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Scholarly Work Examples (Work 1) from LDL Courses
Krystal WilliamsNate Wahl’s Updates
Update 4 Black Students in Contemporary Learning Environments
Reading Was Once Illigal-Kersey (2022); from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOAT6LEXSas
One third of our nation's third grade students are reading at grade level (Weaver, 2023). Prior to 2010 most students were reading using phonetic awareness. Phonetic awareness is the ability to decode words by sounding them out. Sesame Street and The Electric Company, both television programs designed to provide viewers with educational support, used phonics on their programming. According to the department of health and human services website (2010), 38% of black children were living in poverty in 2010. Students who live in poverty rarely have access to private tutoring and often rely on public television as a supplemental educational resource. If a child can not read they can not excel in a public school.
The understanding of the power of reading was evident to the founders of these United States. According to Azzar (2022) anti-literacy laws were enacted in Alabama, Georgia , Louisiana, Mississippi, Virginia, Missouri, North and South Carolina, followed by more anti-literacy legislation as early as 1819. In these states if Blacks were caught reading punishments would range from beatings to death.
How the School-to-Prison Pipeline Functions-The Root (2017); from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zer6FapK49E
Cotman (2024) indicates that a school district in the midwest implemented zero tolerance policy on smoking and vaping. The policy came as a result of families communicating fear for the health and safety of their children. Following the zero tolerance policy 90 Black students were exposed to the justice system. This specific school district is not primarily Black school district. The school to prison pipeline refers to how school policies led to disproportionate volumes of students who identify as BIPOC being suspended, expelled, and isolated in schools. When students feel targeted or victimized as a result of their skin color they are less likely to take academic and social emotional risks in the classroom. Professionals refer to a phenomenon known as “learned helplessness” Anderson (2012).
Black students are 4 times more likely to be suspended than White students (The Root, 2017). Providing teachers with culturally responsive and trauma informed instructional practices is necessary to decrease the likelihood of students transitioning from schools to prisons. When teachers have high expectations for their students of color then they will often rise to the occasion. While in teacher education classes professors must inform future practitioners of the dangers of implicit and explicit bias. When White teachers receive education about systemic racism and are provided opportunities to reflect, they are able to enter the workforce already aware of their positionality, as a privileged identity.
Citations
- .Azzar, A. (2022). History of literacy laws in america and the fight in 2022. https://blackorganizingproject.org/the-power-of-books-and-the-fight-in-2022/
- Cotman, A.M. (2024). Leading to Disrupt the School-to-Prison Pipeline. Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, 27(1), 70–82. https://doi-
- Weaver, B (2023). The Right to Read. [Video] https://www.therighttoreadfilm.org/
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Nate,
It is so clear through your writing that you feel very passionately about this topic, and to that I really commend your work in this field. It is so important to have educators like you for all students, especially students of color, to look up to as a positive role model. For that, as a colleague, I say thank you.
You make some very compelling points in this update. One thing that stands out to me is your comment about zero tolerance policies when it comes to vaping and smoking in schools. If we had the same zero tolerance for students who couldn't read, we would not be in the situation we are in, in which so many students cannot read at grade level. We need to really take this seriously and implement real policy and rules in schools to ensure all students are receiving a high quality education, regardless of their circumstances.
Thank you for educating us on this topic. I will use this information in my own teaching practices going forward!
Sari, Your comment about zero tolerance policies related to illiteracy reminds me of a story Dr. Gloria Ladson Billings told at a conference I attended yesterday. She told a story of a school that abolished remedial courses. The purpose for the removal of these courses was resarch based. Well, in all actuality the removal was a reasult of there being no research to support their continuation. Why slow a student down with a remedial course if they are already behind?
The expectation for all students was for them to take either an honor's class, an AP class, or a college class every year they were in high school. The consequence was that all students exceeded expectations, with many enrolling in more than one AP or honors class. It is time to raise our expectations as it relates to student achievement.