|
Recommendations
2002
United
Front
Recommendations to
Superintendent Alan Bersin & District “E” Board Member
Ed Lopez
COMMUNITY’S REVIEW
| Executive
Committee review |
Completed |
August
16, 2002 |
| Parents
review |
Completed |
August
23, 2002 |
| Individual
Teachers’ review |
Completed |
August
26, 2002 |
| Black
Community Education Commission review |
Completed |
August
29, 2002 |
| United
Front’s Presidents review |
Completed |
September
9, 2002 |
Close
the “Standards Achievement GAP by 2005
Historical
perspective:
Since 1980, three different education reform movements (AGP under
the leadership of Superintendent Payzant, Sixteen Expectations under
the leadership of Superintendent Bertha Pendleton and the Blue Print
for Student Success) have been attempted in San Diego Unified School
District.
In his 1980 orders to the San Diego Unified School District’s
Board of Education to “remedy the harms of segregation….”,
Superior Court Judge Lewis M. Welsh, Superior Court of California,
County of San Diego stated “it is reasonable to expect that
the achievement of 50% of minority isolated students should obtain
the national norm (50%) on standardized achievement test in reading,
mathematics and language by the end of the 1984-1985 academic year.”
African American reading test scores rose between 1980 and 1987,
remained steady in 1988 and 1989, then started a dramatic decline.
This decline continued (unabated) through 1997, when the percentage
of African American students reading at the 5th grade level dropped
to almost the same level as in 1980. All previous gains were lost
during this period (see attached Community Report Card on the Superintendents,
Board Members & Union Presidents’ performance).
Current perspective :
The United Front and its supporters will no longer accept what has
happened in the past. All parties will be held accountable to ensure
that the orders of the court (see attached) are enforced and that
the reading, language and math scores of minority students, especially
African American students, reach or exceed the national norm (50th
percentile) by the end of the 2005 school year.
TO
THIS END WE MAKE THE FOLLOWING SUGGESTIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS:
| 1. |
Recognize
that there are high achieving and effective principals in many
schools across the District (see attached list of 45 Best Academic
Practice Schools for African American Students). |
| 2. |
Invite
these principals to meet with their master teachers (those responsible
for the school’s achievement) to outline and submit to
you their best practice techniques for raising minority test
scores in reading, language and math to the national norm. |
| 3. |
Match
these local best academic practices with the best practices
of other high achieving, high poverty and high minority schools
from around the nation for similarities and consistency. |
| 4. |
These
principals and teachers should receive additional pay for this
additional service. |
| 5. |
Consider
having these best academic practice principals and classroom
teachers then form a “District-Wide Education Academic
Achievement Team” that would set standards by which other
schools can be measured. |
| 6. |
The
only criteria for best academic practice principals and classroom
teachers must be that their schools have demonstrated, via their
school-wide test scores, which all students, especially African
American and Latino, can achieve at or above the national norm
in reading, language and math as ordered by the court. |
| 7. |
Once
these effective principals and master teachers have compiled
their school-wide best academic practices, charge them with
(and pay them for) developing a set of criteria for closing
the academic achievement gap District- wide by the end of the
2005 school year. |
| 8. |
To
make this a system-wide reform effort, this framework, developed
by the effective principals and classroom teachers, would then
become the core of a (RFP) request for proposal process to reform
all schools. Using federal, county, state and local RFP writers,
create an RFP that could be sent to all schools, requesting
the staff of each school to submit a proposal, outlining how
they would close the achievement standards gap by 2005. |
| 9. |
In
return for drafting and submitting this proposal, and having
the proposal signed by all staff working at the school, as well
as by 60% of the parents of the children at the school (60%
of each racial group within the school), the school would receive
the trust, autonomy and resources authorized by the State and
other funding resources to achieve this mission. |
| 10. |
By
giving each school the trust, autonomy and resources necessary
to carryout their plan, you place the accountability factor
squarely at the school site with the people who are contracted
to deliver a quality and equitable academic education to all
children, and to the parents -- 60% of whom must approve any
school plan submitted. The school plan to close the Academic
Achievement Gap must address how it would exceed the academic
progress made by the Blue Print for Student Success. |
| 11. |
Any
private funding from proposals the school staff may write would
be targeted for the school, not used by the District. |
| 12. |
Ensure
that one of the requirements is that each classroom teacher
has a syllabus available for each student/parent at the beginning
of the school year. In addition, ensure that a parent-teacher
conference is held (evenings/weekends) within the first 12 weeks
of school, so that the student, parent and student are aware
of their roles, rights and responsibilities. |
|
13. |
Require
each school to issues a Public Academic Status report at the
end of each six-week grading period regarding the achievement
of all students. Require each school to submit an annual report
on its accomplishments toward closing the achievement standards
gap on criterion and norm reference tests. |
| 14. |
Each
middle and high school should also report a percent of each
racial ethnic group’s eligibility toward attending a UC/CSU
system. This would require that all students be enrolled in
the A-G course curriculum. Each high school would be required
to report the percentage of each racial ethnic group that is
being prepared for the world of entrepreneurship/employment. |
| 15. |
All
reports would be made available to the Board of Education, parents
and the public. These reports would be used by the public to
judge which schools are meeting the needs of their children.
