July 20, 2016
Page 15
Devastating Consequences
C ontinued from P age 7
provision intended to “profession-
alize” early childhood educators
by requiring these educators to
have a BA degree.
Though no doubt well intend-
ed, this provision could have dev-
astating consequences and will
have an adverse impact on the
African-American, Native Amer-
ican and Latino early childhood
workforce. Pre-school children
from these ethnic groups will ex-
perience fewer and fewer teachers
from their respective communi-
ties. As in the K-12 system, this
BA policy risks isolating some of
the most vulnerable children and
create the conditions in which im-
plicit bias can prevail.
Once more, there is no compel-
ling research demonstrating that
a preschool or Head Start teacher
with a BA has better child out-
comes than a well-trained teacher
without a BA. A teacher, partic-
ularly a teacher of color, that has
deep cultural knowledge and has
received years of excellent on the
job training is just as, if not more
powerful than the latter. We have
several training examples -- such
as apprenticeship programs that
are found at community based
organizations and community col-
leges -- designed to prepare indi-
viduals entering skilled crafts such
as carpenters or electricians. How
can we learn from them to build a
strong early childhood workforce
and preserve the talented teachers
who now risk being deemed “un-
qualified”?
It’s worth mentioning that there
is no funding to increase in wag-
es to match the BA qualification
leaving little incentive for people
to go back to college and saddle
themselves with debt. That is, if
they could actually get accepted
into college in the first place. The
inequities on the higher education
side related to access and comple-
tion are already well documented.
“Traditionally, we have viewed
higher education as an antidote to
inequality, but our higher educa-
tion system, like so many of our
institutions, is rife with racial and
class disparities, from enrollment
to completion,” reads the report,
titled Less Debt, More Equity:
Lowering Student Debt While
Closing the Black-White Wealth
Gap.
A few years ago eight Portland
area teachers and administrators
met and discussed teaching train-
ing they received at a local four
year college. All eight individuals
obtained bachelor’s and master’s
degrees, and combined they had
over 70 years of teaching experi-
ence. The common theme all eight
educators shared was how poorly
prepared they were to teach chil-
dren. They also commented there
was no clear indication their col-
lege professors had in fact ever
been successful public school
teachers! The idea of master
teachers training and teaching up
and coming teachers has not been
explored meaningfully in the cur-
rent higher education system.
We now have an opportunity
to do something different. An op-
portunity to retain diversity in the
early childhood workforce while
creating pathways and profession-
al development that ensure we
have high-quality early childhood
educators teaching our youngest
children well. We have an oppor-
tunity to engage in meaningful
dialogue about teacher prep and
teacher training based on what
currently works and what cur-
rently exists instead of creating a
new system that could ultimately
do more harm than good in serv-
ing children who already have so
much in the world stacked against
them. Failure to meaningfully do
this erodes belief that true system-
ic change for under-served kids is
in fact the goal. Instead of listen-
ing to what community says they
need, an avuncular approach of
“let us tell you what’s best” un-
der-scores an entirely different
intent.
Ultimately, preschool aged
black children are harmed by
policies that do not ensure they
are taught by the absolutely best
trained adults; adults trained by
successful practitioners with ex-
cellent experience teaching black
children. Early childhood pro-
grams must be administered and
funded to ensure black children
are prepared to do well during
their entire academic careers. Ev-
ery policy and practice impacting
these children should be based on
successful outcome-based practic-
es.
In the K-12 system we have
L egaL N otices
Need to publish a court
document or notice? Need
an affidavit of publication
quickly and efficiently?
Please fax or e-mail your
notice for a free price
quote!
Fax: 503-288-0015
e-mail: classifieds@portlandobserver.com
The Portland Observer
seen time and again where evi-
denced-based practices founded
by communities of color have
been largely ignored despite the
compelling evidence that these
very programs -- founded and led
by the communities being served
-- have a higher likelihood of
being successful. Self-Enhance-
ment Inc. is a perfect example of
this. Despite their middle school
being recognized as out-perform-
ing schools with similar demo-
graphics, there is not concerted
effort to replicate the elements
that made these students success-
ful.
It is exciting Oregon is em-
barking upon the promise of
change. It is exciting there is
intentionality around supporting
our youngest children having
access to the highest quality ear-
ly learning environments. It is a
lever for systemic change that
cannot be underscored enough.
Let us start this work on the right
track. In the absence of this com-
mitment to do so… to listen to
community, assess what is work-
ing, adequately fund successful
organizations, build pathways
and engage master teachers, we
again consign black children to
the vagaries of public school
systems that have fallen short in
serving them well.
Ron Herndon is a longtime
community activist and director
of the Albina Head Start program.
Kali Thorne Ladd co-founded
KairosPDX, a non-profit focused
on delivering excellent, equi-
table education to underserved
children, their families and their
communities.
Arts &
ENTERTAINMENT
The 29th annual Oregon Brewers Festival will take place Thursday,
July 27 through Sunday July 31 at Tom McCall Waterfront Park.
Toast to Beervana
Get ready to toast the 29th an-
nual Oregon Brewers Festival, one
of the nation’s longest-running and
best-loved craft beer festivals.
This year’s event will feature
88 beers from craft breweries
across the nation, including two
gluten-free products. There’s also
plenty of live music, food booths,
craft vendors and homebrew
demonstrations.
The Oregon Brewers Festi-
val takes place Thursday, July 27
through Sunday July 31 at Tom
McCall Waterfront Park in down-
town Portland. Gates open at 11:30
a.m. daily, and taps are open from
noon to 9 p.m. Wednesday through
Saturday, and noon to 7 p.m. on
Sunday.
There will be no admission
charge to enter the festival grounds.
But In order to consume beer, the
purchase of a 2016 12 ounce souve-
nir tasting mug is required and costs
$7.
The Oregon Brewers Festival
was founded in 1988 as an oppor-
tunity to expose the public to mi-
crobrews at a time when the craft
brewing industry was just getting
off the ground.