FORUM
America, what
do we do after
Charleston?
Marian
Wright
Edelman
Guest
Columnist
"For in a warm climate,
no man will labour for him
self who can make another
labour for him. This is so
true, that of the proprietors
of slaves a very small pro
portion indeed are ever seen
to labor. And can the liber
ties of a nation be thought
secure wnen we nave removea their only firm basis, a con
viction in the minds of the people that these liberties are
the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with
his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect
that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever ..."
- Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query
XVIII
"The Negro race in America, stolen, ravished and
degraded, struggling up through difficulties and oppres
sion, needs sympathy and receives criticism, needs help
and is given hindrance, needs protection and is given
mob-violence, needs justice and is given charity, needs
leadership and is given cowardice and apology, needs
bread and is given a stone. This nation will never stand
justified before God until these things are changed." -
"Declaration of Principles" of the Niagara Movement, a
forerunner of the NAACP's founding.
I am a native South
Carolinian. Charleston is my
maternal ancestral home.
My great- grandmother was
born during slavery. My
great-grandfather, 1 have
been told, was a plantation
overseer. Never have I been
more proud and more
ashamed of my dueling
ancestral heritages than in
the aftermath of the terroris
tic murders of nine Black
Christians engaged in Bible
study at Charleston's his
toric Mother Emanuel
African Methodist
Episcopal Church by a
young wnue man miectea oy wnat ur. King canea, arier
President Kennedy's assassination, "a morally inclement
climate."
The young White visitor to the weekly Bible study
came with a troubled spirit and racial rage inflamed by a
White supremacist website. He was enabled to become a
mass killer by readily accessible and largely unregulated
guns - over 310 million in citizen hands and only 4 mil
lion in America's law enforcement and military hands. But
his dastardly deeds were bathed in an amazing spirit of
forgiveness among the victims' families.
I hope this latest chapter in America's pervasive histo
ry of domestic terrors against millions of Black citizens
victimized by slavery and Jim Crow terrorism, denied full
citizen rights throughout our history, relegated to subhu
man three-fifths status in our Constitution and treated like
beasts of burden to fuel our unjust economic system can
be squarely confronted. Until the United States sees and
cures its profoundly evil birth defects of slavery, Native
American genocide, and the exclusion of all women and
non-propertied men of all colors from our electoral
process, these birth defects will continue to flare up in
multiple guises to threaten our Black community's and
everyone's safety, our nation's future, and render hollow
our professed but still inadequate commitment to ensuring
equality for all.
Slavery was followed by thousands of lynchings and
racially instigated terrorism through hate groups like the
KKK during the Jim Crow era. And it continues to be
reflected in the unjust racial profiling and killings of Black
boys and men by law enforcement agents and a mass
incarceration system. Millions of Black and Latino chil
dren and people of color are trapped in a cradle to prison
pipeline lodged at the intersection of race and poverty.
That Black children are the poorest, most miseducated,
most incarcerated, most unemployed, and most demo
nized of any group of children in America is a continuing
legacy of slavery and Jim Crow that must end now. Let's
seize this latest tragic racial terrorist act to confront our
history and how we teach our history. And we must all act
together to reject our present day racism in all its structur
al, cultural and hidden manifestations with urgency and
persistence. We must pass on to our children and grand
children a more honekt and just nation and a future free of
the violence-of-r^cisw, poverty and guns.
I believe we are called in the aftermath of the
Charleston massacre, the latest in a long and egregious
history of unjust Black deaths, to confront the realities of
our true history so that a new generation of White youths
does not carry forth the poison of racial supremacy and
White privilege. We also must act so that millions of
Black, Native American and Latino children, soon to be
the majority of our country's children in a majority non
white world, do not have to continue to struggle against
overt and covert culturally ingrained racism. We must
firmly reject all symbols glorifying slavery and hatred that
divide us. We must reject all efforts to subvert fair and
democratic election processes including the precious right
to vote. We must end mass incarceration and ensure equal
justice under the law for all. We must confront massive
inequality of wealth and income and end poverty, begin
ning with child poverty now.
It is time to commit America to become America and
to close the gap between creed and deed. After this Fourth
of July, let's send a ray of hope throughout our nation and
world that we are committed to honoring our dream of
equality for all. What an amazing grace moment we have
been given to help our nation move forward together.
Marian Wright Edelman is president of the Children's
Defense Fund. For more information go to www.chil
drensdefense .org.
Learning what makes summer programs
effective for middle school students
Tiffany
Gueye
Guest
Columnist
Editor's Note: Building
Educated Leaders for Life
(BELL) will partner with
school districts, business
and philanthropic groups in
four North Carolina cities
this summer, including
Winston-Salem, to help an
estimated 4,500 elementary
and middle school students
boost their reading and
math skills while partici
pating in a camp-like expe
rience.
Summer learning can
increase student achieve
ment. But when it comes
to middle school students,
how can we continuously
improve our approach and
produce the greatest return
on investment for children,
families and schools?
In 2012, a Social
Innovation Fund (SIF)
grant from the Edna
McConnell Clark
Foundation and the
Corporation for National
and Community Service
gave my organization,
BELL (Building Educated
Leaders for Life), an
opportunity to conduct a
randomized controlled trial
and better understand how
and why summer learning
yields positive student out
comes.
This study was particu
larly unique and important
because little evidence
exists about effective learn
ing models for middle
school students. MDRC,
the research firm responsi
ble for conducting the eval
uation, designed the
research to learn more
about how summer learn
ing programs can improve
the academic achievement
of middle school students
and to better understand the
context in which summer
programs are implemented.
