January 18, 2012
Page 10
Proven Educators Not Called Upon
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Sen Bob Boyer
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Health 5ÎTSBCÇA
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Cancer Center
Parent's Corner
*
Parents keep a close eye on
the O regon L egislature and G ov.
Joh n K itzhaber. T here will be
m uch discussion about closing
C arefu lly ex am in e the edu-
cational groups in Portland and
com m ittees form ed by the gov-
e m o r that p ro p o se to m ake
readiness. G iven O reg o n 's d e ­
p lo rab le aca d em ic o u tco m es,
serious discussion and im m ed i­
ate action is long overdue.
T he N ational A ssessm ent o f
E ducational P rogress m easures
the academ ic p reparedness o f
A m erican students. Its 2009 re ­
port found only 10 percent o f
black fourth graders read at "pro­
ficient level o r higher." T he p re­
paredness rate w as only 11 p e r­
cent o f L atino students, and 33
percent o f w hite students.
T hese alarm ing statistics and
the life-long suffering acco m p a­
nying them cry out fo r assem ­
bling the best talent to d ev elo p
plans to correct this horror.
The national assessm ent d e­
scribes educators with best tal­
ents as individuals with a track
record o f consistently getting low-
incom e children to at least per­
form at or above grade level. Not
so in Oregon.
incom e child ren 's academ ic p e r­
fo rm a n c e . If y o u a sk e d o n e
sim ple question, "W ho am ong
you has a history o f g etting low
incom e ch ild ren to read at or
above grade level? Please stand
up!" N early all, if not all o f the
v a rio u s c o m m itte e m em b ers,
w ould rem ain seated.
W hen the Los A ngeles Lakers
had Shaq and Kobe, but no NBA
cham pionships, they brought in
Phil Jackson to coach. W hy?
B ecause he had cham pionship
rings with the Chicago Bulls. W hen
A pple ran into problem s several
years ago, they brought back Steve
Jobs. W ith Phil Jackson coaching
the Lakers, the team won several
N BA cham pionships. W ith the
return o f Steve Jobs, A pple's per­
form ance becam e legendary.
T he various ed u catio n al p lan ­
ning com m ittees d ev elo p ed by
the g o v ern o r are not co m p o sed
o f the Phil Jack so n s and Steve
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Jo b s o f the aca­
dem ic w orld. T he
o v e rw h e lm in g
m ajority o f com -
are not O regon teach ers o r p rin ­
cipals w ith a w inning reco rd o f
getting 90 percent o f low -incom e
ch ild ren p erform ing at o r above
grade level.
C o m p o sin g an e d u c a tio n a l
panel w ith a m akeup o f m em ­
bers holding less than a proven
reco rd o f success is a disserv ice
to tax p ay ers and m akes a sham
o f p ro fessed intentions reg a rd ­
ing a ch iev em en t gap and school
read in ess.
L astly, follow the m oney. If
the govern o r's ill-advised p ro ­
posal beco m es law , keep tabs on
how m any “30 pieces o f silv er”
and w ell-connected com m ittee
m em b ers are re w a rd e d fro m
state coffers.
Ron Herndon is a longtime
advocate fo r education op­
portunities for African-Ameri­
can children. He has served
as director o f Head Start in
Portland since 1975.
lherta • Missisyppi • North Portland
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server
Community Media Kit
Serving the Portland
Metropolitan Area
. a .
Jh
'karris
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Commited to Cultural Diversity
4747 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
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