Blog Archives - DR. SHAMBRA MULDER FOR "ALL KIDS" OF FCPS

DR. SHAMBRA MULDER FOR "ALL KIDS" OF FCPS

Sharing a Recent Presentation about Equity in FCPS

1/19/2019

Based on data maintain at KDE (a national problem!) related to FCPS: There are five "Gap" student groups – African American, Hispanic, Students with Disabilities, English as Second Language, and Students who areEconomically Disadvantaged. These students in FCPS:

-have historically scored lowered on standardized academic testing
-are over-represented or disproportionately placed in special education
-are 4X more discipline referrals
-attend segregated schools similar to before Brown vs. Board of Education
-attend Title 1 schools (large number of blacks, Hispanic, and low-income students)
-lack of minority teachers (12% of students and 7% teachers in FCPS) and more in certified staff (custodians/teachers’ aide)
-lack access to special programs (e.g., SCAPA and Gifted programs)

FCPS Previous Actions in relation to Equity in the district:
- Equity Council (include teachers, parents, community members chosen by board members, and supported by central office administrators) to inform board about equity issues. (NO LONGER INCLUDE TEACHERS AND HAS HIGH TURNOVER)
- for 10 years they published an annual “Equity Scorecard” that looked at race of teacher, student discipline, academic achievement, etc.
- Minority Teacher Recruitment and Retention Coordinator because there was a high turnover of minority teachers and they filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission for discrimination (POSITION NEVER FUNDED/FILLED)
- had 2 Administrators trained to provide culturally responsive/bias training to school staff/schools (NEW TEACHER TRAINING ND OPTIONAL ONLINE TRAINING AND ANSWER 10 QUESTIONS)
- the online data portal included equity data on FCPS website (THERE IS SCATTER PLOT PROVIDED WITH INABILITY TO MANIPULATE/NOT USER-FRIENDLY)
-Principals were encouraged to examine race in the hiring of teachers that matched the demographic of their student population (NOW TOLD TO HIGHER TALENTED TEACHERS)
-Interim Director of Equity (3 years) who also has two other important roles (Recruitment and SBDM Guidance)

We could just restore some of the above strategies but there is more than we could do…some of which is currently being done in JCPS who have become a model (the two “urban” school district) - since the threat of a state takeover due to a lot of inequities. Some of the things that JCPS have implemented to address the problems outlined above:

-Adopted an Equity Policy (district success measure/commitment to racial educational equity) – led to a plan with SMART goals that can be measured, monitored, held accountable (makes it more than a vision)
-Publish an Annual Score Card (collect, monitor, share data with community) to inform the work of the Equity Council
-Partnered with a local HBCU to increase diversity of teachers (program that will provide a concise alternative certification pathway)
-Developed a rubric that school staff can use to ensure that every decision/policy/practice they implement do not lead to inequities
-commit financial resources on equity

Do you believe that these inequities affect your everyday life?

-reading level of kids are used in plans to build prisons (SCHOOL TO PRISON PIPELINE)
-increasing minority teachers have shown to increase the academic performance of all students and decrease discipline referrals (REPRESENTATION MATTERS/PERPETUATES WHITE SUPREMACY)
-Low ACT (test) performance link to decreased use of KEES money
-the economic impact of uneducated workforce/lower wage jobs (PERPETUATES POVERTY)

FCPS is a big district that is doing a lot of great things, have a dynamic leader, and is working for most students.However, 1 out 3 African American students are not reading in 4th grade; boys are discipline 4x more than girls, the average ACT score for African Americans is 17, less than 25% of students with disabilities are college and career ready, and many students never see a teacher that looks like them throughout their entire school career.

In other words, inequities in large systems like public school make sense intellectually, and the problems for many students are beyond the realm of school and have a lot to do with their home environments, some would rather talk about the good things that are happening in the district, the problem is too big and there will always be students that are not going to do well in school, but DO ALL KIDS MATTER?

Are we willing to fight for the strategies that will drastically change the experiences of these students?

FCPS just had a large group of different groups of stakeholders (parents, community leaders, students, professionals, etc.) develop a 10-point school safety plan that lead to a increase in taxes to fund its recommendations.

Would it be reasonable to create a 10-point plan to decrease inequities in the school?Can we request that there be a budget dedicate to this problem?

