Teachers, Study Circles and the Racial Achievement Gap

Teachers, Study Circles and the Racial Achievement Gap:

How One Dialogue and Action Program Helped Teachers Integrate the Competencies ofan Effective Multicultural Educator

Catherine Brenner Orland

PIM 64

A Capstone Paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Master of Arts in Social Justice in Intercultural Relations at the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont, USA.

Sunday January 28, 2007

Advisor: Claire Halverson

1045 Nine Acres Lane

Mamaroneck, NY10543

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Copyright Notice

The author hereby grantsto the School for International Training permission toreproduce either electronically or in print format this document in whole or in part for library archival purposes only.

The author hereby does _x_ does not __ grant the School for International Training permission to electronically reproduce and transmit this document to students, alumni, staff and faculty of the World Learning Community

Author’s Signature______

© Catherine Brenner Orland, 2006. All rights reserved.

Dedication

To Bev Tatum and Andrea Ayvazian, who started me on ‘the path of liberation’.

To the too-many-to-name allies who’ve not only kept me on the path, but also kept me sane.

To everyone who has kept me accountable and made me check my ‘stuff’.

To Mea Allen and Troy Henri for their continued support, affirmation, and friendship.

To Mea especially for sharing best practices and letting me follow in her informed footsteps.

To John Landesman, for being willing to sharehis wisdom gleaned though experience and for pushing me even when I resisted. For his dedication, patience and kind mentorship.

This thesis has benefited immensely from the guidance provided by my thorough and insightful advisor, Claire B. Halverson.

Most especially, I would like to thank my Dad, Leonard “Justice” Orland, for his superb writing and editing instruction. This work is dedicated to him; for supporting my education and

my continuing growth as a human being--logistically, financially and emotionally.

I am grateful beyond words.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction

Background and Context

National Study Circles

County Public Schools Study Circles

Research Focus

Conceptual Framework

Chapter 2: Literature Review

What Multicultural Education is Not

Historical Framework, Tracking and Meritocracy

Foundations and Concepts in Multicultural Education

Components of Successful Multicultural Education

Parental Involvement

Building and Empowering Community

Student Connection or Fostering a Classroom Community

Understanding and Appreciating Students’ Cultures

Developing Teachers’ Understanding of Themselves as Cultural Beings

Language

High Expectations

Teacher Attitudes/Beliefs

Instructional Methods

Students as Experts

Talking Openly about Racism/Diversity

Bucking the System, Going Against the Status Quo

Educational Justice and Rearticulating the American Dream

Activism

The Competencies of an Effective Multicultural Educator......

Chapter 3: Research Methodology

Paradigm

Data Collection

Quantitative

Qualitative

Limitations

Chapter 4: Data Presentation

How Teachers Experience Participating in Study Circles

Building Relationships

Comfort with Talking About Race

Stereotypes

Importance and Difficulty in Talking Openly about Race/Ethnicity

Understanding People’s Backgrounds and Divergent Perspectives

Worth Teachers’ Time

Teachers’ Awarenesses and Learnings from Study Circles

Learning from Others: Awareness of Cultural Differences and Racial Issues

Parent Involvement, High Expectations and the Racial Achievement Gap

Attitudinal and Behavioral Changes in Teachers

Reinforcing Existing Learning

New Skills and the Will to Change: Staff Development among Teachers

Teacher Learning and Change: Impact on the School Community

Language Access and Cultural Barriers

Parent Involvement and Parent / Teacher / Student Relationships

Activism and Speaking Truth to Power

School Change and the Achievement Gap

Data Analysis

An Experiential Framework

How the Findings Relate to the Literature on Multicultural Education

Chapter 5: Conclusions, Applicability, and Future Research

Recommendations

Applicability and Future Research

Bibliography

Appendices

Appendix A: Pre-Survey

Appendix B: Post Survey

Appendix C: Follow-Up Survey

Appendix D: Recruiting Letter and Informed Consent Form

Appendix E: Interview Protocol

List of Tables

Table 1: Examples of School Change through Study Circles—Portsmouth, N.H………………..3

Table 2: Competencies of an Effective Multicultural Educator…………………………………30

Table 3: Demographic Characteristics of Survey Respondents…………………………………32

Table 4: Quantitative & Qualitative data Locations by Competencies………………………….34

List of Figures

Figure 1: Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle…………………………………………………… 7

ABSTRACT

Teachers, Study Circles and the Racial Achievement Gap:

How One Dialogue and Action Program Helped Teachers Integrate the Competencies of an Effective Multicultural Educator

Catherine Brenner Orland

Study Circles, a dialogue and action process, bringstogether teachers, parents and students from diverse racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds to talk about the racial achievement gap. This study asks: how does the experience of participating in Study Circles bring teachers closer to integrating the competencies of the effective multicultural educator? Using a pragmatic design, including surveys and individual interviews, this research examines how participating in Study Circles changes teachers’ skills/behavior, knowledge and attitudes. These changes are then critically evaluated through a lens which views multicultural education as a movement for social change.

