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Listen to Nice White Parents on Spotify. If you want to understand what's wrong with our public schools, you have to look at what is arguably the most powerful force in shaping them: white parents. A five-part series from the makers of Serial and The New York Times. Hosted by Chana Joffe-Walt.

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Uprooting Racism 4th Edition How White People Can Work For Racial Justice

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Completely revised and updated, this 4 th edition of Uprooting Racism offers a framework around neoliberalism and interpersonal, institutional, and cultural racism, along with stories of resistance and white solidarity. It providers practical tools and advice on how white people can work as allies for racial justice, directly engaging the reader through questions, exercises, and suggestions for action. Previous editions of Uprooting Racism have sold more than 50,000 copies because it is accessible, personal, supportive and practical - ideal for students, community activists, teachers, youth workers and anyone interested in issues of diversity, multiculturalism and social justice.

For more details about this book, please click here.

"Uprooting Racism, recently released in its 4th edition, gives white people the concrete tools we need to deepen our understanding of white supremacy and racism - so that we can move into action from a more informed place."

~ Review about Uprooting Racism by Kristen Brock-Petroshius

* Additional 10% discount on orders of 5 or more copies

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Uprooting Racism 4th Edition - Paul Kivel

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Price: Our Price: $19.95Retail Price: $24.99Discount: $5.04 Completely revised and updated, this 4 th edition of Uprooting Racism offers a framework around neoliberalism and interpersonal, institutional, and cultural racism, along with stories of resistance and white solidarity.

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ISBN-13:

9781595580542

Publisher:

New Press, The

Publication date:

06/01/2008

Edition description:

New Edition

Pages:

389

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199,128

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6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)

Read an Excerpt

Introduction:

Defining Everyday Antiracism

Everyday things represent the most overlooked knowledge.
—Don DeLillo, 1997

To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle.
—George Orwell, 1946

For this book, I invited over sixty researchers, many of whom are former
teachers, to boil down their school-based research into knowledge usable for
K–12 classroom practice. I wanted each author to suggest a school-based action
educators could take, every day, to help counteract racial inequality and
racism in schools and society. We call these actions everyday antiracism.

This book is not designed to convince you that you intentionally harm children.
Instead, it is designed to get you thinking about how everyday actions
can harm children unintentionally. It is not designed to get you to ask, "Am I a
bad person?" Instead, it is designed to get you to ask, "Do my everyday acts
help promote a more equitable society?"

We collectively define "racism" as any act that, even unwittingly, tolerates,
accepts, or reinforces racially unequal opportunities for children to learn and
thrive; allows racial inequalities in opportunity as if they are normal and acceptable;
* r treats people of color as less worthy or less complex than "white"
people. Many such acts taken in educational settings harm children of color,
* r privilege and value some children or communities over others in racial
terms, without educators meaning to do this at all. That is why this book
zooms in on ordinary acts taken by educators on a daily basis, and focuses
proactively on suggestions for everyday anti racism. We not only show what
acts inside schools and classrooms perpetuate racial inequalities, but we suggest
alternative acts that can help to dismantle such inequalities instead.

Educational policies and "outside" realities of health care, housing, and
family employment have huge effects on the opportunities the children in our
schools need and receive. Stereotypes and inaccuracies about "race groups"
circulate in society at large. But inside schools, everyday acts matter, too. In
schools, people interact across racial lines, distribute opportunities moment
to moment, react to "outside" opportunity structures, and shape how future
generations think about difference and equality. Interactions in educational
settings help build or dismantle racial "achievement gaps." To a student, one
action can change everything. Everyday acts explored in this book include
how we talk with our students and discipline them; the activities we set up for
them to do; the ways we frame and discuss communities in our curriculum;
and the ways we assign students to groups, grade their papers, interact with
their parents, and envision their futures. Few of the contributors to this book
see such actions as "small potatoes" efforts. Rather, we propose that such antiracist
work helps remake social structure one bit at a time.

I acknowledge that the word "antiracism" can have a negative cast, for it
implies that the educator is constantly fighting against and reacting to racial
inequality, rather than struggling more positively and proactively to equalize
* pportunity and create an egalitarian society. It also can be heard as suggesting
that some people are "racist" and others are not. Yet this book
frames dismantling racial inequality and pursuing racial equality as two
sides of the same collaborative undertaking. It also sets forth to counteract
racial inequality and racism in society, not just inside "bad people." The
word "everyday" is also crucial: it suggests that educators can, and must,
help counter racial inequality and racism in society at routine moments of
the schooling experience.

Pursuing racially equal opportunity and counteracting racism on a daily basis
in our classrooms and schools requires more than being a great teacher of
a subject; it requires particularly hard thinking about our choices in complex
situations. In a society where racism and racial inequality already exist, it is often
hard to figure out which of our everyday activities are harmful to students
* r others and which are helpful to them. Blanket advice to "be colorblind" regarding
* ur students, to "celebrate" their or others' diversity, or to "recognize"
their "race" and our own is not that helpful in real life. In daily life, sometimes
educators' being colorblind is quite harmful to young people, since they live
in a world that often treats them racially; sometimes a particular celebration
* f diversity can be reductive and stereotypic; sometimes seeing a person primarily
as a member of a "race" detracts from recognizing our common humanity.

Antiracist educators must constantly negotiate between two antiracist impulses
in deciding their everyday behaviors toward students: they must choose
between the antiracist impulse to treat all people as human beings rather than
racial group members, and the antiracist impulse to recognize people's real experiences
as racial group members in order to assist them, understand their situation
better, and treat them equitably. I ask the reader to keep a basic
question in mind throughout the book. In your practice, when does treating
people as racial group members help them, and when does it harm them? This
core question ties this book together. Academics who write about racism and
antiracism in education often neglect to answer, or even consider, this basic
question. But in a world that has been organized for six centuries around bogus
biological categories invented in order to justify the unequal distribution of
life's necessities, some antiracist activity refuses to categorize people racially.
Other antiracist activity recognizes people living as racial group members in order
to analyze and transform a racially unequal world.

In countless daily ways, teachers, administrators, and program directors
hoping to protect and assist young people must decide which acts counteract
racial inequality. This involves deciding whether and how to see, treat, or talk
about students, parents, colleagues, or others in racial terms. Some ways of
recognizing students as "black" buoy them up with confidence; others trap
them in reductive or stigmatizing notions of what being "black" means. Many
colleagues may not consider it relevant that they or their students are "white";
yet ignoring their lived experience as "white" people can miss a major dimension
* f their reality. Some ways of framing students as "Latino" make Latino
students feel welcome and safe; others make them feel excluded or likely to
fail. Some framings in curriculum of parents as "Asian" or a community as "Indian"
can be deeply inaccurate, yet ignoring people's experiences as "Asians"
and "Indians" can prevent recognition of their struggles and joys. Specific ways
* f highlighting or downplaying our own racial-ethnic experiences or identities
in conversations with students or colleagues can be dangerous or useful.

Really, everyday antiracism requires both addressing people's experiences
in the world as racial group members and refusing to distort people's experiences,
thoughts, or abilities by seeing them only or falsely through a racial
lens. This applies when educators interact with students in classrooms, design
and discuss curriculum, interact with students' families, or even think about
* urselves and our colleagues. Educators must analyze, concretely, when,

where, and how it helps to treat people as racial group members, and when,
where, and how it harms. Above all, educators must keep analyzing which of
* ur everyday actions counteract racial inequality and which do not.

All of us, then, suggest specific, concrete ways educators can help equalize
students' academic and social opportunities to learn and thrive in K–12 educational
settings, and more generally combat racism and racial inequality from
within schools and classrooms. We differ in the methods we suggest to move
in that direction. Some of the authors here measure "helping" as getting students
to achieve higher test scores; others measure "helping" as getting students
to believe in their own potential to become scientists. Some measure
"harming" as actions that cause students to doubt their abilities, to lower their
career aspirations, or even to despise themselves or others. Some authors
analyze the treatment of students of color in particular; many essays' recommendations
can apply to schools and classrooms of any demographic composition.
Educators with a range of personal styles, in a variety of school
situations, will find different suggestions useful and compelling.

These essays focus on things to do in our schools and classrooms, rather
than just on ways to think differently about ourselves or others. Antiracist
practice requires the intermingling of actions and ideas. The contributors recognize
that being effective at countering racism and racial inequality requires
us to develop skills as well as commitment. Many educators say they enter the
field seeking to improve opportunities for all children but end up either frustrated
* r failing at this task because they cannot figure out how to navigate
race issues while doing this. So, each essay in the book asks educators to rethink
their ordinary activities and to try doing something differently in everyday
life. I asked each author to boil her or his recommendation down to one
sentence that I have used in the introduction to each section, forcing us all to
pinpoint strategies and principles of everyday antiracism.

We assume that readers are committed to helping children to learn and
thrive. We do not assume that readers will accept or agree with our analyses
* f how the everyday acts discussed here might help equalize opportunity for
children, or combat racism and racial inequality in society. I asked each author
to support each of his or her claims with research and personal experience. I
also asked each author to clarify claims about "race" and "racism." Finally, and
perhaps most importantly, I asked each author to walk the educator through
the minefields or pitfalls educators might encounter if they take his or her advice.
Educators work in a world of ever-changing complexity; we expect that
readers will modify and rework these ideas for their own purposes and contexts.

In "Suggestions for Using This Book," I suggest that as you read and discuss
these essays, you seek to name antiracist principles: core ideas about how
to pursue racially equal opportunity and counteract racism from within
schools and classrooms. To get us started, let me propose four foundational
principles. Everyday antiracism in education involves
Rejecting false notions of human difference;
Acknowledging lived experiences shaped along racial lines;
Learning from diverse forms of knowledge and experience; and
Challenging systems of racial inequality.

First, everyday antiracism in education involves rejecting false notions of
human difference and actively treating people as equally worthy, complicated,
and capable. In educational settings, antiracism entails actively affirming that
no racially defined group is more or less intelligent than any other. We can tell
students that racial categories have no valid genetic basis. Through our curriculum
and in our everyday interactions, we can challenge oversimplified notions
about racial-ethnic identities or group behaviors. We can remember that
any "race" group is composed of individuals who have complicated identities
and lives.

Second, everyday antiracism in education involves acknowledging and engaging
lived experiences that do vary along racial lines. Genetically bogus
racial categories like "white," "black," and "Asian" were built upon genetically
insignificant physical differences (hair, noses, and bone structures). Racialized
categories like "Latino," "Native American," and "Arab" lump together people
from countless regions and, in some cases, people who speak totally different
languages. Still, over six centuries of American history and even now, people
have been lumped into ranked "races" by others and forged solidarity along
racial-ethnic lines themselves as a means of social empowerment. The Irish
"became white" in the nineteenth century, and Jews "became white" in the
twentieth, to gain opportunity in a system that already favored "whites" of European descent. Lumped together as a "race" to be enslaved by "whites,"
Africans and their descendants in America simultaneously forged deep solidarity
as "black" people. People from a variety of Asian origins made alliances
as "Asian Americans" starting in the 1960s. "Latinos" converged at that time
as well, voicing the plurality of their origins and the unity of their agendas.
Distinct tribes of Native Americans recognized common experiences of displacement
and forced assimilation. "Arabs" have shared many U.S.-based experiences,
particularly in recent years. All such "racial" groups in the United States today bring different historic and contemporary experiences to the table,
and after several centuries of opportunities being distributed differentially
along racial lines, racial group members still have differential access to educational
resources and opportunities for success. Everyday antiracism entails
engaging our own and one another's experiences as racial group members-
particularly of this differential treatment, whether we have benefited from it
* r been sabotaged by it.

Third, everyday antiracism in education involves learning from diversity in
human experience, and valuing equally the knowledge and activity shared
within various "groups." As Cornel West wrote, for example, being "black" today
can involve both experiencing stigmatization, particularly from "whites,"
and enjoying a community that has bonded through expressive practices and
political resistance in the midst of oppression.1 Respecting such shared experiences
and knowledge also involves appreciating the critical lenses that members
* f groups can offer-even as we highlight the diversity within groups and
emphasize each person's individuality.

Fourth, everyday antiracism in education involves equipping ourselves and
* thers to challenge racial inequalities of opportunity and outcome, rather than
accepting racial disparities as normal.

Table of Contents
Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Suggestions for Using This Book xiii
Introduction: Defining Everyday Antiracism xvii

SECTION A
RACE CATEGORIES: WE ARE ALL THE SAME,
BUT OUR LIVES ARE DIFFERENT 1

Part I: Remember That Racial Categories Are
Not Biological Realities 3
1. Exposing Race as an Obsolete Biological Concept
Alan H. Goodman 4
2. No Brain Is Racial
Mica Pollock 9
3. Getting Rid of the Word "Caucasian"
Carol C. Mukhopadhyay 12
Part II: Get Ready to Talk about a Racialized Society 17

4. Beginning Courageous Conversations about Race
Glenn E. Singleton and Cyndie Hays 18
5. Talking Precisely about Equal Opportunity
Mica Pollock 24
6. Nice Is Not Enough: Defining Caring for Students of Color
Sonia Nieto 28
Part III: Remember That People Do Not Fit Neatly and
Easily into Racial Groups 33
7. Following Children's Leads in Conversations about Race
Kimberly Chang and Rachel Conrad 34
8. Observing Students Sharing Language
Ben Rampton 39
Part IV: Remember That People Are Treated as Racial Group
Members and Need to Examine That Experience 43
9. Strengthening Student Identity in School Programs
Patricia Gándara 44
10. Uncovering Internalized Oppression
Angela Valenzuela 50
11. Helping Students See Each Other's Humanity
L. Janelle Dance 56
Part V: Emphasize Individuality 61
12. Constructing Colorblind Classrooms
Samuel R. Lucas 62
13. Knowing Students as Individuals
Joshua Aronson 67
14. Showing Students Who You Are
Heather M. Pleasants 70
SECTION B
HOW OPPORTUNITIES ARE PROVIDED
AND DENIED INSIDE SCHOOLS 75

Part VI: Remember That Students Experience Racially
Unequal Expectations about Their Brainpower 77
15. Helping Students of Color Meet High Standards
Ronald F. Ferguson 78
16. Providing Supportive Feedback
Geoffrey L. Cohen 82
Part VII: Counter Racially Patterned Skill Gaps 85
17. Teaching and Transcending Basic Skills
Amanda Taylor 86
18. Grouping in Detracked Classrooms
Beth C. Rubin 90
Part VIII: Help Students Gain Fluency in "Standard"
Behaviors While Honoring the "Nonstandard"
Behaviors They Already Have 97
19. Standards vs."Standard" Knowledge
Edmund T. Hamann 98
20. Valuing Nonstandard English
John Baugh 102
21. Teaching Students Fluency in Multiple Cultural Codes
Prudence Carter 107
Part IX: Defy Racially Based Notions of Potential
Careers and Contributions 113
22. Challenging Cultural Stereotypes of "Scientific Ability"
Maria Ong 114
23. Finding Role Models in the Community
Meira Levinson 120
Part X: Analyze Racial Disparities in Opportunities to Learn 125
24. Providing Equal Access to "Gifted" Education
Karolyn Tyson 126
25. What Discipline Is For: Connecting Students to the
Benefits of Learning
Pedro A. Noguera 132

SECTION C
CURRICULUM THAT ASKS CRUCIAL
QUESTIONS ABOUT RACE 139

Part XI: Create Curriculum That Invites Students to
Explore Complex Identities and Consider
Racial Group Experiences 141
26. Using Photography to Explore Racial Identity
Alexandra Lightfoot 142
27. Exploring Racial Identity Through Writing
Jennifer A. Mott-Smith 146
28. Involving Students in Selecting Reading Materials
Christine E. Sleeter 150
Part XII: Create Curriculum That Analyzes
Opportunity Denial 155
29. Teaching Critical Analysis of Racial Oppression
Jeff Duncan-Andrade 156
30. Using Critical Hip-Hop in the Curriculum
Ernest Morrell 161
31. Engaging Youth in Participatory Inquiry for Social Justice
Mar�a Elena Torre and Michelle Fine 165
Part XIII: Create Curriculum That Represents a
Diverse Range of People Thoroughly and Complexly 173
32. Arab Visibility and Invisibility
Thea Abu El-Haj 174
33. Evaluating Images of Groups in Your Curriculum
Teresa L. McCarty 180
34. Teaching Representations of Cultural Difference Through Film
Sanjay Sharma 186
35. What Is on Your Classroom Wall? Problematic Posters
Donna Deyhle 191
36. Teaching Racially Sensitive Literature
Jocelyn Chadwick 195
Part XIV: Create Curriculum That Discusses History
Accurately and Thoroughly 199
37. Making Race Relevant in All-White Classrooms:
Using Local History
Mara Tieken 200
38. Teaching Facts, Not Myths, about Native Americans
Paul Ongtooguk and Claudia S. Dybdahl 204
SECTION D
RACE AND THE SCHOOL EXPERIENCE:
THE NEED FOR INQUIRY 209

