Learning Centers in Limbo

Tonight I will be attending a Dallas ISD school board meeting, along with other staff members and parents (hopefully), in order to express our concerns about the potential end of learning centers in the Dallas district. While I am concerned about losing the learning center, I've had to take a long, introspective look at this issue over the past couple of days and I have come to some tough conclusions. But first let me give you some background....

Pearl C. Anderson, where I teach, is one of 14 "learning centers" in Dallas ISD. This is what the district defines learning center as:

The Dallas Independent School District’s Learning Centers, located in East, South, and West Dallas, were originally court-ordered efforts to return disadvantaged, inner-city, minority students to their neighborhood schools and provide quality educational programs with supplementary funds. The Learning Centers represent an alternative to the district’s previously attempted vehicle of providing transportation to distant sites as a remedy, for a better educational opportunity. The concept of the Learning Centers is based upon the philosophy that a history of educational deprivation under conditions of poverty can be overcome.
Specifically, the purpose of the Learning Centers is to provide special programs with educational concepts different from those in other schools in the district. Each Learning Center is expected to provide innovative and creative instructional strategies to accelerate student learning so that the achievement difference between minority and majority students will be narrowed. The target population for this program is all neighborhood children in Grades 4-8 who live in the target school’s attendance zone. There are 14 intermediate Leaning Centers (Grades 4-6) and 2 middle Learning Centers (7-8). Eight Centers are located in South Dallas, 5 in West Dallas and 3 in East Dallas.

More specifically, what this means is that theoretically our school has a few more "perks" than other schools in the district. We have a longer school day, smaller class sizes, an extra adminstrator, Reading and Math Demonstration teachers, a community liasion and social worker, and also more fine arts opportunities like drama, piano, orchestra, and dance. We also have extra funding for Before and After School Tutoring and other enrichment programs. Teachers here are supposed to have at least three years of experience and are supposed to attend more professional development and training. We do get paid a little more because of our extended day (an extra $20 per day). These added benefits were intended to make the schools in South, West, and East Dallas more equitable to schools in other areas. However, the district recently found out that by providing extra funding to "specialized" schools like the learning centers, and also our magnet schools, that we were violating guidelines that qualify the district to receive certain kinds of federal money. Therefore, more than likely, the district will choose to do away with the learning center concept in order to get into compliance for these funds. All of the above mentioned benefits will be lost.

At first, I was upset and concerned by this development. Even as a learning center, I feel our resources are so limited at times. I feel that opportunities for the kids in this area are already so scarce. I look at these kids and know that they NEED this extra learning time, they NEED these extracurricular opportunities, they NEED the smaller classes. We're already struggling...and now facing even more crucial losses. Of course I don't want to see the few things we have going for us here at PCA disappear. But then I read an editorial in the Dallas Morning News that actually made several valid points and I had to take a close look at ourselves as a staff here at the learning center.

Steve Blow pointed out that while the learning centers were created to target students in poor and minority areas, now almost the entire district is considered poor and minority, with statistics that define 95% of the district as miniority and 85% qualifying for free or reduced lunch. He made the case that it is kind of hard to continue justifying extra funding for a few schools whose population is not that different than the other 212 schools around them. I must note that there are indeed deeper and more complex factors to consider, such as the history of the South Dallas area itself...the barriers that have been present here for decades...these factors aren't as objective as the simple demographics mentioned above, and I think it is very important to not sweep them under the rug now...however...

Blow also pointed out that the learning centers might have more of a fighting chance if we at least had some results to show for the added benefits. One might think that with all of the resources mentioned above that our student's performance might reflect a higher level of success. But unfortunately, that is not the case. None of the learning centers hold an exemplary rating. Most of the schools are barely meeting the district average. This is where a uncomfortable look in the mirror must take place. What do we have to say for ourselves? What justification can we give, that with all of our extra "stuff", we still aren't getting our kids to perform? Are our kids really that much different than the kids in Oak Cliff, or in Pleasant Grove, or in West Dallas? What excuse do we really have for this lack of success? Staff are quick to point the finger at the district, at the administrators, and our favorite, the parents...but is this really where the blame lies? After all, all schools in the district are stuggling with budget cuts and administrative turmoil and uninvolved parents. Can we really say that our challenges are that much greater?

