Stories tagged: racial equity
Esos vatos locos forever! And school racial violence, Somali pirates
Submitted by Gustavo Martínez on Fri, 02/19/2010 - 13:26 Posted in Social justice in education | Permalink
I'm supposing none of y'all know what the title to this post means. I'll put it this way: that's proper Chicano English, a southwestern US of A dialect of Spanglish, for "aw yeah, crazy dudes!"
Down there, by our own Berlin Wall, we live in español, but go to school in Spanglish, which goes to show how unsuccessful Operation Wetback was.
What worries me is that still, today, there are people who think that English is the only language that should be spoken in this land. But I take relief when amigos gabachos stand in defense of the many tongues spelling out life in the today's United States. So, gracias to attorney and blogger Len Rieser for his post in response to a Christopher Paslay's op-ed piece that appeared in The Inquirer earlier this week.
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Philadelphia Weekly reports on violence against Asian students
Submitted by Helen Gym on Thu, 09/03/2009 - 07:16 | Permalink
Via Philebrity:
This week’s Philadelphia Weekly cover story has a crushing story about violence heaped on Asian students in many Philadelphia public schools.
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At the SRC
Posted in August 2009 | Permalink
At a special meeting on July 8, the School Reform Commission unanimously approved a resolution authorizing the District to sign a consent agreement bringing an end to a long-standing lawsuit on racial inequity. The case dates back October, 1970, when the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission filed a complaint that the Philadelphia School District was "unlawfully segregated by race."
The agreement uses Superintendent Arlene Ackerman's Imagine 2014 strategic plan as a framework for continuing steps to address racial inequities in the District. The PHRC will retain the ability to go back to court if the agreement’s goals and objectives are not met.
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NAEP report: Test score gap is wide in PA
Submitted by Dale Mezzacappa on Tue, 07/14/2009 - 19:11 | Permalink
There's sobering data in the report released yesterday by the National Center on Education Statistics on the racial "achievement gap."
The study uses results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, given periodically to a sampling of students in each state since 1992. Pennsylvania has one of the largest gaps between White and African American students in fourth grade reading scores, a 33-point gap that has not narrowed much since 1992.
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As parties cheer deseg settlement, union calls it fatally flawed
Submitted by Dale Mezzacappa on Mon, 07/13/2009 - 19:39 Posted in Breaking news | Permalink
Not everyone was cheering the end of the 40-year-old desegregation case in the courtroom presided over by Commonwealth Court Judge Doris Smith-Ribner on Monday morning. Leaders of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers sat silently as the parties urged adoption of an agreement that would significantly impact their collective bargaining agreement.
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Very little busing for desegregation left in Philly
Submitted by Dale Mezzacappa on Fri, 07/10/2009 - 15:19 | Permalink
As the School District and the courts prepare to put to rest the long-running legal battle over racial equity in schools, some statistics about school busing came to light that deserve a little more attention. Busing students for desegregation, which in the 1980s and 90s was the District's main avenue for parents to exercise school choice, has declined by almost 90 percent since then.
Instead of busing between District schools, students are now primarily bused around the city to attend charter schools.
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Is the desegregation case over, or has the hard part just begun?
Submitted by Dale Mezzacappa on Wed, 07/08/2009 - 21:08 Posted in Breaking news | Permalink
After nearly 40 years, it is over.
Or not quite.
On Wednesday the School Reform Commission voted to accept a consent agreement that will end a unique desegregation case that had its beginnings in October, 1970. That was when the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission first filed its complaint that the Philadelphia School District was “unlawfully segregated by race.”
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Getting beyond the blame game
Submitted by Eric Braxton on Fri, 06/26/2009 - 11:24 | Permalink
There has been a lot of talk recently about how to improve teaching quality and ensure equitable distribution of qualified teachers in Philadelphia.
The issue is hot right now for good reasons: the PFT contract negotiations are getting contentious and group of community organizations have created a Teaching Quality and Equity Platform.
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Where have all the teachers of color gone?
by Wendy Harris Posted in Summer 2009 | Permalink
It's 11:05 a.m. and 28 students at Fulton Elementary School in Germantown quietly file into Christopher Wright's 6th grade math class. After taking their seats, they dive into their daily series of equations on the blackboard. After making his way around the room checking each student's progress, he asks for the answers. Hands shoot up, and Wright dashes back to the blackboard.
One girl points out a mistake in one of the problems. "That number should be negative, instead of positive," she said with confidence.
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Musings on SP – not the stimulus package, not the strategic plan, but South Pacific
Submitted by Dale Mezzacappa on Sun, 03/01/2009 - 16:53 | Permalink
Once in my life, I aspired to be a drama critic, and last month I went to see the revival of South Pacific at Lincoln Center in New York. Like many who grew up in the 1950’s and 1960’s, I memorized most of the songs as a child.
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Renaissance School provider applicants await the first cut
by Dale Mezzacappa
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