Part XV: Investigate Learning Experiences in Your Classroom 211
39. Inviting Students to Analyze Their Learning Experience
Makeba Jones and Susan Yonezawa 212
40. Interrogating Students' Silences
Katherine Schultz 217
41. Questioning "Cultural" Explanations of Classroom Behaviors
Doug Foley 222
42. Creating Safe Spaces in Predominantly White Classrooms
Pamela Perry 226
43. On Spotlighting and Ignoring Racial Group Members
in the Classroom
Dorinda J. Carter 230
Part XVI: Spearhead Conversations with Students about
Racism in Their Lives and Yours 235
44. Racial Incidents as Teachable Moments
Lawrence Blum 236
45. Debating Racially Charged Topics
Ian F. Haney López 242
46. Developing Antiracist School Policy
David Gillborn 246
Part XVII: Talk Thoroughly with Colleagues
about Race and Achievement 253
47. Focusing on Student Learning
John B. Diamond 254
48. Moving Beyond Quick "Cultural" Explanations
Vivian Louie 257
49. Naming the Racial Hierarchies That Arise During School Reforms
Rosemary Henze 262
50. Spearheading School-wide Reform
Willis D. Hawley 267
Part XVIII: Analyze, with Colleagues and Students, How
Your Race Affects Your Teaching 273
51. Responding to the "N-Word"
Wendy Luttrell 274
52. Engaging Diverse Groups of Colleagues in Conversation
Alice McIntyre 279
53. Locating Yourself for Your Students
Priya Parmar and Shirley Steinberg 283
54. Expanding Definitions of "Good Teaching"
Lee Anne Bell 287
SECTION E
ENGAGING COMMUNITIES FOR REAL 291

Part XIX: Inquire Fully about Home Communities 293
55. Valuing Students' Home Worlds
Eugene E. García 294
56. Getting to Know Students' Communities
Leisy Wyman and Grant Kashatok 299
57. Helping Students Research Their Communities
Kathleen Cushman 305
Part XX: Discuss Parents' Experiences of Racially Unequal
Opportunity 309
58. Cultivating the Trust of Black Parents
Beverly Daniel Tatum 310
59. Helping Parents Fight Stereotypes about Their Children
Janie Victoria Ward 314
60. Informing Parents about Available Opportunities
Roslyn Arlin Mickelson and Linwood H. Cousins 318
SECTION F
KEEPING IT GOING 325
Part XXI: Struggle to Change a System That Is Unequal,
While Working Within It 327
61. Resisting the "Lone Hero" Stance
Audrey Thompson 328
62. Recognizing the Likelihood of Reproducing Racism
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva and David G. Embrick 334
63. Staying Hopeful
Ronald David Glass 337
64. What Is Next?
Mica Pollock 341

Complete List of Everyday Antiracist Strategies 343
Notes 349
Reference List 361
Index 381

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Everyday Antiracism: Getting Real About Race in School / Edition 1|Paperback

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Which acts by educators are "racist" and which are "antiracist"? How can an educator constructively discuss complex issues of race with students and colleagues? In Everyday Antiracism, leading educators deal with the most challenging questions about race in school, offering invaluable...

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The lasting impact of white teachers who mispronounce minority student names

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The lasting impact of white teachers who mispronounce minority student names

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Taking the attendance at the beginning of class may seem a routine if not mundane task to many educators. But to students, their name can be a powerful link to their identity. Pronouncing students names correctly - during attendance, a classroom activity, or any other time of the school day-should always be a priority for any classroom teacher.

Names holds ancestral and historical significance for many minority, immigrant, and English learning students. Names bring stories, which students are often forced to adapt to an "Americanized" context.

That transition, however, is often painful and forces many students to take on a name that is not their own.

Yee Wan was only 17 years old when she moved to the United States from Mainland China. After enrolling in the bilingual program at her school, she was faced with the overwhelming and unfair decision over whether she would keep her native name or change it to something more "Americanized." Why? So that educators would not struggle over the pronunciation. Wan later realized she had no choice but to take up the name her ESL teacher thought suited her. Her new name would be Winnie.

Names bring stories, which students are often forced to adapt to an "Americanized" context.

Years later, Wan sits as the current president of the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE) and her personal experiences became the impetus for a campaign launched this year to spotlight the importance of student names. A collaboration between the Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE) and NABE, My Name, My Identity is calling attention to the potential negative effects of a mispronounced name and the ways schools and communities can defuse the problem.

"Mispronouncing a student's name truly negates his or her identity, which, in turn, can hinder academic progress," says Wan, who also serves as director of multilingual education services at SCCOE.

"A tiny act of bigotry"

Overlooking or downplaying the significance of getting a name right, explains Rita Kohli, assistant professor of education at the University of California at Riverside, is one of those "microagressions" that can emerge in a classroom and seriously undermine learning.

"Names have incredible significance to families, with so much thought, meaning and culture woven into them," Kohli says. "When the child enter school and teachers-consciously or not-mispronounce, disregard or change the name, they are in a sense disregarding the family and culture of the students as well."

"A tiny act of bigotry," is how former teacher and education blogger Jennifer Gonzalez succinctly put it in 2014. In a post titled "How We Pronounce Students' Names and Why It Matters," Gonzalez wrote, "Whether you intend to or not, what you're communicating is this: Your name is different. Foreign. Weird. It's not worth my time to get it right."

"Students often felt shame, embarrassment and that their name was a burden."

The effects can be long-lasting. In 2012, Kohli and Daniel Solorzano examined the issue in a study called "Teachers, Please Learn Our Names!: Racial Microagressions and the K-12 Classrooms." They found that the failure to pronounce a name correctly impacts the world view and social emotional well-being of students, which, of course, is linked to learning.

"Students often felt shame, embarrassment and that their name was a burden," Kohli says. "They often began to shy away from their language, culture and families."

Kohli points out that most educators are not doing so out of disrespect, but tend to be confined by a monocultural viewpoint that makes it "more challenging to center cultures outside of their own." Consequently, certain names sound unfamiliar and fall far outside their comfort zone.

Showing respect, however, doesn't necessarily require that an educator nails the pronounciation on the first attempt. "We can't say every sound or name in the world, but it is how we respond that matters," says Kohli.

Learn from the mistake

At Iroqouis High School in Jefferson County, Kentucky, where Mollie Robertson teaches math, English Language Learners will soon comprise almost one-third of the student population. For Robertson, every educator has an obligation to to promote equity and respect in the classroom.

"All students should have the opportunity to learn in a safe environment," Robertson says. "To fully accept and respect a student, you must at a minimum know how to pronounce their name."

Robertson adds that it's okay to make an error, "but it is not okay to ignore the mistake or not learn from it."

AP Images / Alberto Pellaschiar

That's where My Name My Identity comes in. On the campaign's web site, teachers can access various resources on how to honor their students names. The campaign looks beyond the classroom to ask all community members to make a pledge honoring their neighbors' and co-workers' identities. Students and their families are also invited to share the significance behind their name on the My Name, My Identity Facebook page, or by tweeting @mynamemyid.

While the focal point of the campaign is students' names, My Name, My Identity is about building a positive, inclusive school culture. With the teaching force still overwhelmingly white, the ability of educators with diverse classrooms to respect their students' identity is critical, says Kohli.

"All teachers need to reflect upon and interrogate their biases and any deficit thinking they may have. See the cultural wealth of students and families, and approach teaching and learning through the lens and culture of students and their communities."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The lasting impact of white teachers who mispronounce minority student names

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Taking the attendance at the beginning of class may seem a routine if not mundane task to many educators. But to students, their name can be a powerful link to their identity. Pronouncing students names correctly - during attendance, a classroom activity, or any other time of the school day-should always be a priority for any classroom teacher.

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A story of race, gentrification, and schools in Brooklyn.

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Listen to School Colors on Spotify. School Colors is a narrative podcast from Brooklyn Deep about how race, class, and power shape American cities and schools.

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Other People's Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom

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Other People's Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom

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Hosted by journalists of color, talking about race

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Microaggression scenarios in classrooms. How would you respond?

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Microaggression scenarios in classrooms. How would you respond?

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Why are al l the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria

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Why are al l the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria

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Implicit Bias -- how it effects us and how we push through - Melanie Funchess - TEDxFlourCity.mp4

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4 Ways Teachers Can Address Microaggressions in the Classroom

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4 Ways Teachers Can Address Microaggressions in the Classroom

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Teaching While White - Blog - Teaching While White

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Text of the Teens Take Charge Federal Civil Rights Complaint

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Text of the Teens Take Charge Federal Civil Rights Complaint

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White Privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack

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'White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack' and 'Some Notes for Facilitators' - National SEED Project

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White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack Downloadable PDF © 1989 Peggy McIntosh 'White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack' first appeared in P...

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Raising Anti Racist White Children Workshop

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Raising Anti Racist White Children Workshop

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Next workshop starts in Sept. June workshop is full.

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An online workshop for parents and educators offering information and guidance on how to prepare white children in our increasingly multiracial society. The workshop encourages the development of an anti-racist outlook in all children, and focuses on the particular experience of raising white children.

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Raising Anti-Racist White Children - June 10, 17 & 24, 2020, 7-9 PM EDT (3-part program)

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NEAL CONAN, host:

This is TALK OF THE NATION. Im Neal Conan in Washington.

Our social identities come from a lot of places: our race, our sex, our age, our political affiliations, our medical diagnoses, our high schools, colleges, our favorite baseball teams. And each of those identities comes along with a set of expectations or stereotypes.

We all know that women can't compete with men at higher math. We all know that white men can't jump. And then there's a curious fact: When confronted with those negative stereotypes, female math majors do perform worse on tests, and white jumpers fail to clear the usual bar. Take away the threat to their identity, and they'll do fine.

It's a phenomenon social psychologist Claude Steele calls the stereotype threat, and his new book looks at the many and surprising ways that these expectations affect our lives. He also lays out a plan to minimize the impact.

So call and tell us what situations you've had to deal with in which your social identity and the expectations that come along with it presented a challenge. How did you overcome it, if you did? Give us a call, 800-989-8255. Email us, talk@npr.org. You can also join the conversation on our Web site. Thats at npr.org. Click on TALK OF THE NATION.

Later in the hour, actor, producer and now Broadway director Stanley Tucci joins us to talk about his new revival of the 1989 farce "Lend me a Tenor." But first, Claude Steele. His book is called "Whistling Vivaldi: And Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affects Us." He joins us from our bureau in New York City. Nice to have you on TALK OF THE NATION today.

Dr. CLAUDE STEELE (Author, "Whistling Vivaldi: And Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us"): Great to be here.

CONAN: And let me ask you to start with your realization of your own social identity, when you were a kid going to the swimming pool.

Dr. STEELE: Well, as I begin the book with the story of trying to remember when I first became aware I was African-American. And to the best of my ability, we psychologists know that memory is a construction. So you're always cautious, but to the best of my ability, it was one day, the last day of school, second or third grade, coming home with kids in the neighborhood. And the conversation came up that gee, we couldn't go to the swimming pool that was three or so blocks away, in a white neighborhood, and that we'd have to except on Wednesday afternoon. So if we were going to swim that summer in that pool, we would have to go only on Wednesday afternoons. And the reason for that became because we were black, because we were African-American.

And that was, in some ways, the first realization I had of being black and that the other kids I lived around were also black and that we had this contingency of identity, as I've been calling it, to deal with.

CONAN: The identity, being black, the contingency being you can't swim at that pool except on Wednesdays.

Dr. STEELE: Exactly.

CONAN: And you write later in the book that, in fact, had someone sat you down at that age and said son, let me tell you about discrimination, that you would have listened politely for a little while. But if they told you can only swim at the pool on Wednesdays, suddenly you were pretty interested in race.

Dr. STEELE: That's correct. I mean, it really the swimming pool restriction really affected how my life was going to be. The instruction from adults that this is important and you should think about it and understand it, those things are kind of abstract and may be interesting, but they wouldn't be nearly as compelling psychologically, and they sort of take over your thinking and functioning as much as a real restriction tied to an identity.

CONAN: And a lot of your book is, in fact, a result of your investigation as to why specifically African-American, but later minority students, seemed to do so poorly academically at big institutions like the University of Michigan, where you worked, or at Stanford University, where you also work. And indeed, what you found out was it was this social identity and the negative consequences of it.

Dr. STEELE: Yes, the prospect if you can imagine, you talked to - you had a woman at the beginning of the hour talking about her experience in math. You can imagine being a woman taking a difficult math course, let's say in her second or third year of college, and experiencing frustration at that.

That frustration in math occasions the relevance of the stereotype about women's math ability. And if she's invested in doing well at math, she could worry that oh my goodness, you know, I've invested so much in it, but here it is. Maybe what they say is true. And that could be upsetting and distracting and interfere with her functioning right there in the middle of that course or in the middle of taking that standardized test. And that has been what our research is focused on, is trying to test that idea, put it to test. I and my colleagues have done that over the last 20 years.

CONAN: And one of the fascinating findings is that, in fact: A, you do have to care about the outcome of this performance, and the more accomplished you are, the more this effect shows up.

Dr. STEELE: Yeah, yeah, you have more invested in it. So the if you really, if you don't care about if you're a woman, and you don't care about doing well with math, your life is on another path, then the prospect of confirming such a stereotype about your group's ability or - it isn't as upsetting to you because you're not invested in that area, but when you've really invested yourself, then the prospect of that stereotype being true or its being seen to be true and you being treated accordingly, that has considerable impact. It scares you, and that fear can directly interfere with your functioning.

CONAN: And you go on to prove this, as you mentioned, with white, female math majors, well, female math majors in general. There's a fascinating part of the test where, in fact, you somebody tests Asian female math majors to see whether both stereotypes will work: A, they're failing at math because they're female, or their expectation that they will succeed because they're Asian.

Dr. STEELE: Yes, yes. I didn't do that, but some other very clever researchers did, and they found that the performance follows whichever stereotype you make most salient in the situation, most obvious. If you remind them of their gender, then they underperform, being affected by that negative stereotype. If you remind them of their ethnicity, then they don't underperform in relation to men. So whichever stereotype is in the air seems to drive the direction of performance.

CONAN: And this goes to white sprinters, you also found out when they're posed against black sprinters - and let me read you a quote from later in the book: There exists no group on earth that is not negatively stereotyped in some way: the old, the young, Northerners, Southerners, WASPs, computer whiz kids, Californians and so forth. In other words, all of us, no matter who we are, somewhere there's a negative stereotype that we all bear.

Dr. STEELE: Indeed it's true.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Dr. STEELE: I could never haven't yet found a group that doesn't have at least some negative stereotype about them.

CONAN: And does this help explain to you why we seem to live in a nation where there is no group that does not feel like an aggrieved minority?

Dr. STEELE: Well, it's probably part of it, that there is no group that doesn't have a negative stereotype, and when that if that stereotype is relevant to them in an important set of situations, like the classroom or the workplace or the basketball court or something that they care about, then they're going to feel this pressure.

I mean, the beauty, of course, is that from this analysis grows some convincing strategies for reducing this threat. And some people, of course, know these, learn these strategies on their own, but I think we've got a long way in kind of isolating some.

CONAN: Indeed, that experiment with the women Asian women math majors points to one. If you tell them a positive part of the stereotype, that'll help.

Dr. STEELE: That's right. That's right. Being reminded of positive role models can greatly reduce the otherwise damaging effects of the negative stereotype.

CONAN: Let's get some...

Dr. STEELE: That's one strategy.

CONAN: Let's get some callers in on the conversation. We'll get to some of the others a little bit later in the program.

Dr. STEELE: Great.

CONAN: Our guest is Claude Steele, author of "Whistling Vivaldi: And Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us." 800-989-8255. Email us, talk@npr.org. When has stereotypes about your social identity affected your life? John(ph) is on the line from Manchester, New Hampshire.

JOHN (Caller): Hey, yeah. This is John. How are you guys doing?

CONAN: Good.

Dr. STEELE: Fine.

JOHN: Yeah, hey. I want to say something about the (unintelligible) goes beyond, like, gender or race or class like that, but I found that since I've graduated high school, and I've yet to go to college, but I'm in the U.S. Forest Service. And so I'll show up on the worksite, and right away, they'll have this instant stigma that since I've not attended college, that they have stereotyped that I am not as qualified or capable, but it turns out I'm able to par, if not excel past their expectations. So that's one stereotype, one that maybe you guys could address for me.

CONAN: Okay. As a fellow non-collegian, John, I hear you. But go ahead, Claude Steele.

JOHN: Yeah, thats, like, that's what I'm talking about. It goes beyond, like I've seen - so I've worked with females, blacks, whites, every race you can think of, every demographic, every background. And the thing is, is like it comes down to the end of the day, you're sitting around the fire after you've just worked really hard all day in the Park Service that it'll come down to the fact that, like, they'll look at you less respectively in the one fact that you don't have that piece of paper saying you know what you know, but all the while, I've had three or four years experience now past anything that these college graduates really have.

