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Page 14
A p ril 18. 2012
The Myth of Black Children Failing School
Parent's Corner
by R on H erndon
N ew s Flash!
P o rtla n d ’s p re
dominantly black
Woodlawn School
has its fifth grade black students
outperforming average white Port
land Public School students in math;
and also outperforming average
white students statewide.
This was not a misprint. In 1996,
W oodlawn’s fifth-grade students
outperformed students in schools
throughout the state in mathemat
ics, scoring 12 points higher than
the state average.
The next year, the Northwest
Regional Educational Laboratory
documented the school’s success
by printing the following dialogue
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between teacher and students in an
article, Science and Mathematics
for All Students:
1. "Latasha, w hat’s another way o f
sa y in g 20 o n e -h u n d r e d th s? "
“Two-tenths!”
"R ight."
2. "Matthew, is 15 composite or
prime? How do you know?"
“Composite, because 15 breaks
up into threes and fives, not just
ones.”
"G ood."
3. "Melody, w hat’s a rhombus?"
“It’s a parallelogram, with equal
sides.”
For the past 11 years, Jan Gillespie
has been the mathematics specialist
at Woodlawn, nine years of that
time under the leadership of Princi
pal Linda Harris.
Both wom en are leaders in
Oregon's education circles. Their
professional achievements are the
fruits of a shared philosophy that all
children can achieve higher stan
dards.
W o o d la w n ’s stu d e n ts have
proved this point. M ost o f the
school’s 525 students are from work
ing-class African-American families
and are receiving school lunch as
sistance.
Contrary to the perceived link
between poverty and low achieve
ment, W oodlawn’s students have
scored high in state and district
mathematics tests in recent years.
Harris gives much of the credit to
G ille sp ie, who co -a u th o red a
“hands-on/ minds-on” mathemat-
ics program.
“Disadvantaged kids can do well
if given appropriate instruction, and
if you believe they can do it,” Harris
says.
Harris also has high expectations
for her teachers. Each spring, they
work together to identify goals for
the coming year and to schedule
teacher training to help teachers
achieve those goals.
H arris’ own words describe
Gillespie’s approach to mathemat
ics, which includes an emphasis on
problem solving, reasoning, col
laboration, visual, m ental, and
hands-on experiences.
"Daily bulletin board math dis
cussions, which teach basic com
putation skills through record
keeping, are combined with activi
ties and partner games. Each day,
students and teachers update data
on the board and discuss the new
mathematical relationships which
appear. Thus, students at every
grade level analyze data, perceive
patterns, explore m athem atical
relationships, and communicate
their thinking.
Gillespie and the other teachers
are careful to use fu ll and accurate
sentences when explaining an al
gorithm or a grouping concept,
teaching students to use language
as a bridgefrom concrete examples
to abstract ideas.
There are after-school activities
that reinforce the curriculum, such
as Math Club and Hands-On Sci
ence night. Parents can check out
math videos from the library and
are invited to attend fam ily math
e m a tic s a n d sc ie n c e n ig h ts
throughout the year, as well as a
monthly fam ily fu n night.
The pow er o f these strategies,
combined with good teaching, can
spell the difference between lifting
struggling students up, so that they
can reach their higher potential,
a n d lea v in g them to m u d d le
through, or drop out, on their own.
All children can achieve i f you
provide them with a safe and nur
turing environment that includes a
high level o f expertise among your
teachers," Harris said.
I strongly encourage all readers
to Google this myth shattering docu
ment. Mercy me, fifth grade black
children achieving at grade level in
math, and outscoring the majority
of white children in Oregon.
The nagging question for those
who were on the Portland School
Board during that time is, why didn’t
you give Ms. Harris and Ms. Gillespie
the authority to replicate these gains
throughout the system?
Now, the question posed for all
the newfound education reformers
in Oregon who continually mouth
platitudes about the achievement
gap is who on your committees has
ever had black children achieving at
grade level?
Ron Herndon is a longtime ad
vocate fo r educational opportuni
tiesfor African-American children.
He has served as director o f Head
Start in Portland since 1975.
Writing from the Heart
St. Mary’s students
earn honors
Two St. Mary's Academy students have
received writing awards from the Garaventa
Center for Catholic Intellectual Life and Ameri
can Culture at the University of Portland.
This year's essay topic was "The Geogra
phy of Hope," and St. Mary's Academy junior
Catherine Murphy took first place. Junior
Tara Johnson received an honorable men
I
W
AAL ■
I* ; W
ill
tion.
"The judging committee was very im Tara Johnson
Catherine Murphy
pressed that both Catherine and Tara did not
write careful papers designed to please a teacher, or
For her essay, Johnson, 16, delved into social justice
merely to address the topic of hope in an academic issues she observed when visiting India, where her
sense, but wrote from the heart, wrote with verve and mother is from.
commitment,” said Rev. Jim Lies, executive director of
"It means a lot to me that the things I write about that
the Garaventa Center.
I really care about resonate with other people," Johnson
Murphy, 16, was adopted from China when she was said.
a one year old. For her essay, she wrote about a trip she
The fact that they were writing about topics and
took in the summer of 2010 to visit the orphanage and places so deeply important to them helped infuse their
foster home where she stayed during her first year of life. essays with spirit and authenticity, said Sara Salvi,
"It was very eye-opening," she said. "To go back chairwoman of the English Department at St. Mary's
to the country that nurtured me as an infant was nice." Academy.