AFT, NABE, TESO, NSBA & NEA - Organizational Response to #ESEA

NEA - Letter to the Senate HELP Committee:

Letter to the Senate HELP Committee

April 13, 2015

Dear Senator:

On behalf of the three million members of the National Education Association and the students they serve, we would like to discuss our vision for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and how the Every Child Achieves Act of 2015, scheduled for markup tomorrow, measures up. We recognize there have been and will continue to be adjustments made to the bill. While important areas of improvement are still needed to help students, we believe the bill is moving in a positive direction. We will provide our views on select amendments to the bill tomorrow.

The last time ESEA was reauthorized, Congress did not listen enough to educators and parents—the result was No Child Left Behind (NCLB), which has not benefitted students nearly as much as intended and, in fact, has had many unintended negative consequences. Congress now has an opportunity to correct course and fulfill the original intent of ESEA. Fittingly, your work this week comes on the heels of the 50th anniversary of the signing of ESEA into law by President Lyndon Baines Johnson, who appropriately said, “Poverty must not be a bar to learning, and learning must offer an escape from poverty.” It is time to make good on that promise.

Reauthorization of ESEA is an opportunity to set a new vision of shared responsibility for public education that promotes opportunity, equity, and excellence for all students. Toward that end, we have urged Congress fulfill three core goals:

• Creation of a new accountability system with an “opportunity dashboard” as its centerpiece. The dashboard should include data on attendance and graduation rates, as well as students’ access to resources and supports such as advanced coursework, fully qualified teachers, specialized instructional personnel, high-quality early education programs, and arts and athletic programs.
• Giving students more time to learn by addressing over-testing and decoupling the tests from high-stakes decisions. Less high-stakes testing would allow teachers to spend more one-on-one time with students, especially those most in need of extra help, and undo narrowing of the curriculum. States and school districts also need flexibility to determine which tests provide the most useful information to help educators improve instruction and help students learn.
• Ensuring all students have access to qualified educators who are empowered to lead. Every student deserves committed, caring, and qualified educators who are empowered to focus on what is most important: student learning. To help ensure that the expertise of accomplished educators shapes policy and practice, incentives should be provided for educator-led professional development for all school personnel, including education support professionals.  

The Every Child Achieves Act takes a number of steps in the right direction, but also has drawbacks that should be improved going forward. We do want to acknowledge the leadership of Chairman Alexander and Ranking Member Murray in making these significant improvements in the manager’s package:

• The addition of multiple measures of success used by elementary and middle schools. The initial draft bill already included multiple measures for high schools.
• The requirement of student support and school success indicators in state-designed accountability systems, such as access to advanced coursework, access to school counselors or nurses, and access to fine arts and regular physical education. Requiring such indicators is necessary to ensure that states report—and act on—opportunity gaps in order to provide all students with the tools and resources needed to succeed.  

Detailed analysis

Additionally, we are pleased by provisions of the bill in these key areas:   

• Voice of educators. The bill acknowledges the critical role of all educators: principals, teachers, education support professionals (including paraprofessionals), and specialized instructional support personnel (like school counselors). It also promotes school leader and teacher residency programs. We are hopeful the bill can be strengthened so that committees of stakeholders can diagnose and propose improvement plans for struggling schools.
• Accountability system. The bill replaces the unworkable system of Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in NCLB that led to the intense focus on over-testing and unfair labeling and punishing of schools. It also replaces the one-size-fits-all system of sanctions and interventions—including the requirement to devote 20 percent of funds to supplemental educational services (SES) and school choice—with a more flexible system: locally determined supports and interventions based on a needs assessment in the identified school. The disaggregation of data for racial, ethnic, and other subgroups of students is preserved, which will help maintain transparency about how schools and students are performing. The bill also allows for alternative standards and assessments for students with significant cognitive disabilities.
• School quality and climate. The bill requires state report cards to include information on indicators such as discipline, absenteeism, bullying and harassment, teacher retention, expenditures and class size, as well as data from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights.
• Labor-management collaboration. The bill strengthens labor-management collaboration by retaining the savings clause (collective bargaining protections) in Title I and adding it to Title II.
• Funding. Unlike H.R. 5, this bill preserves maintenance of effort provisions—to preserve state investment in our schools—and does not include Title I portability. The bill also allows funding to be used to improve equitable access to teachers, principals, and other school leaders, and to reduce class sizes for low-income and minority students.
• Family engagement. The bill expands the language governing parent involvement to include extended family and guardians.   