In my honest opinion, learning center staff has grown comfortable and content. We've gotten used to the supplemental pay, the extra support staff, the class sizes of 10-12 students. We have had every opportunity in the world to excel as educators. We have opportunity for additional training and professional development. We have extra time for planning and collaboration. We have staff present to work with our parents and the community. But in my three years in a learning center, I must say that I do not see these benefits being taken advantage of. I see staff members reading magazines in the lobby until 4:45 waiting to receive their supplemental pay...when the additonal time is meant for tutoring and planning. I see teachers arriving late and leaving early. I see teachers that are absent 10 or more days a year with no directions or arrangements for their classes. I see teachers that can't even manage their classrooms of 15 students. I see teachers blatantly ignore schoolwide iniatives that are designed to create a better disciplinary structure within the school. I see teachers who refuse to attend the additional staff development and training. Not to step on toes, but I see support staff that I'm not even sure what they do after being in this school for three years. Yet, all of the sudden, at the mention of losing the learning centers, teachers are sitting up, paying attention, planning protests at the board meetings, crying out indignantly about the unfairness of losing what we have...but where have we been the last 10-15 years? Where were these teachers' voices then? I can't help but wonder if this is about the kids or if its about our paychecks.

This might sound harsh and critical. This might be dangerous or inappropriate of me to post for all the world to see. But honestly, I'm disgusted. It's really hard for me to go downtown and defend the learning center (even though I believe in it) because I can't justify how we have absolutely wasted the opportunity that we had all these years. As I've stated before, we can't control the backgrounds our kids come from. We can't control who their parents are or how involved they choose to be. But we can control what goes on in these walls for 10 hours a day. We can control the level of professionalism and dedication we show as educators. And until I see every teacher around me giving 100%, I have no patience with the whining and complaining about the neighborhood or the parents or the district. It is my honest belief that some of our biggest problems in education lie with the people we're putting in these classrooms. My frustrations in education stem about 90% from what I see from the grown adult, college-degreed people around me...not the kids, not the neighborhood, not the parents.

I know this to be true because there are a few schools here and there that do overcome all the same challenges we all face, but they overcome in a powerful and significant way. One example is a school here in Dallas called KIPP-Truth Academy. It is a charter school with rigorous expectations for both students and staff. The school targets underserved or "inner-city" kids, so their population is no different than the kids that walk in our doors every day. However, this school is achieving phenomenal results through high expectations and intense dedication to learning. I spoke with the principal who told me that their parents are no more involved than average elsewhere. These kids are coming from elementary schools and homes with all the same problems that we deal with. So what's the difference in their performance and ours? Are their kids smarter? No. Are their parents more involved? No. Are their teachers dedicated to high standards professionally and passionate about what they do? YES!! And the results speak for themselves. (Go to www.kipptruth.org). KIPP, being a small school, has limited resources, yet they maximize what is put before them through rigorous standards and relentless pursuit of excellence. I truly believe that if the STAFF and administrators at these learning centers embraced the same commitment to success and if we took advantage of the resources and opportunities given us, however few or many they may be, we could achieve more with our students as well. It's embarrassing to go downtown and claim that we need this learning center funding when we have really nothing to show for it. It's really just flat-out embarrassing.

But am I going to do it? Yes, I am. Yes, I'm going to the meeting. Yes, I'm going to fight for the learning center for the sake of the kids who walk through these doors every day. But am I going to defend my colleagues lack of professionalism and lack of results? That I will not and cannot do. Learning center or not, we have GOT to do better.