The Minions that Run BATs

By Marla Kilfoyle, General Manager of BATs

 Melissa Tomlinson, Asst. General Manager of BATs

 

Recently, in a contentious thread on BATs, we were referred to as  minions, and in another thread a few weeks back, we were referred to as “womenfolk.”  In both of those threads there seemed to be some insinuation that Mark Naison ran BATs on a day to day basis.  We assure you he does many wonderful things for BATs, one of them being he Co-founded the page with Priscilla, but we can reassure you HE does not run BATs on a day to day basis.  We know this because we do.   Now the definition of a minion is :  a follower or underling of a powerful person, esp. a servile or unimportant one.  After reading this definition we decided it was time for folks to understand who really runs BATs on a day-to-day basis .  Mark and Priscilla started the page but rest assured, teachers run the day-to-day operation of BATs, and teacher/parent voices drive the BATs agenda.

 

Marla Kilfoyle, General Manager of BATs

I have been teaching for 28 years.  I still teach a full schedule (5 periods a day).  I am a high school/middle school teacher and I am also the advisor for National Honor Society (115 members).   I was elected the General Manager of BATs on June 16th  by 29 of the 30 administrators.  I haven’t taken a day off since that date. I work on the infrastructure of BATs 6 hours a day, 7 days a week. I do this because I have to.  I do this because I know too much.  I have never taken a dime from anyone for the work I do or the places I speak.  I do it for free because I have to. I wake up at 5:00 a.m. every day to work on BATs before I go to school. When I wake up I check my personal email, my Facebook messages, the twitter messages, and the BATs Gmail accounts.  In total, I have, on a busy day, over 50 messages to return and answer.  Most of these messages are thanking BATs, some are hateful, and some ask BATs for help.  The ones that ask BATs for help I put on our calendar rotation and run it by Melissa and our amazing administration group.  I spend about 45 minutes doing that and then I check on our closed Facebook group, open Facebook group, YouTube account, website, blog, Pinterest, and twitter accounts to make sure it is all up and running.  If there are any issues I email the amazing people who volunteer to run those sites for us.  I get ready and head to school.  From 11:50-12:20, my lunch hour (if time allows), I check into BATs Administration to make sure everything is OK.  I answer messages and have, on several occasions, done radio or newspaper interviews on my lunch hour.  I may also need to write something for BATs or make a video, a meme for a project, return phone calls, or rundown the permits for DC.   When lunch is over, I hop offline, and end my teaching day.  I get home at 4:00 (if I don’t have a union meeting because I am also an elected rep), visit with my family, make dinner, help with my son’s homework, hug him and kiss him, open mail, and I hop back on BATs around 7:00 p.m, that is if I don’t have a speaking engagement to go to. There are some weeks that I may speak twice a week with other activists in my local area. I work on BATs  usually until 12:00-1:00 a.m.  What do I do?  I may write our monthly newsletter that goes out to our website members, I moderate the Page, I update our blog with pieces of writing sent to us, I answer PM’s from people, I recruit new moderators for our big page or our state pages,  I go to state pages to help them work out issues or with anything they need, I run our twitter account (which has 8000 followers) as well, Melissa and I PM back and forth about anything we are working on for BATs (she is the creative one), I work on the DC March and right now am trying to get a committee together to steer the event, most nights I research and create the meme’s for our daily actions/events.  I research links BATs can email, Facebook, tweet, or call.  On Friday’s, I send to our Media Team a piece of BAT writing to be blasted via email to every newspaper and news program outlet  in all the capital cities of this nation.  I am lucky to have a great team established, who volunteer, to send these emails out so that we can spread the word and educate folks about what is REALLY happening in education.  Saturday, is house cleaning.  I tidy up any lose ends from the week, make phone calls to media outlets, politicians, or other activists we are working with.  I touch base with the store that runs our t-shirt operation. I clean out our files and check in with the state pages and our administration group.  I take more and more requests from states asking for help and put them on the calendar.  I read lots of stories people send me that are heartbreaking and uplifting.   I check in with the BATs Information Team, who also volunteer every day, to rotate BAT info on the Facebook page and Twitter Feed. I update that information if need be.  I spend lots of time in PM’s with Melissa working out organizational stuff, sharing info we have gotten from our state sites, and from members, and making sure the information BATs give to us is infused in some way into the BATs week.  Sunday, is pretty much the same as Saturday and that is the day Melissa and I make up the weekly calendar – all based on what BATs sends us.  In total, on weekends, I work on BATs for about 6 hours each day.  Then Monday comes and I start all over again.  I do it because I have to and  I do it to honor all the amazing kids, families, and teachers who deserve great public education. 