At the same time, we are concerned that the bill falls short in these areas:  

• Closing opportunity gaps. While the manager’s package moves in a better direction, the bill should go further in helping to close opportunity gaps by requiring a broader range of student support and school success indicators to be part of the accountability system, and ensuring that states are held accountable for closing those gaps. Closing opportunity gaps is our highest priority because it will do the most to help ensure students are college- and career-ready.
• Testing. The current mandatory testing regime is left intact, with all 17 tests required by NCLB continuing—14 in reading and mathematics (annually in grades 3-8, once in high school) plus 3 in science (once in elementary, middle and high school), meaning students will still have less time available for learning than they should. Simply put, this bill does nothing to reduce the excessive testing happening across the country. It does not address the number of federally-mandated tests, nor does it require states and districts to take steps to stop the overuse and misuse of tests throughout the school year.

The bill would be improved with the inclusion of grade-span testing (once in elementary, middle and high school) to allow students to focus more on critical thinking and less on rote memorization. We believe the bill’s pilot state-designed assessment system should be accessible to all states that meet the criteria; arbitrarily determined factors should not curtail the expansion of innovation, especially since the pilot is an opportunity to create assessment systems driven by teaching and learning factors rather than accountability alone.

• School segregation. The provision on public school choice does not include language to prevent re-segregation of schools. At a time when our student population is becoming more diverse, federal policy must ensure that diversity is recognized as a national strength and that we do not take a step backwards from the gains of Brown v. Board of Educationwith respect to school integration.
• Educator pay/qualifications. The bill promotes pay for performance, which research shows does not work. Additionally, states should be encouraged to ensure that all educators are profession-ready and that they have the supports needed to be successful.
• Student performance. The bill is inconsistent in that it allows alternative assessments for students with disabilities, but then continues the arbitrary cap of 1 percent on the number of such students who may take them. We believe parents and educators can better make this decision on an individual student basis. The bill also eliminates programmatic focus/national attention on student access to AP/IB programs and dropout prevention initiatives. Additionally, English-language learners are not given enough time to attain proficiency before their test scores are used for accountability purposes.
• Charter schools. The bill largely preserves the status quo: an aggressive federal push to expand the charter sector coupled with weak and inadequate requirements for accountability, transparency, and equity.
• Funding. The bill fails to provide dedicated funding for key elements of education that help ensure student success, such as high-quality preschool, educational technology, after-school programs, and Promise Neighborhoods; instead they are reduced to “allowable uses.” The “pay for success” initiatives in Title IV raise a host of concerns, including the potential to outsource public education services.

Again, we are hopeful that further improvements will be made to address equal educational opportunities for students and look forward to working with you this week to ensure that the bill helps the students it is intended to serve. Our goal remains a final ESEA reauthorization that truly promotes opportunity, equity, and excellence for all students.  

Sincerely,

Mary Kusler
Director of Government Relations

NEA - Letter to the Senate HELP Committee:

NSBA Letter to Senate HELP Committee Prior to Mark-Up of the Every Child Achieves Act

Monday, April 13, 2015

Federal Advocacy Resources

In this letter to Chairman Alexander and Ranking Member Murray of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, NSBA Executive Director Thomas J. Gentzel applauds the Committee's bipartisan effort to modernize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) through its introduction of the Every Child Achieves Act (ECAA). In advance of the Committee's mark-up of the bill, the letter outlines NSBA's priorities. These are measures NSBA believes will allow school districts throughout the country to have the flexibility they need to successfully address the educational challenges faced in school board members' local communities. These priorities include strong local governance, the exclusion of Title I portability provisions and the inclusion of maintenance of effort (MOE) provisions, as well as full federal investments in Title I. Mr. Gentzel closes the letter by urging Committee members to oppose any proposals supporting vouchers or tuition tax credits to non-public schools.

