Friday Open Thread
Last summer weekend before school starts. As a kid, I always felt melancholy about that. What do you remember?
Reminders from SPS:
Wed., Sept. 4 is the first day of school for grades 1-12; Mon., Sept. 9 is the first day of kindergarten.
Waitlists from School Choice dissolve tomorrow, Saturday, August 31st.
A few funnies from The Onion:
Timeline of the American Public Education System
Does the new SPS dress code cover this possibility?
What's on your mind?
Reminders from SPS:
Wed., Sept. 4 is the first day of school for grades 1-12; Mon., Sept. 9 is the first day of kindergarten.
Waitlists from School Choice dissolve tomorrow, Saturday, August 31st.
A few funnies from The Onion:
Timeline of the American Public Education System
Does the new SPS dress code cover this possibility?
What's on your mind?
Comments
diploma... free
unsubscribe from District email lists... priceless.
Thank you Melissa for your many years of watching over the District!
I'll still read the forum, just not the mass emails from the District.
wondering
-Answer
There are two different thoughts regarding the call out culture. Some believe this type of culture is toxic. Others believe Call-Out cultures a necessary part of our society.
TCG is surrounded by radicals. There are discussions amongst serious left and justice activists about political strategy, goals and tactics that do raise questions and critiques of call out culture. The "Call-Out" culture will be used to push controversial initiatives.
Answer
Hmm, well, I know MMW was doing everything she could to push this thru (and it's not truly over given the lawsuit). But I don't think she had a hand in this attack by TCG. I'm sure she supports it but had nothing to do with it.
That opposing Amplify was framed as racism is just, well, weird. And, in that framing, should be totally ignored by the Board. What Amplify provides to kids of color is the ability to access science curriculum in a difference way BUT perhaps without a truly qualified teacher. I don't support that trade-off.
Lower Bar
Amplify has never really been about equity. It's all about $$$ and student data.
Reject Amplify
reader
A couple of thoughts about Ethnic Studies and why we can't avoid using the movement as a "personal therapy space."
First, Ethnic Studies is not a curriculum; it's a methodology. I've been to the Ethnic Studies roll-out presentation twice--once with TCG and once with a colleague who went to the training this summer and was chosen by our principal to share her experiences with the staff to try to generate buy in. The colleague's presentation was the exact same PowerPoint, with the exact same slides, same fonts, etc.
Ethnic Studies isn't about: "here's where came from, how they evolved as a group, and why they're thriving in America, what challenges they face, etc." It isn't even: "here's what an ethnic group is, here's how we define an ethnic group, here's how ethnic groups evolve and interact."
Ethnic Studies has four pillars (I may not get their exact words right, but here they are): 1. Identity (and by that they primarily mean race and ethnicity, not any other intersectional aspects of identity), 2. Power and Oppression, 3. Resistance, 4. Action.
This isn't an academic discipline; it's an activist-training discipline, which is all fine and good, but what if a student wants to study their Mormon identity, look at how the Mormons were oppressed in the 19th Century, look at how Mormons resisted the Federal government's attempts to destroy a key part of their religion/identity/family structure by retreating into the Southern Utah mountains, and then wants to start an activism movement in favor of LDS rights?
Do you really think an Ethnic Studies teacher is going to allow that project to go forward?
Secondly, the whole "movement as therapy" tendency is baked into all of this. At all of these race and equity trainings, they tell us to "speak your truth," and they are very, very leery of any claims that try to be general or based on empirical evidence. We are encouraged to only speak in the first person about our experiences.
Then, if we are in a protected group--race, ethnicity, gender/sex, sexuality--then our experiences are not to be questioned, and any racist/sexist/homophobic things we say or do are because we've been brainwashed by a racist/sexist/homophobic society. If we are at the apex of privilege for one or more aspects of our identities, then our experiences and perspectives are horribly warped by our privilege.
Empiricism and data are aspects of Whiteness, so those are out the window. Generalizations are untenable because small exceptions destroy generalizations, as if one exception disproves a thousand instances where the generalization holds.
A lot of this is stalled out because of our fundamental psychological differences. The RET/TCG/Soup crowd wants to make everything an emotional appeal; those who oppose them, or are insufficiently with them, are often people who are more driven by logic and facts than by emotions and narratives.
So we become locked into this dysfunctional loop of each side trying to amplify the strategy that works for it instead of moving to where the other side is and speaking to them in their way of thinking.
Keep up the good work, Melissa. I'm so glad you're here!
SP
When you say that Ethnic Studies isn't an academic discipline, do you mean that it isn't one as presented in the SPS roll-out? After all, Ethnic Studies is very much an academic discipline at the university level, isn't it?