Like, they're all greenhorns compared to me, but since I don't have the piece of paper, there's instantly a stereotype that I don't know exactly the same, like, how to make a grade in the trail, or I don't know the same, like, the same...

CONAN: We hear you, John. And let me ask Claude Steele about this. In fact, this sort of comes up with an email you got from somebody who attended one of your lectures and said: Gee, you've listed all these things that have negative stereotypes. You didn't mention mental illness.

Dr. STEELE: Yeah, that's a good example, and it connects to the caller's concern that this was, I was going on and on about these other stereotypes and performance in math and athletics and the like, and the email reminded me that in her case, she was manic-depressive or bipolar and that in the audience, she felt reluctant to raise her hand and ask about that because she thought everybody would begin to see her that way and to see her as having a mental illness and that that might affect her employment options and how people related to her.

And she provided a perfect example of the vast array of forms of negative of stereotype threat that people can experience, just as the caller's experience does. That's one that I hadn't really thought of, but as he describes it, it's a very compelling experience. And it's precisely an example of stereotypes around in that there's something about him that, you know, authorizes this kind of stereotype, and he becomes aware of it, and that's the experience of the threat. And it affects his relationships with other people, his functioning at various times and so on.

CONAN: And let me ask you about the title of your book, "Whistling Vivaldi."

Dr. STEELE: Yes, that comes from a friend, Brent Staples who writes for the New York Times, and his autobiography called "Parallel Time," a great book I can plug. He describes being a graduate student, an African-American graduate student at the University of Chicago, walking down the street dressed as a student and realizing that his mere presence was making whites uncomfortable.

And they would avoid him or sort of cross the street to get away from him and so on. He realized from this kind of behavior that they were seeing him through the lens of a negative stereotype about African-Americans in that neighborhood, that perhaps as a young male, black male, he might be violent. And it was making his whole experience of the situation tense and awkward. He learned how to whistle Vivaldi to deflect that stereotype.

CONAN: When they heard the classical music being whistled, they said oh, this is a man of refinement.

Dr. STEELE: Exactly. And he relaxed, they relaxed, and the situation went on.

CONAN: Another cue, perhaps we'll get to it a bit later. We're talking with Claude Steele about his book "Whistling Vivaldi: And Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us." Stay with us. I'm Neal Conan. It's the TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News.

(Soundbite of music)

CONAN: This is TALK OF THE NATION. Im Neal Conan in Washington.

No one is immune from stereotype. Every one of us is part of some group affected by negative perceptions, and we know we may be judged by it. Claude Steele calls it stereotype threat, a topic he studied for many years. He writes about it in his latest book, "Whistling Vivaldi: And Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us."

So call and tell us what situations you've had to deal with in which your social identity and the expectations that come along with it presented a challenge. How did you overcome it if you did? 800-989-8255. Email talk@npr.org. You can also join the conversation on our Web site. Thats at npr.org. Click on TALK OF THE NATION.

And let's go next to Tonya(ph), Tonya with us from Madison.

TONYA (Caller): Hi, Neal.

CONAN: Good to talk with you.

TONYA: You, too. So I'm an engineer. When I was in K through 12, I had showed that I had a lot of apparently from that age - some good mathematical skills, and by my senior year, I was taking, like, honors calculus.

And then I went to a community college, a small college in Southern Michigan and was valedictorian with my associate's in engineering and had won the engineering department award. And I transferred to the University of Michigan, and suddenly I was in a very different place.

I was in a place that had people from all over the world, you know, predominately men. And I think that in retrospect now, listening to this, that it seems to make sense because when I would take an exam, I would get everything right that I would finish, but I almost feel like I was trying to be so meticulous because I was fearful that I wasn't going to perform how I was used to performing that I actually didn't perform as well as I was used to performing.

CONAN: And that seems like an accurate description of this effect, Claude Steele.

Mr. STEELE: Yes, that really is a perfect description of it. And it is at the University of Michigan, although all schools have this, many schools, especially stronger schools, have this kind of experience is rife - can be rife there.

That's a perfect description because somebody - it's not an effect that's tied to their real abilities. It's, in effect, it's almost like an intimidation factor, and the other critical thing in the caller's description is place.

In some places, it can be very powerful, where there are a lot of cues that make one aware of one's identity and the contingencies that can be tied to it. That can make the experience of stereotype threat much worse, whereas in other situations, where maybe there are more women, you know, you're in a high school, and the girls are just as good at math at the boys, and there isn't as much visibility of this stereotype to give it credibility, it isn't a powerful thing.

But as you move up the ladder, and there are fewer women in the classes and the like, the stereotype and the pressures of it become more intense.

CONAN: The examples you use in your book is Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman justice of the United States Supreme Court, felt intense pressure until she was joined on the court by another woman.

Mr. STEELE: That's right, Ginsburg.

CONAN: Indeed.

Mr. STEELE: Which she describes as the happiest day one of the happiest days in her life was when Ruth Bader Ginsburg showed up on the Supreme Court. That made it so that she wasn't the only woman, and everything she did wasn't interpreted in terms of her being a woman.

That put a lot of pressure and made all the stereotypes constantly irrelevant to her functioning and I'm sure must have made her miserable, as she describes. But then when another woman comes, her decision is not just a woman's decision. There are several women's decisions here, and it dissipates.

CONAN: And it raises again and Tonya, thank you very much for the call -raises another one of the solutions you suggest in your book. It's an idea called critical mass. If you have enough of a member of whichever minority it is, and again you use the example of women in a philharmonic orchestra.

Mr. STEELE: Yes, that sends a strong signal that that identity is not itself a source of disdain, or in the situation, that that identity can be valued there, and it's possible to be there and to function effectively. That kind of a message that critical mass sends, relaxes the sense in a person that they're under this kind of threat.

CONAN: And that number is a little hard to judge in each situation, two enough apparently for the Supreme Court, but 40 percent as it turns out for a philharmonic orchestra.

Mr. STEELE: Yeah.

CONAN: But anyway, let's go next to Chris(ph), and Chris with us from Rehoboth in Delaware.

CHRIS (Caller): Hi. I am a 53-year-old woman. So I grew up in the '50s and '60s, and I have to say that my personal response to anyone telling me you can't do that because you're a girl has consistently been in my life to say, well, yes I can. And I'm going to prove it to you, and I'll do it better than you do.

Mr. STEELE: Yes, it's important to realize that the causes of underperformance in our research are not from women giving up. They don't give up under that kind of pressure. They do try extra hard, but sometimes, that can not foster. That can interfere with, performance in its own right.

What's happening when you're doing that is that you're it affects the allocation of your cognitive resources. They're you're paying more attention to trying hard. You're paying more attention to thoughts that are kind of resisting thoughts that are disturbing and so on. And with that kind of activity going on in the background, there's less attention to be allocated to the task at hand, and that's how this kind of threat can interfere with performance.

CONAN: As you Claude Steele puts it in his book, you're not only doing the test or whatever it is, you're slaying a ghost.

Mr. STEELE: Yes, you're multitasking.

CHRIS: But that hasn't I haven't had the experience of ever underperforming in my field. I mean, I don't I understand what you're saying, and I think I probably agree with you.

CONAN: He's talking about generalized situations, not obviously, there are individuals individuals vary.

CHRIS: Right.

Mr. STEELE: Individuals vary, and situations vary. There are some situations where the stereotype about gender is more or less relevant. The relevance of the stereotype varies. It's very pointed in the area of math and quantitatively based fields.

CHRIS: Well, I'm a clergy person. So it's very pointed in my field, as well.

Mr. STEELE: Did you say clergy?

CONAN: Yes.

CHRIS: Yeah, clergy.

Mr. STEELE: Oh, well, I guess that's true.

(Soundbite of laughter)

CHRIS: Yeah, yeah. No, I just wonder if I mean, to me, it's not a threat, it's a challenge. It's an opportunity. It's an invitation. Is that just the personal part or is that...

Mr. STEELE: Well, I do think that's the most constructive way...

CHRIS: Huh?

Mr. STEELE: I do think that's the most constructive way to regard it. I really do. It's just that in certain situations where performance on a difficult task is the issue and is persistently the issue, one is at the frontier of their skills, moving through a math curriculum or a physics curriculum, or that's where this sort of daily pressure can begin to have more of a wearing effect.

CONAN: And indeed thank you very much, Chris indeed not just a wearing effect. You come across a phenomenon called John Henryism, which may help explain the shorter life spans, due to hypertension, of some African-Americans.

Mr. STEELE: Yes. This is again not my own research, but it's very relevant in the sense that it describes some of the costs of trying hard over a lifetime to resist a stereotype, that it can cause be a source of hypertension and other related diseases, the effort to if you're in a situation where you're consistently pushing against that and pushing against that, a tax is paid eventually, and some of that tax has to do with one's health.

CONAN: There are other implications to this, and you don't go into this in great depth, but you present some research, again not your own, about how easily we humans discriminate against each other, even when the categories we're divided in are seemingly meaningless: over-estimaters and under-estimaters, whatever that may mean.

And yet when placed in those categories, we will work on behalf of our own group, to individuals in our group to the detriment of people in other groups, and this helps explain, to some degree, this phenomenon seemingly we're hardwired with it why - this is interestingly presented in the context of a young man from Lebanon, who is well, he's got all kinds of stereotypes, but he writes about violence in the Middle East.

Mr. STEELE: Yeah, the first it turns out this is again a whole lot of social-psychological research, not mine but just the minimal divisions among us, if they're made salient, we can begin to identify with whichever side we're on. It's like identifying with something like our school.

It's not really rationally, from a distance, that great an identity, but we identify very quickly with it and feel those feelings very deeply. It's something fundamental about being a human being. It becomes part of our identity.

And so it the point there is that it just takes as kind of a minimal division of people for this whole apparatus of stereotype threat to get underway. We start to stereotype the other group. They stereotype us. We react to the stereotypes, and you have a situation of the sort we're describing.

CONAN: And then they are the other, and you can do terrible things.

Mr. STEELE: Yes, in the name of having one's group identity threatened, to protect a group: your country, your school. The argument is that people can do things, be more violent, than they would be sometimes even in defense of themselves.

CONAN: Let's get another caller in on the conversation. This is J.R., J.R. with us from Circleville in Ohio.

J.R. (Caller): Yes, I was born in southeast Ohio, and I think I first realized that I was being stereotyped as, you know, an Appalachian when I made it to grad school, and I was helping teach a class for high school teachers. I was one of the grad students who was TAing, and I had a teacher from northeast Ohio say well, you know, you're awful smart, or you know this very well or whatever she said, and where are you from?

And I said, well, I was from Southeast Ohio. And she said, well, you did very well for yourself.

CONAN: Hmm.

Dr. STEELE: Hmm.

J.R.: Get out from where you were. And now I'm a school teacher. I'm working back in Southeast Ohio. And now I think I've come to realize the stereotype (unintelligible). I didn't realize it as a student so much. But now I'm trying to teach students and I'm trying to help them overcome these stereotypes that they've become So...

CONAN: And what techniques do you use to do that?

J.R.: Well, I wish I could tell you I was very effective at it. I don't know how effective I am. I'm only three years into teaching now, so I'm developing these things. The real ideal is to hold them to the highest standards that I can and I make them realize, hopefully, eventually, sometimes I fail at this, but I try to hold them to the highest standards and let them know that they can succeed even when it's hard. And that it being hard doesn't mean that it's -you don't - you're not smart. It just means it's hard. It's hard for everybody. It's hard if you're from Southeast Ohio or if you're Brooklyn, New York, if you're from Boston, Massachusetts, this is hard for everybody to understand.

CONAN: Well, that's one technique, Claude Steele.

Dr. STEELE: Yes. I - you've - most of the solutions we've come up with people have found in their own lives, and this is a perfect example of that. One of the - to put - bring it to a sharp point, one of the things we found is that if you give - if you're very demanding in a classroom situation of that sort and, at the same time, you affirm the students' abilities to realize those high standards that you're setting, you - the combination of things is very effective at the reducing the effects - the negative effects of stereotype threat. It signals to the student that they're not being seen as having limited ability. They're not being seen through the lens of that stereotype. And then they can rise to the call of doing better and, you know, working hard in the -with the material.

CONAN: This was described in your book as something you stumble across by accident when, again, testing some of those female math majors and the expectation that they might do worse, you inadvertently reminded them that, well, you're from Stanford.

Dr. STEELE: Yes.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Dr. STEELE: And with that frame in mind, they relaxed, they did a lot better. It made the stereotype about women's math abilities just less relevant to them. That's one of the sort of tricks of reducing this threat is to do something that makes the stereotype that would normally be relevant to them, not relevant in that situation. And that's one strategy we used, was to remind them of being that they were from Stanford.

But the gentlemen's strategy is another one. If - it tells his students he's not seeing them through the negative stereotype about their background. He's demanding a lot from them and he's affirming their ability to achieve it.

CONAN: J.R., good luck to you.

J.R.: Thank you very much, Neal.

CONAN: Appreciate the phone call.

Dr. STEELE: Yeah.

CONAN: We're talking with Claude Steele about his book, "Whistling Vivaldi," and other clues to how stereotypes affect us.

You're listening to TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News.

And we have this email from Glen(ph) in Kansas City. My name is Glen. As a female filmmaker, it's been intimidating to get my projects noticed. One of the things that's helped me most is submitting to festivals so many times it's assumed Glen is a male, and ironically, this has helped me. Once when I checked in at a festival, they asked me if I was his assistant, withholding the badge until I explained I was Glen.

And it's interesting, that email came in and reminded of the story you tell about Anatole Broyard.

Dr. STEELE: Yes. Yes. This is a strategy used to avoid stereotype threat. And I think, in some ways, it's some of the more compelling evidence of the existence of stereotype threat in real life that a couple of strategies, both passing, where people change their names, or if they have the appearance to do it, shift from being black to being white; representing themselves as white to avoid the experience of being negatively stereotyped. Or another strategy is to expatriate...

CONAN: Mm-hmm.

Dr. STEELE: ...to move to another society where the stereotypes are different and one doesn't have to, therefore, experience the same kind of stereotyping.

CONAN: Oh.

Dr. STEELE: I think both of those strategies, passing and expatriation, are similar to the Glen strategy that she's using there where she's deflecting being seen and treated in terms of the stereotype by representing herself differently.

CONAN: Let's see if we can go next to John(ph). John with us from Flint, Michigan.

JOHN (Caller): Yes. I have a situation where my daughter is, not just (unintelligible), also my daughter is in grade school. We lived in an affluent neighborhood and went to a nice - very nice school. And she did great in math and all her subjects. We had to move to another neighborhood, but went to an intercity school. And immediately, all her grades dipped because they were treating her as with the other African-American students, as if their level of comprehension is at one level.

It's kind of funny, because at home, we would do her homework and she'd get everything right. But when she went to school, her teachers said she had a notable difficulty in solving problems. And then we - to solve to remedy the situation, we took her out of that school and put her into a private school. And lo and behold, she's almost like a math whiz of her grade.

So we're trying to figure out, you know, what was the situation with the one school. We have a before and after picture, but now we can see that, you know, maybe she was being stereotyped as far as, you know, what - relationship with everyone else.

Dr. STEELE: Yeah. It sounds like in the school where she did poorly, did worse than expected, she was under some low expectations on the part of her teachers and that maybe the whole climate there had that. I'm not sure that's all together stereotype threat, but it's nonetheless a powerful social psychological pressure to be seen in terms of - and treated in terms of low expectations that can undermine motivation and undermine interest, and all kinds of things that you're describing were evidenced by your daughter.

CONAN: And we wish her continued good luck, John, in pursuit of math.

And - but let me - we just have a minute left, but I wanted to ask you about the alternate theory, which is if you're looking at the situation, yes, there could be this psychological pressure that people are responding to. It can also be something inherent, that maybe women aren't as good as men at math, biologically, and something in their brains or that white men can't jump.

Dr. STEELE: Aha. You'll have to read the book for how we sort out these explanations.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Prof. STEELE: But we do, I think, definitively, over 20 years of research. And you do it by putting people in performance situations and showing that their performances can be equal when you get rid of this stereotype threat. Whereas the other theory - the different God made women and men different theory...

(Soundbite of laughter)

Dr. STEELE: ...to put it nicely, that theory would predict that nothing you did in the situation would change. If you give them difficult math, women are always going to under-perform. If you give difficult problems, African-American students are always going to under-perform. Well, they don't. When you do things in those situations to reduce stereotype threat and that is probably the principal evidence that - in behalf of this argument.

CONAN: Claude Steele, thank you so much for your time today. We appreciate it.

Dr. STEELE: Thank you. It's my pleasure.