 NSBA-Letter-to-Alexander-and-Murray-Every-Child-Achieves-Act-2015.pdf

- See more at: http://www.nsba.org/nsba-letter-senate-help-committee-prior-mark-every-child-achieves-act-0#sthash.PSJEYYys.dpuf

AFT, NABE, TESOL on Senate Bipartisan ESEA Bill

Encouraging Signs for English Language Learners and Their Teachers

WASHINGTON—Leaders of three organizations representing the majority of educators who teach English language learners said Monday they are encouraged by the Senate bipartisan Elementary and Secondary Education Act reauthorization proposal.

“The proposed bill represents a significant step forward to support the academic and language needs of ELLs, to adequately prepare teachers to work with ELLs, and to promote equity,” said leaders of the American Federation of Teachers, the National Association for Bilingual Education, and TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) International Association, in a statement to their members.

One of the most important provisions in the bill, said AFT President Randi Weingarten, would be to give English language learners with basic or little English proficiency a three-year grace period before taking English language arts assessments in English. “This is a significant step toward more appropriately assessing English learners, and it better aligns with what research shows and educators know: that it takes time to learn English. ELLs need enough time to be part of the English-language culture. We’ve seen testing after one year, and it’s just not fair or right. This is an example of the commonsense provisions Sens. Murray and Alexander have put in their bill.”

English language learners—preK-12 students who are working toward becoming proficient in the English language—are one of the fastest-growing student populations. The goals of these three organizations include promoting educational excellence and equity for ELLs to ensure they are able to meet the same challenging college- and career-ready standards required of all students.

Leaders from the three organizations said they were pleased the Senate bill includes funds for professional development for general education and mainstream educators who have not worked with ELLs, and funds to help recruit, retain, mentor and induct educators of ELLs and ELLs with disabilities.

Weingarten said Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) took an important bipartisan first step in reclaiming the original purpose of ESEA, which was to help children, particularly those at risk, and address education equity.

“This is a significant and great beginning of a long legislative process to get a final bill that provides the right resources and policies for those with the most needs, including ELLs, and for their teachers,” Weingarten said.

Santiago Wood, executive director of the National Association for Bilingual Education, said the bill is encouraging, and NABE will work on making it better as the legislative process continues. “We will be advocating for high-quality bilingual education programs, considering we live in a globally competitive economy and all students could benefit from learning more than one language,” Wood said.

“We will focus our efforts on promoting a strong collaboration between English as a second language teachers and other teachers for the benefit of this diverse student population. This collaboration is at the heart of effective instruction for ELLs,” said Rosa Aronson, executive director of TESOL International Association.


The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is expected to take up the Alexander-Murray bill on Tuesday.

Teachers unions on the rise again in New Orleans, 10 years after charters pushed them out - The Hechinger Report

Teachers unions on the rise again in New Orleans, 10 years after charters pushed them out - The Hechinger Report:
Teachers unions on the rise again in New Orleans, 10 years after charters pushed them out

 Teachers sporting “proud to be charter and union” buttons filled almost every seat in Morris Jeff Community School’s library on Tuesday in anticipation of the New Orleans campus’ board of directors vote to recognize their union.

The room buzzed with excitement, and the audience was rewarded with a unanimous board acknowledgement of the union, putting the five-year old charter school onto a barely blazed trail.

Like most urban districts, teachers in the New Orleans Public Schools for decades worked under union-negotiated contracts. But after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, with devastated infrastructure and too few students, the school year was effectively cancelled and the city’s teachers were eventually laid off.

That set off a sweeping wrongful termination lawsuit on behalf of nearly 7,000 teachers that was dismissed by the Louisiana Supreme Court in October but still has a slight chance before the U.S. Supreme Court. With the state takeover of a majority of the district’s schools, and the eventual chartering of all but five city schools, collective bargaining essentially disappeared.