Melissa, Priscilla, and Marla

Melissa Tomlinson, Assistant Manager of BATs

I joined BATs in June, made an administrator of the New Jersy BATs in July, joined the national administrators in August, and was promoted to Assistant Manager in December. I consider BATs to be another full-time job, with the reward of doing something to help students, teachers, parents, and public education.  I feel that public education is the main way our society can invest in the improvement of our future generations.  My volunteering for BATs is my way of contributing to this investment. 

Currently  I teach in a Middle School Math Resource Room with a class each of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders.  This is my thirteenth year in education.  Additionally, I am the building site supervisor for our after school program, working almost every night until at least 6:30 pm.  On the weekends, I work in the food and beverage department of a country club. 

During the week I get up between 4:30 and 5 am.  As I drink my morning coffee I check the admin groups, the state admin groups, the different fan pages, and the NJ BAT group. I scroll through the main group and my news feed looking for posts to share containing information that people should know as well as any outstanding posts and inspirational stories.  Then I do the same thing with four different Twitter accounts.  Messages from members, other teachers, other activists are checked in different email accounts as well as two Facebook accounts and responses are sent.  The sense of urgency in most of these are overwhelming.  When I first started doing this, I ended up in tears most nights as I continuously dealt with requests for help from teachers that were being devastated by those in charge of a profession that they have dedicated their lives to.  Everyone deserves to be heard, and everyone deserves a response to their messages because they felt it was important enough to reach out.  With a 40 minute commute to work, I rush to get ready and get to school.  During my lunch I usually leave the building, get a coffee and sit in my car to do a quick check of groups, messages, and twitter.  I have done radio and television interviews, written press releases as well as legislators, petitions, and blog posts.  Getting home somewhere between 8 and 9 pm on a normal night, I feed my youngest teenager a second dinner, and start the morning process all over again.  Some nights I run later than that, being involved in and speaking at different meetings.  Weekends, when I am not at work, you will find me in front of the computer from morning to night, checking groups, planning actions, reading ideas, writing legislators, organizing files, having meetings on Skype, and spending time having conversations with different teachers listening to what is really going on in education.  Between BATs and school work, I am on the computer each day between 5 and 14 hours.  Daily, wherever I go, whenever I have the opportunity, I am speaking about BATs to parents, teachers, and even administration.   

Why do I do this?  BATs has become very important to me, not just as a vehicle to fight corporate educational reform, but also as a vehicle that gives me a purpose and gives me the opportunity to change our future. 

We are honored to run the day to day operations of BATs.   We are beyond grateful that two people, who are not public school  educators, started the BATs group.  We are grateful that both Mark and Priscilla continue to fight and advocate for every single teacher and child.  We are grateful for, and deeply respect, Mark’s 45 years of experience  in academia and in activism.  We are grateful for Priscilla’s devotion to making sure that BATs is a  place that doesn’t bash teachers, students, or parents. We are grateful to the over 50 people that moderate the page 24/7,  but rest assured,  BATs is operated, day to day, by teachers! We are BAT and We are Legion.

 

Three Principles That Should Guide Testing in Public Schools (  presented at PS 8 Testing Forum in Brooklyn)

By:  Dr. Mark Naison
1. Test Transparency. No tests should be given which do not guide instruction. All tests must be returned to teachers and parents after they are taken so their results can be reviewed with those who have taken them

2. No Data Sharing: Not test results should ever be sold to private vendors and no results should be shared at all, even with state educational departments, without parental permission.

3. No Test Based Teacher Accountability. No student test results should ever be used to rate teachers and schools, or determine the professional status of any educators.

By all three of these standards, New York State, has been failing its students, teachers and families

 . . . . . these are a few of my least favorite ineffective “educational” things . . . . .

