I always enjoy Alexander Russo’s blogs about education and Chicago Public Schools, but this one got me really, really excited!  I was teaching in Washington DC when the wire came out and the show was so real, so authentic… It visually described reality for some kids and some communities in ways that words often can’t.

Here’s a permalink to the post that I’ve included below.

May 11, 2010 | Posted At: 11:42 AM | Author: Alexander Russo | Category: Media Watch , Teachers & Teaching

There are lots of folks already teaching The Wire in college and (some) high school classrooms, but little of it I’ve read about so far focused specifically on the education issues raised in the series and particularly in Season Four.  That’s why I was excited when my tocayo, Catholic University communications study professor Alexander Russo, emailed to ask what I’d suggest as background reading focused on that part of the show.  He’s teaching a broad-based course this summer and was looking for ideas about Season Four. And I, unused to being asked to do anything, desperate to be helpful, and to avoid doing what I should be doing, spent too much time asking around and thinking up what I would include in a reading list. The results — including many ideas from friends and colleagues — is included below.  Take a look, and be sure to weigh in with any ideas or disagreements you might have.  Maybe we can get someone to teach The Wire at an ed school, which to my knowledge hasn’t happened yet.

ACADEMIC PAPERS, ARTICLES

Jukin’ the Stats: Education and Inequality in the Fourth Season of The Wire Jonathan Gayles, Assistant Professor of African American Studies, Georgia State University

POPULAR COVERAGE AND COMMENTARY

Breaking Down The Wire Alex Kotlowitz, Steve James, and David Mills discuss Season 4 (Slate)

Why The Wire: Season Four Wasn’t As Good As Everyone Says It Was (More Than Fine)

“These Are Not Your Children” The Wire’s 8th graders and their fate at Tillman Middle School (darkmatter.com 2009)

Ed Burns:  Burning Man Teacher Magazine

Ed Burns, Now Wired Enough to Move On to Battles Beyond the Streets NYT

The Bleakness of The Wire American Scene

The Angriest Man In Television The Atlantic

What Barack Obama Could Learn From The Wire Hufffington Post

Nice White Lady (Mad TV)*

*There’s also a radio segment from Chicago Public Radio’s “Vocalo” in which Bill Ayers analyzes the skit, along with other movies like Stand And Deliver (Part One, Part Two)

Kevin Carey has a series of blog posts that I think include Season Four

NONFICTION DEPICTIONS OF URBAN EDUCATION

something from There Are No Children Here?

something from random family?

something from Jonathan Kozol, Savage Inequalities (Harper Perennial, 1992)?

A Hope in the Unseen from Ron Suskind

Test Of Their Lives Los Angeles Magazine Jesse Katz 2007

Saga Of Rayola Carwell Chicago Tribune Stephanie Banchero 2004

What It Takes to Make a Student NYT Sunday Magazine Paul Tough

ACADEMIC BACKGROUND READING

Posing Problems and Picking Fights:  Critical Pedagogy and the Corner Boys Potter, Beliveau and Bolf-Beliveau

Risk and protective factors for urban African-American youth American Journal of Community Psychology 39: 21 Tinsley Li, S., K.M. Nussbaum and M.H. Richards (2007).

Childhood risk factors for adolescent gang membership: Results from the Seattle social development project, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 36: 300-322. Hill, K.G., Howell, J.C., Hawkins, J.D., and Battin-Pearson, S.R. (1999).

They wear the mask: Hypermasculinity and hypervulnerability among African American males in an urban remedial disciplinary school, Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma, 11, 53–74. Cassidy, E.F. and H.C. Stevenson (2005).

Psychological mediators of violence in urban youth,” in McCord, J. Violence and children in the inner city. Slaby, R. (1997).

Something from Ralph Payne or Pedro Noguera?

As I am wrapping up my first year as a doctoral student, I am writing paper and reflecting on my learning. Thomas Kuhn writes about paradigm shifts and the scientific revolution, and he has been cited in all of my courses, regardless of content or discipline. Here is a quote that reflects upon why Kuhn’s writing is relevant to education. The quote is from Clayton Christensen’s 2008 book, ‘Disrupting Class’.