Related: Do charter schools need teachers unions?    

The move by the Morris Jeff board to establish a contract with the union is the second action by a city charter school in the past month that indicates teachers — and school operators — may be willing to give unions a role in education.

Broadly speaking, charters were envisioned as a way to free educators from following tightly scripted tradition and common practice in education, and that includes running a campus without unions. Still, unions are popping up at charter schools nationwide, though it’s by no means a swelling trend.

The American Federation of Teachers, one of the country’s two major teachers unions, said it has collective bargaining contracts with 213 charter schools. The National Education Association didn’t immediately respond to a request for precisely how many charters it’s involved with, but has indicated in previous reports that it represents hundreds more.

Three weeks ago, the United Teachers of New Orleans, AFT’s local affiliate, secured its first collective-bargaining contract of the past decade, at Benjamin Franklin High School.

“It is the first and only charter school in the state to have collective bargaining,” UTNO President Larry Carter said.

Franklin’s board unanimously approved the 25-page agreement. The highly rated charter high school, located on the University of New Orleans campus, requires students to test in and is overseen by the Orleans Parish School Board.

Franklin teachers began to organize about a year ago, after staff noticed discrepancies in their salaries.

Now the Morris Jeff teachers are right behind them, and seeking their guidance.

Third-grade teacher Rowan Shafer said she and her colleagues have talked with Benjamin Franklin staff.

“Mostly, we’re really looking forward to having open dialogue,” Shafer said.

Shafer was part of the group that first organized at Morris Jeff. The charter school actually was the first in the city to recognize a teacher’s association. That happened two years ago when the board recognized the Morris Jeff Association of Educators, but that group never negotiated a contract with the board.

Related: In New Orleans schools, decentralization creates confusion over who exactly is in charge when there’s a problem

Tuesday’s vote recognized that a majority of teachers petitioned to move to a new group, supported by the United Teachers of New Orleans (UTNO) and American Federation of Teachers (AFT). UTNO is the longstanding union that used to represent teachers before Teachers unions on the rise again in New Orleans, 10 years after charters pushed them out - The Hechinger Report:

Department of Education Believes Video Games are the Future of Learning - Yahoo Games

Department of Education Believes Video Games are the Future of Learning - Yahoo Games:

Department of Education Believes Video Games are the Future of Learning

 VIDEO: MinecraftEdu is Coming To Schools Near You [07:10]

Kids are playing more video games than ever these days. At least according to data from the US Department of Education. That might be cause for some to worry about the intellectual future of the next generation, but Erik Martin disagrees.

Martin is in charge of the Department of Education's Games for Learning program, which will hold a conference to discuss the future of video games and schooling. Speaking to Polygon, he said, "If you look at the life of a student a lot of [them] play on average about 10,000 hours of video games by the time they are graduating high school. That is almost the same amount of time they are spending in schools. You can imagine a lot of the time which of the two activities they might feel more engaged in or more relevant."

Right now, educational games have some hefty stereotypes associated with them. By bringing educators, researchers, students, and game makers together, Martin thinks that can change.

"If you can take that experience of getting outside of school and make it feel just as relevant and just as compelling when they're in school learning stuff and doing stuff and doing something that's interesting and educational, that's the bridging we want to provide."

"This is not about looking at games because they are cool or they are fun, they're a real educational solution."

One of gaming's largest publishers, Ubisoft, will be attending the conference and presenting about games like Assassin's Creed which relies on a high degree of historical accuracy. "Over the years we've heard of universities across US using the games to engage students," Ubisoft Public relations director Michael Beadle told Polygon. "[They] compare the in-game history with the history they learned in class to show students what these periods of history look like visually."

Ubisoft consults with historians and linguists to ensure accuracy for many of their characters and groups, including the Kanien'kesga:ka (Mohawk) nation from Assassin's Creed III as Forbes explains in this article. "History is a core component of the Assassins' Creed franchise," Beadle said, "and one that we know has taught millions of players over the years about key characters and historical events by experiencing pivotal moments in history."