CONAN: Claude Steele's book, "Whistling Vivaldi: And Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us." And he joined us from our bureau in New York.

Coming up, Oscar-nominated actor Stanley Tucci on his career, his Broadway directorial debut and the value of farce in tough times. If you'd like to join us to talk with Stanley Tucci, 800-989-8255. Stay with us. I'm Neal Conan. It's the TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News.

Copyright © 2010 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio record.

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'Whistling Vivaldi' And Beating Stereotypes

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Women taking a math test will perform worse when reminded that women aren't expected to do well in math. Social psychologist Claude Steele calls this an example of the "stereotype threat." In his book, Whistling Vivaldi, he lays out a plan to reshape those expectations.

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How White Parents Should Talk to Their Kids About Race

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How White Parents Should Talk to Their Kids About Race

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Last summer, my family moved from Brooklyn to a small town in the Hudson Valley. We love our new life, but one thing about the community is not so great: It's predominantly white. What will it mean in the long run if my white children don't see and befriend people who come from different racial backgrounds? And are there steps I can take to instill racial sensitivity and acceptance in my kids despite the fact that they're growing up in an ethnic bubble?

To find out, I dug into research on the causes of racial bias and talked to developmental and social psychologists, race-relations researchers, and Africologists. The good news is that the answer seems to be yes-there are things I can do to keep my kids from harboring racial prejudice. Namely, I can talk to them about race.

First, a caveat: I'm writing this article as a white parent with white kids living in a mostly white neighborhood. I know that my experiences, perspectives, and considerations differ markedly from those of parents with different ethnic backgrounds living in different situations, and I also realize that I know nothing about the racial landscape that minority parents have to navigate with their kids. For many minority parents, talking about race is not an option-it's essential in helping their children move through a world that sees a "black kid" and not just a kid. Although I talked to researchers with diverse backgrounds while reporting my piece, I'm guessing that my findings and advice will apply predominantly to white parents like me. Still, I would love to hear from all readers on the issues discussed in this column, so please, send your thoughts, advice, and feedback to melindawmoyer@gmail.com.

In their book Nurture Shock, journalists Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman told the story of Birgitte Vittrup Simpson, a University of Texas at Austin Ph.D. student who in 2007 recruited 99 white families to participate in a study-the basis for her doctoral dissertation-that involved asking them to talk meaningfully about race with their kids.* Five families immediately dropped out when they heard what they had to do. Nine out of every 10 of those who stuck with the study admitted at the end that they did not have truly in-depth conversations with their kids on the topic.

Why? I've avoided talking about race with my kids mainly because I've thought that racial bias is learned by direct instruction and imitation-and that if I don't talk about race or act in explicitly racist ways, my kids won't pick up prejudices. My sources told me that this notion is pretty common; research suggests that nonwhite parents talk about racial identity much more frequently with their kids than white parents do, but that even minority parents often avoid talking about racial differences. "There's this idea that if you do call attention to race at a young age, you're poisoning kids' minds," says Erin Winkler, chair of the department of Africology at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

This theory makes sense. In fact, it's what social learning theorists believed for a long time, and why so many parents strive to make their children "color-blind." But over the past 15 years, research has supported a different idea: that children start assigning meaning to race at a very young age. When researchers presented 30-month-olds with pictures of children of various races and asked them to pick who they would want to play with, the toddlers were more likely to pick kids of their race. Likewise, when sociologists Debra Van Ausdale and Joe Feagin observed kids in an urban day care center for 11 months, they found that children as young as three excluded other kids from play based on their race and used race to negotiate power in their social networks, as they described in their 2001 book The First R: How Children Learn Race and Racism.

Why does this happen? Kids actively try to understand and construct rules about their environment. As they do, they engage in what is called transductive or essentialist reasoning, which means that they simultaneously categorize people and objects according to multiple dimensions-so they might believe, wrongly, that people who have the same skin color have similar abilities or intelligence. They also notice class-race patterns-for instance that white people tend to hold privileged jobs or positions (or play them on television). One study found that by age 7, black children rated jobs held by blacks as lower in status than jobs held by whites. In other words, as Winkler wrote in a 2009 paper, "children pick up on the ways in which whiteness is normalized and privileged in U.S. society."

Beverly Tatum, a race-relations scholar and the president of Spelman College in Atlanta, has referred to this pervasive cultural message as a "smog in the air," noting that "we don't breathe it because we like it. We don't breathe it because we think it's good for us. We breathe it because it's the only air that's available." Ultimately, kids may infer that the patterns they see in privilege and status are caused by inherent differences between groups. In other words, they may start to think that whites have more privilege because they are inherently, somehow, smarter or better.

Other aspects of psychology come into play to promote racial biases, too. Children (and adults) exhibit a type of bias known as "in-group" bias, which basically means that we tend to prefer people who are members of groups we also belong to. Researchers have elicited strong in-group biases in children as young as 3 by assigning them to color-coded groups in their preschools; after a few weeks, the children said they preferred the other kids in their group more than kids outside their group and even preferentially chose toys that they were told their groups liked. Starting at around age 4 or 5, kids also start to develop what is called "high-status bias," in that they show implicit preferences for individuals who are members of high-status groups-in our culture, whites.

So if children as young as 3 develop racial prejudices when left to their own (cognitively biased) devices, it may help for parents to intervene and, you know, actually talk to their kids about race. "Don't you want to be the one to suggest to them-early on, before they do form those preconceptions-something positive [about other races] rather than let them pick up something negative?" asks Kristina Olson, a University of Washington psychologist who studies social cognitive development and racial bias. "White parents seem very, very resistant to talking about race-even really liberal ones-and they have this attitude of 'I wouldn't want to talk about it because it would make it real to my kids.' But inevitably, it's their kids that show these really strong race biases." In fact, Olson says, when parents don't talk about race, kids may infer from this silence that race is especially important, yet highly taboo-basically, the last thing you want them to think.

In her University of Texas dissertation, Simpson reported that the children of parents who actually did talk meaningfully with them about race had better racial attitudes at the end of the study than they did at the beginning. The kids whose parents glossed over the issue or didn't discuss race did not improve.

But how should white parents talk about race with their kids? "It depends," Winkler says, "on who the kid is, where they're living, what the context is, how old they are." But, generally speaking, be upfront and specific. If little Henry makes a mortifying comment in the grocery store about someone's skin color being "dirty," don't shush him and change the subject or say something vague like don't say things like that; it's hurtful. Use the moment to explain what skin color is. An appropriate response might be, "Honey, that little girl is not dirty. Her skin is as clean as yours. It's just a different color. Just like we have different color hair, people have different skin colors," as Tatum explained her book Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria: And Other Conversations About Race. You can also use examples from television or books to start race conversations. As Howard Stevenson, a University of Pennsylvania professor of education and Africana studies and the author of Promoting Racial Literacy in Schools: Differences That Make a Difference explained to me, "I've always been in commentary with my sons while they're watching TV, saying, 'What do you really think about that?' You may see an issue in diversity that bothers you that you want to comment on, like, 'How come there are no black Santa Clauses on television?' "

Stevenson, who develops strategies to help parents, teachers, and kids cope with racial conflict, also points out that when children say racially insensitive things, parents should take a moment to consider, before admonishing them, where they are coming from. "Rather than challenge them about their words, get a sense of what they understand it to mean from their perspective," he explains. "Where did they hear it from? How is it being used in the social context they're in? Then, you have a better angle as to how you can speak to it."

White parents can also make kids' in-group biases work for them: Point out that even though Lily has darker skin, she, too, seems to really like playing with dolls. The more similarities young kids see between themselves and children of other races, the more they may embrace them. That said, for older kids, it may be smarter to encourage kids to embrace racial differences, rather than to downplay these differences. A Northwestern University study found that when kids aged 8 to 11 were taught about diversity as a value, they were better able to detect evidence of racial discrimination than were kids who had been taught a "color-blind" message. Pointing out how much diversity exists within races may help foster diversity acceptance, too. As Deborah Rivas-Drake, a psychologist at the University of Michigan, suggests, you could say to your children, "Within our own group, we don't all act and look the same, we don't all think the same-so if we ourselves are really diverse, can you imagine all the different kinds of diversity that exist among other groups?"

It may also help to broach the subject of our country's racial history. In 2007, Rebecca Bigler, a psychologist at the University of Texas at Austin, conducted a two-part study-the first among white 6-to-11-year-olds at a Midwestern summer school, and the second among black 6-to-11-year-olds.* All of the kids were read short, positive biographies of famous Americans, half of whom were black and half of whom were white. Half of these kids were also taught about discrimination the famous Americans experienced; the other half did not get this extra lesson. At the end of the six-day study, Bigler and her colleagues assessed the children's attitudes toward black and white people in general. The kids who had been taught about discrimination had higher opinions of black people than did the children who had simply been read the positive biographies. Van Ausdale and Feagin warn, however, against blaming racism and discrimination on "bad people" or "bad behavior," because doing so may dismiss inequality as something that's the fault of an "evil few" rather than being an institutional problem.

So, for any parent, talking about race with your kids is incredibly important. Even more essential, though, is making sure that your kids get to know children of other races. "Friendships are a major mechanism for promoting acceptance and reducing prejudice," Rivas-Drake explains. Kids should "have direct contact with people from different groups-to learn about them without relying on stereotypes." That said, simply sending your kid to a diverse school may not do the job. One study reported that in highly diverse schools, students self-segregate more by race than they do in moderately diverse schools, and the likelihood of cross-racial friendships goes down. But the study also reported that when diverse schools ensure that their extracurricular activities are racially mixed, interracial friendships become more common.

You know what else helps? When parents have a diverse network of friends. "We have some hints that parents' friends and the diversity of the people they hang out with matters a lot," Olson says. If we're telling our kids that they shouldn't judge people based on race, but our kids only ever see us hanging out with other people of our race, our words may not go very far. This notion has big implications for families like mine who live virtually cut off from other ethnic groups-for most white families, in fact, since research suggests that the average U.S. white family lives in a neighborhood where three-quarters of all other residents are also white. (This New York Times infographic on the distribution of racial and ethnic groups in New York City is, for instance, jaw-dropping.) If we truly want our children to accept and befriend people of other races and ethnicities, we need to address the institutional problems that keep us all apart from one another-and we need to remember that, as parents, the choices we make shape the world that our children see, and may limit the choices that they are able to make for themselves.

Correction, April 2, 2014: This article originally misstated that Ph.D. Student Birgitte Vittrup Simpson recruited 93 families for her study. She recruited 99 families. (Return.) Due to a copy-editing error, the article also mischaracterized Rebecca Bigler's study of 6-to-11-year-old children. She did not study a mixed group of black and white students. She studied a group of white students and a group of black students, but they never mixed in the study. (Return.)

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How White Parents Should Talk to Their Kids About Race

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Last summer, my family moved from Brooklyn to a small town in the Hudson Valley. We love our new life, but one thing about the community is not so great: It's predominantly white. What will it mean in the long run if my white children don't see and befriend people who come from different racial backgrounds?

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Resources for schools / organizations who identity caucus

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Resources for schools / organizations who identity caucus

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The 7 Ps of Men's Violence

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Racial Identity is Not Just Another Tool - It's the Toolkbox

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Racial Identity is Not Just Another Tool - It's the Toolkbox

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Raising Race Questions and Managing the Inquiry Impasse [Michaels]

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Raising Race Questions and Managing the Inquiry Impasse [Michaels]

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The Future of Healing: Shifting From Trauma Informed Care to Healing Centered Engagement

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Aspiring Social Justice Ally Identity Development: A conceptual model

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Aspiring Social Justice Ally Identity Development: A conceptual model

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10 Way Well-Meaning White Teachers Bring Racism into our Schools

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10 Way Well-Meaning White Teachers Bring Racism into our Schools

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Teachers are some of my favorite people in the world. I mean I really love teachers! They tend to be enthusiastic about changing society, and more often than not, they care so deeply about their work and their students. What's not to like?

It is from this place of love that I work with teachers to help them improve their practice. And with the realities of the " education debt " and considering that 80% of our teachers are White while nearly half (and growing) of our students are youth of Color , part of improving teaching practice means paying more critical attention to race in our schools.

Though I know there are actively racist teachers out there , most White teachers mean well and have no intention of being racist. Yet as people who are inscribed with Whiteness , it is possible for us to act in racist ways no matter our intentions. Uprooting racism from our daily actions takes a lifetime of work.

Thus, as we head into the first weeks of school all over the US, here are 10 ways that White teachers introduce racism into our schools paired with things we can do instead.

1. Lowering or Raising Achievement Expectations Based on Race/Ethnicity

It's probably best to start with one of the more common and obvious ways that racism can enter teaching practice: our expectations of student ability and achievement.

Whether we acknowledge it or not, we are constantly inundated with racist messaging about what students can and can't achieve.

Whether we see media narratives about the math prodigy Asian students or the "ghetto" Black students who are reading 5 grade levels behind, we end up getting pretty clear messages long before we start teaching about what our student can handle.

We know that the expectations students are held to often correlate less to their ability than their race and class, so what should we do about it?

First, we need to spend some serious time reflecting about our own internalized biases. We all have them (not sure about yours? Consider taking this test! ). And if we are working to understand our biases, then we can begin to mitigate their effects.

2.Being 'Race Neutral' Rather than Culturally Responsive

In my work with teachers, I sometimes meet teachers who claim that they "don't see Color," both in naïve attempts to be "progressive" but also in an ill-advised attempt to avoid tracking students based on race/ethnicity.

But our students don't need a "race neutral" approach to their education.

There is about how students of all races need a culturally responsive education; it's just that White students who have White teachers are far more likely to receive one.

Culturally responsive teaching is not just a box that we can check with simple changes to curriculum. Instead, it is a pedagogical shift that all teachers must work to cultivate over the course of a career, one that works its way into every aspect of how we teach.

Part of culturally responsive teaching also demands that we not simply focus on the races of our students but, instead, turn the lens on our own racial identity.

Race neutrality lends itself to defensiveness to the ways Whiteness and racism are problematic in our teaching.

Cultural responsiveness demands that we do the difficult work of exploring a different way of being White , one where we see our liberation as bound up with that of our students and their families.

Start by reading the amazing literature on culturally responsive teaching, looking to , Beverly Daniel Tatum , and Gary Howard for starters.

And get creative! One of the most amazing things I see in teachers is the wonderful imagination that so many use to reach students.

Apply that creativity to a race-conscious classroom, and we could see some powerful (and innovative) results.

Then share! Blog about them or publish them in educational publications (while being open to critical feedback) so that we can all learn together.

3. Using Racially Coded Language

Whether we're referring to our students as "ghetto" or to their parents as "tiger moms" or saying "if only the parents cared about their kids education," there are many overt ways that we can introduce racially coded language that devalues and/or otherizes our students and their families.
Perhaps even more common (particularly for White teachers in poorer, often urban areas) is treating our students as inspiration or poverty porn when talking to other White people.
This is one I know I have done many times. There is no need for me to include details about the harrowing life experiences of my students when talking to friends, yet I do so anyway to express just how "tough" things are for "those kids."

While we may be able to argue that this is to help our White peers empathize, rarely is this done in any sort of humanizing way.

Rather, we are usually just trying to prove our credentials as a teacher who taught in the "inner city" or "the barrio."

We as educators know the power of language, so we must be extra careful and precise with ours. We need to be hyper vigilant about how we talk about our students and their families/communities.

When we do the work to build relationships and to partner in the areas where we teach, then we see our students and their families as fully-realized human beings, and as a result, we can talk about our students in more humanizing ways.

4. Intentionally or Unintentionally Mispronouncing Names

One of the more subtle but powerful ways that White teachers inject racism into our schools is in how we engage with names that are different than those we grew up knowing.
Sometimes it shows up in simply not taking the time to learn how to properly pronounce a student's name - but other times, it's active resistance.
I can't tell you how many times I have heard of teachers saying, "Their names are just too hard for me to pronounce," so they settle for assigning nicknames.

Take the time to learn names. Apologize when you get names wrong, and work really hard to learn names the right way.

Sometimes students who are used to White teachers mispronouncing their name will settle for you doing it "good enough."

Stress that you don't want "good enough." You want to call them by the name they want to be called!

5. Enforcing Harsh Discipline Practices That Disproportionately Impact Students of Color

In virtually every school in the country, from the most mono-racial to the most diverse, discipline practices are set up to fail students of Color, both in and implementation , and there are dire consequences for students who "struggle with discipline problems" in our world of hyper-criminalization.

how Ta-Nehisi Coates demonstrated well in a recent interview a lack of cultural awareness on the part of White teachers can lead to serious consequences for Black students who grow up in violent neighborhoods.

Describing an incident where he was suspended for threatening a teacher who yelled at him in class, he noted how when "you don't have anything else to lean on" except the basic respect of others, it means something wholly different than for students from a wholly different cultural context to have a teacher scream in their face.

