The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children By: Gloria Ladson Billings

Objectives Learn the tenants of Gloria Ladson Billing’s philosophy of education and successful programs. Understand the “cultural deficit” model and its impact on prior research and education.

“A Dream Deferred” What happens to a dream deferred? -Langston Hughes In 1935, W. E. B. Du Bois posed the question, "Does the Negro need separate schools?'" The question came as a result of Du Bois's assessment that the quality of education that African Americans were receiving in the nation's public schools was poor, an assessment that is still true today. Across the nation, a call in our urban centers for alternative schooling suggests that attempts to desegregate the public schools have ultimately not been beneficial to African American students. School systems in such cities as Milwaukee, Baltimore, Miami, Detroit, and New York are looking at experimental programs designed to meet the specific needs of African American boys.

“A Dream Deferred” One look at the statistics provides some insight. African American children are three times as likely to drop out of school as white children are and twice as likely to be suspended from school. The high school dropout rate in New York and California is about 35 percent; in inner cities, where large numbers of African Americans live, the rate nears 50 percent. African American students make up only about 17 percent of the public school population but 41 percent of the special-education population. These dismal statistics hold despite the two waves of educational reform initiated in the 1980s More young African American men are under the control of the criminal justice system than in college. Indeed, an African American boy who was born in California in 1988 is three times more likely to be murdered than to be admitted to the University of California

A Dream Deferred The idea of special schools for African Americans (specifically African American boys) has sparked heated debate about both the ability and the responsibility of the public schools to educate adequately African American students. Why, in the 1990s, after decades of fighting for civil and equal rights, are African Americans even contemplating the possibility of separate schools?

A Dream Deferred Bell argues that the real beneficiaries of school desegregation are the schools, the white communities, and the white students. When white students are bused to African American schools, "desegregation money" is used to transform them into "magnet" schools schools that attract students from throughout the district because they offer exemplary programs in mathematics, science, technology, the performing arts,and so on. “Unfortunately, these magnet schools sometimes operate under a two- tiered system, virtually resegregating students within the so-called desegregated schools.” Thus the white students who come to the schools benefit from the special program while the African American students remain in the low-level classes.

Prior Research & Writing: Nine (out of 27 essays) were based on empirical research. Not one dealt specifically with preparing teachers to teach African American students. One of the greatest hindrances to finding literature that addresses the needs of teachers of African American students is the language used to describe public school attempts to educate African Americans. The literature of the 1960s and 1970s is filled with works about teaching the "culturally deprived and disadvantaged." The literature that does exist on the topic refers to black students as “deprived, deficient, and deviant” (8), i.e. the term “at-risk” (a large proportion of which are black) suggests that something is wrong with the student, family, or culture. This is the notion of cultural deficiency.

Cultural Deficit Model Even when the goal was to improve both student and teacher effectiveness, the use of such terms contributed to a perception of African American students as deprived, deficient, and deviant. Because of this, many proposed educational interventions were designed to remove the students from their homes, communities, and cultures in an effort to mitigate against their alleged damaging effects. The philosophy behind such programs resembles that of the compensatory educational models of the 1960s and 1970s in that the children's academic problems are seen to be rooted in the "pathology" of their homes, communities, and cultures.

“A Dream Deferred” The term at-risk is now used to describe certain students and their families in much the same way that they had been described for almost two hundred years. Cuban further suggests that "the two most popular explanations for low academic achievement of at-risk children locate the problem in the children themselves or in their families. Even the Educational Index continues to cross-reference African American student issues with the phrase "culturally deprived.”

Psychic Cost Somehow many have come to equate exemplary performance in school with a loss of their African American identity; that is. doing well in school is seen as "acting white." Thus if they do not want to "act white," the only option, many believe, is to refuse to do well in school. Thus they purposely learn how not to learn. When schools support their culture as an integral part of the school experience, students can understand that academic excellence is not the sole province of white middle-class students. Such systems also negate the axiomatic thinking that if doing well in school equals "acting white" then doing poorly equals "acting black.

“A Dream Deferred” According to Billings, African Americans are not recognized as a distinct cultural group that has unique demands and needs. She concludes by outlining three categories of teaching black students: (1) programs designed to accelerate learning without attending to cultural/social needs (2) programs designed to resocialize black students to mainstream cultural values while they teach basic skills (3) programs designed to programs designed to facilitate learning by utilizing students social/cultural backgrounds.

Programs in the third category attempt to capitalize on students’ individual, group, and cultural differences. Rather than ignoring or minimizing cultural differences, these programs see the differences as strengths to base academic achievement on. Cummins suggests that students are less likely to fail in school settings where they feel positive about both their own culture and the majority culture and "are not alienated from their own cultural values. " Chicago's Westside Preparatory School is an example of a program that uses African American culture to improve the students' academic performance. “A Dream Deferred”

A Study of Effective Teaching for African Americans “This book is about teaching practice, not about curriculum.” Much of the purported reforms and the debate about our schools focuses on curriculum: What should we teach? Whose version of history should we offer? What priority should different subject matters be given? But it is the way we teach that profoundly affects the way that students perceive the content of that curriculum.