By Josh J. Middleton, EdD

Someone chewing ice in my ear.  Drivers holding their damn iphones to their ear as they navigate traffic.  A phlebotomist who misses my clearly raised veins.  Someone dragging their fingernails down a chalkboard.  Have your attention?

Waste of time and ineffective educational practices that should produce the same clenched teeth, raised hair on neck, disturbing internal feeling:  1) a teacher announcing test scores out loud to the entire class. (If you do this, it isn’t a motivator for the bottom quartile).  2) asking a content question of a student who just read a passage out loud for the class (Research shows the student is focused on fluid reading not comprehending the passage.  3) Word searches . . . . . don’t get me started.  It can be 2:30 on a rainy Friday afternoon and I cannot justify a word search.

Last and most importantly: 4) It is time to put Retention in a time capsule and say goodbye forever except* in one specific case which I will address at the end.

Retention rates were high at the end of the 19^th/beginning of the 20^th century when we moved to an industrial style education format.  As many as 75% of students were impacted at some point in their career (Kariuki & Page, 2001). 

In the 1930s and 40s retention dropped significantly as student self-esteem and social development became factors in decisions regarding retention.  The 1960s and the Space Race brought a return to retention though not without opposition.  When the Nation at Risk was released in 1983 a Gallup Poll stated that 75% of Americans believed students should not be promoted unless mastery was demonstrated (Larsen & Akmai, 2007).  In the last 25 years there have been at least 65 studies on retention conducted and all but a few point to the practice of retention as a failure.   During this time period a meta-analysis conducted by researcher John Hattie involving over 50,000 students examined factors influencing achievement in school-aged students.  Out of 138 ranked factors, 1 being most effective and 138 least effective, retention ranked 136^th.  Hattie’s research is found in Visible Learning.

Other findings on retention include:

·         Retention is not helpful in any grade including kindergarten.

·         There may be short term benefits but they diminish over time.

·         Many schools do not offer a retention intervention, but rather just have the retained student repeat the grade.

·         Being retained one year almost doubles a student’s likelihood of dropping out.  Retaining a student for two years practically guarantees it.

·         There is a greater percentage of African American and Hispanic students held back than Caucasian.

·         Boys are twice as likely as girls to be retained.

·         Single parent households have greater chance of having students retained.

·         Children from poor households are two to three times more likely to have children retained.

·         Retention policies are arbitrary and not research based . . . . likely because there is no strong evidence.

·         No doubt there are political, ethical and moral dilemmas faced by school personnel in socially promoting a student who has not performed academically.

·         On the flip side, those same schools often times don’t have interventions in place for the following year to help the student master past and present material.

·         Despite not mastering material in the year where retention is considered, students who are retained are five times more likely to drop out than those who are socially promoted.

·         Grade retention is considered the single most powerful predictor of student dropout (Jimerson &Ferguson, 2007)

·         There are obvious negative emotional, social, and financial consequences to retention. 

·         Retained students are reported to have higher incidence of substance abuse.

There are many outside of the classroom and school building who do not understand the implications of retention.  Their “rugged individualism” does not translate well to all students, yet there are politicians using their bully pulpit to declare Common Core will demand every 3^rd grader to be able to read at grade level or there will be retention.  The danger of politicians and policy makers, (and wealthy individuals currently sitting at the education table) is they are not relying on educators from the field before they consider such mandates.

Speak up!  Student retention does not work, the evidence is clear!*

*Okay, I will only speak anecdotally on when retention may work, and trust me there need to be a lot of planets in alignment.  I have not done research on this but I know from personal experience that when a K-2 student is suggested to be retained, AND it happens that the student’s family is to be moving to a new town/state AND both parents are committed to working with the school and at home with the student, the fresh start elsewhere can give the student the legs to be successful.  I know of four situations, three as an elementary principal, in which this was true . . . . and a fourth incident involving the author when I moved from Maryland to New York.  As a younger 2^nd grader in Maryland, my parents thought another 2^nd grade year in New York would be a positive intervention.  They were right, and I was forever thankful!  I’m just sorry they were not alive to see me receive my doctorate. 