In our own classrooms, we have to be willing to carefully investigate how we dole out discipline and work to change our practices.

Do our management procedures reward students whose cultural backgrounds and expressions of, say, showing excitement reflect our own while punishing those who express these things differently?
Perhaps more importantly, though, this is a problem that must be addressed in community.

If you are great about mitigating racial bias in your management but your school has a zero-tolerance discipline system that sees kids leaving in handcuffs for acting out in school, then we must organize together as educators.

It's time to get cops out of our schools and to demand discipline policies that are based on principles of nonviolence and restorative justice .

6. (Inadvertently) Valuing Whiteness

One of the more insidious ways that White teachers bring racism into schools is in how we (often inadvertently) value Whiteness and European ways of being above all others.

Whether we are strictly teaching the "canon" that is almost exclusively White or using examples in math or science problems that are more accessible to White and/or wealthy students than others, White teachers inject Whiteness into our classrooms all the time.

In my own teaching, I found that I was calling my lightest-skinned students (in an almost all-Black classroom) by name when I couldn't remember the names as readily of darker-skinned students.

That's valuing Whiteness.

We need to do obvious things like diversifying our curriculum and our materials, but beyond that, we must look inside for the more insidious ways that we value Whiteness.

By questioning all aspects of how we teach to consider whether we are devaluing some people and valuing others, we are taking important steps toward racially just pedagogy.

7. Tokenizing Students' Cultures to Connect with Them

The other side of the coin that comes with diversifying our curriculum and materials is that it can be done in a tremendously tokenizing way.

If we don't get to know our students first, then we might assume that our Dominican students and our students from northeastern Mexico all are the same and that they all could relate to a book about the migrant farm struggle in the southwestern US.

Thus, we have to be careful not to tokenize students' identities in our efforts to connect with them.

It's a lot more work, but we ought to consider waiting to decide on the books we teach or the curricular examples until we've had some time to listen to our students and their families.

Ask questions about what they want to learn about, and listen and respond accordingly!

8. Culturally Appropriate in an Effort to Connect with Students

For many of us White teachers who grew up with little-to-know exposure to people and cultures of Color and who don't have a connection to our own ethnic cultural identities outside of Whiteness (notably, a lack of cultural identity ), it can be hard to know how to connect with students.

Unfortunately, this often means appropriating other cultures, particularly those of our students, to try to connect with them.

A friend, mentor, and my co-author in an upcoming piece about White teachers who wish to develop anti-racist ways of being, Shelly Tochluk, cites a time when she wore a lappa (African skirt), an ankh around her neck, and carried a djembe to class in a misguided effort to connect.

Reflecting on the experience, Shelly notes that it would have been far better to "include more African American voices into the curriculum."

If you're not sure exactly why this is a problem, perhaps look and .

Otherwise...

Invest in understanding your own ethnic, religious, and cultural heritage (particularly that from before your people became White) through an anti-racist lens.

9. Devaluing What Non-Teachers Contribute to the School Community

Everyone is trying to tell teachers how to do their job, and teachers are sick of hearing it from non-teachers.

But from some White teachers, I hear the "if you haven't taught, don't tell me how to do my job" mantra used as a blanket for everyone from Bill Gates to the parents and community advocates where they teach.

When we decide that teachers are the gatekeepers to what works in education and when the vast majority of teachers are White, we end up devaluing the insights and knowledge that many people of Color offer.

From parents to community leaders to other non-White staff in your building, there's a lot we can learn if we are willing to humbly listen to people of Color and implement what we learn about race in education.

Actively seek to build relationships across difference and seek input in your classroom.

Hell, invite folks into your classroom to observe and share and teach!

10. Doing Little or Nothing to Advocate for More Teachers and Staff of Color

Finally, and probably most importantly, there's simply no substitute to teachers of Color teaching students who share their race (see , , , and ).

Unfortunately, many progressive White teachers note that it would be great to have more teachers of Color, but at the end of the day, what are we doing about it?

Organize! It's what teachers do so well! Pressure our unions to make hiring teachers of Color the top priority.

Advocate for alternative licensing options for paraprofessionals and teaching aides (who are disproportionately people of Color, especially in cities). Get on hiring committees at your school and ask hard questions about what we consider "qualified candidates."

This is somewhere that well-meaning White teachers can have a profound impact if we're willing to invest our energy.

Regardless of what it looks like, we need more White teachers who are willing to do the hard work of combatting the subtle racism we bring into our schools while working vociferously to change our own pedagogies and make our schools more racially just places!

If not now, when? If not us, who?

Jamie Utt is a Contributing Writer for Everyday Feminism. He is the Founder and Director of Education at CivilSchools, a comprehensive bullying prevention program, a diversity and inclusion consultant, and sexual violence prevention educator based in Tucson, AZ. He is currently working toward his PhD in Teaching, Learning, and Sociocultural Studies at the University of Arizona with research interests in the role that White teacher's racial identity plays in their teaching practice. Learn more about his work at his website here and follow him on Twitter @utt_jamie. Read his articles here and book him for speaking engagements.

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10 Ways Well-Meaning White Teachers Bring Racism Into Our Schools

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Teachers are some of my favorite people in the world. I mean I really love teachers! They tend to be enthusiastic about changing society, and more often than not, they care so deeply about their work and their students. What's not to like?

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For White Folks who Teach in the Hood...

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Culturally Responsive Teaching & the Brain

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Hey. Thanks for stopping by my blog. You might have found your way here through a number of possible paths. Maybe you heard about my book, Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. Or, maybe you typed in www.ready4rigor.com and those shadowy internet puppeteers redirected you here. Maybe you ended up here because you were doing a Google search for culturally responsive teaching practices

Or maybe your school is reading Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain in a book study and you wanted to know more about this Zaretta Hammond chick who wrote it.

It doesn't matter how you got here. What's important is that you and I are now connected.

Since you are an equity-minded educator like me, you are probably waging your own private movement to bust the myths behind student engagement (or the lack of) among low performing students of color, poor students, and English learners.

Well, you are in the right place. This is a blog where we can get answers to our collective and individual questions about how we can help students become confident and competent learners. In this space, I want to highlight what I am learning from being out in schools and classrooms with teachers who are successful with diverse students. I want to focus on how we can take everyday strategies and practices and put them to work in their classrooms to be more culturally responsive.

So, again, welcome!

Just to let you know, on average, I publish a new post every other week - two times per month at the least (sometimes a few more). That gives me time to be in schools and to write. If you don't want to miss updates on what I am seeing and learning, sign up for my newsletter by pushing that button below.

Binge-worthy Posts and Podcasts

Books are good, but sometimes you want your knowledge in bite-sized doses. That's what I like to deliver: consumable, usable, and entertaining food for thought (and action). Here are some of the most popular blog posts and guest podcast interviews to sample.

About Zaretta Hammond

It's funny. These days a lot of folks are calling me "Dr. Hammond" since the book has become required reading in many teacher education programs and school districts. Well, to set the record straight, I am not a PhD. I do have a Master's degree, but I consider myself a "boots on the ground" teacher. I call myself a former writing teacher turned equity freedom fighter. My heart is forever with children and teachers in the classroom, not in an ivory tower, even if these days most of my "students" are new leaders and pre-service teachers. [ A quick note: Not throwing any shade at all the PhDs out there doing the work.]

When I was in the classroom back in the day, I taught composition (expository writing). It was where I started to understand how important literacy was to equity, and how neuroscience and culture should inform our instructional practice.

Since leaving the classroom, I have done work as a curriculum designer and professional developer at organizations such as the National Equity Project and the Annenberg-funded Bay Area School Reform Collaborative (BASRC) in the San Francisco-Bay Area. I am a trained facilitator in anti-bias processes and have facilitated groups focused on learning to talk about issues of racial politics and privilege.

My primary work has been linking instruction, equity, and literacy. I have spent time as an adjunct instructor at Saint Mary's College in Norther California where I taught Adolescent Literacy and trained tutors and parents in reading support strategies for struggling students of color.

As an undergraduate, I attended University of California, Berkley before finishing up my degree at New York University where I majored in English Literature with a minor in Writing. I completed my Masters in Secondary English Education, with a Concentration in Writing Instruction at University of Colorado, Boulder where I simultaneously did my teacher certification program (starting three months after the birth of my son. I do not recommend this).

For the past 25 years, I've maintained a small, independent education consulting practice from which I do my research and writing as well as support schools doing deep instructionally-focused equity work.

Stay in touch

I hope this blog inspires, motivates, and challenges you to try some new practices that move you toward being more culturally responsive. If it does, send me a note. I'd love to hear from you. The best way to keep in touch with me is to sign up for free email updates (where you get all kinds of exclusive goodies).

Other Ways to Connect

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About - Culturally Responsive Teaching & the Brain

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Hey. Thanks for stopping by my blog. You might have found your way here through a number of possible paths. Maybe you heard about my book, Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. Or, maybe you typed in www.ready4rigor.com and those shadowy internet puppeteers redirected you here.

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Season 2 - Seeing White
Season 3 - Men
Season 4 - Democracy

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A woman of color and a white woman talk about race.

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Season 3 Wrap-up LIVE with Aurora + Kelly

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Bettina Love - We want to do more than survive.

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Bettina Love - We want to do more than survive.

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University of Georgia Professor Bettina Love talked about book, We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom, in which she shared her thoughts on how educators, parents, and community leaders can advocate for "education freedom" for students through civic engagement and activism. At this event, Professor Love spoke with Genevieve DeBose Akinnagbe and Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz. close

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We Want to Do More Than Survive

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We Want to Do More Than Survive

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University of Georgia Professor Bettina Love talked about book, [We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom], in which she shared her thoughts on how educators, parents, and community leaders can advocate for “education freedom” for students through…

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Bettina Love - for engaged, responsive educators

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Bettina Love - for engaged, responsive educators

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Dr.  Bettina Love Interview for Engaged, Responsive Educators

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Bettina Love - Hip Hop, Grit, and Academic Success

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Bettina Love - Hip Hop, Grit, and Academic Success

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Hip hop, grit, and academic success: Bettina Love at TEDxUGA

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Story told by white southern men about racial violence in their hometown.

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Podcast about race in the lead up to the 2020 election.

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Listen to Come Through with Rebecca Carroll on Spotify.

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Shelly Tochluk and Christine Saxman have been investigating White supremacist organizations and their tactics for recruiting White youth. Join us for a discussion about the importance of having explicit conversations about race and what teachers and parents can do to support White students.

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Shelly Tochluk and Christine Saxman have been investigating White supremacist organizations and their tactics for recruiting White youth. Join us for a discussion about the importance of having explicit conversations about race and what teachers and parents can do to support White students.

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White savorism in the christian missionary community. Parallels to white saviorism in schools.

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Miseducation - features JBS in its 3rd season.

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Miseducation - features JBS in its 3rd season.

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Earlier seasons are about the segregation of NYC schools.

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Listen to The Breakdown with Shaun King on Spotify.

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Alicia Garza and Ai-jen Poo talk about activism

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Problem with Equity/Equality Graphic from EL PD

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Problem with Equity/Equality Graphic from EL PD

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Campaign Zero is a comprehensive platform of policy solutions to end police violence in America.

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Ethics in the Classroom | PBS LearningMedia

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The Ethics in the Classroom collection was created as part of WNET's Youth Collective. Youth Collective is a Generation Z media and education initiative that aims to amplify youth voice and provide a platform for young people to engage in the important work of building a more ethical world.

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‘Raising White Kids’ Author On How White Parents Can Talk About Race

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NPR’s Michel Martin talks to Jennifer Harvey, author of Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America, about how to talk with white kids about racially-charged events.

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Our campaign supports teachers with free lessons and resources for teaching about racism and anti-racist struggles.

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White allyship and white fragility and whiteness weaponized

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White allyship and white fragility and whiteness weaponized

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A path to ending systemic racism from Bill Lewis, former NAACP LDF co-chair | Homeroom with Sal

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10 Ways to Show up for your Black Colleagues

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10 Ways to Show up for your Black Colleagues

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Dear friends who are White and privileged by virtue of that categorization (not necessarily because of wealth, intention or ethnic background),

If you are receiving this, it's because we have gone through some beautiful things together and/or we have been a significant support for each other as a friend or colleague. This is information on how you can do that now for someone who is Black.

Here are 10 ways that you can make an effort to show up differently for your Black friends and colleagues. Please take heed:

Second, donate and get your friends and family to donate to Black women-led organizations both locally and nationally. Black Lives Matter.org (the movement that's been updating the world) is a notable and effective one . One last thing, I would love a meal-offering, store-bought or home-cooked, among many things, Black people are collectively grieving right now. Offering a meal is a tradition that honors our loss and exhaustion .
Sunshine Muse is a health equity consultant who runs a Black woman-led non-profit focused on shifting paradigms and experiences to help create a world where public health is more effective, people are more thoughtfully engaged and history is not forgotten. To learn more visit here.

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Dear White People...10 Ways You Can Show Up for your Black Friends and Colleagues

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Dear friends who are White and privileged by virtue of that categorization (not necessarily because of wealth, intention or ethnic background), If you are receiving this, it's because we have gone through some beautiful things together and/or we have been a significant support for each other as a friend or colleague.

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Dear White People…10 Ways You Can Show Up for your Black Friends and Colleagues

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Dear White People…10 Ways You Can Show Up for your Black Friends and Colleagues

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Dear friends who are White and privileged by virtue of that categorization (not necessarily because of wealth, intention or ethnic background),

If you are receiving this, it's because we have gone through some beautiful things together and/or we have been a significant support for each other as a friend or colleague. This is information on how you can do that now for someone who is Black.

Here are 10 ways that you can make an effort to show up differently for your Black friends and colleagues. Please take heed:

Second, donate and get your friends and family to donate to Black women-led organizations both locally and nationally. Black Lives Matter.org (the movement that's been updating the world) is a notable and effective one . One last thing, I would love a meal-offering, store-bought or home-cooked, among many things, Black people are collectively grieving right now. Offering a meal is a tradition that honors our loss and exhaustion .
Sunshine Muse is a health equity consultant who runs a Black woman-led non-profit focused on shifting paradigms and experiences to help create a world where public health is more effective, people are more thoughtfully engaged and history is not forgotten. To learn more visit here.

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Dear White People...10 Ways You Can Show Up for your Black Friends and Colleagues

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Dear friends who are White and privileged by virtue of that categorization (not necessarily because of wealth, intention or ethnic background), If you are receiving this, it's because we have gone through some beautiful things together and/or we have been a significant support for each other as a friend or colleague.

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Daily Actions to take and you can support this women of color financially.

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Continuing the conversation on Joy and the decolonization/ de-centering of whiteness and the white gaze in curriculum - Anya Meier

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Wesley Lowrey: Why Minneapolis was the breaking point
One of the classic texts in African American studies is Zora Neale Hurston's 1928 essay "How It Feels to Be Colored Me." Her playful yet profound articulation resonates for me now. She wrote, "I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all. I do not belong to the sobbing school of Negrohood who hold that nature somehow has given them a lowdown dirty deal and whose feelings are all but about it ... No, I do not weep at the world-I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife."

Some of her words, I must admit, are too hopeful, at least for me right now. In fact, I do weep at the world; I am, in a sense, part of the sobbing school; and I am skeptical that my lone oyster knife can cut any of the rot out of this nation. But, like Hurston, I refuse to see the story of who I am as a tragedy.

Joy is not found in the absence of pain and suffering. It exists through it. The scourges of racism, poverty, incarceration, medical discrimination, and so much more shape black life. We live with the vestiges of slavery and Jim Crow, and with the new creative tides of anti-blackness directed toward us and our children. We know the wail of a dying man calling for his mama, and it echoes into the distant past and cuts into our deepest wounds. The injustice is inescapable. So yes, I want the world to recognize our suffering. But I do not want pity from a single soul. Sin and shame are found in neither my body nor my identity. Blackness is an immense and defiant joy. As the poet Sonia Sanchez wrote in a haiku about her power-and her struggles:

Come windless invader

I am a carnival of

stars a poem of blood

People of all walks of life are protesting the violent deaths handed out by police officers. This is extraordinary both because the victims were black-and when does black death elicit such a response?-and because Americans in general have a hard time dealing with death. Think about how uncomfortable many Americans are with grief. You are supposed to meet it with a hidden shamefulness, tuck yourself away respectably for a season, and then return whole and recovered. But that is not at all how grief courses through life. It is emetic, peripatetic; it shakes you and stops you and sometimes disappears only to come barreling back to knock the wind out of you.
Rebecca Carroll: You should be feeling miserable
Black Americans right now are experiencing a collective grief, one that unfolds publicly. And we are unable to tuck it away. I do think Hurston would have to admit this too, were she around today. She wrote her essay before Brown v. Board of Education, the Montgomery bus boycott, the Birmingham crusade, the March on Washington, Freedom Summer, the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Acts, the rise of black mayors, the first black governor, the first black president. She wrote her essay before we understood how tightly this nation would grasp onto its original sin even after legions of black people came with razor-sharp oyster knives and hands full of pearls.