“Thomas Kuhn wrote 50 years ago that confusion and contradiction are the norm during this descriptive phase. As studies comparing the efficacy of chartered versus traditional public schools or smalls schools versus large schools illustrate, Kuhn’s wisdom is still with us. This phase is often characterized by a plethora of categorization schemes because the phenomena generally have many different attributes. Often in this phase no model is irrefutably superior: each seems able to explain anomalies to other modes, but suffers from anomalies of its own. This is the zone in which so many education studies get stuck (Christensen, C.M., 2008, pg. 168).”

Not quite national, but according to an article in the New York Times on April 8th, colleges in 3 states are sharing the work of designing degree competencies for education, history and chemistry (Indiana), history and physics (Utah) and graphic design and chemistry (Minnesota).  This is definitely an issue to watch!  I have seen cases of standards or competencies raising the bar for expectations, as in some principal leadership development programs, and lowering the bar, as in some state assessment programs.  I’ll be moving to Minnesota soon to pursue my doctorate at the University of Minnesota’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction and look forward to following this topic closely.

Any thoughts?  Or inside information?

Click here to read the article.

AEA, the American Evaluation Association, has started to collect a list of blogs either about evaluation or by evaluators.  There seems to be quite a mix of professional topics as well as personal blogs.  To see the complete list, click here.

I read eduwonkette and it is always well researched and current.  But this is the first time that I am so excited about what they are writing that I am moved to share.  The writers are generating a wish list of their top five wishes for education policy over the next four years.

Wish #5, posted yesterday, wished for “Education Policy Based on Averages, Not Outliers“.  Essentially, just because there are some amazingly successful schools, like Kipp or Noble Street, that doesn’t mean that all school are able to achieve such greatness, that if all schools don’t that there is something wrong with teachers, etc. and that poverty is a real issue that can not be addressed by replicating these minority model schools.  I encourage you to read the post, as it articulated much of the uneasiness I have felt working in the charter community.

I was particularly struck by this paragraph in today’s post, “Wish #4: Better Alignment of Accountability Systems to School”.

“The story is not that different for the general public. Asked to allocate a total of 100 points across eight goals of public education, a sample of adults divided them up relatively evenly: basic academic skills (19%); critical thinking (15%); social skills and work ethic (14%); physical health (12%); preparation for skilled work (11%); emotional health (11%); citizenship (10%); and the arts and literature (8%).”

I am incredibly dedicated to a public education that focus on critical thinking and emotional health, along with issues of social justice, but had no idea that I was in the majority.  This is exciting and given me renewed hope.

I also am frustrated by NCLB and the mess, confusion and wasted resources that it has caused.  But I do not believe that it’s 100% wrong, and appreciate that it has brought attention to the disparity in performance between different races, ethnicities, socio-economic classes, and geographic locations.  But I too wish we were talking about, and focusing on, a wider range of competencies than reading and math.

I look forward to reading whishes #3, #2 and #1!

Nora

Murphy Educational Consulting will be moving in the spring of 2009 to Minneapolis, MN.  I am excited to join this vibrant community, with a lot of activity in the areas of evaluation, youth leadership and social justice.  If you have any ideas for people that I should meet, organizations I should learn about or things to do, please let me know!

All the best,

Nora

I have been experimenting with ways to get current information about the fields of education and evaluation.  Here are some of my favorites:

Listservs

I belong to several evaluations listservs: Eval Talk, Chicagoland Evaluation Association and Eval Business (the latter two are hosted on yahoo groups).  These groups are active, and real people answer questions in real time.  I have them to be very supportive communities.

Twitter

Although seemingly simple, and almost silly, Twitter is proving to be a powerful way to connect.  All updates are 140 characters or less, and you can follow any one else’s tweets.  Some of the people that I am following are change.gov, EdWeek, Politico, some friends, and others who seem to be active in the fields of education and evaluation.  You can find me on twitter at murphno.