Games for Learning is just the most recent initiative to push for integrating video games into schools. Almost three years ago, we reported on a special version of Minecraft that had been adapted to help Department of Education Believes Video Games are the Future of Learning - Yahoo Games:

New York standardized test boycott: Parents oppose emphasis on results - San Jose Mercury News

New York standardized test boycott: Parents oppose emphasis on results - San Jose Mercury News:

New York standardized test boycott: Parents oppose emphasis on results

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- Parent leaders of the movement to boycott New York's standardized tests say opting children out could do more for their education than the tests could.

As English assessments are given Tuesday through Thursday to more than 1 million third- through eighth-grade students, tens of thousands of others are expected, with their parents' permission, to refuse to take them with the hope of eventually changing state policy.

Parent critics and teachers unions say the tests and time spent preparing for them take away from creative instruction and that tying results to annual teacher and school rankings has only worsened the problem.

"The connection between these tests and the teacher evaluations and the school evaluations has changed the entire culture of what our kids are experiencing in school," said parent Eric Mihelbergel, whose fourth- and seventh-grade daughters will sit out the tests in the Kenmore-Tonawanda school district outside Buffalo. "Instead of the focus being on the student in school, now the focus is on the test."

Last year, about 49,000 students did not take the ELA test and about 67,000 sat out the math tests, according to the state Education Department. About 1.1 million students took each test. This year's math tests are scheduled for next week.

Mihelbergel, a member of New York Allies for Public Education, said Monday the group's goal this year is 250,000 opt-outs, or enough to dilute their usefulness in teacher evaluations. State tests count for between 20 and 40 percent of a teacher's mandatory Annual Professional Performance Review under the current statewide formula.

But authorities warn there may be financial implications, as well. Federal law requires states to assess students in grades 3-8 each year and mandates that 95 percent of students in each school participate or risk losing federal funding, the New York State School Boards Association advised districts in a recent legal memo.

Although there were districts that fell short of the threshold last year, none have been sanctioned, state officials said.

"Any sanctions must be decided on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the degree and length of time the district has failed to meet participation rate requirements and the reasons for such failure," the Education Department said in an email.

Merryl Tisch, chancellor of the policy-setting Board of Regents, has said the assessments provide objective information about student progress and help identify students who need extra resources, particularly minority and special education students.

"Opting out could cost us much of the progress we have made, and damage the work that still needs to be done for our most vulnerable students," Tisch said after the head of the state's largest teachers union endorsed the opt-out movement. New York State United Teachers President Karen Magee's comments followed a contentious budget battle during which Gov. Andrew Cuomo had proposed doubling the weight of test results in teacher New York standardized test boycott: Parents oppose emphasis on results - San Jose Mercury News:

WH Correspondents' Dinner Guest list Expands to Include Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and his wife, Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee

WH Correspondents' Dinner Guestlist Expands to Include Alfre Woodard, Pete Wentz, Michelle Monaghan:

April 25 “Nerd Prom” draws even more entertainment industry, as USA Today, Atlantic Media and Huffington Post announce guests

 April 25 “Nerd Prom” draws even more entertainment industry, as USA Today, Atlantic Media and Huffington Post announce guests

More of the details about the celebs that will be attending the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, alias the Nerd Prom, are falling into place as the April 25 dinner nears.

USA Today on Monday said its dinner guests will include Alfre Woodward, “State of Affairs”; Wendy McLendon-Covey, “The Goldbergs”; Fall Out Boys lead singer Pete Wentz; Naya Rivera, “Glee”; Michelle Trachtenberg, “Gossip Girl”; Trojan Bellisario, “Pretty Little Liars”; and Matchbox 20 lead singer Rob Thomas.

Atlantic Media announced that its guests will include Tim Simmons, “Veep”; Michelle Monaghan, “True Detective”; Melissa Fitzgerald, “West Wing”; and UN Ambassador Samantha Power; Sen.Joe Donnelly, D-Ind.; and Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and his wife, former District of Columbia School Superintendent Michelle Rhee.

