Learning Time Differentials at the Intersection of Race and Class

By PresenterMedia.com

Kathryn Mapps

November 4, 2015

Dissertation Defense

California State University East Bay

Coexist in Our Public Schools Exclusionary Discipline and Learning time

Exclusionary discipline Learning time loss

LOSS OF LEARNING TIME

• California Students Who Attend High Schools with the Highest Concentration of Low-Income Students Receive Two Full Weeks Less Instruction than Their Wealthier Counterparts because of Disruptions and Interruptions to Instructional Time

• In 2014 Students from 7 Low-Income Schools Across California Filed a class Action Lawsuit Against the State (Cruz et al. v State of California et al.) Asking for Equivalent Learning Time to the Amount of Instructional Time Received by Students Attending Schools in Wealthier Communities.

• Suspensions and Expulsions Are Disproportionately Applied to Students of Color, Especially African-American Boys

• In Recent Years Several School Districts, Including Oakland Unified and Los Angeles Unified, Were Sued by the Department of Justice for the Disproportional Use of Exclusionary Discipline Against African-American Males.

• These districts have Since Come to voluntary resolutions with the Federal Government by Agreeing to Reform their Discipline Practices

• In 2014 Governor Brown Signed a bill into Law Banning Suspensions for Willful Defiance for K-3rd Graders as Well as Expulsions for Willful Defiance for All Students.

EXCLUSIONARY DISCIPLINE

Exclusionary Practices in Public Education Contextualizing Learning Time & Exclusionary Discipline within Changing

Education Policy

Class and Race are BOTH predictors of the exclusion of low-income students of color from educational opportunities. Inadequate learning time results from a variety of interruptions to instruction including: unfilled teaching positions, lack of access to college prerequisite courses, being suspended from class or expelled from school for low level offences, such as talking back. Neighborhood violence resulting in schools being locked down also reduces learning time.

School Enrollment by Subgroup for the Schools Included in Cruz et al. v. State of California et al. class action lawsuit

School City in

California/

District

Low-Income

Enrollment

African-

American

Enrollment

Latino

Enrollment

Asian

Enrollment

White

Enrollment

Florence Griffith

Joyner

Elementary

N=648

Los Angeles

LAUSD 92% 29.6% 69.8% 0.3% 0.2%

Nystrom

Elementary

N=500

Richmond

WCCUSD 97% 21.4% 74.8% 0.6% 0.6%

Whaley Middle

School

N=588

Compton

CUSD 98.5% 8.2% 91.3% N/A N/A

Castlemont High

N=564

Oakland

OUSD 89.0% 40.2% 51.2% 1.4% 0.5%

Compton High

N=2190

Compton

CUSD 94.2% 17.8% 81.2% N/A 0.3%

John C Fremont

High

N=2329

Los Angeles

LAUSD 92.7% 9.4% 90.2% N/A 0.1%

Fremont High

N=727

Oakland

OUSD 86.4% 28.9% 54.5% 8.3% 1.9%

State

All 58% 6.16% 53.25% 8.7% 25%

“A more contextualized focus on the interactions

between multiple determinants of inequality

(e.g. race, class and place) can yield a more nuanced

understanding of the indicators driving educational

inequities,”

Storer, Mienko, Chang, Kang, Miyawaki & Schultz (2012).

• UCLA researchers surveyed 800 teachers with

high, medium and low concentration of poverty

in high schools throughout California.

• Key Finding: Students attending high schools

with high concentrations of poverty lost 2 full

weeks of instructional time each year due to

disruptions and interruptions of instruction when

compared to students who attended high school

in more affluent communities.

Students Demand More Learning Time Related Study: It’s About Time, Rogers et al. (2014)

Enslavement of Africans and their Descendants 1619-1865 During this time it was illegal for Blacks to read or attend school.

Jim Crow 1890-1965 Segregated Schools for Former Slaves and Other People of Color

Legally enforced Integration of Schools begins in 1954 with Brown v. Board of Education and declines in the 1980s leading into de facto segregation

1980s-Present de facto Segregation or re-segregation creates similar separate but unequal schools, especially in low-income communities

13th Amendment Abolished Slavery

14th Amendment guaranteed birthright citizenship.

15th Amendment guaranteed

the right to vote.

Civil Rights Era

Founded in 1909, the NAACP challenged

Jim Crow Segregation Along with many individual leaders in the Civil Rights Movement

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Affirmative Action 1965

Regents v. Bakke beginning of limits to Affirmative Action 1978. The dismantling of Affirmative Action is ongoing today.

