Shiloh Baptist Church

 “School failure and African American children is as ice cream is to cake; they just go together.”

Sadly, after many years as an educator, I was forced to face the horrific reality that many in positions of power and/or authority held this as truth in their minds regarding our children’s innate abilities to achieve academically. When schools and districts engage in this type of institutional racist thinking, the failure of African American students becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy of lower expectations. Within the school setting, there isn’t a sense of urgency to fully address why most of the African American students in their schools were underperforming academically. They are hesitant to or avoid using research-based teaching materials and classroom teacher strategies that have proven successful in raising the academic performance of African American students. Nor do they seek out sufficient resources to accelerate the students’ academic growth. Within the confines of educational institutions that exhibit such inherent biases, typically if the concern addresses the issue of race, their solution to solving problems is to blame the African American students and their parents. As opposed to accepting their responsibility and working in partnership with the students, families, and the African American school community to improve student outcomes.

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically.Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.”

Dr. Martin Luther King

The goal of K-12 education is to prepare students to be able to attend and graduate from college or be eligible to have some form of a post-secondary educational experience. The 2015-2019 test scores reflect the impact institutional racism continues to have on our students’ academic performance and the lack of commitment to change instructional practices and dedicate long term funding to better meet the academic needs of African American students. These scores clearly demonstrate that our K-12 students are falling further and further behind academically and that the majority will not be qualified to attend an institute of higher learning.

• The California Smarter Balanced Test for 2015-2019 results show that the state’s 334,000 African American students made no progress in closing the performance gap. Only 1 in 5 were at or above standard in 2018-19 in math and in English language arts.

• In comparison Latinx students, who make up the majority of California’s students, made the largest 5-year gains in proficiency: 9 percentage points in English language arts and 7 percentage points in math. 28 percent of the Latinx students scored at or above standard in math, compared with 54 percent for whites and 74 percent for Asians. Online learning due to COVID 19 has almost certainly increased this achievement gap as many African American student households do not have access to Wi-Fi, computers, or a quiet place to study.

“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.”

Malcolm X

Debunking the Myth - Using stereotypes to Keep Their “Foot On Our Neck”Myth: Black people don’t value education and aren’t interested in participating in their child’s learning. Dr. Christopher Span, in his research on how former slaves established schools and educated their population after the Civil War, debunks past and current perceptions that there is a “legacy of anti-intellectualism or a devaluing for learning in the African American community.” He notes that the value of education has been entrenched in our culture since the mid-1800’s. Education was seen as an important step towards achieving equality, independence, and prosperity. As evidenced by the ex-slaves, Freedpeople, establishing a network of grassroots schools for themselves and their children, despite having few resources and operating in a hostile environment. They built, furnished, and maintained the schools. Those who had acquired some degree of literacy in secrecy during enslavement served as teachers, and those who had been denied an education became their pupils. None were too young or old to learn and most paid tuition. Between 1870-1885, the African American attendance rates were equal to, if not greater than, whites. By 1900, the illiteracy rate among African Americans under the age of 40 was virtually non-existent! Illustrating African Americans' belief in the transformative power of education. Ironically, he points out that it was the strong advocacy of the African American delegates in demanding public schooling be brought to the south that laid the foundation for public schools for blacks and whites in the Southern and border states. Furthermore, if we don’t value and support education, how are 107 Historically Black Colleges & Universities still in existence?

“School hurts my Spirit.”

8th grade student’s quote from Voices FromThe Inside:A Report onSchooling Inside the Classroom

 (Claremont Graduate School)

Culturally Responsive Teaching:

The Teaching Approach that Increases African American Students’ Academic Performance

Dr. Gloria Ladson Billings created the term Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT). She defines it as an approach that empowers students intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically by using cultural referents to impart knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Culturally relevant teaching utilizes the backgrounds, knowledge, and experiences of the students to inform the teacher’s lessons and methodology. Dr. Geneva Gay, in her landmark book, Culturally Responsive Teaching: Theory, Research, and Practice, adds, “In other words, culture is a student's beliefs, motivations, and even social groups and norms.” Her research informs us that African American students succeed academically when they see themselves and the culture they bring from home, embedded in the subject matter being taught. This creates a positive learning environment in which students feel safe, connected, valued, and engaged in their learning experience. My observations of CRT lessons being taught confirms these findings. Yet after 38 years of scholarly research proving that African American youth thrive academically when culturally relevant teaching strategies are utilized in their classrooms, the dominant culture continues to claim that more research is needed.  As our children linger, classroom textbooks, curriculum content and teaching strategies continue to be primarily aligned to the needs and perspective of the dominant culture. 

A Call to Action - A Moral Imperative for Our Community

• We must become part of the instructional process beyond how we have engaged in the past.
• We cannot rely on or expect inherently racist educational institutions to willfully educate our children to realize their fullest potential.
• Let us claim our freedom to teach our children who they are as African Americans 365 days a year and not just 28/29 days in February.
• We can begin by employing culturally relevant enriching experiences in our homes and churches to further stimulate, excite and engage our children in their learning.

 Where to Go for Help: Excellent Local Culturally Responsive Experts