Local News
Crew
Liberty and Hope
continued from page 1
“We are here today because this is an Ore-
gon Education Investment Board, and they
need to invest in our schools, which means
actually putting dollars and resources in our
schools so that all kids can have access to
well-rounded opportunities,” Barrett said.
“Instead of funding, what we got was
achievement
compacts
to
‘hold
our
s c h o o l s
accountable,’
when where’s
the accountabil-
-- Rudy Crew,
ity to us?
“Okay, you’re
going to hold
our
schools
accountable for test scores and graduation
rates, but you know what? To achieve those
things, to achieve better outcomes for kids,
we need resources – we need teachers, we
need teaching assistants, and we need those
things that keep kids engaged,” Barrett said.
“And that is not what this board has been
talking about at all.”
The Skanner News put this question to
Crew during his tour of the Jefferson Mid-
dle College, which he said impressed him
so much with its program combining high
school and college credit – with guaranteed
college admission for students who get
good grades — he already hopes to dupli-
cate it in other communities around the
state.
Stable school funding is important to him,
he said – but it’s not his top priority. Rather,
he plans to initiate new educational pro-
grams first.
“I think that
you’ll start to
see the fund-
i
n
g
conversation
will
come
Oregon Schools CEO through this
kind of work,
as opposed to
just simply
going out and simply asking for more
money,” he said.
“What I’m saying is that I think that
money follows success, and when we have
programs like this it’s going to be up to us
to channel these successes so that they fac-
tor into the conversation about more
funding and more stable funding — and I
think they exist already but the channel for
it doesn’t exist.
“So my attempts will be to find out where
these pockets are, begin to see how and
what it would cost to scale them, and move
PHOTO BY LISA LOVING
‘What I’m saying is that I think
that money follows success’
Hundreds attended the 2012 Oregon League of Minority Voters Annual
Liberty and Hope Award Dinner at the Oregon Convention Center last
week. Many civic leaders attended, including, from left, Trail Blazers
President Larry Miller; Big Brothers/Big Sisters CEO Andy Nelson, and the
organization’s director of community relations and diversity programs,
Chabre Vickers. The event honored Phil Knight and keynote speaker was
Myrlie Evers-Williams.
them in a direction such that they are part
and parcel of the funding conversation.
“And then build into this in some incre-
mental way – year by year, biennium by
biennium — the kind of funding that ulti-
mately supports this continuation and
ultimately allows it to grow elsewhere,”
Crew said.
Smith’s leadership, PPS is moving to
increase equity.
TSN: What are our schools doing right?
Ladd: Roosevelt is a wonderful story and
an example of what good leadership can do.
Roosevelt is an example of strong teaching
and strong leadership. Teachers are very
important and Roosevelt has cultivated an
atmosphere of high expectations and that
shows in the gains students have made. The
graduation rate has gone up by 14 percent.
The other thing they are doing is make
community partnerships with culturally
specific providers. It’s simply not possible
for schools to serve all the full needs of stu-
dents – and they are not necessarily good at
it.
TSN: What are your thoughts about Jef-
ferson?
Ladd: Jefferson has gone through change
after change. And when a school is in con-
stant reform it has a negative impact on
students’ ability to learn. Now I think it has
some stability. And I hope it will benefit
from the high school redesign, which was
aimed at making sure advanced course work
stories of parents who have pulled their
children out of the public schools. Parents
of students of color say that it’s a lot of
work to get teachers to see their children as
capable of success.
At one teacher-parent conference, for
example, the parent said that she saw room
for improvement because her daughter was
not excellent across the board. And she
asked, what should she do? But the teacher
really had no suggestions, and gave the
impression that it didn’t matter. That sort of
mediocrity of expectations for our kids is
really disconcerting. I see very few schools
where African American students have high
academic achievement.
So as a parent I’m really open to being
creative with the education system. I’m
very supportive of charters. LEP and OPAL,
for example, are doing good work. The
challenge of charters in Portland right now
is that they don’t serve children of color.
TSN: What about the argument that char-
ters drain support and funds from our public
schools?
