Some of what panel members at ROC the Future’s second “State of Our Children” discussed at a breakfast meeting this morning would not have surprised a lot of people. The challenges that many Rochester students and their families face as well as students’ low performance in key areas of early childhood development and education are well known.
According a report card issued by group, only two-thirds of city children in prekindergarten are meeting basic math, language, and other developmental screening standards entering school. Too many students are still not attending school consistently, and just 5 percent of third graders passed the state’s reading test. And while fourth graders showed some improvement in math, Rochester students have a long way to go to catch up to their suburban peers.
But the report is nuanced, and there is some reason for optimism. While ROC the Future’s data shows only slight, sporadic gains in some areas, the important achievement here is focusing community-wide attention on the needs of city children.
ROC the Future is an alliance of community organizations working with the Rochester City School District to improve academic achievement. The alliance’s efforts are based on a community improvement model out of Cincinnati called “Strive Together,” which emphasizes aligning resources with specific goals and doggedly tracking results. The approach is sometimes referred to as having collective impact.
During the past five years, Strive has been directly linked to increasing Cincinnati’s third-grade literacy, high school graduation rates, and college and career readiness.
ROC the Future’s report card serves mostly as a guide for agencies and institutions in Rochester, says Leonard Brock, the Children’s Agenda’s executive for education initiatives. The report helps the different professionals collaborate on a common set of goals and to avoid working in silos, he says.
“This is a long-term effort,” says Jennifer Leonard, president and CEO of the Rochester Area Community Foundation. “We don’t expect to see results in the first two to three years. But the model works.”
The Children’s Agenda and the Community Foundation are among 50 members of ROC the Future.
This article appears in Oct 15-21, 2014.
We have heard all of this over and over. Why doesn’t the group spend 50 million of its overflowing savings, build a small, K-12 charter school that is directly linked to the surrounding community agencies? Replicate the Harlem Children’s Zone. That could serve as a model and more would be learned than another study or task force. The needy in Rochester are not being helped by these efforts. The sad reality is that the people involved with these initiatives like to help from afar without getting their hands dirty-so sad.
“Gotta Say It” — you on point (dead right) — with one exception, i.e., ..I don’t think “spending 50 million of its overflowing savings, building [ANOTHER] small, K-12 charter school that is directly linked to the surrounding community agencies” is a solution. Instead, here (below) is what I am unequivocally convinced is needed:
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the seven (7) point platform below represents an objectively correct, and clear direction for our children and families.
1. Establishing relevant, broad-based, parent, student and community engagement at every level of the system, and throughout the community (movement)
2. Addressing / ending systemic, social promotion
3. Development / Implementation of effective, authentic, alternative educational models
4. Systemic change regarding standardization (in order to produce a new reality, in which the overall, initial focus is on properly and adequately laying the academic foundation upon which all else is built)
5. Addressing / reducing systemic / institutionalized racism, and establishing cultural equity
6. Working for relief from federal and state mandates (increased autonomy, and local / community control)
7. Reducing / mitigating the impact and effects of concentrated, widespread poverty (equitable resource acquisition and efficiency, which includes rooting out massive waste, and possibly fiscal mismanagement, malfeasance and corruption)
Rationale: There is a dire need to work collaboratively and cooperatively with parents, grandparents, guardians, students, other family members, committed educators, Board members, and anyone else who is serious about widespread change and improvement within the RCSD — in the process of building an ongoing movement, which I am thoroughly convinced will be necessary in order to produce substantial change and improvement. Of course, any credible movement must necessarily center around concrete issues and conditions that are negatively impacting our children and families. Those include, but are not limited to the following:
– the need to get focused (with laser-like precision) on the foundational academic development of our children — by doing everything that we possibly can to make certain that they master literacy skills and knowledge — that is, reading, writing, math skills and knowledge at or above grade level (right from the very beginning), which is one of the most important reasons why we must address / change the standardized testing process, i.e., because it is driving everything that happens at the classroom level, and deprives teachers and support staff of the necessary time and energy to concentrate on developing foundational skills and knowledge. Instead, largely because of state and federal mandates, rules, regulations and policies — teachers find themselves (more and more) teaching narrowly to tests. There is no mystery surrounding the reason why so many of our children don’t do well on tests. It’s because they don’t have adequate reading, writing, and math skills, which again represents the very foundation of all knowledge, and which is necessary for them to be able to master higher-order knowledge and skills — such as critical and analytical reading, writing and thinking. So, I’m saying, if we lay the foundation properly, then we won’t have to worry so much about tests. If the proper foundation has been laid, then the testing issue will take care of itself (as long as that which is being tested, is fundamentally the same as that which is being taught). So there are two issues wrapped up together: 1) the need for more local control (as opposed to far too many dictates from the state and federal governments, and 2) the need to free teachers and support staff up — so that they will have the time and energy to focus, again, with laser-like precision, on laying the academic foundation upon which all knowledge and skills-development is built. This issue is even more important when we consider that huge numbers of our children enter the system lagging far behind their middle class peers — right from the very beginning.