Beware of Education Reformers who Co-Opt the Language of the Civil Rights Movement

By Denisha Jones Originally published by emPower Magazine on 2/27/14

The legacy of the Civil Rights Movement is so great, that it come as no surprise that many groups would try and use the movement to bolster their own cause. Utilizing the lessons learned from the Civil Rights Movement to continue to fight against all forms of oppression is imperative as we continue to eradicate injustices.

But lately we have seen the language of the Civil Rights movement co-opted by groups that push an agenda that contradicts the values of the fight for civil rights. From Glenn Beck’s attempt to “reclaim the civil-rights movement” from progressives who supposedly co-opted the movement to fit their own agenda to an elected official comparing Republicans who were fighting to have the Affordable Care Act repealed to civil rights leaders like Rosa Parks and Dr. King, we see how the language and the history of the civil rights movement can be distorted. Some conservatives would have us believe that Dr. King’s message was not about social justice and equality but instead was push for more conservative values. King’s famous line “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character” has led some to claim that King was promoting a color-blind society that ignores race and that he would not have supported Affirmative Action policies. No one knows for sure how leaders from our past would respond to our current situation in America, but it is troubling nonetheless to see the legacy of great leaders co-opted to push certain agendas.

The education reform movement has also co-opted the language of the Civil Rights movement to push through privatization schemes that claim to close the achievement gap and increase educational opportunities for children of color. From the implementation of No Child Left Behind, which was touted as a way to increase achievement for students of color, education reform has declared to be about improving the educational experiences of children of color. Using this language makes it nearly impossible for anyone to critique the reform movement without being accused of not wanting to help children who have been left behind. When educators beg policy makers to understand the effects of poverty they are told poverty is not destiny and that a great teacher is all a child really needs to succeed. These messages attempt to cover up the real harm that privatization is doing to all children, but especially children of color and low-income children. Below are three examples of how the corporate education reform movement undermines the struggle for educational equality for all.

1. Privatization is inherently unequal.

The corporate reform movement that is waging war against public education has one goal in mind: privatization. Free-market advocates do not believe in a system of public education and are on a mission to see every aspect of a public society privatized from our prisons to our schools. But with privatization comes the loss of public ownership. Public systems are open to inspection by the public. Records are made public and the process is transparent so that community members can understand what is happening and voice their concerns. Privatization removes the ability of the public to know what is happening with their tax dollars. Private companies can use proprietary laws to prevent them from disclosing documents and following laws pertaining to public records. A Florida reporter experienced firsthand how privatization makes it impossible to do investigative reporting about private prisons,

“As soon as I started doing my research, I hit a big barrier because none of the private prisons would let me see the facilities for myself. It’s outrageous that a private corporation can determine whether a taxpayer can access a state prison, that these companies have the final say over who can enter them.”

Without the transparency of how our tax dollars are spent how do we hold private corporations accountable? Some businesses do well but others fail to garner enough capital to stay afloat; that is the nature of capitalism. But when the business model of winners and losers is applied to public education, the losers tend to be children who struggle academically and families without the social capital needed to advocate for their children. The winners are CEO’s and stock holders who earn high salaries with public money but can use their private status to shield themselves from public accountability.

2. School choice is not about parents choosing good schools it’s about schools choosing good students.

School choice has been pushed by corporate reformers since the creation of charter schools and vouchers. Using the plight of underfunded poverty ridden urban schools reformers argued that low-income and minority families should be given a choice in where they send their child to school. Choice and competition would force low-performing schools to compete for students or be closed. Why should low-income and minority families have to settle for a failing neighborhood schools when parents with more money could choose better schools? This is how the argument for school choice is often framed as a benefit for certain groups. But the research paints a different picture. Instead of charter schools increasing academic achievement for low-income and minority students, research from Stanford University found that most charter schools perform about the same as public schools. A study by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes found that 34 percent of charter students did worse than their public school counterparts, 49 percent stayed the same, and only 17 percent did better. In many states, charter schools and virtual schools are found to be ineffective but yet the Department of Education and the Obama administration continue to push charters as the solution to our public school problems.