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Wesley Lowrey: Why Minneapolis was the breaking point One of the classic texts in African American studies is Zora Neale Hurston's 1928 essay "How It Feels to Be Colored Me." Her playful yet profound articulation resonates for me now. She wrote, "I am not tragically colored.

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Notes of a native son: The world according to James Baldwin - Christina Greer

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50 years of racism -- why silence isn’t the answer | James A. White Sr.

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50 years of racism -- why silence isn’t the answer | James A. White Sr.

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50 years of racism -- why silence isn’t the answer | James A. White Sr. | TEDxColumbus

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What We Do

Grants

APS Teacher Campaign

APS Teacher Campaign

ATN awards grants to educators and community members who strive to disrupt inequalities and injustice within their schools, communities, or both. We will be launching our 3rd annual grant cycle in late October 2023.

APS Teacher Campaign

APS Teacher Campaign

APS Teacher Campaign

Explore resources to learn about the Atlanta Public Schools "Cheating Scandal" and support the educators facing prison

Programming

Programming

Programming

Year round, we host political education, healing justice, and affinity group events for educators, organizers, students, and parents/caregivers. Follow us on socials to stay up to date.

Resources

Programming

Programming

From our founding guide for racial justice and abolitionist social and emotional learning to a database for queer, trans, and non-binary educators + students, we pride ourselves on being a resource hub for education communities.

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Abolitionist Teaching Network's mission is simple: develop and support educators to fight injustice within their schools and communities. Utilizing the intellectual work and direct action of community organizers, Abolitionist Teachers will organize and take action for educational freedom.

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Why We're All Suffering from Racial Trauma (Even White People) -- and How to Handle It | Resmaa Menakem

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Why We're All Suffering from Racial Trauma (Even White People) -- and How to Handle It | Resmaa Menakem

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Resmaa Menakem — ’Notice the Rage; Notice the Silence’

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Resmaa Menakem — ’Notice the Rage; Notice the Silence’

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Robin DiAngelo and Resmaa Menakem with Krista Tippett

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Robin DiAngelo and Resmaa Menakem with Krista Tippett

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[Unedited] Robin DiAngelo and Resmaa Menakem with Krista Tippett

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Episode about building trust online

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Addressing Racism & Racial Disparities with Hilary Beard

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Teens Take Charge - Education Unscreened

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We demand that Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Carranza end discriminatory admissions screening in NYC schools!

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Federal Civil Rights complaint filed Nov 2020 by Teens Take Charge

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Federal Civil Rights complaint filed Nov 2020 by Teens Take Charge

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The “screened” high schools are separate from the city’s eight specialized high schools including Stuyvesant and Bronx Science, which admit students based on the results of a single exam. That exam is also the subject of a long-standing federal complaint but is partially protected by state law. The “screened” schools, meanwhile, are entirely within the city’s jurisdiction.

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New York City's system of "screening" applicants to elite public high schools based on their grades, test scores, attendance records and other criteria violates federal law by disproportionately keeping Black and Latino students out of the coveted schools, a new federal complaint alleges.

Student advocacy group Teens Take Charge argues in a complaint set to be filed Monday to the U.S. Education Department that the lower admissions rates for Black and Latino students to the selective high schools show the selection rules have a discriminatory effect - even if the rules appear neutral on the surface.

"As students, we always knew screens were discriminatory," said Teens Take Charge leader Brandon St. Luce. "Earlier this fall, we got the proof. The DOE's own numbers show that admissions screens lead to rampant racial discrimination, in clear violation of students' rights under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act."

The complaint, prepared by the Civil Rights Clinic at NYU Law School, appeals to the Education Department's Office of Civil Rights on the grounds that any program receiving federal funds must adhere to a federal law banning discrimination.

Civil rights advocates have in the past successfully argued that policies can be considered discriminatory if they have a "disparate impact" on different racial groups - even if they aren't intended to be discriminatory.

Teen leaders and their lawyers say new admissions numbers from the city's screened high schools perfectly illustrate that concept.

Data from more than a dozen screened high schools shows thousands of Black and Hispanic students applied - but got in at far lower rates than their peers.

At Eleanor Roosevelt High School on the Upper East Side, for example, where students are sorted based on grades, test scores, and attendance - and those living in the district get priority - 39% of applicants were Black or Hispanic, compared to just 9% of those admitted. Meanwhile, white students made up 21% of the applicant pool, but 45% of those were admitted. Similar patterns hold across 14 other schools listed in the complaint.

The "screened" high schools are separate from the city's eight specialized high schools including Stuyvesant and Bronx Science, which admit students based on the results of a single exam. That exam is also the subject of a long-standing federal complaint but is partially protected by state law. The "screened" schools, meanwhile, are entirely within the city's jurisdiction.

The Education Department's civil rights office under former President Barack Obama aggressively investigated cases of school-based racial discrimination - most famously requiring districts to justify their use of suspensions and expulsions if those punishments were being handed down disproportionately to Black and Latino students.

Donald Trump's secretary of education, Betsy DeVos, rescinded the Obama-era discipline guidance and sharply criticized the argument that "disparate impact" could prove discrimination.

The advocates behind the new admissions screen complaint hope their argument will get a warmer reception under Joe Biden's incoming administration.

The complaint asks the federal agency to bar the city from using admissions criteria like grades and attendance records, and instead require every public high school to accept a range of low- and high-scoring students.

City admissions rules have long been a lightning rod, and have come under particularly intense scrutiny this year, with officials yet to signal whether the rules will be changed amid the pandemic and anxious parents demanding answers.

Education Department officials pointed to efforts in some schools and districts to increase diversity in screened schools.

"We continue to make our admissions policies more inclusive, accessible, and equitable, and we are already seeing promising results," said agency spokeswoman Katie O'Hanlon. "We sincerely value student voice in our ongoing efforts to advance equity," she added, and said officials will review the discrimination complaint.

Supporters maintain the admissions rules are critical to maintaining a subset of high-performing schools and retaining middle-class families in the city public school system. Opponents argue there's no educational justification for the deeply stratified system.

"The goal of a public school system is to provide opportunity to every child - to make sure that all students have access to a high-quality education, no matter their race," said Deborah Archer, an NYU Law School professor and supervisor of the Civil Rights Clinic. "The New York City school system is fundamentally and essentially failing in that task."

Recommended on Daily News

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NYC high school admissions rules violate Civil Rights Act: federal complaint

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New York City's system of "screening" applicants to elite public high schools based on their grades, test scores, attendance records and other criteria violates federal law by disproportionately keeping Black and Latino students out of the coveted schools, a new federal complaint alleges.

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Youth led activism

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New York City has the most competitive admission screening process in the country. While the high school admissions process is called "open choice," the choices students have are dictated by factors like zip code, grades, number of suspensions and arrests, and if a student is able to attend an in-person interview.

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New York City has the most competitive admission screening process in the country. While the high school admissions process is called "open choice," the choices students have are dictated by factors like zip code, grades, number of suspensions and arrests, and if a student is able to attend an in-person interview.

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Students carrying picket signs as part of a citywide school boycott that saw hundreds of thousands of children stay home from classes. Feb. 3, 1964. Credit... Eddie Hausner/The New York Times

Past Tense

Low black and Hispanic enrollment at Stuyvesant High School has reignited a debate about how to finally integrate the city's schools.

Students carrying picket signs as part of a citywide school boycott that saw hundreds of thousands of children stay home from classes. Feb. 3, 1964. Credit... Eddie Hausner/The New York Times

How did we get here? Why have schools remained so segregated for so long? And what can the city's leaders do to change a fifty-year status quo?

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The headquarters of the Citywide Committee for Integration at a church in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Today, the same neighborhood is home to a growing movement of black parents who have embraced Afrocentric schools as an alternative to integrated schools. Feb. 2, 1964. Credit... Patrick A. Burns/The New York Times

On the morning of Feb. 2, 1964, students hunched over signs they would hoist the following day at a massive school boycott by hundreds of thousands of parents and children. They filled in bubble letters that spelled out "Fight Jim Crow, Boycott Schools," and "Integration Means Better Schools for All."

The boycott was led by local civil rights activists frustrated with the city's fitful efforts to integrate schools, a decade after the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education rendered school segregation unconstitutional.

Then, as now, the strongest supporters of integration believed the city's efforts hewed too closely to a separate-but-equal ideology that the Supreme Court had struck down.

Backers of integration pushed not only against the mostly white families who staunchly opposed using transportation to achieve integration, but also against moderates who warned of what might happen if activists pushed families too far.

Students at P.S. 121 in East Harlem participating in the school boycott in favor of integration. Feb. 3, 1964. Credit... Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

A nearly empty typing class at P.S. 139 during another school boycott in favor of desegregation. March 16, 1964. Credit... Eddie Hausner/The New York Times

"The big city school systems face the threat of a serious split," a Times reporter observed in early 1964. "Not between integrationists and segregationists but between civil rights leaders who are asking for total and instant integration of the schools and those who have long been working for a combination of school improvement and integration but are afraid that extreme and impractical steps may destroy the school system."

That divide is felt at the highest levels of city government today.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has urged patience and caution regarding integration, and argued that his administration's power is limited: it could not, he said, "put forward a plan that says we're going to instantly wipe away 400 years of American history." Rather than creating a citywide integration plan, he has boosted funding for schools with low-income students.

But Mr. de Blasio's schools chancellor, Richard A. Carranza, has vowed to tackle segregation, which he frequently refers to as "the elephant in the room" - despite the fact his boss has long avoided using the words "segregation" or "integration."

"Sixty-four years ago the question of diversifying schools, integrating schools, was definitively settled by the United States Supreme Court in Brown vs. Board of Education," Mr. Carranza said in a speech last year.

"The question I have for all of us tonight is, 64 years later, what do we, the collective we, have to show for that? I will tell you that in communities across America, the answer is, not much."

"We've got troubles of our own / So why not keep us close to home?

"Please, oh, please, leave us alone / Stop zoning, zoning, zoning."

In 1964, the backlash against integration arrived quickly. About a month after the February boycott, thousands of white parents - largely mothers - marched across the Brooklyn Bridge in slushy snow. They sang and chanted in unison against busing their children to schools outside their racially-segregated neighborhoods.

Many of those parents said they were supportive of integration, but argued that busing was too extreme a solution. "Education - Yes. Integration - Yes. Transportation - No," read one sign.

"Parents simply won't stand to have their children shuttled around from school to school to please some extremists," said Rosemary R. Gunning, a leader of the antibusing Parents and Taxpayers group, in 1964.

"Few would have believed that we could see New Yorkers shamelessly parading for segregation," Rev. Milton A. Galamison, who championed desegregation, said at the time about the march.

Last summer, Mr. de Blasio ruled out using busing to achieve integration. But even small-scale integration efforts in middle class neighborhoods have sparked enormous resistance from mostly white parents, who have objected to sending their children to schools even a few city blocks away from their zoned school.

In 2016, a proposal to send some Upper West Side children - who were zoned for a high-performing, mostly white, wealthy elementary school near their homes - to a lower-performing school, attended mostly by low-income black and Hispanic students, about a ten-minute walk away, was met with vitriol.

A version of the plan - which ultimately impacted a relatively small number of schools - eventually passed after years of negotiations.

But the recent push for integration has been led in part by liberal white parents.

Some of these parents helped force the most comprehensive local desegregation policy yet: the elimination of screened middle schools in Brooklyn's District 15, which includes upper-middle-class neighborhoods like Park Slope. Some parents there have said the election of President Trump prompted them to combat segregation in their children's schools.

Still the District 15 plan, which was approved by Mr. de Blasio last fall, was modest compared to the integration blueprint unveiled in the spring of 1964 by the then-Board of Education.

As many as 40,000 students would have been transferred to different schools through a combination of school rezoning and a pairing up of mostly white and mostly black schools. Students would then have been bussed to integrate the schools.

"The time for action is now," declared then-schools superintendent Calvin E. Gross when he released the plan.

In 1965, a member of Parents and Taxpayers had a prescient message: "I think we could say that it looks like it's going to be an argumentative year."

The prediction was correct; the Board of Education's desegregation plan mostly fell apart over the next few years, as opposition mounted.

As the 1970s began, the debate that would set the stage for New York's current integration fight was brewing at the State Capitol in Albany.

In the spring of 1971, lawmakers were crafting a bill that would codify the entrance exam as the sole means of admission into the specialized schools.

And they were in a hurry: After critics said the exam was "culturally biased" and discriminatory against black and Hispanic students, the city schools superintendent at the time signaled a willingness to re-evaluate how students were being admitted into the schools.

That year, about 10 percent of the students who attended Stuyvesant, the most selective of the schools, were black. (Last year, one percent of Stuyvesant's freshman class was black; this year, the number is even lower.)

But before the Board of Education could study the issue in 1971, parents sprung into action. One group from the Bronx High School of Science released a flyer asserting that the specialized schools, "could be saved only if, once and for all, it is established that there can be no tampering with the standards of merit and achievement that have been the basis for admission."

The brief but spirited fight culminated in May 1971, when members of the New York State Assembly shouted each other down, lobbing accusations of racism and bias, before ultimately approving the bill. For the nearly fifty years since, students have to ace the entrance exam to win a seat at a specialized school.

"Where are all the liberals who are always protecting blacks and Puerto Ricans? I don't see them today," said Louis Nine, a Democrat from the Bronx who opposed the bill, at the time.

Mr. Nine's Democratic colleague from the Bronx, Seymour Posner, insisted that the measure would protect "the opportunity for a bright kid, even if he's not rich, to go to an exceptional high school."

In the 1970s, the specialized schools were overwhelmingly white. Today, they are mostly attended by Asian-Americans, many of whom are low-income immigrants.

In 2018, when Mr. de Blasio proposed a plan that would discard the exam and overturn the law, known as the Hecht-Calandra Act, he called the paltry numbers of black and Hispanic students in the specialized high schools "a monumental injustice."

"Can anyone look the parent of a Latino or black child in the eye and tell them their precious daughter or son has an equal chance to get into one of their city's best high schools?" the mayor asked.

Opponents of the mayor's plan have said it could water down the schools' academics and that it discriminates against Asian students, who would lose about half their seats at specialized schools under his plan.

"We firmly oppose the amended bill that completely eliminates the test and substitutes unnamed subjective criteria," said the leaders of the Stuyvesant and Brooklyn Technical High School alumni associations, in the wake of Mr. de Blasio's proposal.

A half-century after Hecht-Calandra passed, Mr. de Blasio has tried to make the case for why state legislators should eliminate it. But that plan has scant political support in Albany or downstate.

But both supporters and critics of the mayor's plan have pushed him to release a blueprint to integrate all of the city's 1,800 schools, not just eight especially prominent ones.

No proposal has materialized.

In 1977, a Times reporter observed that, after a decade of advocacy and discussion, the prospect of school integration in New York was dimming.

"If the dream of racially integrated public schools is slipping away now in much of New York City, what will have become of it five years from now, or ten years? The outlook, at best, is uncertain and troubled."

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Segregation Has Been the Story of New York City's Schools for 50 Years

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Past Tense Low black and Hispanic enrollment at Stuyvesant High School has reignited a debate about how to finally integrate the city's schools. Students carrying picket signs as part of a citywide school boycott that saw hundreds of thousands of children stay home from classes. Feb. 3, 1964. Credit...

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A recent report reveals that public schools in New York isolate students not only by race, but also by socioeconomic status. In this article, we examine the extent of segregation in New York's schools, its causes, and potential solutions to this problem.

On May 17, 1954, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which declared that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. Yet, 60 years later, public schools across the nation continue to be highly segregated based on race and socioeconomic status. Curiously, America's most segregated schools are not in the Deep South, but in New York, a state that has expansive ethnic, cultural, social, and economic diversity. Perhaps even more surprising, New York City, one of the most diverse cities in the world, also has one of the most segregated school districts in the country.

Segregation by the Numbers

According to a report by UCLA's Civil Rights Project, school segregation in New York is widespread and occurs not just in metropolitan New York City, but also in rural areas and in urban locales upstate. However, as the nation's largest public school system with 1.1 million students, the New York City Public Schools greatly influence the depth and breadth of the segregation problem. And a significant problem it is. Although the number of Asian and Latino students has dramatically increased since the late 1980s, exposure of these groups to white students has decreased. In fact, of New York City's 32 school districts, 19 had less than 10 percent white enrollment as recently as 2010. Some of New York City's schools, particularly charter and magnet schools, are identified by the authors of the report as being so segregated that they are classified

Compounding the problem is that schools with high concentrations of minority students (commonly referred to as "majority-minority" schools), also have a high concentration of low-income students. In 2010, about half of public school students in the state were low-income, yet at schools where the majority of students were black or Latino, 70 percent of students were classified as low-income. Conversely, schools with an enrollment primarily comprised of white students had about 30 percent of students classified as low-income. In short, minority students are doubly segregated by both race and socioeconomic status.

