Conspiracy of Care

Designed for input on individual and group efforts to improve the education of Black Males in America. Sponsored by the Delores Walker Johnson Center for Leadership of Atlas Communities.

Saturday, November 17, 2007



Gloria Ladson-Billings
Full Day Presentation
Wednesday November 14, 2007 Atlas Communities and Wheelock College


Gloria Ladson-Billings used her presentation Wednesday morning to articulate what Culturally Relevant Pedagogy is. She apologized for presenting her earlier work but said it was still the best she had to offer.

CRP is based on three equal parts
  • Academic Achievement (Student Learning)
  • Cultural Competence -Culture is what makes sense and feel right; teachers need to understand their own culture; most teacher training is psychologically directed rather than culturally
  • Socio-Political Consciousness-helping kids understand that what they are learning has impact outside of school

    Billings explained each area and then described what each looked like in a Cultural Relevant Classroom.


    Academic Achievement (Student Learning)

    teacher presumes educability of all children

    teacher clearly delineates what achievement means in the classroom

    teacher knows the content; the learner; and how to teach content to learner

    teacher supports a critical consciousness toward the curriculum

    teacher considers academic achievement a complex notion; not amenable to a single static measurement

    In a Culturally relevant teacher’s classroom, academic achievement is shown by

    clear goals for student learning

    majority of class time dedicated to teaching/learning

    teacher addresses student learning

    teacher can articulate individual student progress

    teacher is knowledgeable and skillful

    Grading
    Relative to the class
    Relative to the national cohort
    Relative to the child’s potential at that point

  • Wednesday, November 14, 2007


    Gloria Ladson-Billings and Ron Walker

    Gloria Ladson-Billings-Absolutely Great!



    I spent an hour and a half on Tuesday evening and 3 hours Wednesday morning mesmerized by Gloria as she explained what is needed to teach all children in our schools. I had read Dreamkeepers many years ago and felt then that this women "got it", and understood teaching. After listening to her over these past two days I've become a disciple. If everyone could read or hear what she has to say and then practice it, we would move beyond the achievement gap/education deficit and really reach our children.

    There is no way I can reduce her presentations since she is succinct and direct in what she says and each aspect of her talk is carefully linked to earlier parts. The best I can do is share specific points she made exactly as she made them.
    What she presented Wednesday at the all day session was completely different from what she said at Wheelock Family Theater on Tuesday.

    There were some specific points she made in her first presentation. She focused on how schools fail to educate black boys by perceiving them as men, and therefore a threat. What follows is treatment of their behaviors in much more severe ways than the behaviors of white children, and eventually the loss of many of these young black boys to the educational system.

    Here are a few special points:


  • When we talk about school reform in America, we are not talking about all schools, but the 20-25 largest school systems, urban and black majority. We are basically happy with our other schools.

  • Black boys are suspended with a much higher frequency than any other group but what is interesting is it is not for the violation of specifically stated rules but rather of " implicit interactional codes," i.e. things that students have to figure out on their own that these are violations of the system.-disrespect; excessive noise; threat; and loitering.


  • there is a love/hate relationship between America and Black boys. On one level Black culture, dress, music, style are pervasive worldwide and Black athletes and entertainers are revered, but the anonymous Black man is seen as a threat, a problem to be solved. Black boys are not seen as students but as athletes and entertainers, and any Black person who is successful is considered exceptional and not really Black.


  • Schools see Black boys as a group to fear and that needs to be controlled. Gloria pointed out how white suburban schools have far fewer rules for the kids behavior in free space than do schools with Black populations


  • The dichotomy for Black males in school is infantalization to criminalization. When they are young they are seen as cute, sweet, charming but by age 9 they are seen as men and are treated with adult expectations.


  • Ladson-Billings says there is a different standards of "boys will be boys" when it comes to a school's treatment of black and white boys.


  • Teacher in urban schools often have a tacit agreement with Black male students. You don't disrupt my class and I won't
    expect any work from you. They are taught with Martin Haberman's Pedagogy of Poverty.


  • The feminization of schools has greater impact on young Black males-demand for silence;demand for stillness;demand for respect without reciprocity; demand for responsibility without freedom; and demand for compliance without positive engagement.


  • Dr. Billings ended by saying schools need to move Black boys from childhood to young adulthood, not from boys to men!

    During her discussion she had mentioned the number of Black men in prison and the rise from 100,000 in 1990 to over 1,000,000 in 2001. In response to a question, she pointed out that if schools throw kids out, there is no longer many manufacturing jobs in this country so they can't find decent jobs and the only place left for them is prisons

    Monday, November 12, 2007


    Boyz to Men? Teaching to Restore Black Boys' Childhood
    Free lecture: Tuesday, November 13, 2007, 4:30-6:30 p.m.
    All day workshop: Wednesday, November 14, 8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
    Gloria Ladson-Billings
    Professor Kellner Family Chair in Urban Education
    University of Wisconsin-Madison
    Past President, AERA