Through participating in Study Circles, teachers: increased their comfort with talking about race, ethnicity and stereotypes, were inspired to improve their cultural competency, developed close relationships with parents and students, and gained insight into parents’ hopes and expectations for their children. From their improved understanding of the racial achievement gap, teachers actively involved themselves in efforts aimed at removing the racial, ethnic and linguistic barriers to student achievement.

This research may be applicable to U.S. American schools where the majority of teachers are White and/or where a racial achievement gap persists. This study may also be useful to anti-racism practitioners, staff development teachers or trainers, as well as the multicultural education, dialogue and deliberation fields.

1

Chapter 1: Introduction

Background and Context

A highly diverse suburban school system, ______County Public Schools,(hereafter referred to as CPS) is a leader in desegregation efforts. Within CPS, students are 43 percentWhite, 19 percent Hispanic/Latino, 22 percent African American and 14 percent Asian American. At first glance, CPS’s racial/ethnic diversity is rare in that it has certainly achieved the integration set forth in the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark desegregation case, Brown vs. Board of Education (1954). But looking a little closer reveals a different picture.

Despite the absence of formalized tracking in CPS, many more White and Asian American students are found in advanced placement and honors classes, while African American and Latino students are found in basic and remedial courses. White and Asian students consistently outperform African American and Latino students on standardized tests. Additionally, the predominantly White teachers in CPS are unrepresentative of the students they teach. Within CPS, 13.6 percent of teachers are African American, 3.7 percent are Asian American, 3.7 percent are Hispanic, and 78.8 percent are White. ( us/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/Glance2005.pdf retrieved January 17, 2006).

The problems that CPS faces in terms of the racial achievement gap are insidious and pervasive throughout U.S. America, where White middle class women represent close to 90 percent of all teachers[1].CPS’s superintendent has challenged CPS with the charge of eliminating the racial achievement gap. The Study Circles Program was “launched to complement the other [CPS] initiatives that aim to narrow the racial achievement gap”( overviewen.shtm retrieved January 8, 2006).

National Study Circles

The national Study Circles Resource Center (SCRC) was founded on the principle that an informed and empowered citizenry can make positive community change. (Fanselow, 2002). SCRC embraces five core principles.

1. Involve everyone. Demonstrate that the whole community is welcome and needed.
2. Embrace diversity. Reach out to all kinds of people.
3. Share knowledge, resources, power, and decision making.
4. Combine dialogue and deliberation. Create public talk that builds understanding and explores a range of solutions.
5. Connect deliberative dialogue to social, political, and policy change. (Scully & McCoy, 2005, p. 1)

Scully and McCoy (2005) outline the range of possible action and change that can result from Study Circles. The examples in Table 1 are taken from a series ofStudy Circleinitiatives on school bullying, the redistricting of elementary schools, racism and race relations, and city planning that took place in Portsmouth, N.H. from 1999 through 2004.

Though the Study Circles Resource Center (SCRC) has seen much research connected to Study Circles, Dr. Patrick Scully, Deputy Director of SCRC notes,“most of SCRC’s work has focused on the effects on community action and policy…but not on how study circles change the work of professionals (like teachers) who are in the trenches” (Personal Communication).

‘Table 1: Examples of School Change through Study Circles—PortsmouthN.H.’

Kind of Change / Portsmouth, New Hampshire Example
Changes in individual behavior and attitudes / As a participant in a study circle on school redistricting, one resident who consistently opposed tax increases saw the cramped conditions in three schools, heard the concerns and commitment of parents and teachers, and publicly supported a $1.7 million plan for school improvements that entailed a tax increase.
New Relationships and Networks / After circles on racism, the deputy chief of the police department commented that now when an issue or question comes up, it is easier for someone from the NAACP to simply call him or another officer rather than go through formal procedures.
Institutional changes / After the circles on school safety, new plans included the following students recommendations: cameras on buses, a peer mediation program, and increased adult supervision at school events. Since the plans have been implemented, school bullying appears to have declined.
Changes in public policy / After playing a leading role in organizing study circle on Portsmouth’s ten-year master plan and meeting with participants, the planning board used input from the circles to learn residents’ priorities. Resulting changes to the plan included approval to purchase ten acres of green space for conservation and rezoning to gear waterfront residences and studios to artists’ needs. (p. 1)

Examining the Study Circles approach to change reveals that discussion guides from each local program are key points of change. “Sound principles and effective process design are the keys to achieving social and political changes in people, organizations, communities and institutions” (Scully and McCoy, 2005 p. 1). Looking at the CPS Study Circles Discussion Guide, reveals the assumptions that the program makes about student achievement and the racial achievement gap.