IF WE DON’T, WE ARE SAYING WE ARE OKAY WITH THE FAYETTE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOL BEING BEST FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE WHITE AND HAVE MIDDLE-CLASS INCOME FAMILIES...

I have been considered an angry, aggressive, negative, and overly critical person when it comes in equity issues in FCPS. I am okay with these descriptions, but I often ask myself:

Why aren’t they angry; why is this acceptable?

I am one of those “GAP” kids who almost fell through the cracks but for the grace of God, I did not fall and I am now in a position to be a voice for those kids?

As a psychologist, I don’t want school to be a traumatic place/time for kids because they are made to feel unimportant, shamed for learning/behaving differently, and punished because teachers don’t understand their cultural behavior.

Suggestions or Action Items for FCPS:

- Adopt a District Equity Policy
- Hire Full-time Director of Recruitment/Retention of Minority Teachers
- Publish Annual Equity Scorecard/Recommendations
- Remove interim from Director of Equity, provide more staff to the department to include a full-time recruiter and culturally responsive/bias trainer
- Increase “Child Find” activities to increase the number of preschool students (students with disabilities & low-income students)

DO ALL SCHOOLS MATTER?

1/13/2019

Do ALL Schools Matter?

Someone asked me have the academic test scores and amount of discipline referrals of Black kids in Fayette County Public School improved in the last three years. It had been three years since the Equity Scorecard had been published which collected this kind of data for the public. Coincidently, the district also no longer provides this type of data on their website in a user-friendly way to answer such questions. However, the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) provided the necessary information to show how students/schools across the state are performing.

KDE has not officially released the 2018 District/School Report Cards but they provide the raw data on their website. To answer the question, we will look at a small sample of students in Fayette County Public School. Let’s look at the 11th grade ACT scores for the last three years (2015-2018). The ACT composite scores for all five of high schools in Fayette County Public School were slightly lower in 2018 than in 2015. They all are approximately between 20-22 (an average score of 20 on the ACT which is not exactly “college scholarship worthy” but it is aligned to the State average). More specifically, the data showed that students who attend Henry Clay High School, Lafayette High School, and Paul Lawrence Dunbar high schools have an average score above the 20 average on the ACT. Whereas, students that attend Bryan Station High School and Frederick Douglas High School has an average ACT score that is noticeably lower than the average of 20 and is considered not to be “college and career ready”. These two high schools have an average ACT score of 17. The question that we need to be asking is: What is unique about these two high schools?

The following is from the 2017 School Report Card of Bryan Station High School and Lafayette High School (NOTE: Frederick Douglas High School is a new school and Lafayette was chosen because it is a high school that do not include a program specifically for students identified as academically gifted/talented):

Demographic Data             Bryan Station           Lafayette
                                          High School              High School        District

Number of students                 1,831                     2, 157                  40.404

White students                         38%                      70%                     52%

African American students      35%                      16%                     22%

Hispanic students                     20%                      6%                      16%

Free/Reduced lunch
students                                    68%                      38%                    54%

Attendance rate                        89%                      93%                    94%

Drop-out rate                            3.2%                      1.3%                    1.6%

Special Education students     10%                        7%                      10%

Gifted students                         10%                       35%                    17%

White Students – Disciplined   21%                       41%                    28%

African American students -
Disciplined                                 58%                     48%                    54%

Hispanic students -
Disciplined                                 16%                       7%                      11%

Males-Disciplined                      65%                      70%                    72%

Females-Disciplined                  34%                      30%                    27%

Teacher Turn-Over                    20%                      8%                      21%

We should consider the following key differences in demographic data for Bryan Station High School because they have been historically known to contribute to below academic performance like ACT scores:   The racial makeup, the number of students who receive free/reduced lunch (as a measure of income level), drop-out rate, number of students who receive special education services, attendance rate, teacher turn-over, and discipline referrals by race of student. In fact, we will mostly find that the five group of students have historically performed below the state academic standards (i.e., African American students, Hispanic students, Students who are Economically Disadvantaged, Students who receive Special Education services, and students who speak English as a second language) attend Bryan Station High School than other high schools. Potential areas for improvement should include the district zoning policy and school finance policy to change the demographics of schools and to ensure that funding is focused on schools that have the most student needs.