The latter referenced issue is clearly among the most important of all issues we face, and is connected to another issue, i.e., the issue of widespread, concentrated poverty. Please don’t misunderstand me regarding this critically important issue. I do not subscribe (under any circumstances) to any theory or idea about children not being able to learn because they live in poverty. If this was the case, many whom I’ve known (as children of migrant farm workers) would be among the most uneducated people on earth. On the other hand, for us to stick our heads in the sand (as an ostrich would do), and pretend that issues and conditions that often come along with abject poverty —does not impact our ability to educate well — is frankly ridiculous, but the main point is that we need to do all we can to make sure we have the necessary, equitable, resources to provide whatever our children need in order to develop to their full potentials, which is currently not the case, and to be honest, in order to secure such necessary resources probably will require a struggle and a fight (politically speaking). As you probably know, often those who need less — actually get more — because they are well organized and very effective advocates for their children (often exclusively). The other side of this coin is, we must make sure the vast amount of resources that we do receive (nearly $800 million dollars) are being utilized efficiently and effectively, which obviously is not the case currently, and which raises another issue, i.e., rooting out massive waste, and possibly fiscal mismanagement, malfeasance and corruption, which is currently occurring in the RCSD.
Two other critically important issues, which we must deal with are 1) the need to address individual and institutionalized / systemic racism and the establishment of cultural equity relative to curricula, hiring and retention practices, as well as other ways, including revisiting a number of existing policies and practices. I realize this is a sensitive issue, but it is one that we cannot shy away from. It needs to be addressed; 2) it is amply clear that traditional educational approaches and systems will not work for many of our students, especially many of those who have been shuffled through the system via the criminal practice of social (age) promotion. Therefore, we must get serious about developing authentic, alternative models of education.
In my humble, but staunch view, probably not much of this will get done unless and until we build a deadly serious, ongoing, movement of parents, grandparents, guardians, students, extraordinarily committed educators, politicians, including and especially Board members, and anyone else who is really serious about widespread, fundamental change and improvement — working cooperatively, collaboratively and constantly around concrete, well defined, measurable goals strategies and tactics, which is in essence what a movement is.
This article reminds me of very sound advice that Dr. Joy DeGruy gave us (when she was in town for a three-day workshop this past July). She noted that we (black folks) cannot continue to allow people who have severely limited or no historical and/or cultural knowledge-base and understanding of us — to just come into our communities, and work with our children and families (without proper training). I am not a gambler. However, I would be willing to bet anything that not only do many of those involved in the initiative discussed below, not have proper training, but in some cases, they have little or no formal educational training at all. Yet, we (black folks) continue, not only to allow people to do exactly what Dr, DeGruy explained we should not do, but in many cases, we even assist them in the process. Some of the idiots (in the original sense of the term) who are involved just assume that their involvement is sanctioned because people like Bolgen Vargas is “leading” them. However, there is an abundance of evidence, including amazing statistics cited in the article, which indicates that (with regard to widespread academic change and improvement) Vargas does not have a clue. Throughout his so-called “watch” —conditions have clearly and steadily continued to deteriorate. WE MUST WAKE UP, AND WRESTLE CONTROL AWAY FROM THE HUSTLERS AND EXPLOITERS OF OUR CHILDREN — PERIOD.