Leading in a Culture of Change

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Leading in a Culture of Change

• Anthony Muhammad

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Where are we currently?

• What are your general beliefs
• about school/field of education in its current
  context?
• Role of the school leadership
• Role/State of teachers
• Students/Home environment
• School governance (Local, State, and Federal)
• Reflect on how your beliefs were formed?

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Current Challenges

• Flattening of the world and a new world economic
  structure
• NCLB
• Training and retaining qualified educators
• Reform vs. Reculturing
• Societal value of education
• These are the best of times and the worst of
  times

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Part 1

• The Problem

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National AchievementNAEP
Source No Excuses, Thernstrom and Thernstrom 2005
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Four Year Gap

• Scores for Whites and Asians
• 8th Grade
• Scores for Blacks and Latinos
• 12th grade

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High School Dropout Dilemma

• Adults without a high school diploma are twice as
  likely to be unemployed
• Dropouts make up nearly 70 of U.S. inmates
• A dropouts life expectancy is 9.2 years lower
  than that of high school graduates
• The average 45-year-old dropout is in worse
  health than the average 65-year-old high school
  graduate
• Source
• Henry Levin, Columbia University

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African-American and Hispanic Graduation Rates
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Schott FoundationStudy on Black Boys - 2003

• Black boys represented the worst-case scenario
  for a group coming out of public education
• African-American boys spend more time in special
  education, less time in advanced placement
  classes, and receive more disciplinary
  suspensions and expulsions than other group in
  the U.S. today
• More black males receive a GED in prison than
  graduate from college
• The traditional social development institutions
  are failing them. Their family of origin, their
  schools, their churches, social service agencies,
  social workers all are failing to reach this
  group of hardened boys

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Results of a Poor Education

• 47 of Black youth live in families that are
  below the poverty line
• 67 of Black youth live in households headed by a
  single female
• Unemployment rate among Black Youth was 34,
  twice the rate of American youth in general which
  was 17.4
• Black males are seven times more likely to be
  murdered than their White counterparts
• The rate of teen pregnancy among Black youth is
  twice the rate of white youth

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Results of a Poor Education

• Black youth incarceration rates exceeds those of
  all other youth combined!!!
• Blacks account for 16 of the total U.S.
  population, but 58 of the total U.S. prison
  population
• Blacks account for 14.8 of the total public
  school population in the U.S., but Black students
  account for 20.2 of students enrolled in
  special education
• The Black rate of HIV/AIDS infection is five
  times higher than Whites (38 of total AIDS
  cases)
• The average performance of Black and Hispanic
  students on the SAT is 50 points lower than that
  of Whites

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• What does this data mean to you?
• What does this data tell you about the need for
  reform?

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Conclusion

• Huge disparities exist in America as it pertains
  to student achievement, especially between
  students of different social classes and races
• These gaps in achievement have real quality of
  life implications

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Part 2

• The Challenge of Reform

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Obstacles

• Create a list of the seven greatest obstacles to
  reform in schools today.
• Read aloud, and discuss one of the short articles
  on school reform attempts with your groups?

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• What is the common theme?

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Changing PeoplePeter Marris

• Force
• Persuasion
• Learning

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• Rank these three methods by order of
  effectiveness, and explain why you ranked them in
  that order.
• Provide examples where appropriate.

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Inside Teaching, 2005Mary Kennedy

• Why is reform so difficult?
• Teachers need more knowledge or guidance in order
  to alter their practice
• Teachers hold beliefs and values that differ from
  reformers and that justify their current
  practices
• Teachers have dispositions that interfere with
  their ability to implement reforms
• The circumstances of teaching prevent teachers
  from altering their practices

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Teacher Expectations of Student Achievement

• What are teacher expectations?
• Inferences that teachers make about the present
  and future academic achievement and general
  classroom behavior of their students
• Brophy and Good, 1974

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What factors determine how expectations are
formed?

• Race
• Gender
• Social Class
• Disability
• LEP
• Student History
• Physical Attractiveness
• Handwriting
• Communication and Speech Patterns
• Participation in Extracurricular Activities

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Implications for Practice

• Proactive Teacher Teachers that establish and
  maintain the initiative in structuring
  interactions with their classes and groups.
  Their expectations for students are used in
  planning activities designed to individualize
  students and maximize their achievement, but
  expectations are generally accurate and kept
  flexible.

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Implications for Practice

• Reactive Teacher Teachers adjust their actions
  to students according to students behavior, and
  allow students to control or condition the
  patterns of teacher-student interaction in the
  classroom.

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Implications for Practice

• Overactive Teacher Allow themselves to be
  conditioned by student differences, but
  exacerbate these differences by treating the
  students as even more different than they really
  are. It is this type of teacher that will be
  more prone to favor students who show good
  performance and/or desirable classroom behavior.