The push for privatization distorts the picture of who really gets to choose under school choice schemes. Reformers would have us believe that parents are doing the choosing but in reality it is the charter schools, many which are for-profit corporations, who get to choose. Research from the same study out of Stanford found charter schools to enroll less students of color, less students with special needs, and fewer English language learners than public schools. Some charter schools are able to push out low-performing students before they take tests as a way to bolster their test scores. Critics of charter schools have acknowledged how it is unfair to compare charter schools to public schools when they typically do not serve the same population of students. Charter schools are supposed to operate on a lottery system where students are randomly admitted to the school, but often children with special needs and children with behavior issues are discouraged from applying. And children who pose problems once admitted are kicked out and sent back to their public school, but the charter school keeps the money the state allocated for the child’s education. If public schools could pick the more desirable students and weed out those who were weak academically they would not be classified as a public school.

3. Underprepared teachers for other people’s children.

Privatization of public education cannot be fully implemented unless the system for educating teachers is also privatized. Typically teachers were prepared through colleges and universities were they took a variety of courses and completed a semester long student teaching internship before they could apply for a teaching license through their state. Today fast-track teacher preparation programs like Teach for America (TFA) are turning teacher preparation into a business. Recent college graduates are recruited to spend a few years teaching in inner-city schools with high needs students. Armed with five weeks of training and a desire to give back, these recruits are placed in classrooms and expected to outperform educators with teaching degrees and years of experience. TFA is touted as noble program that will change the teaching profession by removing the union thugs who only care about themselves and replacing them with young idealistic people who have the commitment to do what needs to be done and will not use poverty as an excuse.

Armed with language of from the Civil Rights movement, TFA claims to be champion of low-income and minority children. Statements like this, “Nearly 50 years after landmark civil rights marches throughout the region, deep, entrenched poverty still persists along racial lines” and “From Birmingham to Selma, corps members are helping to prove that all kids can achieve at high levels, even those living in poverty” can be found on their website and are clear examples of how TFA has co-opted the language of the Civil Rights movement. But hidden behind these nice quotes is the assumption that other people’s children deserve underprepared “saviors” as their teacher. TFA only works in high needs areas that tend to be urban or rural and comprised of low-income and minority families. Although research has found that children who struggle academically need high quality teachers often they are the ones that get uncertified and underprepared novices. And TFA exacerbates that reality by pumping their recruits into schools and communities were children need more than a temporary “savior”. If the model of TFA is what is needed to improve teaching and learning, why are TFA recruits not sent to suburban schools or wealthy public school districts? Could it be that those parents would never allow someone with five weeks of training to experiment on their child? What the richest and most educated parent wants for their own child should be what we aspire to give all children.

The Dream Continues

The push for educational equity was a major part of the Civil Rights movement. Although we have made much progress from the days of segregated schools we have yet to achieve a system of education that is equitable for all children. Low-income children and children of color continue to be failed by our public school system. There is much work to done as we continue to march towards Dr. King’s dream. Corporate education reform is not an ally in our fight for educational justice. We must not be fooled by those who seek to use the legacy of our struggle to turn a profit at the expense of our children’s education. A strong democratic republic needs high quality public schools that offer a free and appropriate public education to all.

Denisha Jones has a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from Indiana University. She has taught kindergarten, preschool, served as a campus based preschool director, and taught college for over 10 years. Currently she is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education at Howard University. Her research interests include service-learning, dealing with challenging behaviors, the de-professionalization of teaching, and promoting diversity in education.

BATs Prison Education Initiative – Educate, Communicate, Activate! 2/23 thru 2/28

DAY 1/2 – EDUCATE!!!

Introduction

The Badass Teachers Association recognizes that education is a stepping stone to opportunity.  BATs also know that the corporate assault on urban education that is occurring today will widen the opportunity gap and create a larger school to prison pipeline.  That being said, there has been much commotion about spending money to educate people who are in prison when we are seeing funding cut to public education and teachers being laid off.  We cannot separate the two from the other.  By educating inmates the nation can better prepare prisoners for life after jail. Since the majority of inmates in the nation are minorities, this is an issue that disproportionately affects unemployment in minority communities. Studies show that one of every three black American men will be incarcerated at some point in his lifetime and one in every six Latino men. BATs know that when people who are incarcerated obtain an education they not only can provide for their families but break the cycle of poverty.  BATs understand that many students are affected by parents and other relatives in prison and prison education gives these students a chance at having a family that can be whole.