TheWrap reported earlier that McLendon-Covey, Rivera, Bellisario and Trachtenberg are all slated to participate in The Creative Coalition’s lobbying for the arts in Congress and a benefit the day before the correspondents’ dinner and were expected attend the dinner as well. Woodward serves on the Creative Coalition’s board.

Also Read: ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Scandal,’ ‘Modern Family’ Stars Headed to White House Correspondents’ Dinner (Exclusive)

Huffington Post, which usually includes entertainment industry celebrities to the dinner, is turning instead this year to big names in the Internet and social media.

It’s guests this year include Heather Armstrong, blogger of dooce.com; Vine stars Nash Grier and Marcus Johns; YouTube comedian Grace Helbig of the new Grace Helbig Show; Jerome Jarre, an entrepreneur and Vine and Snapchat star; Steven Johnson, author, TV host and entrepreneur; Sarah Koenig, host of “Serial,” the most listened-to podcast in history; hip-hop recording artist and social activist Killer Mike; YouTube fashion and beauty blogger Bethany Mota; Tyler Oakley, social star and LGBT advocate; Sean Parker, co-founder of Napster and first president of Facebook; photographer and activist Ruddy Roye; and astrophysicist, cosmologist, TV personality and author Neil deGrasse Tyson.

CBS, NBC and Fox have yet to release their guest lists.

Here is the latest guest of celebrity guests announced earler:

ABC: From “Modern Family” Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Julie Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet; from “black-ish” Anthony Anderson and Ellis Ross; and from “Scandal” Ballamy Young.

The New Yorker: Larry Wilmore of Comedy Central.WH Correspondents' Dinner Guestlist Expands to Include Alfre Woodard, Pete Wentz, Michelle Monaghan:

This Week In Education: Thompson: My Contribution to Oklahoma Edu-Bloggers' Discussion of Teaching Content

This Week In Education: Thompson: My Contribution to Oklahoma Edu-Bloggers' Discussion of Teaching Content:

Thompson: My Contribution to Oklahoma Edu-Bloggers' Discussion of Teaching Content

 The Tulsa blogger, Blue Cereal, challenged Oklahoma edu-bloggers to describe, in 1200 words or less, our personal beliefs regarding the teaching of content. Here's my contribution: 

Akili (as I will call him) borrowed every issue of my New York Review of Books.  One evening we were shocked to learn that it was past 6:00 and we had been talking for hours.  He had wanted to discuss Herbert Gutman's theory about the black family.  Akili said, "You are the coolest white man I've known.  Here we are having an intellectual discussion.  You respect my brain."

Such experiences taught me that poor students of color respond with pride and with excellence when challenged to meet high and authentic standards.

My approach was consistent with Martin Haberman's critique of The Pedagogy of Poverty. Haberman argued that good teaching for poor children was a "process of drawing out" the power inside students rather than "stuffing in" knowledge. I also saw learning stimulated by "divergent questioning strategies" and culminating in reflective conversations to help students “see major concepts, big ideas, and general principles and ... not [being] merely engaged in the pursuit of isolated facts."

Even in the 1990s, it would have been hard to teach effectively had I not experimented under the cover of "Orientation" during the first weeks of the school year. Administrators wouldn’t demand that teachers immediately rush into teaching the tested subject matter.  They understood the importance of laying a foundation for a successful class.  Teachers were encouraged to heed the wisdom of progressive scholars like Haberman and use the first week of school to get to know their students as individuals.

At the beginning of the year, we could move outside the prescribed curriculum to promote motivation and teamwork. Teachers were told to take two or three days to lay out rules, procedures, and expectations.  We could "break it down" for children, establish relationships, and steer them for success by teaching them to be students. The expectation was that this would be over and done with after a week. I preferred to stretch opportunities for dynamic classroom instruction far past the date when the administration expected us to focus on the curriculum pacing guide.

My first lesson each year initially surprised students who had heard the laughter coming out of my classroom the years before.