When you say that there are four pillars to Ethnic Studies, you don't mean to suggest that they're written in stone? For example, to draw from an old San Francisco Public Schools course overview, the key concepts could be:
1. Identity and narrative.
2. Systems and power.
3. Hegemony and counter-hegemony.
4. Humanization and dehumanization.
5. Causality and agency.
6. Transformation and change.
Finally, I don't understand why Ethnic Studies couldn't be a place where philosophy and history meet. Questions of identity and self are very much part of contemporary philosophy. At the same time, questions of identity and self are, through time, related to systems of power and resistance. Isn't there more than one effective way to do Ethnic Studies?
XJT
Personally, I don't care what people believe as long as they don't expect me to also believe it. As a science teacher I reject anything that is not based on facts or evidence which is one of the reasons I am not a fan of Amplify-there are very few opportunities for students to collect and examine their own evidence.
I'm reading a good book right now that discusses how we got to this point, it's called "The Coddling of the American Mind" and I highly recommend it.
Teresa
Empiricism and evidence are out the window because whiteness? I would never discount someone’s story because it’s not rooted in statistics, but man, the post-truth world is alive in all corners of the ideological spectrum. We can do better, we’re encouraging critical thinkers of our students after all.
Answer
I have some of the same questions as well. I had understood Ethnic Studies at a university for example to be broader than the focus of what I have so far heard. Although it is entitled "Ethnic Studies", I had thought this subject was usually focused much more broadly on people who have been historically marginalized by not only race, but religion, gender, sexual orientation etc. I had also thought it included whiteness studies. That studies who was or was not considered white in the US past, is currently considered white, and how and why that evolved in the US over time.
AP
March 2018: A group of about 40 teachers from across the district pilot draft ethnic studies core content
Where can one get a copy of the draft (piloted) core content?
June 2018 – August 2020: The Ethnic Studies Working Group begins the process of commissioning educators to write curriculum for secondary social studies in collaboration with work that the Ethnic Studies Task Force and Working group have developed thus far. Small teams write and complete content for existing courses and grade levels. Plans for a quality review of written curriculum, professional development, implementation and potential adoption are developed.
Where to things stand on this? Have educators been commissioned to do this, and if so, which educators? How far along are they in developing "plans for a quality review of written curriculum, professional development, implementation and potential adoption," and if they develop all those plans by Aug 2020 as indicated, what's the timeline for then actually implementing those things?
Oh, and why has nothing been posted since 2017? Has work on this mostly stalled, or are they just not being at all transparent? If they are not being transparent, what are they trying to hide?
When they talk about "potential adoption," are they suggesting that they'll need to try to get it adopted but might fail, or are they suggesting they'll try to work it in without a formal adoption?
The current Board needs to step up their oversight on this issue an get some clarity--fast.
HF
XJT, I can't say what Ethnic Studies is at the university level, and what you're showing me from the SFPS site looks at least a little more descriptive than activism-oriented. Part of why the SPS Ethnic Studies roll out looks so activism-oriented is because the promotional PowerPoint has a picture of Jesse Hagopian and some of the activist kids who are either in the district right now or have recently graduated. As for more than one way to do Ethnic Studies, I can't say there either as that's not my academic specialty; I come from another side of the proverbial campus.
HF, the PD that I went to last week last week included a Google Drive folder with some PDFs of model units and example activities based on the four-pillars framework that formed the first part of that session; they're theme-driven units with a few Common Core standards attached in a few of the Social Studies courses. The ELA stuff didn't have any skills attached to it; it was all a vehicle for Ethnic Studies concepts and points of view. From what I saw in another respondent in this blog, TCG has 2.0FTE to work with but hasn't (or hasn't been allowed to or hasn't been able to) hire anyone.
SP
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/15/us/california-ethnic-studies.html
I have a feeling in SPS curriculum there will be a very narrow focus, as opposed to how this course would be taught at universities, as well as elsewhere in the US.
AP
IMO, there are come radical individuals leading this effort. An individual that wrote a Marxist Approach to Education was involved with the summer institute. Activists and this individual may have some merit, but perspectives should be subjected to peer review analysis before our children are exposed to this pedagogy.
Given the language of TCG, and some of her followers, I've not seen cultural sensitivity to those with biracial identities.
American Studies (depending on the university and personal choice of course of study) usually contains explorations of white ethnic groups and their histories and experiences within the US.
In several SPS classes, our children experienced a very dogmatic approach to discussing race, gender, and identity, which was in line with @unknown's description of ethnic studies. More time seemed spent on inculcating students than teaching and learning the complexities of historical record.
The methodology seems taken from Courageous Conversations, which teaches that "whiteness" is "the component of each and everyone of ourselves that expects assimilation to the dominant culture."
And woe be the student or parent that challenges the methodology (look to the Greenberg/Center School case and how the student was vilified).
stunted conversations
I need to reiterate my thoughts related to Summer Institute content and the need for this content to be subjected to peer review.