Ning

Ning is like a lot of facebook sites for specific topics.  They are usually started and maintained by individuals with an interest in a certain topic and are generally open to anyone.  I have joined:

• Evaluation Practice

• Ning in Education

• K-12 Open Source Community

What are others using to stay informed and connected?  Please share your experiences!

Nora

In case you were wondering how long it would take for a school to be named after President-elect Barack Obama, here’s your answer. Interesting fact from the story…David Paterson, current NY governor, graduated from the school when it was known as Ludlum Elementary School.

Last night, the University of Illinois at Chicago hosted a panel discussion on education policy. In front of a packed audience of more than 250, eight professors from area institutions presented their “top ten list of education policy priorities for President-elect Barack Obama.” Instead of listing all the proposals set forth last night, here’s a list of my top ten of everyone’s top tens, in no particular order of importance (responsible professor in parentheses):

-Institute multiple language curriculum in K-12 schools so that all students of American public education can be bi- or trilingual (Carl Grant, UW-Madison; Sumi Cho, Depaul)

-Public officials (i.e. president, members of congress) should send their students to public schools (Sumi Cho, Depaul; Carl Grant, UW-Madison “Public schools will only get better when people stand up and walk the walk…(slight applause)…Yeah, you can go ahead and clap!…(room erupts in applause)”

-Ensure high quality, FREE PK-16 public education for all Americans, including immigrants (Pauline Lipman, UIC; Erica Meiners, NIU)

-Create and provide high quality training for a diverse, national teaching corps that recruits community members to educate students from their own neighborhoods (Pauline Lipman, UIC; Erica Meiners, NIU)

-Extend the school year to 10 months in 2010-2011 and 11 months after that so that arts and humanities are included (Carl Grant, UW-Madison “we are no longer an agrarian society”)

-Replicate model of the Harlem Children’s Zone in cities across the country (Carol Lee, Northwestern)

-Create a “Book a week” program (Obama reads the book too) to inspire all Americans to read more (Haki Madhubuti, CSU)

-Downsize schools and classroom to ensure individual attention (Carl Grant, UW-Madison)

-Involve community members and students in public education through peer juries, the development of culturally relevant curriculum, integration with healthcare, non-military leadership opportunities, etc (in one form or another, every panelist made this suggestion)

-And perhaps the most energizing moment of the evening came from Haki Madhubuti, when he lead a call-and-response with the audience. He spouted off at least ten positive phrases encouraging the use of art in public education, for example, “Keep young people in school and out of prison with…ART!” (Haki Madhubuti, CSU)

William Ayers (UIC) presented last and didn’t really offer a top ten list. Instead, he summarized everyone’s thoughts and spoke about the “full development of all” instead of the individualistic, competitive nature of American public education. As a final point, he suggested that every proposal made tonight is not only directed at Barack Obama and government institutions, but rather American society as a whole. He argued that citizens have tremendous power to change the cultural landscape of public education.

If you were not able to attend, but would like to view clips from this event, visit the UIC College of Education website in the coming days. They will post a video recording of the event on their website.

For those of you in the Chicago area with free time tonight, you should check out a panel at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Professors from UIC’s College of Education will lead a discussion about the education policy priorities for President-elect Barack Obama. Here are the details…

Who: Kevin Kumashiro (moderator), William Ayers, Sumi Cho, Carl Grant, Carol Lee, Pauline Lipman, Haki Madhubuti, Erica Meiners (panelists)

What: Education Policy Priorities for the New President: A Panel of Experts & Their “Top Ten” Lists

When: Thurs., Dec. 4th at 6 PM

Where: The Event Center of the UIC Forum, 725 W. Roosevelt Rd., Chicago, IL, 60607

Parking: Lot #5, 1135 S. Morgan

RSVP is appreciated, but I’m sure they’ll make room for eager attendees.

If you’re not able to attend, don’t worry. I will post a brief summary of the event on Friday. Until then, if you need an Obama education fix, check out District299.com for information about CPS CEO Arne Duncan and USDOE Secretary Maragaret Spellings. Some people think he will be Obama’s Secretary of Education. Thoughts?