Closing the Achievement Gap

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Closing the Achievement Gap

• An Action Plan for a Culturally Relevant
  Education that Benefits African American Students
  and all other Students

Presented By LaTonya Dover , Closing the
Achievement GAP-SEL Specialist Local District
5 October 6,2004
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Closing the Achievement Gap

• Definition of Closing the Achievement
• Gap
• Defined as closing the gap between the current
  levels of achievement in African American and
  Latino students and levels of academic excellence
  in all content areas.

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The Blueprint for Closing the Achievement Gap
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THE BLUEPRINTfor Implementation of the Action
Plan

• The Blueprint for Implementation of the Action
  Plan for Culturally Relevant Education
• incorporates each Local Districts plans to
  address the Action Steps.

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The Action Plans 5 Tenets

• Tenet 1 - Opportunity to Learn (student focused)
• Tenet 2 - Opportunity to Learn (adult focused)
• Tenet 3 - Professional Development
• Tenet 4 - Parent Engagement
• Tenet 5 - Evaluation and Monitoring

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TENET 1RECOMMENDATION 1

• Central and Local District offices will provide
• comprehensive professional development for
• administrators, teachers, counselors, and
• coaches on Culturally Responsive Pedagogy.

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PERFORMANCE GOALS

• Increase the number and percentage
• of students who
• Achieve the standard or higher in READING
• Achieve the standard or higher in MATH.
• Decrease the number and percentage of African
• American and Latino students
• Enrolled in Special Education as learning and
  language disabled, and behavior disordered.
• Suspended at all grade levels

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TENET 1RECOMMENDATION 2

• Principals, Counselors, and teachers must work
  closely with parents and students to ensure that
  all African American and Latino students not
  only in magnets have access to, enroll in
• pass a college prep curriculum,
• Including A-G course requirements,
• honors courses
• AP courses.

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PERFORMANCE GOALS
Increase the number and percentage of African
American and Latino students who successfully
complete the following Upper level mathematics
courses Successfully complete Honors and
Advanced Placement Classes Advanced Placement
Exams and score between 3-5
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Tenet 2Recommendation 1

• The district will ensure that Culturally
  Responsive Pedagogy strategies are embedded in
  the districts core curricular
• initiatives such as Open Court, Principals of
• Learning, etc..

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TENET 2RECOMMENDATION 2

• equal access to the highest quality
• teachers and administrators within and across
  schools.

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TENET 3RECOMMENDATION 1

• Staff will be trained to effectively enhance the
  academic achievement of African
• American and Latino students.

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TENET 4RECOMMENDATION 1

• Parents should be given the opportunity to be
• effective educational advocates for their
• children.
• Engage parents in the education of their children
  through improved communications
• between schools-teachers and parents, and
• appropriate education for African American
• and Latino parents.

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TENET 5RECOMMENDATION 1

• Actions taken by various parties will be
  evaluated (Superintendents, Local Districts,
  Schools, Programs, Administrators, Teachers, and
  Staff).

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CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE TEACHING
PRINCIPLES
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Principle 1
Principles responsive to the needs of students
Source
Carol Lee

• Learning is optimized when students are able to
  make connections between
  what they already know and what they are expected
  to learn.

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• Around the Way Girl
• Rap-Lyrics By LL. Cool J

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5TH Gr.- ELA Standard

• 1.5 Understand and explain the figurative and
  metaphorical use of words in context.

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Principle 2
Principles responsive to the needs of
students Source Carol Lee

• The meaning or significance that learners impose
  on experience shapes how and whether knowledge is
  stored in long term memory

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• Our brains are efficient organs
• We remember experiences that have made the most
• Sense
• Importance
• Emotional reactions

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The Personal Thesaurus

• Vocabulary development utilizing an emphasis on
  synonyms ( or acquiring new words to express
  concepts/ideas with which the students are
  already familiar.

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• Fight on the yard
• Personal thesaurus

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The Personal Thesaurus
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Vocabulary and Concept Development ELA 1.3

• Understand and explain frequently used synonyms,
  antonyms and homographs.

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Principal 3
Principles responsive to the needs of
students Source Carol Lee

• Learners can demonstrate competence in
  non-traditional ways

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5th Gr. ELA Standard 2.4

• Write a persuasive
• letter or composition.

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Collaborative Groups

• In your group decide how to persuade another
  group to purchase the item in the center of the
  table.
• Commercial
• Share out

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Principle 4
Principles responsive to the needs of
students Source Carol Lee

• Ability is not static or finite, as human beings
  we build our brains through our engagement with
  experience.

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• No point when humans are incapable of learning
• No point when learning is impossible
• How do schools learn how to build on what these
  students know, learn and value?

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Rigor

• Math

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Principle 5
Principles responsive to the needs of
students Source Carol Lee

• Through effort, monitoring and adjusting our
  strategies when we do not understand, we exert
  influence over what and how we learn These
  strategies and habits of mind are teachable.

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Habit of Mind

• Ruth

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Educating Other Peoples Children

• A child cannot be taught by anyone whose demand,
  essentially, is that the child repudiate his
  experience and all that gives him
  sustenance Baldwin, 1997

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Greater Achievement for All LAUSD Students
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Reading References Culturally Responsive
TeachingCompiled by Noma LeMoine, Ph.D.

• Cummins, J. (1996). Negotiating Identities
  Education for Empowerment in a Diverse Society.
  California Association for Bilingual Education
  Ontario
• Delpit. L.(1995). Other Peoples
  ChildrenCultural Conflict in the Classroom.New
  PressN. Y.
• Delpit. L. Dowdy, J. (Eds) (2002). The Skin We
  Speak Thoughts on Language and Culture in the
  Classroom. The New Press New York.
• Gay, G. (2000). Culturally Responsive Teaching
  Theory, Research, Practice. Teachers College
  Press. Columbia University.
• Hale, J. (1982). Black Children their Roots,
  Culture, and Learning Styles. The John Hopkins
  University Press Baltimore, MA
• Irvine, J. Armento, B. (2001). Culturally
  Responsive Teaching Lesson Planning for
  Elementary and Middle Grades. McGraw-Hill New
  York, N.Y..
• LeMoine, N. (2001). Language Variation and
  Literacy Acquisition in African American
  Students (p. 169-194). Chapter in Harris, J.,
  Kamhi, A., Pollock, K. (Eds) Literacy in
  African American Communities. Lawrence Erlbaum
  Associates Inc. Mahwah, New Jersey.
• Lindsey, R., Robins, K., Terrell, R. (2003).
  Cultural Proficiency, A Manual for School
  Leaders. Corwin Press, Inc. Thousand Oaks
• Shade, Kelly, Oberg (1998). Creating
  Culturally Responsive Classrooms. American
  Psychological Association. Washington, DC.
• Tauber, R. (1997). Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, A
  Practical Guide to Its Use in Education.
  Praeger Publishers Westport, CT
• Villegas, A. Lucas, T. (2002). Educating
  Culturally Responsive Teachers A Coherent
  Approach. State University of New York
  Albany, N.Y.