Professor Meira LevinsonChris Buttimer, TF

Aaliyah El-Amin, TFShauna Leung, TF

Welcome to T210XFoundations of Urban

Education 2014!

Agenda• Introductions• Framing/Setting our course• Small group discussion about readings• Whole group debrief• Home Group Simulation• Carousel• Whole group debrief• Preview tomorrow

Introductions

• Meira• Aaliyah• Chris• Shauna• You!

HGSE Ed.M. 46

Advanced Leadership Institute

4

Harvard Divinity School

2

HGSE Ed.LD. 1

BC Divinity School 1

Harvard Business School

1

Who You Are: Programs

Who You Are: Experience

Type of Experience

Attended urban schools

15

Taught in urban schools

30

Held another role in urban schools

14

Worked/volunteered in a different urban setting

34

Who You Are: Future Plans

Framing T210X

• Unpacking “urban education”• My goal for you: informed and effective agency• Philosophical perspective: Assumption of good

will– By actors working in, on, or through urban schools

and districts– By one another in this class

• Political construction of urban schools

Political Construction of Urban Schools

Urban educational

settings

Students & educators: Who attends & works in

urban schools? Why?Who does not attend or work in these schools?

Why?

Communities & Families:

Who surrounds and supports urban schools?

Who is insulated from or uninvolved in urban schools?

History, Law, Sociology, & Politics: What political, legal, and social

decisions have been made over time that shape and even define urban

schools and districts?

Culture: What norms, values, & assumptions do we hold about schooling

in general? About urban schools in

particular?

Think – Meet and Greet – Discuss(a variation on Think-Pair-Share)

Framing Questions:• What relationships exist between school segregation, on the one hand, and

educational quality and equality, on the other?• How have people over time tried to address these relationships, and what are

the costs and benefits of each approach?

1. What are the most important definitive insights you gained from the readings and e-lecture w/respect to these FQs? Reference specific data, evidence, and arguments.

2. What questions are you still wrestling with, either because of confusion, lack of knowledge, contradiction between what the texts claim and your prior beliefs or knowledge, or a combination of the above? Again, be as specific as possible.

Link to iSite

Whole Class Discussion

Segregation as a positive resource:

• Cultural coherence/congruence• Targeted curricula, pedagogies,

community engagement, or other resources appropriate to the group

• Role modeling• Higher expectations for in-group members• Tracking/special services do not reflect or

reinforce group divisions/hierarchies

Hom

e G

roup

s an

d TF

Ass

ignm

ents

AALIYAH SHAUNA CHRISHouston (106) Atlanta (214) New York (214)Michael Rubenstein Cristobal Madero Stacy TellShari Campbell Sarah Groh Brandon GillAmanda Palffy Krista Sergi Rebecca ZofsnassTessa Hamilton Andrea Lemahieu Allison WhiteLindsey Graham Annalise Kontras Jesse RothmanJonathan Hasak Natalia Cuadra-Saez Audrey Harris

New Orleans (106) Denver (214) Detroit (106)Alida Maravi Alison Fessler Joshua DelaneySarah Robb Alec Barrett Erin CarrollChristopher McCoy Eddy Perez Anna RafalovichAndrew Hodges Yvette Dubinsky Joanna WoodCarla Mike Christina Grayson Arjun GuptaRachel Foran Marie-Sophie Guntram Ellen ViserCarolina Brito

Boston (G06) Chicago (214) Los Angeles (106)John Dubinsky Erin Wattles Jignasha PatelShannon Moran Audrianna Archibald David TropinEmily Srisarajivakul Joey Waddy Tori WintersAnnie Leavitt Hongyang Zhao Ellen LathropPaul Perry Caitlin Campbell Simon RodbergLaura Chrisco Christina Moran Jason Lee

SIMULATION #1Enjoy break! Please be in your assigned

group at the appointed restart time.

Carousel!

• Take a walk (or ride the carousel!) Read each others’ ideas on the chart paper.

• If you see an errant marker, please bring or pass it to a member of the teaching team. Thanks!

Trends and Ideas in response to Simulation 1• Preference for magnet schools without admission restrictions seems like a plan w/no losers. Seems like

a way to have it all. But it ignores the students who don’t “win” the lottery; leaves unasked whether non-neighborhood families will actually be attracted to the magnet

• What does neighborhood preference mean? Is it a floor? A ceiling? Does it create a sense of unfairness among those outside the neighborhood—”you got in only because…”?

• Does removing academic admissions requirements make a school unattractive to privileged parents?• Even if we integrate at the school level, will classes be integrated? Internal forms of segregation:

tracking, e.g.• Assumptions about what would bring in white students in the absence of busing. Especially, lots of

reliance on Raleigh example: can we just take the policies from Raleigh and plunk them in another context and expect them to work the same way? Need for critical mass of schools, e.g.

• Common value across many groups: importance of community buy-in. Practices included polling families about preferences; surveying students;

• Options all have trade-offs. There are winners and losers in each of these policies. One way of addressing this is trying to minimize the number of losers. Another way is to consider which constituency one can afford to let lose.

• Importance of evaluating whether the school model/reform actually achieves its ends. We need to consider what and how to evaluate.

• How important is integration? Is it the end, an end, a means, or none?• Timing of policies is important: difference between making a difference for kids this year or next year, vs.

in 5 or 10 years• How does the data we’re given shape our presuppositions about the task, about the school, about the

policy? If we get just a limited set of data, does that lead us to take a shallow perspective?• Is this about schools at all? Why aren’t we talking about poverty as an underlying issues?

A New (2012) Take on Parents Involved:New Guidance Supports Voluntary Efforts to Promote Diversity and

Reduce Racial Isolation in Education Today, the Departments of Justice and Education released two new guidance documents—one for school districts and one for colleges and universities—detailing the flexibility that the Supreme Court has provided to educational institutions to promote diversity and, in the case of elementary and secondary schools, reduce racial isolation among students within the confines of the law. The guidance makes clear that educators may permissibly consider the race of students in carefully constructed plans to promote diversity or, in K-12 education, to reduce racial isolation. It recognizes the learning benefits to students when campuses and schools include students of diverse backgrounds."Diverse learning environments promote development of analytical skills, dismantle stereotypes, and prepare students to succeed in an increasingly interconnected world," said Attorney General Eric Holder. "The guidance announced today will aid educational institutions in their efforts to provide true equality of opportunity and fully realize the promise of Brown v. Board of Education.""Racial isolation remains far too common in America's classrooms today and it is increasing," said Education Secretary Arne Duncan. "This denies our children the experiences they need to succeed in a global economy, where employers, co-workers, and customers will be increasingly diverse. It also breeds educational inequity, which is inconsistent with America's core values." ….. Previous guidance issued by the Bush Administration in 2008 is being withdrawn today.

Looking Ahead

• Response papers– 1 page– Complete one on today’s class and/or one of

tomorrow’s classes so you can get feedback in time for next week

– Opportunity to consolidate learning

• School Finance and Student Identity and Curriculum Access tomorrow

Will schools that remain segregated ever be made equal?

• Can they be?–

• Will they be?–