Students from two groups—racial minorities and children with disabilities—are disproportionately represented in the school-to-prison pipeline. African-American students, for instance, are 3.5 times more likely than their white classmates to be suspended or expelled, according to a nationwide study by the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. Black children constitute 18 percent of students, but they account for 46 percent of those suspended more than once.

For students with disabilities, the numbers are equally troubling. One report found that while 8.6 percent of public school children have been identified as having disabilities that affect their ability to learn, these students make up 32 percent of youth in juvenile detention centers (Who’s in the Pipeline? From Teaching Tolerance:  The School to Prison Pipeline). The ACLU is committed to challenging the "school to prison pipeline," a disturbing national trend wherein children are funneled out of public schools and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems. Many of these children have learning disabilities or histories of poverty, abuse or neglect, and would benefit from additional educational and counseling services. Instead, they are isolated, punished and pushed out. "Zero-tolerance" policies criminalize minor infractions of school rules, while cops in school lead to students being criminalized for behavior that should be handled inside the school. Students of color are especially vulnerable to push-out trends. The ACLU believes that children should be educated, not incarcerated. They are working to challenge numerous policies and practices within public school systems and the juvenile justice system that contribute to the school to prison pipeline

BATs would like to take this week to Educate, Communicate, and Activate towards a “ BATs Prison Education Initiative.”  We would like to do this for those who are in prison who hope for a better life and for those teachers who teach in prison hoping to change the course of a life with an education. Please take the knowledge we are providing during the course of the week to educate those around you and to continue our fight to provide an EDUCATION FOR ALL!

Educate

I believe college education within a penal environment is not only a valuable tool for the prisoner in gaining self-esteem and confidence, as well as future employment, but it is advantageous to society at large. A college educated prisoner has a greater capacity to function within a social context. Once integrated, the prisoner, educated at taxpayers’ expense, becomes a taxpayer. He/she now can function as a productive member of the community. Education is one of the best investments a society can make within a penal setting.  ~Ahmad Tootoonchi

.Ahmad Tootoonchi, “College Education in Prisons: The Inmates’ Perspectives,” Federal Probation, Vol. 57, No 4 (Dec. 1993), 39.

From U.S. Department of Justice:  Prison Education Project

In 2013 the Rand Corporation found that, on average, inmates who participated in correctional education programs had 43 percent lower odds of returning to prison than inmates who did not.  Each year approximately 700,000 individuals leave federal and state prisons; about half of them will be reincarcerated within three years.  The research was funded by the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Assistance.

The findings, from the largest-ever analysis of correctional educational studies, indicate that prison education programs are cost effective.  According to the research, a one dollar investment in prison education translates into reducing incarceration costs by four to five dollars during the first three years after release, when those leaving prison are most likely to return.

With funding from The Second Chance Act (P.L. 110-199) of 2007, the RAND Corporation’s analysis of correctional education research found that employment after release was 13 percent higher among prisoners who participated in either academic or vocational education programs than among those who did not.  Those who participated in vocational training were 28 percent more likely to be employed after release from prison than those who did not receive such training.

The Federal Government set up The Reentry Council in 2001. The Reentry Council’s members are working to make communities safer by reducing recidivism and victimization; assisting those who return from prison and jail in becoming contributing members of their communities; and saving taxpayer dollars by lowering the direct and collateral costs of incarceration.  Attorney General Holder chairs the Reentry Council which he established in January 2011.

To view the research, please visit: www.bja.gov/Publications/RAND_Correctional-Education-Meta-Analysis.pdf.

For more information about the federal interagency Reentry Council, please visit:  http://csgjusticecenter.org/nrrc/projects/firc/.

From Prison Studies Project:  Why Prison Education?

http://prisonstudiesproject.org/why-prison-education-programs/

Studies conducted over the last two decades almost unanimously indicate that higher education in prison programs reduces recidivism and translates into reductions in crime, savings to taxpayers, and long-term contributions to the safety and well-being of the communities to which formerly incarcerated people return.