“A Dream Deferred” The Book: “I went into the classrooms intending to examine both "the political and the practical." “I wanted to see not only why a certain kind of teaching helped the students to be more successful academically but also how this kind of teaching supported and encouraged students to use their prior knowledge to make sense of the world and to work toward improving it.” “As is true of most researchers, it is my hope that this research will find broad applicability and be seen as useful for teaching students of any race or ethnicity.”

“A Dream Deferred” Giroux and Simon's thoughts on critical pedagogy: Pedagogy refers to a deliberate attempt to influence how and what knowledge and identities are produced within and among particular sets of social relations. It can be understood as a practice through which people are incited to acquire a particular "moral character.” As both a political and practical activity, it attempts to influence the occurrence and qualities of experiences. When one practices pedagogy, one acts with the intent of creating experiences that will organize and disorganize a variety of understandings of our natural and social world in particular ways.... Pedagogy is a concept which draws attention to the processes through which knowledge is produced."

On cultural relevancy: Uses student culture in order to maintain it and to transcend the negative effects of the dominant culture (the ignoring of black culture by the mainstream); The aim is to assist in the development of a culturally relevant “personality” that allows black students to choose academic excellence yet still identify with black culture; It is a pedagogy that empowers students by using cultural referents to impart knowledge; it moves between two cultures but recognizes each as legitimate (17-18); It is the antithesis of assimilation; it aims at a level of excellence; emphasizes sharing responsibility (23) – a successful culturally relevant teacher is viewed as a “coach”

On cultural relevancy: One willing to work with others and will collectively work toward a collective goal (24); Establishes strong and caring relationships with all students When looking at current teachers, Billings notices that teacher perceptions of black students have a significant impact on student learning. Such perceptions can lead to negative associations with black culture and low expectations; teachers may only value students that demonstrate mainstream behavior; They may be attempting to “correct” this behavior in order to make students “fit” into a particular category; Or teachers may not believe that minority students can act in a certain way, thus react with sympathy.

Seeing Color, Seeing Culture “I have a dream that my four 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.” -Martin Luther King, Jr. August 28, 1963 “…the journey toward acknowledging and valuing differences. "

"dysconsciousness“ "I don't really see color” “I just see children" or "I don't care if they're red, green, or polka dot, I just treat them all like children." …these attempts at colorblindness mask a "dysconscious racism," an "uncritical habit of mind that justifies inequity and exploitation by accepting the existing order of things as given.” This is not to suggest that these teachers are racist in the conventional sense. They do not consciously deprive or punish African American children on the basis of their race, but at the same time they are not unconscious of the ways in which some children are privileged and others are disadvantaged in the classroom.

Conceptions of Self and Others Culturally Relevant  Teacher sees herself as an artist. Teaching as an art.  Teacher sees herself as part of the community and teaching as giving something back to the community.  Encourages students to do the same.  Teacher believes all students can succeed.  Teacher helps students make connections between their community national, and global identities.  Teacher sees teaching as "pulling knowledge out"-like "mining." Assimilationist  Teacher sees herself as technician teaching as a technical task.  Teacher sees herself as an individual who may or may not be a part of the community; she encourages achievement as a means to escape community.  Teacher believes failure is inevitable for some.  Teacher homogenizes students into one "American" identity. Teacher sees teaching as "putting knowledge into" -like "banking."

Conceptions of Knowledge Culturally Relevant Knowledge is continuously recreated, recycling and shared by teachers and students; it is not static or unchanging. Knowledge is viewed critically. Teacher is passionate about content. Teacher helps students develop necessary skills. Teacher sees excellence as a complex standard mat may involve some postulates but takes student diversity and individual differences into account. Assimilationist Knowledge is Static and is passed in one direction, from teacher to students. Knowledge is viewed as infallible. Teacher is detached, neutral about content. Teacher expects students to demonstrate prerequisite skills. Teacher sees excellence as a postulate that exists independently from student diversity and individual differences.

In The Dreamkeepers, Ladson-Billings defines CRT as possessing these eight principles: 1. Communication of High Expectations 2. Active Teaching Methods 3. Teacher as Facilitator 4. Inclusion of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students 5. Cultural Sensitivity 6. Reshaping the Curriculum 7. Student-Controlled Classroom Discourse 8. Small Group Instruction and Academically-Related Discourse

Teachers Who Practice Culturally- Relevant Teaching: View teaching as a “art,” not a “technical skill.” View themselves as a part of the community in which they teach. View themselves as giving back to this community. See a “connectedness” between themselves and their students. Foster a “community of learners.” “…believe that knowledge is continuously re- created, recycled, and shared by teachers and students alike.”

According to Ladson Billings, Culturally Relevant Teaching (CRT) is: “An approach that empowers students intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically by using cultural referents to impact knowledge, skills and attitudes.”

Objectives Learn the tenants of Gloria Ladson Billing’s philosophy of education and successful programs. Understand the “cultural deficit” model and its impact on prior research and education.