Intentional, Bold, & Unapologetic

By Dr. Michael Conner

BOLD and Unapologetic leadership is needed in the post-pandemic era called the AC-Stage of Education. We know the insidious and spurious issues in education - unfinished learning gaps, disparities among socioeconomics, rapidly changing demographics, and social injustices. Any academic recovery agenda will have to be int

• Language: English
• Publisher: Agile Evolutionary Group
• Release date: Dec 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9798986342146

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

After the American Revolution, President Thomas Jefferson contended that for America to truly be independent, the nation needed an educational system funded by tax dollars. Education pioneers, such as Horace Mann of Massachusetts and Henry Barnard of Connecticut, challenged the initial construct of public education. They started a movement to improve the system and determined it must be both free and compulsory for every child in the nation.

By 1918, every child in the United States of America was required to attend at least elementary school. Many suggested that this movement to develop a public education system should be lauded for general equality. Still, the origins design included varying tracks, dependent upon the background of the student being served. Not all students experienced public education in the same way. Students who were nonwhite continued to experience a precipitous regression in multiple areas of achievement that were assessed. I hear similar concerns in constituents' voices today—is education truly liberating and free of prejudices? Many individuals who identify with a marginalized group would suggest they had to adapt to the mainstream culture to achieve success. This concept cannot be measured by a straightforward metric.

Although legislation required every American to have at least an elementary experience by 1918, in the late 1800s, there were official Black codes in the South, which limited every aspect of Black life, including work, housing, and education. The landmark Plessy v. Ferguson case landed a Supreme Court ruling that some would theorize our current education industry, pedagogy, operations, and model emulates—separate by equal. This Supreme Court decision moved our economy into a spurious phase in American history, where segregation was the norm, part of the fabric of our culture. Unfortunately, we still see evidence of separate but equal in too many of our nation’s current classrooms.

Though eventually, Black students had the constitutional right to attend public schools, their learning experiences were far removed from that of their White counterparts. The education trajectory for Black students—specifically regarding quality—was a discriminatory policy that led to only one out of eight Black Americans completing a high school diploma. The plight of Black students in public education was multifaceted. Both structural and external factors plagued the academic progress of these students. Disproportionate resources, coupled with decrepit brick and mortars, could only be classified as grossly immoral. One example of such gross inequity occurred during the 1949-1950 academic year. Clarendon County, Georgia, spent $179 for every White child educated in their schools. In contrast, they allocated Black students only $43 per pupil during the same academic year. In 1954, with unambiguous evidence of a failure to support Black students—inadequate resources and substandard conditions for academic learning—separate but equal was challenged.

The landmark decision by the Supreme Court in the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka deemed racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional, even if the racially segregated schools were proven to be of high quality. This decision received broad resistance and led to another famous case, Cooper v. Aaron. This case reaffirmed the ruling of the Brown case—segregation was deemed unconstitutional.

These historic decisions had implications for Black and Brown students that would continue to plague them all the way to the present. Separate but equal persists. We forecast that by the 2025-2026 academic year, 55% of our students in American public schools will be Black or Brown. The pernicious triad that continues to permeate our education system—segregation, inequities, and student outcome gaps—must be addressed boldly. These compounding inequities continue to this day to varying degrees across the nation. As we enter this new era of After-COVID-19 (written as AC from here on) in the education space, a new model of leadership is a necessity for the authentic liberation of students through education. Our students have suffered for generations. To change their trajectory, we cannot afford to linger. We must commit to practices and policies that accelerate access to learning and academic opportunity. To disrupt current patterns that have led to an unacceptable status quo, a coalition of leaders must address inequities in education unapologetically, which will require a commitment to deconstructing the standardization of education and integrating it with innovation for excellence.

In 1981, Secretary of Education, T.H. Bell, developed a National Commission on Excellence to make practical recommendations to improve and strengthen the education model. From this report—A Nation at Risk—came Indicators of the Risk, which were presented to Secretary Bell after the commission’s comprehensive assessment. ¹ Within the risk aggregates presented in the report, it underscored one implicit metric with depth—the disparities between Black and Brown students and their White counterparts. Direct recommendations for advancement and improvement were provided, but a key implication was omitted. These recommendations sought to improve a flawed model—one that was separate by equal.

The Before-COVID-19-stage (hereafter referred to as BC) promulgated the traditional rudiments of our education ecosystem—batched industrialization with access denied because of mainstream thinking. President George W. Bush allocated billions of federal dollars in what most praise as the pinnacle legislation to change the landscape of education forever—No Child Left Behind. The intent may have been admirable, but the outcomes were dismal, particularly for students already marginalized in public education. The policy ushered in an era of standardization through high-stakes assessments. De facto segregation was exposed in the results—stark statistical divides in achievement. Schools deemed failing always seemed to be in communities densely populated by Black and Brown students living in poverty.

The following Democratic president introduced a new education policy as a reaction—Race to the Top. This policy included elements from the business sector—market-based reform. It is too early to make any theoretical or statistical analysis of the longitudinal effects of this legislation; however, achievement increased incrementally. The policy also promoted a greater acceptance of radical innovations using technology. Many transformative ideas were implemented with good intent for the most minoritized students and families. There has been great disagreement regarding the return on investment, which has led to division and the politicization of education. Sadly, the polarization of political actors, regardless of quantitative metrics, has distracted many from the current reality—a radically different education model must be employed for all students to experience success in the United States.

March 2020 flipped the education model. The global pandemic of COVID-19 challenged every aspect of the education ecosystem. Every tenant, from operational systems, models of instruction, and the absence of equity, exposed the chasms in public education. The novelty of the pandemic created a seismic shift and provided a critical question to education leaders during a time of ambiguity—are we truly preparing students for the twenty-first century and beyond? As leaders and teachers were adjusting in the Great Stage of Experimentation, the incubators of innovations were seeking strategies and methods that rooted the work for all. Suddenly, there was permission to innovate, an invitation to digital transformation, modifications to align artificial intelligence with traditional pedagogy, and encouragement to use big data reports for creativity and excellence. The During-COVID-19 (referred to as DC from here on)—stage yielded the antithesis of how any adult was educated in America—even how to keep students safe during graduation exercises. However, this stage of testing presented bold opportunities for the future. The consternation was not on absolute metrics but on how we eradicate inequities for all students. The Great Stage of Experimentation, or DC-Stage, was an arduous time for educators. Yet, in a positive context, it leveraged a critical meta-theme in the education space—we could not go back to the static model of the BC-Stage. The insidious processes lamented in the BC-Stage marginalized and segregated students. Not every element of our education construct was dangerous for our students. However, I am advocating for a change-management practice recognizing the past but underscoring progressive practices to ensure two generations are prepared for Delta 2030—a hypothetical economy now but a reality in less than eight