"In several SPS classes, our children experienced a very dogmatic approach to discussing race, gender, and identity, which was in line with @unknown's description of ethnic studies. More time seemed spent on inculcating students than teaching and learning the complexities of historical record."
I have heard this before and if you ever read the Seattle Times' comments on any story about public education, there are a lot of people who think the entire system is indoctrination.
I would think if the focus is more on white privilege than, as Stunted says, "learning the complexities of historical record", you'll see some parent pushback.
It is vital that today's students be presented with the good, the bad and the ugly of American History in order to change racism and institutional racism. But how that is done is just as important.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_studies
In university classrooms (which may vary regionally)whiteness studies that may also include discussing experiences of Jewish, Italian, Greek, Armenian, various middle eastern and other white ethnic groups may also be discussed within curriculum of Ethnic Studies courses. The NY times article also discusses various white ethnic groups and California curriculum.
JK
@ SP, if, as you said, "the ELA stuff didn't have any skills attached to it; it was all a vehicle for Ethnic Studies concepts and points of view," does that mean the "ethnic studies" content--whatever it is--will replace some of the SS content? As it is, we've found that SS teachers rarely get through the SS content as it is. My kids have a lot of holes in their SS and history knowledge due to teachers only covering about 2/3 of the material before the next year's class starts in somewhere else.
You also said you went to a PD on this last week... While you said the SPS website info about this "looks at least a little more descriptive than activism-oriented," and that "part of why the SPS Ethnic Studies roll out looks so activism-oriented is because the promotional PowerPoint has a picture of Jesse Hagopian and some of the activist kids who are either in the district right now or have recently graduated," are you saying the actual PD did't seem activism oriented? The four pillars someone mentioned above sound pretty activism-oriented (Identity; Power and Oppression; Resistance; and Action), and you said those were the basis for the PD and lessons.
Given this, it all sounds somewhat contradictory. Yes, what's on the website might sound like it aligns more closely with what one might expect a traditional ethnic studies class (or in our case, an apparently interwoven approach to teaching it across grade levels?). However, given all we've seen thus far, it sounds like the reality might be significantly different from what those on the outside are expecting. If radical or activist staff are the ones creating the curriculum or approach.
@ SP, can you give us more details about the PD? What will students be learning?
HF
1. She is completely ill-suited for the job. She seems to not know how to work effectively within the SPS system to get the job done. Her approach, based on her own words, is confrontation and counterproductive, and her own timeline of events documents her many failures and the apparent recognition by others that her approach is too toxic for this to succeed.
2. What the "this" is still not clear. Her post still does not make it clear what exactly she hopes to teach students.
3. She clearly thinks she's the best thing since sliced bread. It'a all about her and how awesome she is, and anyone who disagrees with her approach is racist and/or wrong and/or obstructionist. I can't imagine working with someone like that.
To be clear, I don't know her. I'm just commenting on what comes through to me via her blog post. While I'm open to the possibility that the teachers who did attend the training liked it, without context re: who attended, and with the suspicion that Castro-Gill would not hesitate to misrepresent information in order to once again try to make herself look good, I'm not ready to buy that yet.
This is truly bizarre. And 100% unprofessional.
HF
Answer
For the sake of the Ethnic Studies program, she should resign. She is not the inspiring leader the program needs.
XJT
Originally there were supposed to be only 4 pieces of student data required to be sent to Naviance. There was even pushback on not sending gender, because it shouldn't be necessary. Ha.
Shortly thereafter it increased to:
* Student Information
* Proxy-ID
* Student first name
* Student last name
* School
* Grade level
* School information
* Teacher information
* Sections/Classes information
* Student classes
* School admin information
By around the time the Board actually voted, the complete list of data being sent to Naviance was as follows:
* Student Information
* Proxy-ID
* Student first name
* Student last name
* School
* Grade level
* School information
* Teacher information
* Sections/Classes information
* Student classes
* School admin information
* Date of Birth
* Transcripts
* Graduation Date
* All Student Courses
* GPA
* Student’s official GPA [how does this differ from GPA?]
* ACT/SAT Scores
* Ethnicity
* Gender
* College Bound flag
* SPED flag
* ELL flag
* Running Start flag
* Parent first name
* Parent last name
* Parent email
Yes, look at those last 3 items and ask yourself if, as a parent, you're okay with the district sending your information to a data mining company without your permission. What kind of possible need is there for that?
It's possible that the final list has changed slightly, I haven't kept up. But THIS IS ONLY THE DATA OUR DISTRICT SENDS TO HOBSONS! Once the students start using the system, there are various personality profiling surveys and such that allow Hobsons to ultimately act as an informational gatekeeper. Colleges subscribe to other products that Hobsons sells that allow them to filter out students based on the data above and personality profiles. A lot of it is about being able to report high student retention rates. That's just another way of saying you don't want to take risks on students that don't fit your "successful student" profile.