Recent research on prison education programs presents discouraging statistics on the current recidivism rate. The Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) reported in 2011 that nearly 7 in 10 people who are formerly incarcerated will commit a new crime, and half will end up back in prison within three years. Given that about 95 out of every 100 incarcerated people eventually rejoin society,[1] it is crucial that we develop programs and tools to effectively reduce recidivism.

Prison education is far more effective at reducing recidivism than boot camps, “shock” incarceration or vocational training, according to the National Institute of Justice.[2] In 2001, the Correctional Education Association’s “Three State Recidivism Study” quantified this reduction, demonstrating that correctional education lowered long-term recidivism by 29 percent.[3]

A 2005 IHEP report cites yet higher numbers, reporting that recidivism rates for incarcerated people who had participated in prison education programs were on average 46 percent lower than the rates of incarcerated people who had not taken college classes. The same report examined 15 different studies conducted during the 1990s and found that 14 of these showed reduced long-term recidivism rates among people who had participated in postsecondary correctional education.[4]

The vast majority of people in U.S. prisons do not have a high school diploma. A high correlation exists between the level of education attained by an incarcerated person and his or her recidivism rate. The American Correctional Association has reported that in Indiana the recidivism rate for GED completers is 20 percent lower than the general prison population’s rate, and the recidivism rate for college degree completers is 44 percent lower than the general population’s.[5] In other words, the higher the degree earned, the lower the recidivism rate.

[1] Laura E. Gorgol and Brian A. Sponsler, “Unlocking Potential: Results of a National Survey of Postsecondary Education in State Prisons,” Institute for Higher Education Policy, 2011

[2] Lawrence W. Sherman et. al, “Preventing Crime: What Works, What Doesn’t, What’s Promising,” National Institute of Justice, 1998

[3] Stephen Steurer, Linda Smith, and Alice Tracy, “Three State Recidivism Study,” Correctional Education Association, 2001

[4] Wendy Erisman and Jeanne Bayer Contardo, “Learning to Reduce Recidivism: A 50-State Analysis of Postsecondary Correctional Education Policy,” Institute for Higher Education Policy, 2005

(5] Stephen Steurer, John Linton, John Nally, and Susan Lockwood, “The Top-Nine Reasons to Increase Correctional Education Programs,” Corrections Today, 2010.

By:  Michael Lambert

Back in the mid to late 80's I was a spec ed teacher at IS 302 in the East New York Section of Brooklyn which, at the time, had the highest homicide rate in NYC. One September, Matelyn, Ian, Germaine and Patrick walked into my room the first day of school and I'll tell you up front; this Puerto Rican from whitebread Queens was intimidated. They were big. Germaine was the... school's alpha male and the others were his boys.

Germaine had come up to me the previous spring, stopped me in the hall and said, "You're gonna be my teacher next year and you're gonna make me learn so I can get my black ass out of this neighborhood."

All four of them were profoundly learning disabled.

Now let me tell you about Rafael Cordero, IS 302. it was built in the 70's with a strong vocational training infrastructure. Machine shop, wood shop, cosmetic shop, and more.

Then that damn report was released: A Nation at Risk.

The shops were turned into classrooms and the vocational training programs gutted. You with me?

The stats, at the time, said that those four boys had NO chance of getting out of that neighborhood. They were going to wind up dead or in jail and they have haunted me for 23 years. They were great kids and while they were in my class no one messed with Mr. Lambert. They watched my car in the afternoon until I got to it. They worked their asses off every day for me.

They had NO chance and any chance they could have had was stolen from them by the same goddam politics that is screwing with us today. I don't want to hear any "if they worked hard enough."

That's a lie we tell ourselves to make ourselves feel better.

I don't care what any one of them might have done to wind up behind bars. As far as a lot of those kids were concerned, their petty thefts and drug dealing was just small scale of what goes on in the halls of power and they were not and are not wrong.

Those human beings deserve a shot and if providing them with an education will salvage their lives than we owe it to them to give it to them.

But that is not why I have been a member of the Badass Teachers Association from day one. I am here to save my profession, to save my students' education from the goddam bureaucrats, politicians and CEO's who are trying to monetize the public school system for fun and profit.

And we are winning. Let's keep our eyes on that prize, focused like a laser beam and push while we have our adversaries back on their heels.

We can help those inmates and the thousands of mentally ill who are also incarcerated for no other reason than that they are sick and we have allowed their support systems to crash and burn, when we are done.

That's my piece. For what it's worth.

Ras Baraka: Strong Schools are the Result of

Strong Communities and Strong Neighborhoods

By:  Melissa Tomlinson

Or maybe Mr. Baraka said “Strong families and strong communities are the result of strong schools.” Truthfully, he said both.

All week, the original title of this piece (as I was writing it in my head) was going to be “Why I Care About the Mayoral Election in Newark, and Why You Should too.”  This election in Newark has the potential to set a new standard for our state.  A standard that includes education as one of the most, if not THE most, important issue surrounding the vote.  Just look at New York City.  The election of  Mayor Bill de Blasio has changed the educational conversation from one that vilified the school system to one that recognized the strengths of the different community schools and is creating a way to build upon those strengths.

But isn’t that the way all elections should be?  Isn’t education the main vehicle we have for building upon our current situations so that they can be improved upon?  I say this all the time: education is the biggest and most important investment that we can make for our future. To support our children and our communities now will help bring about the changes in society that we wish to see. Ras Baraka is a man who has a plan about how to do this. Not only does he have a plan, but this plan was successfully implemented while he was a principal in Newark School District.

 Go back and read my opening statement.  Can you see the intertwining of the three variables and how they can support each other?  Can you see how strengthening one of those factors leads to strengthening the other factors?  Ras Baraka does. He recognizes that trying to separate these entities will only cause harm to the other.

 Ras Baraka made a very strong political move by holding a private session with different educational bloggers of New Jersey.  He recognized the strength of ‘on the street’ reporting and how we helped bringing national attention to the recent suspension of administrators of the Newark School district as well as the banning and arrest of the PTA president, all for speaking out against the ‘One Newark’ plan. But what is even more impressive is that he open the line of communications between himself and educators; something that is being neglected as an approach on a nation-wide level. His opinions of Cami Anderson were made quite clear.  ”She has got to go!” There was no mincing of words here.  He demands for the removal of a superintendent that only recognizes Governor Christie as her boss.  Ras Baraka calls upon the need for a superintendent to answer to the true ‘customers’ of education, the families and the communities.  The importance of a democratic process being used to influence school board elections was stressed and that change should fall into the laps of this elected body of the district.

 Being under state control, this is hard for Newark.  But Ras Baraka plans to fight for local control to be given back to the people.  The state has had plenty of opportunity to ‘make things right’ and has spent almost two decades trying. It is now time to give Newark back to its citizens.  While he did not outline how he was going to wrestle Newark from the hands of the state, he did say that this is going to be accomplished not just by him alone.  He recognizes the need for the organization of community groups, grassroots organizations, teachers, and the union.  He wants to create a collective groundswell movement, and he is just the person that can do that.

 When asked what he wants to do about the charter schools of Newark, and if he would support putting a stop to the influx of these outside interests becoming major players in this battle, Ras clearly stated that he would support a moratorium on any more changes to the Newark School system until everything is truly evaluated and community members are allowed to give input.  He recognizes that there are already charter school institutions that have become an integrated part of Newark. But he also recognizes that they have not proven to be any more effective at educating the children of Newark.  Ras does not want to take the decision out of the hands of the communities that he is trying to protect.  Once given the true information, he has faith that they will make the right choices.

 

After leaving this private session, we then joined the community for a public session to introduce The Ras Baraka Blueprint to Achieve Excellence in Newark’s Schools.  In this session I was blown away by the speakers that joined Ras to speak about this plan. Antionette Baskerville-Richardson, Dr. Lauren Wells, and Dr. Janice Johnson Dias spoke about the values and ideals behind this blueprint. Their speeches alone are worthy of a separate write-up (soon to follow!).  But let me add here, with these women in his corner, Ras Baraka may just be able to make the kinds of changes that education needs in our state, and perhaps, in the nation.

 That is why I am so interested in this election… and why you should be too.

Quick Note – Ras Baraka’s Blueprint will be discussed in a near-future post as I compare it to the Mastery and Uncommon Charter schools presentations that I attended today in Camden!