1960s -1980 Magnet Schools, Tracking , School Choice, bussing

1990-Present Pedagogies for the Poor (remedial reading/math in place of electives for “at Risk students”) Small Schools, Over-representation of African-Americans in Special Education, zero tolerance policies leading to disproportionality in suspensions of African-American males, School to Prison Pipeline, free time or office work scheduled for low income high school students in place of AP or college required courses

A Historical Context for Exclusionary Practices in Education

Against African-Americans

Manifest Destiny US President Polk invades Mexico triggering the Mexican-American War. 1848 Mexico surrenders New Mexico, California and parts of Texas for a payment of $15 Million

Jim Crow 1890-1965 Segregated Schools for Former Slaves and Other People of Color Legally enforced Integration of Schools begins in 1954 with Brown v. Board of Education and declines in the 1980s leading into de facto segregation

1980s-Present de facto Segregation or re-segregation creates similar separate but unequal schools, especially in low-income communities

1845-1848 Mexican American War

14th Amendment guaranteed birthright citizenship.

15th Amendment guaranteed

the right to vote.

1904 The US establishes a border control along the Mexican border to keep Asians from entering the country through Mexico

1910 The Mexican Revolution forces Mexicans to enter the US in search of safety

1912 New Mexico enters the Union as an official bilingual state

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Affirmative Action 1965

1968 Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund Established

Regents v. Bakke beginning of limits to Affirmative Action 1978. The dismantling of Affirmative Action is ongoing today.

1960s -1980 Magnet Schools, Tracking , School Choice, bussing

1990-Present Pedagogies for the Poor (remedial reading/math in place of electives for “at Risk students”) Small Schools, Over-representation of African-Americans in Special Education, zero tolerance policies leading to disproportionality in suspensions of African-American males, School to Prison Pipeline, free time or office work scheduled for low income high school students in place of AP or college required courses

A Historical Context for Exclusionary Practices in Education Against Latinos

• Critical Race Theory

• History

• Carroll’s Theory of Learning

Transformative- Emancipatory Research

Surveys of Teachers & Administrators

Administrator & Student Interviews

CDE Data on Truancy and Suspensions

•Theoretical Frameworks & Methodologies

Methodology

Theoretical Frameworks

How do conditions associated with socio-economic status, race/ethnicity and place impact learning time in public schools?

How does less learning time correlate to graduation rates?

How does less learning time correlate to college attendance?

Qualitative Questions to be Adapted for Interviews

• How do students describe their experience with learning time inequity?

• How do teachers describe learning time inequity?

• How do administrators describe learning time inequity?

• How do students in credit recovery describe what led them there?

• How much learning time is lost from off the books suspensions such as: time out in other

classrooms, two-day suspensions and unofficial suspensions and which students are

impacted?

Research Questions

How do conditions associated with socio-economic status, race/ethnicity and place impact learning time in public schools? How does less learning time correlate to graduation rates? How does less learning time correlate to college attendance? Quantitative Questions to be Developed into Survey Questions

• How much learning time is lost from off the books suspensions such as: time out in other classrooms, two-day

suspensions and unofficial suspensions and which students are impacted?

• How much learning time is lost from recorded exclusionary discipline and which students are most impacted?

• What is the mid-year attrition rate for teachers?

• How many safety interruptions (lockdowns) occur during the school year?

• Are UC/CSU eligibility courses available to all students?

• (How) does your school promote UC/CSU eligibility courses to students w/no family history of attending college?

• If UC/CSU eligibility courses are not available, what programs or courses does your school offer to students who are at

or above grade level?

Research Questions

Transformative-Emancipatory Research (TER) is:

is a mixed methods research method designed for work in diverse communities. It seeks to include the voices of those being researched or affected by the outcomes of research through the use of qualitative research tools. It simultaneously uses quantitative research tools to inform changes to policy. TER distinguishes itself from other research methodologies, because of its emphasis on both social change and policy change. Transformative emancipatory research uses surveys to collect quantitative data and interviews to collect qualitative data. Transformative Emancipatory Research may influence policy change through presenting research at conferences and publishing research results.

Transformative Emancipatory Research Methodology

• One Well Resourced Integrated Suburban High School Serving Mixed Income Students and One Poorly Resourced Urban High School in the Same School District Serving All Low-Income Students of Color

• One Mixed Socio-economic High School in an Urban School District

• One High School with a Majority Enrollment of Affluent Students in an Upscale Suburban Community

Four San Francisco Bay Area High Schools The Research Setting

• Given the research timeframe, is my focus narrow enough?

• Does the lit review need more discussion of place (segregation) and trauma?

• How do you talk about race, class and segregation in settings where the understanding is not the same (e.g. wealthy v. low-income, majority White v. Black and Latino)?

•Questions I Am Still Pondering

“We just celebrated the anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education and some of these schools are in worse shape than those in Topeka.” ACLU attorney Mark Rosenbaum

California high school students Briana Lamb and Cristian Gaspar are named in Cruz et al. v. State of California et al.. Photo and quote: www.npr.org blogs/ed/2014/5/29/316701934/aclu-sues-california-for-equal-learning-time