With a straight face, I had them take notes on the key lessons they needed to remember from U.S. History.  I drew a stairway on the board with a stick figure climbing the steps to true democracy. According to my spiel, these were the steps that America took as it became the greatest nation in history.  I pretended to believe that George Washington was the "Father of our Country" ("he was busy") and that Thomas Jefferson made everyone equal ("he didn't free his children by a black slave, but ...").  I lectured that Andrew Jackson “invented” democracy and Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves ("the Union Army might have helped but ...").

Most students took out a pen or pencil and copied the notes. But every year, someone would challenge me. I responded authoritatively and decisively, firmly putting the student in check and establishing that I was in charge. 

Keeping a straight face for as long as possible I’d say, "write this down.  The name for that view is 'history from the top down.' This is what I learned in school and what I will teach you is ....” I would pause there for a little dramatic effect. “This is the craziest bunch of lies I ever heard." 

“History from the top down,” I told them, is based on the idea that rich white men supposedly “made” America. But there’s another story. A truer story.  I then described "history from the bottom up," the idea that everyone in our society made our history, and then I described multiculturalism, which is what I believe. “So, we will study history from a multicultural perspective,” I would say, and, "since I would never lie to you, you're cool with that. Right?"

Many students agreed, but others would challenge me saying that I had just lied to them….

I also began the year by warning my predominately black classes that they were required to become Bruce Springsteen fans.  If they couldn’t accept that rule, the alternative was listening to me sing “Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road.” After their hooting died down, we used Springsteen to illustrate issues that we would study in Government and engage in "horizontal alignment" by helping English teachers to teach repetition, point of view, and metaphor.

A close textual analysis of Springsteen’s "American Skin" was guaranteed to win the students over. The song was often called "41 Shots" because of the chorus, but the true title foreshadowed a deeper meaning.  In the first verse, Springsteen wrote from the perspective of the white New York City cops who shot a Nigerian immigrant, Amadou Diallo, 41 times thinking he had a gun, even though it was his wallet. "Forty-one shots, and we'll take this ride, cross the bloody river, to the other side." The second verse was from the perspective of a black mother warning her son in case he was racially profiled, "If you are stopped tonight, always be polite, Never ever run away, and promise your momma, Keep your hands in plain sight." 

The third verse was from a universal perspective as we are "baptized in each others' blood," and a crucial change is made in the chorus, "Is it a gun?  Is it a knife?  Is it in your heart?  Is it in your sight?"

Asked the source of Springsteen's image of "the river," a freshman named Kesha replied, "Langston Hughes!"

"Great," I answered, throwing a copy of Hughes' poems to her, "Support your answer."

Kesha read, "I've known rivers: Ancient, dusky rivers. My soul has grown deep like the rivers ...." Then she added the commentary, "My sister, Lakisha, said you were cool."

Back then, educators innovated in ways that would be forbidden in the post-NCLB era.  The curriculum department often encouraged social studies teachers to organize their classes thematically, or to deviate from the old-fashioned chronological presentation of history. This freed our World History classes to start with the twentieth century.  We began with the Standard covering the change from colonialism to nationalism. This permitted a “guest teaching appearance” by Denzel Washington. Regardless of when the curriculum pacing guide said we should be studying the anti-apartheid movement, it was just good marketing to schedule my lessons so that early in the year I could use Washington, playing the role of Stephen Biko, the founder of the Black Consciousness movement, to co-teach colonialism, thus insuring a lesson that the entire class would love.

We then built success upon success, using Cry Freedom to stimulate the motivation for mastering the dramatic themes of the modern era.  Around Thanksgiving, we looped back to the ancient civilizations. In the spring, students had a second chance to study the 20th century for mastery, which meant that new transfers were not disadvantaged.

After NCLB, if a principal questioned the violation of the district's "vertical alignment" of curriculum, I defended it as "horizontal alignment," helping U.S. History teachers by concentrating on the concepts that next year’s juniors would need to pass graduation examinations. Nowadays, I doubt my views on content would be allowed in many urban schools.-JT(@drjohnthompson)This Week In Education: Thompson: My Contribution to Oklahoma Edu-Bloggers' Discussion of Teaching Content: