the Willie Ray Smith, Sr. Science and Medical Technology Magnet Middle School to effect the reconstruction of their school. The vision of the Center is to become the nation’s leading facilitator of academic excellence, cultural excellence, adequacy, and equity in urban schools and school districts. Its mission is reflective of its commitment to facilitate academic excellence, cultural excellence, adequacy, and equity in urban schools and school districts in the nation.

As will be seen below, actions taken by politicians and industrial and military leaders have resulted in two operationally defined categories of schools: academically acceptable and academically unacceptable. As a consequence of acting on various beliefs, values, attitudes, and paradigms presented below, The Willie Ray Smith, Sr. Science and Medical Technology Magnet Middle School, previously academically acceptable, found itself in the academically unacceptable category in 2010-2011. This book is about the journey taken by these stakeholders, working hand in hand with The Center for Strategic Alliances in Education for School and District Improvement toward Excellence. The Edmonds’ hypothesis stated at the beginning of this Introduction was tested at the Willie Ray Smith, Sr. Science and Medical Technology Magnet Middle School and could not be rejected. Since this proved to be the case at this school, there is no reason why it cannot be the case for any school deemed academically unacceptable. Were this not the case, those who have a stake in those schools may be challenged to reflect and act on Edmonds’ assertion that, Whether we do it must finally depend on how we feel about the fact that we haven’t so far.

We devote our first three chapters to context. We do so because in order to understand the various inputs and processes that resulted in the need to reconstruct the Willie Ray Smith, Sr. Science and Medical Technology Magnet Middle School, one must be cognizant of the beliefs, values, attitudes, and paradigms that shape the external and internal environments in which today’s’ educators find themselves practicing. A discussion of a salient dimension of the external environment in which today’s educators find themselves practicing – the policy context - is presented in Chapter One. Critical elements of this discussion include a truncated history of the