It would also allow parents to evaluate all schools and judge
which school (under No Child Left Behind) they wish their children
to attend. |
| 16. |
Schools
not meeting the requirements would receive consultations from
one of the local “Best Academic Practice School-Wide High
Achieving Teams ,” regarding how they accomplished their
level of achievement. |
| 17. |
Schools
that fail to reach their goals or that are not on track to meet
their goals by the midway mark, should be reconstituted and/or
made available as charter schools to charter developers. |
| 18. |
Parents
of students at all schools must be an integral part and full
partners in the planning and oversight process of their child’s
education. They should be directly involved in the overall approval
of policies and procedures re the school-wide proposal to correct
the under achievement of their children. Students already exceeding
the norm should receive an enriched and accelerated level of
support, so that they do not lose ground during this process |
| 19. |
Parents
must also be held accountable for the school/classroom behavior
of their children. |
| 20. |
Eliminate
suspensions for all students, especially for African American
and Latino students, by ensuring that their parents (guardian,
mentor) assume full responsibility for their children. Children
who “act out” in class beyond the ability of the classroom
teacher to maintain discipline should be referred first to their
parents, via the counselor, not suspended. It is the parent
who has the authority to decide the best “corrective action/discipline”
practice for his child. If parents need help in this area, the
school should maintain a referral list of community-based organizations
that receive federal, state, county, city and private foundation
funds to assist families in need. If the situation warrants
further intervention, the Department of Social Services, Health
and Human Services, Probation Department and the Police Department
are paid servants of the community and should be asked for assistance. |
| 21. |
Students,
with the support of their family and the community, must consistently
attend class, be courteous, attentive and prepared to learn. |
| 22. |
Students
who cannot meet these guidelines must be removed from the classroom
to ensure that the teacher can teach, and the rest of the children
can learn. Students and parents must also have due process.
Students’ parents, guardians or the person legally responsible
for them must be provided with the referral information (No
Child Left Behind) necessary to help their child achieve the
academic and social requirements of the school. |
| 23. |
The
Teachers’ Union must be held accountable for ensuring that
their members are not only certified, but also qualified. They
should be held to the same high standards as students and parents.
Teacher report cards should be issued, each semester, the same
as students. |
| 24. |
Classroom
teacher’s test scores (% of students achieving at or above
the national norm) must be made available for review by the
parent of each student as a part of the school’s report
card to the community. |
| 25. |
The
Teachers’ Union, its members and the District (via contracts)
must be responsible for the effective “continuing education”
of each professional who interacts with our children. |
| 26. |
Teachers
who cannot perform must be given appropriate support and due
process. After receiving the aforementioned assistance, if their
performance is not significantly advancing the education of
the majority of the children within their classroom in one year--they
should be terminated. |
If
our children are to succeed, we must challenge the apathetic and
the critic to move above and beyond their special interests, and
provide all of our children -- especially those who have been historically
left out -- with a quality and
equitable education.
Ufjmc11/4/02
Mission
Statement
To bring together all segments of the community: Parents, educators,
organizations, businesses, city officials, and concerned groups
in a united effort to show their commitment to African & African
American student achievement and to exercise their will through
political involvement and social direct action. |