In New York City, one of the primary causes of public school segregation is real estate. Black and Latino families live in predominantly black and Latino neighborhoods, with neighborhood schools serving those populations. With some neighborhoods comprised of over 90 percent of one race, be it black, Latino or otherwise, it stands to reason that schools in such neighborhoods would reflect the racial makeup of the surrounding community. In that regard, school segregation is highly reflective of the community in which the school is located.

This video from ReasonTV looks at the issue of segregation in New York City schools.

The Civil Rights Project report also lays much blame on schools of choice - charter and magnet schools - that focus too narrowly on serving one race in particular. These schools (the apartheid schools mentioned earlier) exacerbate community segregation by intensifying it - the report shows that every single charter school in the Bronx is "intensely segregated," while 97 percent of those in Manhattan get that moniker. However, critics of the report are quick to point out that the primary purpose of charter schools is to provide choice to low-income and underserved populations, such as blacks and Hispanics. With that goal in mind, charter schools will clearly have a disproportionately large number of minority students.

The argument from Brown v. Board, that "separate but equal" isn't fair, still holds true today. Schools with large numbers of minority and low-income students face many obstacles: less qualified teachers, tighter budgets, facilities in poor condition, lack of adequate school supplies and texts, violence, health issues, and highly mobile populations. In addition, minority students who attend racially segregated schools perform worse academically than minority students at racially integrated schools. Segregation not only makes academic achievement more difficult, it serves to perpetuate the poverty in which these students live.

Furthermore, attending a racially homogenous school does nothing to help students understand other cultures. The world is a highly diverse place, and learning about differences between and amongst groups and learning to respect those differences is an essential part of becoming an active and engaged member of today's global society. Without greater racial integration in schools, some fear that patterns of misunderstanding and contempt for those unlike themselves will not only continue but also grow in intensity.

This video from BRIC TV examines the reasons why New York City schools are s egregated.

While there is no single solution to this problem, many people believe that without larger changes to the communities in which segregated schools reside, there will be little or no change in the schools themselves. School segregation is generally reflective of the larger community's segregation, so making changes in school enrollment would be difficult without changes in housing patterns. Some have proposed building low-income housing near high achieving schools. Others have recommended free transportation services for students to a better school. Still others have proposed programs of " controlled choice," in which a family's choice of schools is combined with an algorithm to build student bodies that are socioeconomically diverse. Although none of these potential solutions would be easy to implement, the fact that there are open discussions about how to address the segregation issue provides hope that children in the future will attend schools that are racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse.

Questions? Contact us on Facebook. @publicschoolreview

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New York's Schools are the Most Segregated in the Nation | PublicSchoolReview.com

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A recent report reveals that public schools in New York isolate students not only by race, but also by socioeconomic status. In this article, we examine the extent of segregation in New York's schools, its causes, and potential solutions to this problem.

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School Segregation in New York City with New York Times Magazine, ChalkBeat Reporters | BK Live

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Brownstone Brooklyn's Racial Divide: Why Are the Schools So Segregated?

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Nearly Half of New York City's Public-School Students Stayed Home to Protest Segregation in a 1964 Boycott. That Fight Is Still Unfinished

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Historians say that a major milestone in the history of school integration is often left out of the civil rights story. Here's what to know.

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District 15 middle school diversity plan

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District 15 middle school diversity plan

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What's Happening Now?

Interested in hearing more about the District 15 Diversity Plan? Fill out this form and we'll call you.

The Department of Education worked with the urban planning and design firm WXY Studio and the D15 community to develop the D15 Diversity Plan over the 2017-2018 school year. Brooklyn's School District 15 (Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Fort Greene, Gowanus, Kensington, Park Slope, Sunset Park, Red Hook, and Windsor Terrace) is a choice school district for middle schools-there are no zoned middle schools in the district, which means that its 11 middle schools do not serve a specific geographic area within District 15. Ten of these middle schools use a screened admissions method, which means they consider students' grades, test scores, attendance, and/or other factors when making matches.

Starting in August 2017, DOE and WXY worked with community leaders and stakeholders to convene a project Working Group - responsible for ensuring an inclusive community process and for incorporating community feedback into a framework and set of recommendations. Since January 2018, three large Public Workshops and one final Community Presentation was held, reaching more than 500 D15 community members. Public Workshop #1 introduced the planning process and provided participants the opportunity to discuss the current middle school admissions process, segregation in D15 and the challenges related to integration. Public Workshop #2 touched briefly on the historical roles of racism and segregation, examined how the D15 population has changed over time, and provided community members with an opportunity to share their ideas on how to integrate schools and to create inclusive school environments. At Public Workshop #3, community members provided feedback on a set of initial draft recommendations. Feedback from this workshop was used to further refine the ideas presented. A final set of draft recommendations was presented at a Community Presentation in June.

What Comes Next?

The D15 Diversity Plan Working Group released its final plan on August 3, 2018 and is currently being reviewed by the department. The DOE's current timeline for responding to the Working Group and the District 15 community is the end of the summer. As the DOE reviews and responds to these recommendations, the DOE will make sure its response is thorough and answers the outstanding questions that it has heard from the community about how to make sure that any approved recommendations are implemented in a thoughtful way. The DOE will make sure that any changes are explained to the community in an easy to understand way, and will continue to engage the community to discuss what any changes will look like as we head into the next school year.

About the Process

Introduction

We are committed to creating a D15 Diversity Plan shaped by the values and priorities of District 15's diverse community and to developing specific and actionable recommendations. The planning process will directly engage community members, use their input as the basis for recommendations, and make data related to school diversity more transparent. The planning process will engage a wide range of topics related to school diversity which may include; race, equity, admissions policies, culturally responsive curricula, overcrowding, school quality, resource allocation, safety, restorative justice and staff representation, among others. Community input will guide which specific areas of diversity our research, discussion, and meetings will focus on.

Potential Areas of Focus

Areas of focus will be developed based on public workshop findings and on Working Group discussions-they may include the following:

Equitable Resource Allocation

Admissions Policies & Information

Overcrowding

School Environment & Activities

Phases

The four phases of the D15 Diversity planning process are:

1. Introduction - Finalize roles and responsibilities. Introduce the planning process.

2. Framing - Gather and prioritize community concerns and insights.

3. Options - Show through data analysis and presentation how different options could affect District 15 and gather feedback.

4. Plan - Create a final plan and present it to the community.

Goals

The final District 15 Diversity Plan will include findings and recommendations informed by the Public Workshops and produced by Working Group members with the support of WXY and the DOE. The role of the Diversity Plan is:

To inform the DOE's D15 diversity planning and related diversity initiatives.

To develop a community-based road map for short- and long-term improvements in district-level diversity.

To ensure our long-term accountability to community residents.

Roles

D15 Community

The District 15 community plays an important role throughout the diversity planning process. If you live in District 15, we actively seek your input in public workshops and through other community engagement and public outreach activities. Feedback collected from community members will serve as the foundation for the plan's framework and recommendations.

Working Group

The members of the D15 Diversity Plan Working Group-stakeholders from across District 15-are guiding the planning process. They are tasked with keeping the process inclusive, accessible, and accountable to all D15 residents. This group also works to; generate interest in public workshops, review and provide feedback on community findings, and, to use these findings to shape the plan's framework and recommendations. Working Group Participants:

Center for Family Life, SCO Family of Services

Chinese Planning Council

Coalition for Equitable Schools in District 15

Community Education Council District 15

District 15 Elementary School Principal - P.S. 32

District 15 Middle School Principal - M.S. 51

District 15 Middle School Teacher - M.S. 88

District 15 Parents for Middle School Equity

District 15 Superintendent

IntegrateNYC

Literacy Coach - P.S. 24

New York City Department of Education, Central Staff

PTA President - P.S. 1

PTA Secretary - M.S. 821

Red Hook Community Justice Center

SLT Parent Member - M.S. 821

Public Workshops

The public workshops are organized around the four phases of the D15 Diversity planning process: (1) Introduction - to introduce the community planning and engagement process, (2) Framing - to gather and prioritize insights from community members that will give direction to initiatives and actions, (3) Options - to present draft recommendations and to gather feedback, and (4) to present final draft recommendations to community members.

Advisory Groups

Comprised of organizations with expertise related to issues of school diversity or D15 stakeholders, Advisory Groups will be formed to review community-defined goals and priorities and to provide formal feedback on Working Group findings and recommendations - lending district, citywide, and national expertise and experience to the planning process. Advisory groups will have the chance to provide formal feedback on the findings from Public Workshops #1 and #2, on draft recommendations before Public Workshop #3, and on final draft recommendations before Public Workshop #4.

Facilitators

The facilitators ensure that information and resources are shared across meetings, topic areas, and roles. They work directly with the Working Group and Community Members to develop implementable recommendations for the D15 Diversity Plan.

DOE: The New York City Department of Education.

WXY: An urban planning and design firm with a focus on civic projects in NYC.

Border Crossers: An organization which trains and empowers educators to dismantle patterns of racism and injustice.

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Interested in hearing more about the District 15 Diversity Plan? Fill out this form and we'll call you. The Department of Education worked with the urban planning and design firm WXY Studio and the D15 community to develop the D15 Diversity Plan over the 2017-2018 school year.

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School Diversity Advisory Groups Recommendations to the DOE

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School Diversity Advisory Groups Recommendations to the DOE

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Goals, Metrics and Accountability

Race, Diversity and Enrollment

General

Accessibility and Integration of Students with Disabilities

School Diversity Grant Program

Resources

System-wide Recommendations

Student Empowerment

Pedagogy & Curriculum

School Climate

Parent & Teacher Empowerment

Restorative Justice and Practices

DOE continues to work through recommendations from the Mayor's Leadership Team on School Climate and Discipline and will share an update on the recommendations implemented to date.

In 2015, the Mayor, in partnership with the DOE, the Police Department, and the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, convened the Mayor's Leadership Team on School Climate and Discipline. This working group ultimately made a set of recommendations, which are included in this report at a summary level. The SDAG endorses these recommendations and calls upon the DOE and its partner agencies to provide an update on the implementation of these recommendations.

Representation

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School Diversity Advisory Group Recommendations

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DOE continues to work through recommendations from the Mayor's Leadership Team on School Climate and Discipline and will share an update on the recommendations implemented to date. In 2015, the Mayor, in partnership with the DOE, the Police Department, and the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, convened the Mayor's Leadership Team on School Climate and Discipline.

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Lists of DOE schools 3K - 12 that are participating in diversity initiatives

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Lists of DOE schools 3K - 12 that are participating in diversity initiatives

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Schools across New York City are participating in an initiative to increase diversity within their schools. Some schools give an admissions priority to students who are English Language Learners (ELLs) or Emerging Multilingual Learners (EMLs), are in the child welfare system, are in temporary housing, or are low-income. A complete list of schools and their priorities is below. Participating schools will still make offers using standard admissions priorities.

3-K

The following 3-K programs are participating in the initiative for the 2019-2020 school year:

Big Birds Playhouse (31RAFF) | Priority to applicants who are Emergent Multilingual Learners after all current students are admitted.

Use MySchools to learn more about these programs.

Pre-K

District 1 Programs

District 1 DOE public schools give priority to two groups of pre-K applicants. The percentage of seats prioritized for each group is based on the applicant pool and changes each year.

For the last school year, Group 1 applicants-students who were eligible for Free or Reduced Price Lunch (based on family income), who lived in temporary housing, and/or who were Emergent Multilingual Learners-were prioritized for 61% of seats. Group 2 applicants -students who did not fall into any of the above categories-were prioritized for 39% of seats.

The following schools are participating in the initiative for the 2019-2020 school year:

Other Pre-K Programs

The following pre-K programs are participating in the initiative for the 2019-2020 school year:

Use MySchools to learn more about these programs.

Kindergarten

District 1 Schools

District 1 schools give priority to two groups of applicants. The percentage of seats prioritized for each group is based on the applicant pool and changes each year.

For the last school year, Group 1 applicants-students who were eligible for Free or Reduced Price Lunch (based on family income), who lived in temporary housing, and/or who were English Language Learners Learners-were prioritized for 67% of seats. Group 2 applicants -students who did not fall into any of the above categories-were prioritized for 33% of seats.

The following schools are participating in the initiative for the 2019-2020 school year:

Other Elementary Schools

The following DOE public elementary schools are participating in the initiative for the 2019-2020 school year:

Learn more about kindergarten admissions.

Gifted & Talented

The following schools' G&T programs are participating in the diversity initiative for the 2019-2020 school year:

P.S. 015 Roberto Clemente (01M015) | For the last school year, Group 1 applicants were eligible for Free or Reduced Lunch (based on family income), lived in temporary housing, or were English Language Learners were prioritized for 65% of seats. Group 2 applicants who did not fall into any of the above categories were prioritized for 35% of seats.

P.S. 110 Florence Nightingale (01M110) | For the last school year, Group 1 applicants were eligible for Free or Reduced Lunch (based on family income), lived in temporary housing, or were English Language Learners were prioritized for 65% of seats. Group 2 applicants who did not fall into any of the above categories were prioritized for 35% of seats.

P.S. 011 William T. Harri s (02M011) | Priority to applicants eligible for Free or Reduced Price Lunch (based on family income), who live in temporary housing and/or live in Public Housing for 30% of kindergarten and 1st grade seats.

P.S. 77 Lower Lab School (02M077) | Priority to applicants eligible for Free or Reduced Price Lunch (based on family income) for 12% of kindergarten seats.

The Anderson School (03M334) | Priority to applicants who live in northern Manhattan and the south Bronx, for 30% of kindergarten seats. Specifically, this priority is for applicants who live in District 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, or 12, as well as for applicants who live north of 96th Street in District 3 or south of 178th Street in District 6.

Tag Young Scholars (04M012) | Priority to applicants eligible for Free or Reduced Price Lunch (based on family income) for 40% of kindergarten seats.

Brooklyn School of Inquiry (20K686) | Priority to applicants eligible for free or reduced price lunch (based on family income) for 20% of Kindergarten seats and to applicants who live in Districts 18 or 19 for 20% of Kindergarten seats.

Learn more about Gifted and Talented admissions.

Middle School

The following schools are participating in the diversity initiative for the 2019-2020 school year:

District 3 Middle Schools

Priority to applicants eligible for Free or Reduced Price Lunch (FRL) and who are lower-performing for 25% of seats. 10% of seats are prioritized for the lowest-performing FRL-eligible students and 15% for for lower-performing FRL-eligible students. The remaining 75% of seats are open to all students. The following District 3 middle schools are participating in the pilot:

District 15 Middle Schools

As part of a district-wide plan to increase middle school diversity, all District 15 middle schools will now:

Use an open admissions method. These schools will no longer screen or select students based on their academic records.

Give priority to the following applicants for 52% of seats at each school: students from low-income families, students in temporary housing, and English Language Learners.

The following District 15 middle schools are participating in this pilot:

Other DOE Public Middle Schools

The following schools are participating in diversity initiatives for the 2019-2020 school year:

Learn more about these programs and their participation in the diversity initiative with MySchools .

High School

The following programs are participating in the initiative for the 2019-2020 school year, in ascending order of district:

Urban Assembly Maker Academy (02M282) | Program Code: M61A | Priority to applicants eligible for Free Lunch (based on family income) for 63% of seats.

NYC iSchool (02M376) | Program Code: M52A | Priority to applicants eligible for Free or Reduced Price Lunch (based on family income) for 60% of seats.

Baruch College Campus High School (02M411) | Program Code: M87A | Priority to applicants eligible for Free or Reduced Price Lunch (based on family income) for 38% of seats: first to D2 students or residents, then to Manhattan students or residents, and then to New York City residents.

N.Y.C. Lab School for Collaborative Studies (02M412) | Program Code: M74A | Priority to applicants eligible for Free or Reduced Lunch (based on family income) for 38% of seats: first to D2 students or residents, then to Manhattan students or residents, and then to New York City residents.

Eleanor Roosevelt High School (02M416) | Program Code: M21A | Priority to applicants eligible for Free or Reduced Price Lunch (based on family income) for 38% of seats: first to D2 students or residents, then to Manhattan students or residents, and then to New York City residents.

Repertory Company High School for Theatre Arts (02M531) | Program Code: M20X | Priority to applicants eligible for Free Lunch (based on family income) for 40% of seats.

Harvest Collegiate High School (02M534) | Program Code: A53A | Priority to applicants eligible for Free Lunch (based on family income) for 63% of seats: first to Manhattan students or residents, and then to New York City residents.

Academy for Software Engineering (02M546) | Program Code: A54A | Priority to applicants eligible for Free or Reduced Price Lunch (based on family income) for 69% of seats.