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Part 3

• A Solid Plan/Vision

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New Frontier 21A Fresh Approach
Professional Learning Community
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Nine Core Beliefs

• Schools are places built for the education of
  children, not for adult employment.
• Schools play a major role in the future life
  success of students and their community.
• Education is a profession, and educators should
  conduct themselves as professionals.
• Education is a mission, and educators should
  conduct themselves as missionaries.
• Schools are a communities most precious
  institution, and they have the power to transform
  a community.
• Children are at the center of everything that we
  do, and our practice should reflect their best
  interest.
• We believe that schools must partner with other
  members of the community in order for the
  educational experience to be optimal.
• We believe that character is important and that
  schools can help shape a childs character.
• We believe that service to the community is
  important and that it is essential in a
  democratic society.

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Reflection

• Which beliefs resonate with you? Please explain.
• Which beliefs do not resonate with you or do not
  have real value?
• Please explain

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Four Big Ideas in Learning Communities

• Ensuring that Students Learn
• A Culture of Collaboration
• A Focus on Results
• Hard Work and Commitment

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Academic Skills

• Statistical Glance (Michigan)
• Black students lag 21 behind white students in
  Reading in 4th grade and 28 in 7th grade.
• Hispanic students lag 30 behind Asian students
  in Math in 4th grade and 44 behind in 8th grade.
• Economically Disadvantaged students on average
  scored less proficient at a rate of 10 or more
  in each core academic subject as compared to more
  economically affluent students.

Students must possess the ability to read, write,
compute, and think at high levels. These skills
lay the foundation for life and career options.
Without them, a childs future is limited.
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Character Education and Community Service

• Statistical Glance
• Black males have a 1 in 13 chance of going to
  prison before age 20 and a 1 in 6 chance before
  he dies.
• Hispanic males are 6 times more likely to be
  murdered than their white counterparts.
• 38 of individuals infected with HIV/AIDS are
  Black.
• The IRS reports that in 2003, people earning an
  income less than 20,000 a year gave less than
  .1 of their annual income to charitable
  organizations.

Intelligence without character is dangerous.
Humanity has suffered due to the misuse of power
by immoral people. Our communities need the
service of those who have a purpose greater than
their own self-interest.
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Connection to Public and Private Sectors

• Statistical Glance
• Black youth unemployment rate is 34. More than
  twice the U.S. average for all youth.
• More than 80 of loans earmarked for minority
  small businesses go unused.
• Hispanic rate of entrepreneurship is the nations
  second lowest, trailed only by Native Americans.

Economically disadvantaged students are unaware
of the many opportunities that await them in a
world of plenty. Schools can be powerful agents
in connecting their students to these powerful
institution at a young age in turn instilling
hope and ties for the future.
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Parental Partnership

• Statistical Glance
• Most of the factors causing the Achievement Gap
  happen outside of school (Rothstein).
• 35 of parents in the Detroit Public Schools
  attended Parent-Teacher Conferences in 2004.
• 2006 AP/AOL Poll found that 80 of parents
  thought that local schools would have students up
  to state standards by 2013 while only 50 of
  teachers felt the same way.

Parents are the most influential people in the
life of a child (either good or bad). To ignore
their role in the education of their children
would be foolish. Parents control the childs
environment outside of school. If that
environment is not in harmony with the
environment at school, gaps in learning are
inevitable.
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University Partnerships

• In education, the disconnect between research
  and practice is like no other field. Researchers
  research and practitioners practice and kids are
  the victims. Poor and disadvantaged children
  need the benefit of effective methods now more
  than ever. The partnership between universities
  and K-12 schools has the potential to be
  powerful.

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Part 4

• Getting Started

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Levey Middle SchoolSouthfield, Michigan

• 97 African-American student population Student
  population of 800
• School-wide Title 1 eligible
• Over 80 of students live in single female headed
  households
• Achievement scores well below state averages
• 25 40 annual student turnover rate
• 2000-2001 school over 3000 disciplinary
  suspensions
• 2000-2001 school year over 150 students failed
  two or more classes and were required to attend
  summer school
• 2001-2002 school year, I was the third principal
  in three years
• 65 of staff member were in their first, second,
  or third year of teaching
• Three parents were arrested in the previous year
  for disorderly conduct

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Where do you start?

• Please review these data and outline five
  beginning steps

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Advice for Successfully Starting Reform

• Prepare the Environment
• Outline Vision
• Establish Principles
• Establish Order and Discipline for All

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Contact Information

• Anthony Muhammad
• E-mail
• Newfrontier21_at_comcast.net
• Website
• www.newfrontier21.com