Ladd: Charters are divisive. I used to be
against them
when I was in
my
master’s
program. It’s
easy to be
against charters
when you don’t
-- Kali Thorne Ladd have children.
Now I get it
–as a parent. So
I’d rather keep
my kid in a pub-
lic system, but I’m open to charters. And I
respect any parent who chooses to send
their kid to a charter school. You don’t want
your kid to be the guinea pig or a casualty
of a principle. That, I think, is the most fun-
damental thing that’s changed in me since I
was a student.
I see the role of charters as incubators of
creativity and innovation that show how we
can improve the system. What’s not surpris-
ing to me is the support of the federal
system with the president a person of color.
Ladd
continued from page 1
Ladd: We know that student outcomes
are the result of a wide range of factors
throughout their lives. So we are trying to
build the infrastructure to support youth,
recognizing that our systems are broken and
we’re living in a time of diminishing
resources.
The mayor’s office is working with
schools, with the county and with All Hands
Raised (formerly the Portland Schools
Foundation) to create a community collabo-
ration focused on what the data tells us and
on evidence based practices to improve.
The data shows us where students are not
doing well, and we’ve made a commitment
to improve in those areas. So the mayor’s
Cradle to Career initiative is targeting
investments to programs like 9th Grade
Counts and Summer Youth Connects.
We are keeping the focus on equity.
Things can be going in the right direction,
but we still must ask, “Do all youth show
academic gains and achievement that we
would hope for?”
TSN: We’re looking at deep cuts for
schools. Do schools simply need more
money?
Ladd: Certainly, our state has disinvested
in education for the last decade, and it’s
very hard now because the economy has
been so bad. But nationally I think we con-
sistently rank pretty low in our investment
in education. Locally, we have done some-
thing to cover the shortfall with the
Children’s Levy and other local option
measures that passed in Portland. Measure
5 has definitely influenced education.
Multnomah County has done a great job
in trying to keep funding for SUN schools.
And I applaud Portland and PPS district for
the support they’ve given to education.
David Douglas and Parkrose have struggled
to pass school levys. People do care educa-
tion, but when the hole is X big it’s hard to
fill it.
The feds have cut funds too. Nationally
we need to fund education better. But
money doesn’t solve all the problems.
When we’ve had more money for schools,
we haven’t seen any better results for stu-
dents of color.
TSN: What are the biggest challenges you
face in closing the achievement gap?
Ladd: That’s a big question. We have a
disproportionate number of youth of color
who are living in poverty. In Portland, the
opportunities for people of color are limit-
ed. The coalition of Communities of Color
report shows people of color earn cents on
the dollar. We know the economy can have
an impact on student out-
comes.
Another factor is the over-
representation of children of
color for suspensions. That
applies to Hispanics and
African Americans. African
American boys are more
likely to be excluded by a
factor of 6 to 1. And we
know that when students are
excluded there is a detrimen-
tal effect on their learning
and their morale.
It starts young – and as soon as boys start
to outgrow their teachers there is a supposed
intimidation factor. Policy solutions include
more training for teachers, because often
teachers don’t realize what they are doing.
English Language Learners are also expe-
riencing problems, and that’s another area
where, for over a decade, PPS has been out
of compliance for various reasons. And
those are largely kids of color.
That said the system has been moving
toward equity. For years, middle and high
schools in affluent areas have had far more
access to resources. But under Carole
‘Parents of students of color say that it’s a lot of
work to get teachers to see their children as
capable of success’
is available to students at schools like Jef-
ferson, which is predominantly African
American, as well as in schools that are pre-
dominantly white.
I’m in the camp of believing you need the
community to be providers in schools to
provide services. Jefferson is on its way
with partnerships with SEI, PCC and four-
year partnerships with universities. I think
we are going to see gains.
TSN: Have your views changed since you
became a parent?
Ladd: As a parent I’m hyper-concerned
about the achievement of African American
kids in the system. And I’m horrified by the
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June 6, 2012 The Portland Skanner Page 3