Urban Assembly New York Harbor School (02M551) | Program Codes: K51A | Priority to applicants eligible for Free or Reduced Price Lunch (based on family income) for 69% of seats.

Manhattan / Hunter Science High School (03M541) | Program Code: M55A | Priority to applicants eligible for Free or Reduced Price Lunch (based on family income) for 69% of seats.

Park East High School (04M495) | Program Code: M17J | Priority to District 4 residents eligible for Free or Reduced Price Lunch (based on family income) for 26% of seats.

Central Park East High School (04M555) | Program Code: M86A | Priority to applicants eligible for Free Lunch (based on family income) for 64% of seats.

The Heritage School (04M680) | Program Code: M97A | Priority to District 4 residents eligible for Free or Reduced Price Lunch (based on family income) for 43% of seats.

Urban Assembly High School of Music and Art (13K350) | Program Code: L02R | Priority to applicants eligible for Free or Reduced Price Lunch (based on family income) for 69% of seats.

Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Young Women (13K527) | Program Code: L54A | Priority to English Language Learners for 15 seats: first to continuing 8th grade students and then to New York City residents.

Williamsburg High School for Architecture and Design (14K558) | Program Code: K09X | Priority to applicants eligible for Free Lunch (based on family income) for 63% of seats: first to Brooklyn students or residents, and then to New York City residents.

Williamsburg Preparatory School (14K561) | Program Code: K39X | Priority to applicants eligible for Free Lunch (based on family income) for 63% of seats.

Brooklyn Collaborative Studies (15K448) | Program Code: K03R | Priority to applicants eligible for Free or Reduced Price Lunch (based on family income), students in temporary housing, and English Language Learners, for 52% of seats.

Millennium Brooklyn High School (15K684) | Program Code: L63A | Priority to applicants eligible for Free or Reduced Price Lunch (based on family income) for 50% of seats: first to Brooklyn students or residents, and then to New York City residents.

Leon M. Goldstein High School for the Sciences (22K535) | Program Code: K76A | Students admitted in rank order by zip code.

Bard High School Early College Queens (24Q299) | Program Code: Q74B | Priority to applicants eligible for Free or Reduced Price Lunch (based on family income) for 63% of seats.

Academy for Care ers in Television and Film (30Q301) | Program Code: Q01A | Priority to applicants eligible for Free Lunch (based on family income) for 63% of seats.

Learn more about high school admissions and programs in MySchools.

Specialized High Schools

Discovery Program

The Discovery program is a summer enrichment program for eligible rising ninth grade students who take the specialized high schools admissions test (SHSAT) and score right below the cutoff score. Eligible scores will vary from year to year and will be based on seat availability.

Students will only be considered for Discovery programs at the specialized high school(s) they list on their SHSAT answer sheet.

To be eligible for the Discovery program, a specialized high schools applicant must:

1. Be one or more of the following: a student from a low-income household, a student in temporary housing, or an English Language Learner who moved to NYC within the past four years; and

2. Have scored within a certain range below the cutoff score on the SHSAT; and

3. Attend a high-poverty school. A school is defined as high-poverty if it has an Economic Need Index (ENI) of at least 60%. You can see a school's historical ENI by visiting the School Performance Dashboard and selecting the school from the list.

If students are eligible to participate in the Discovery program, we'll let them know in the spring as part of their high school results. Families of eligible students should then meet with their current school counselor to discuss the Discovery program application.

Students who participate and complete program requirements are admitted to the specialized high schools. By the summer of 2020, 20% of seats at each specialized high school will be reserved for participants of the Discovery program.

DREAM Program

DREAM (Determination, Resiliency, Enthusiasm, Ambition, Motivation) is an extracurricular academic program that prepares eligible New York City public school students for the SHSAT. Learn more about the DREAM program.

Find out more about specialized high schools.

Learn More

Learn about a proposal to make admissions to the eight testing specialized high schools better and fairer.

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Schools across New York City are participating in an initiative to increase diversity within their schools. Some schools give an admissions priority to students who are English Language Learners (ELLs) or Emerging Multilingual Learners (EMLs), are in the child welfare system, are in temporary housing, or are low-income.

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Research Coming from NYU's Steinhardt school

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Research Coming from NYU's Steinhardt school

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The New York City public school population is one of the most racially and ethnically diverse in the country. Yet the entrenched racial and socio-economic segregation of City schools has been the object of increasing attention. During the last two years, the NYC DOE has made fostering school diversity-broadly defined-a central pillar of its agenda to advance equity.

One of the district's stated goals is to increase the number of students who attend "racially representative" schools. How one defines "racially representative" is complicated, especially in a city with so much racial diversity and racial segregation across neighborhoods. In this Spotlight post, the first in our series exploring segregation and efforts to desegregate NYC schools, we identify racially representative schools according to three definitions:

Proportion of Black and Latino Students in a School. This definition was used by the DOE in its 2017 diversity plan. It states that a racially representative school is one where at least 50 percent but no more than 90 percent of its student body is Black or Latino.

School Compared to Community School District (CSD) Racial Demographics. This definition, first proposed by the School Diversity Advisory Group, compares the proportions of Asian, Black, Latino and White students in each school to the proportions residing in the school's Community School District (CSD), regardless of whether they attend school in the CSD. A school is considered racially representative if the proportion for each group falls within 10 percentage points of its proportion in the CSD.

School Compared to Borough Racial Demographics. This definition compares the proportion of Asian, Black, Latino, and White students in each school to the proportions residing in the borough in which the school is located. A school is considered racially representative if the proportion for each group falls within 10 percentage points of its proportion in the borough.

These definitions differ in terms of both which racial groups and which reference populations are used to determine if a school is racially representative. These distinctions are important, since a school that appears racially representative compared to its CSD may be quite segregated compared to its borough or the city at large.

In Figure 1, we show the proportions of elementary and middle schools that were racially representative during the 2017-2018 school year-for the City as a whole and for each of the five boroughs-using the three different definitions outlined above.[1] The analysis includes both traditional district schools and charters. When using the concentration of Black and Latino students in a school, we find that a little over a quarter of all elementary and middle schools are racially representative (328 schools). When comparing school racial demographics to their CSD, the proportion of schools that are racially representative is slightly higher, at just over 30 percent (367 schools). However, when comparing school racial demographics to the borough in which they are located, only about 9 percent of schools-or 105 schools-are racially representative.
Figure 1: Proportion of Racially Representative Elementary and Middle Schools in NYC, and Within Each Borough, Using Three Definitions, 2017-2018
The first definition-based on the concentration of Black or Latino students in a school-produces a relatively comparable proportion of racially representative schools across each of the five boroughs, ranging from 20 percent in the Bronx to 36 percent in Queens. The somewhat higher proportions in Staten Island and Queens are likely due to the large populations of Asian students who live in Queens and White students who live in Staten Island.

The boroughs look very different by the other two definitions, however. Most notably, nearly half of all elementary and middle schools in the Bronx and a third of schools in Brooklyn are racially representative in comparison to their CSD, while only 12 percent of the schools in Queens are. When we compare schools to the demographics of their borough, only the Bronx has more than a quarter of its schools defined as racially representative. Strikingly, fewer than 1 percent of schools in Brooklyn and fewer than 3 percent of schools in Queens are racially representative when compared to their borough.
Big Questions:
How we identify racially diverse schools matters for how we approach the problem of school segregation in NYC. In its 2019 report, the NYC School Diversity Advisory Group (SDAG) explicitly tied its recommendations to these increasingly broad definitions of representation. In the short-run, the SDAG advocated for policies to make schools representative of their CSD, while in the long-run advocated for representation at the borough and city levels.[2] There remain many important questions about how we measure segregation in NYC and track progress over time. These questions include:

What factors explain different levels of racial representation when using each of these measures, and what are the biggest challenges to progress on each?

What measures should we use to assess the effects of racial and socio-economic segregation in NYC schools (e.g., do students in highly segregated schools have access to fewer resources or less rigorous coursework?)? What measures should we use to determine whether burgeoning desegregation efforts are making a difference? Many scholars (in NYC and nationally) have embraced a definition based on the percentage of Black and Latino students in a school-which importantly captures the extent to which Black and Latino students attend school apart from White and Asian students. However, questions have been raised about the utility of this approach in NYC, given real differences in demographics across neighborhoods and boroughs. A definition focused on a school's CSD takes into account the fact that neighborhoods are already racially segregated, and that elementary and middle school students generally attend schools near where they live. Which definition(s) should the Research Alliance use as we continue working to understand patterns of segregation in NYC schools?

Finally, what kinds of diversity do we miss when we think only in terms of four racial categories? There are many differences within these categories, including differences associated with ethnicity, income, immigration status, language, religion, special needs, and prior opportunities and achievement. How, if at all, should these dimensions of diversity be incorporated into measures of school segregation and integration?

Check back next week for another Spotlight post focused segregation in NYC schools.

[1] We exclude schools that serve 9 th through 12 th grade from this analysis, given that high school students are more likely to attend high schools outside of their residential CSD or even borough.

[2] The SDAG stated that this should be the ultimate goal. Out of the 1,218 schools analyzed in this Spotlight, there are only 15 that are racially representative of NYC as a whole.
What else should we be asking about defining racially representative schools? Let us know .
This post was authored by Kathryn Hill, Zitsi Mirakhur, and John Sludden. Special thanks to Sean Corcoran for his generous feedback on earlier drafts of this work.

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Which Schools Are "Racially Representative?" It Depends on the Definition You Use. |

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The New York City public school population is one of the most racially and ethnically diverse in the country. Yet the entrenched racial and socio-economic segregation of City schools has been the object of increasing attention. During the last two years, the NYC DOE has made fostering school diversity-broadly defined-a central pillar of its agenda to advance equity.

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1. What can consortium teachers do to support Teens Take Charge and the federal complaint?
2. What do the screens look like at each of our schools?

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IntegrateNYC files a law suit March 2021

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IntegrateNYC files a law suit March 2021

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The sweeping complaint accuses New York City of maintaining a segregated school system and seeks to establish the right to an anti-racist education.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has made some modest changes to admissions policies for elite public schools, but has left major questions about school integration to his successor. Credit... Pool photo by Jeenah Moon

A major new lawsuit filed Tuesday could force fundamental changes to how New York City's public school students are admitted into selective schools, and marked the latest front in a growing political, activist and now legal movement to confront inequality in the nation's largest school system.

Even if the suit, brought by civil rights attorneys and student plaintiffs in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, does not upend the city's admissions system, it will likely prompt scrutiny of New York's school system, considered among the most racially and socioeconomically segregated in the country.

The suit argues that the city's school system has replicated and worsened racial inequality by sorting children into different academic tracks as early as kindergarten, and has therefore denied many of its roughly one million students of their right to a sound, basic education. Defendants include Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, Mayor Bill de Blasio, and the incoming schools chancellor, Meisha Porter.

If the plaintiffs are successful, the city could be compelled to restructure or even eliminate current admissions policies for hundreds of selective schools, including gifted and talented programs and academically selective middle and high schools.

The suit could also accelerate pressure on Ms. Porter to articulate a school integration plan. The outgoing chancellor, Richard A. Carranza, resigned from his post over disagreements with the mayor over how aggressively to pursue desegregation.

And the crowded field of Democrats vying to become the next mayor will likely have to contend with the lawsuit's claims about the school system. The primary election that will almost certainly determine the next mayor is less than four months away.

"This is the first case in the nation to seek a constitutional right to an anti-racist education," said Mark Rosenbaum, one of the lawyers suing the city and state.

Mr. Rosenbaum, the director of Public Counsel Opportunity Under Law, a Los Angeles-based pro bono law firm, is joined on the case by prominent civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump, along with the law firm Sidley Austin and IntegrateNYC, a youth-led integration group.

Danielle Filson, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education, defended the city's record on school desegregation. "This administration has taken bold, unprecedented steps to advance equity in our admissions policies," she said in a statement. "Our persistent work to drive equity for New York City families is ongoing, and we will review the suit."

Mr. Rosenbaum's group has sued several states and school systems in recent years, most prominently the Detroit public schools, for failing to provide students with a basic education guaranteed under the Constitution. The law firm also sued the state of California last year for failing to offer a sound, basic education via remote learning.

In the Detroit case, a federal court found last year that the district had been so negligent toward the educational needs of students that children had been "deprived of access to literacy." The court then declared that public school students had a constitutional right to an adequate education. The plaintiffs later reached a settlement with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan to fund more literacy programs in the Detroit public schools.

The New York suit highlights the lack of nonwhite teachers relative to the student population, which is nearly 70 percent Black and Latino, and the disproportionately high suspension rates for nonwhite students compared with their white classmates.

But it focuses mainly on the issue that has thrust New York's divided school district into the national spotlight: the sorting of students as young as 4 years old for selective classes. New York is more reliant on academic prerequisites like test scores, grades and attendance to place students in public schools than any other school district in America.

The city's gifted and talented classes for elementary school students are about 75 percent white and Asian-American, and there are relatively few gifted programs located in predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods. White students, who make up just 15 percent of the overall district, are starkly overrepresented in selective middle and high schools.

About 40 percent of the city's middle schools use academic screens like grades and test scores to determine which students to admit, and many high schools, including elite schools like Stuyvesant High School, sort students by ability or require students to take a high-stakes admissions exam for entry.

In 2019, roughly three-quarters of Black and Latino students went to schools that had student populations that were less than 10 percent white, and over a third of white students attended schools with mostly white populations, according to data collected by the City Council.

While New York is unique among big-city school districts for its reliance on high-stakes admissions across grade levels, the suit could have relevance in other districts. Some systems, including those in San Francisco, Boston and Fairfax County, Va., have recently changed admissions processes for some of their selective high schools, but racial and socioeconomic segregation is still common in many school districts across the country.

The New York State Constitution guarantees all students a right to a sound, basic education, and other states have equivalent clauses, said Amanda Savage, a lawyer with Public Counsel, during a news conference on Tuesday.

"We absolutely think that all students across the country have a right to an anti-racist education," Ms. Savage said, noting that the extent of New York's segregation made it a "particularly powerful place" to bring the lawsuit.

Decades of research have shown that integration can improve academic outcomes for nonwhite students in particular because desegregation leads to money and other resources being distributed more evenly across schools.

"Nearly every facet of the New York City public education system operates not only to prop up, but also to affirmatively reproduce, the artificial racial hierarchies that have subordinated people of color for centuries in the United States," the complaint reads.

Mr. de Blasio has announced some changes to selective admissions in recent months, largely prompted by the pandemic. He has suspended competitive middle school admissions for one year, with a permanent decision to come before he leaves office.

The mayor has also created a temporary new admissions system for 4-year-olds vying for seats in gifted and talented classrooms. Rather than having those children sit for a much-criticized exam, they will be referred to gifted programs by their preschool teachers, or sit for an interview.

Integration activists have called that a stopgap measure that will do little to diversify schools. It is not yet clear how the city will admit students into gifted classes starting next year.

In 2018, the mayor tried and failed to push the State Legislature to eliminate the admissions exam for the city's so-called specialized high schools, including Stuyvesant High School. The entrance exam for those schools is largely controlled by Albany.

The plaintiff's request for relief includes the elimination of selective admissions processes for all grade levels, which would amount to the most dramatic change to the city's school system in decades.

"This would be the ugliest trial in New York history if the city and state insist on trying these practices," Mr. Rosenbaum said, adding that he hopes the city will quickly change its admissions policies.

Though a top-to-bottom restructuring of the city's selective admissions policies seems unlikely, a judge could require the city to alter some of its admissions protocols or find other ways to ensure that selective schools are more representative of the city's student population.

But even landmark education rulings do not always prompt clear change.

A New York judge ruled in 2001 that the state's system for funding public schools was deficient, and violated students' rights to a basic education. That ruling, delivered more than a decade after the suit was first filed, soon became a public awareness campaign about school funding issues. It is cited frequently by politicians and activists, but much of the money owed to schools has still not been distributed.

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Lawsuit Challenging N.Y.C. School Segregation Targets Gifted Programs

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The sweeping complaint accuses New York City of maintaining a segregated school system and seeks to establish the right to an anti-racist education. A major new lawsuit filed Tuesday could force fundamental changes to how New York City's public school students are admitted into selective schools, and marked the latest front in a growing political, activist and now legal movement to confront inequality in the nation's largest school system.

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At our next caucus, I want to pitch that we talk about dismantling white supremacy practices and structures at JBS using the article below.. I am also pitching this same discussion to the Rap on Race group.

A couple of years ago Ellysa shared this article with JBS. The article came up again at an Abolitionist Teaching Network workshop this summer. The workshop facilitator asked that participants identify the anti-black attitudes that lead to white supremacy and how they manifest in schools. This sheet has some of the responses.

I didn't plug into the planning week, did a racial justice committee get going?

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This spreadsheet was created during an ATN workshop for white educators.

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White Supremacy Culture --> Anti-Blackness --> schools