1. Race and ethnicity impact student achievement / parent involvement in CPS.
2. Race and ethnicity should not be factors in a student’s education. There are many examples of successful schools with racially, ethnically, and socio-economically diverse students.
3. Strong relationships among diverse parents and students are important to student success.
4. Relationships among diverse parents and students do not just happen. There needs to be an intentional process for accomplishing this goal.
5. Action will be more effective and sustainable if derived after diverse stakeholders develop more trusting relationships and a better understanding of the issues and each other (Landesman, 2005, p. 5).

County Public Schools Study Circles

CPS Study Circles is a dialogue and action program that aims to “help the school community focus on the racial and ethnic barriers to student achievement” (Mission Statement). A given Study Circle is comprised of about 15 participants who represent the racial/ethnic diversity of the school. Ideally, each Study Circle includes members from various stakeholder groups in the school community: both highly and less involved parents, teachers, administrators, school staff, and at the high school level, students. Participants are recruited through a mixture of methods: personal invitation (in person or via a letter sent home) by the principal, flyers, phone calls, and information meetings.

Participants come together for six two-hour sessions. Two trained facilitators move the group through a series of activities (the discussion guide) designed to help participants get to know each other, discuss the problems they see in their school regarding race/ethnicity, and create action plans to address those problems. By the end of six sessions, the program literature suggests thatparticipants will have: built stronger relationships based on trust, learned about each other's cultures, talked honestly about racial differences, confronted racial and ethnic barriers to student achievement, developed a shared vision, and created steps for action and change.

In the last two academic years, CPS Study Circles has completed 35 Study Circles; 20 of these were completed in the academic year 2005-2006. All together, this includes over 500 participants. Currently, the program is completely funded by CPS.

Research Focus

As an undergraduate at MountHolyokeCollege, I elected two classes taught by Beverly Daniel Tatum: Psychology of Racism and Intergroup Dialogue. These courses not only gave me an emotional and intellectual understanding of institutional racism, but also the skills to facilitate difficult dialogues. At that time, I realized the potential for honest cross-cultural dialogue to create interpersonal learning and behavioral change.

In my graduate coursework at the School for International Training, I identified that much of U.S. Americans’socialization is handed down through formalized education or public schools. For this reason, I believed, social change could potentially be most effective when closely connected to our public school system. I sought a professional practicum that would provide me with an insider’s perspective on a program specifically addressing racism and connected with public schooling--the CPS Study Circles Program was a perfect match.

Despite my idealism, I was skeptical about the impact that a dialogue and action program could really have on institutional racism. It was important for me to understand not only if, but also how the program I was working with was making change in the schoolsystem. In determining the topic for my research inquiry, Iwanted to draw upon the conclusions of past Study Circle participants.

In looking at the contributing factors to the racial achievement gap, many Study Circles’ action steps and recommendations for change have articulated a need for teacher diversity training or greater cultural competency among teachers. In other words, in seeking to change their schools, many Study Circles had identified teachers as critical catalysts for change. As a trainer, I found it interesting that many Study Circles had located part of the problem of the racial achievement gap in the practices or attitudes of teachers.

Therefore, to understand one way that the program was impacting the schools, I wanted to examine the experience of teachers who had participated in Study Circles. In thinking about schools, teachers, and racism (or rather anti-racism), I was naturally drawn to the field of multicultural education. As will be shown in the literature review, teachers’ attitudes, classroom practices or instructional methods are only a small part of the larger picture of effective multicultural education. The principal research question of this study is: How does the experience of participating in Study Circles help teachers to integrate the competencies of the effective multicultural educator? To explore this question, the following sub questions have been posed:

1. According to the literature on multicultural education, what are the competencies (attitudes, skills, knowledge) of an effective multicultural educator?

2. How do teachers experience participating in Study Circles?

3. What awarenesses and learnings do teachers gain from participating in Study Circles?

4. What attitudinal and behavioral changes do teachers evidence as a result of participating in Study Circles?

5. How doteachers apply their learnings to impact the school community?

Conceptual Framework

The principal research question focuses on the experience of participants and how they integrate various competencies. Therefore it makes sense to examine the research findings in terms of a learning process. David Kolb’sexperiential learning cycle model (Figure 1) will be used herein. According to Kolb, the learning process is a four-step cycle in which “1) you have a concrete experience about which 2) you reflect and make observations from which 3) you form abstract concepts and generalizations that lead to 4) hypothesis for which you structure tests that lead to new experiences” (Colantuono, 1982, p. 6).

‘Figure 1: Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle’

Concrete

Experience (CE)

Testing of implications Observations

of concepts in new and

situations (AE)reflections (RO)

Formation of

abstract concepts and

generalizations (AC)

Chapter 2: Literature Review

What Multicultural Education is Not

In reviewing the literature, we see that there are a range of different ideas about the goals, processes and assumptions underlying multicultural education. The ideas around what multicultural education is notprove quite helpful to understanding this field. Says multicultural educator Enid Lee,“I have met some teachers who think that just because they have kids from different races and backgrounds, they have a multicultural classroom. Bodies of kids are not enough” (Miner, 1994, p. 19-20). Criticizing the practice of multicultural education as therapy, Sleeter recounts,