The research found the
impact of summer learning
may be greater on students'
math achievement than on
reading achievement. It
also found that it is possi
ble to deliver high-quality
programming that middle
school students will volun
tarily attend at a high rate.
We plugged the find
ings from the study into our
continuous assessment
process, along with data
collected annually from
pre- and post-program
formative assessments,
teacher & parent surveys,
attendance records and
quality metrics. Since
2012, we have focused on
enhancing three core pro
gram elements that are
closely tied to strong stu
dent outcomes: staff train
ing, curriculum and assess
ment.
When it comes to train
ing, we have learned to bet
ter harness schools' talent
to prepare staif to hit the
ground running at the start
of the summer. We also
have learned to better har
ness schools' talent in cus
tomizing training and pro
viding ongoing coaching
and support to improve the
quality of instruction. By
shifting to a "train the
trainer" model driven by
school and district partners,
we have increased the
alignment between sum
mer programs and school
culture & priorities while
creating leadership and
professional development
opportunities for teachers.
We transitioned to
Common Core-aligned
reading and math curricula,
which incorporate more
non-fiction texts and alge
braic reasoning. While it is
tough to measure, the bene
fits of creating extra time
and space in the summer
for teachers to plan, collab
orate and experiment has
yielded benefits in terms of
increased comfort and
familiarity with CCSS
standards and assessments,
leading to increased quality
of instruction. Another
advantage to the new cur
ricula: It's fully consum
able. Students can bring
books and other materials
home at the end of the pro
gram to read and share with
siblings and friends. The
change to consumable cur
riculum has reduced costs,
eliminating the need to
manage, transport and store
program materials and sup
plies.
We also learned more
about and improved the
summer assessment
process so that teachers and
scholars are in position to
succeed. We began utiliz
ing computer-adaptive
assessments aligned with
Common Core State
Standards to help teachers
better use time strategically
to teach the skills scholars
need most. These assess
ments can be administered
quickly and easily by
deploying iPads and lap
tops, minimizing the time
required for assessment
and improving the quality
of insight into scholars'
learning needs. This transi
tion has necessitated strong
relationships to utilize
schools' computer labs in
the summer and employ
mobile solutions to connect
schools that lack appropri
ate technology.
Our recent experience
investigating summer
learning for middle school
students also has sharpened
our sense of what else we
need to learn. The study
was conducted at schools
implementing BELL's
model for the first time;
now we need to learn more
about the impact of well
established programs. We
need evidence from large
scale studies that can yield
stronger conclusions. And
we have more to learn
about how to best measure
student outcomes because
academic achievement is
only one piece of the puz
zle when it comes to rais
ing smart, healthy, confi
dent and determined stu
dents.
We've increased our
focus on socio-emotional
learning in addition to
building core reading and
math skills. A big part of
this is fostering a "growth
mindset" that helps schol
ars learn that despite any
challenges they can
improve, overcome adver
sity and take ownership of
their success. That requires
an emotional buy-in from
middle school students as a
precondition for academic
progress, so setting a posi
tive tone and culture from
Day 1 is a must. The sum
mer is such a great oppor
tunity to cultivate a can-do
mindset as teachers have
more time, space and flexi
bility to support scholars'
individual needs.
We encourage schools,
community organizations,
donors and partners to con
tinue exploring these ques
tions to gain a deeper
understanding of how and
why summer learning
boosts student achieve
ment. Every question and
every answer will help us
better meet the learning
needs of adolescents.
Dr. Tiffany Gueye is the
chief executive officer oj
BELL (Building Educated
Leaders for Life). She
holds a PhD. in education
al research, evaluation and
measurement from Boston
College and sits on the
board of the Center for
Effective Philanthropy.
A Democracy North Carolina summer brings grassroots experience
BY VASHTIHINTON, KEITH
CHAPPELLE AND AMANDA
Bmjps
This summer, Linda
Sutton, a croud
*
native of
Winston
Salem, N.C.
and known
freedom fight
er, is working
with three bril
liant college
students in die
Piedmont Triad
area. Her goal
is to expose us
to the world of full-time
organizing and all that it
entails, and how to work
together with various peo
ple in the Triad. From
phone banking to canvass
ing downtown, we have
been able to do it all. As
interns for Democracy
North Carolina, a nonprofit
and non-partisan organiza
tion we have
focused on civic
engagement,
research and advo
cacy.
While this sum
mer may be the
busiest summer of
them all because of
the federal court
hearing on North
Carolina's voter sup
pression laws [sched
Sutton
uled for July 13], we are
truly enjoying ourselves.
We have met with elected
officials, community lead
ers, and many members of
their community. Each day
Submitted photo
In the photo (L-R) are Vashti Hinton, Keith
Chappelle and Amanda Billips.
presents something new, munity organizing aner tne
and the foundation is being internship comes to an
laid for us to continue com- end.
"This summer has been
extremely busy, but I have
learned and am still learn
ing how valuable grass
roots organizing is. People
don't understand what it
takes to be at the very root
of it all, doing all the dirty
work because you believe
in a better tomorrow."
- Vashti Hinton
"It is at the heart of the
community where change
emerges. This is something
I learned from studying
history and political sci
ence, but I have been able
to experience this firsthand
through my internship. If
you want to bring about
change for the better, it is
imperative that you have
the active support of your
%
community."
- Keith Chappeile
"We really do not real
ize what things entail until
you are actually doing the
hands-on, grassroots work
yourself. You cannot com
plain about how things are
if you are not engaged
yourself. I urge you to get
involved immediately, for
if you don't, as my supervi
sor often reminds us, 'for
evil flourishes when good
people do nothing'. Our
democracy depends on
your participation."
- Amanda Billips
For more information,
contact Linda Sutton at
336-870-2168.