Dear Peter Heinze,<br> Thanks for taking up the battle against tracking. It needs to be addressed everywhere. i don't have research info to offer, but In my town, Amherst, MA, the high school English courses have been de-tracked for years. Now there is an attack against heterogeneous grouping being launched by two new School Committee members. They've been arguing that when classes are heterogeneous then top students are not challenged. I thought you might be interested in a letter to the editor that appeared in our local paper written by the Dept Chair of the high school English Department. (Pasted below.) I'm not sure that I would argue the case the same way, but it seemed effective in addressing folks with a particular set of viewpoints. <br>
I think it is important to emphasize that when classes are tracked, the students in the so-called upper tracks often miss out on the important perspectives that are offered by students with different cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. This diminishes their education. It also is denial of equal educational opportunity to anyone denied admittance to the higher track.<br>
I think any effort at de-tracking needs to include a strong emphasis on teachers learning how to teach de-tracked classes. Teachers do need to learn new skills, but the results are beneficial to everyone.<br>Wishing you the best,<br>
Russ Vernon-Jones<br><h1>Teaching heterogeneous classes</h1>
<h2>By KRISTEN IVERSON</h2>
<h3>Published on December 18, 2009</h3>
<p>As
referenced previously in the Amherst Bulletin, Amherst Regional High
School's English Department is, in fact, unique among the academic
departments in the school. All of the required courses in the English
Department are taught in a heterogeneous setting. Heterogeneous, to us,
means all are welcome; none will be denied the access to a rigorous,
challenging English course. Contrary to the fears of some in our
community, heterogeneity does not mean teaching to the middle.</p>
<p>As
ARHS students continue to graduate with preparation for study in the
finest colleges and universities in this country, there is no reason to
argue that just because other departments and other schools have
grouped or tracked classes, the ARHS English Department must use this
model of delivering instruction.</p><p>
As our young alumnae return home for their winter break from their
colleges, graduate schools, and careers, I would hope that community
members ask them about their English preparation at ARHS and hear some
of the stories that I commonly hear. My colleagues and I have recently
had the privilege of hearing from parents of first year students at
Yale and Brown, Mount Holyoke and the University of Chicago that their
children were well-prepared to study English at the college level. In
particular, students point to their strong preparation in writing. All
of them came out of four years of heterogeneous English classes.</p><p>
The English Department at ARHS has worked painstakingly since the early
1990s to improve its ability to differentiate in teaching heterogeneous
English courses. The way we have constructed our program, all of our
heterogeneous classes are taught at the honors level. In literature
classes nine through 12, all students read, discuss, and write about
challenging literature; all students are exposed to fields of literary
criticism; and all students are expected to master analytical, creative
and personal writing about literature. </p><p>
How does the honors/AP option work in the English Department? Let me
give you an example from my "American Literature and Society" class
this trimester. All students will study "The Great Gatsby," "Death of a
Salesman," "Invisible Man," "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," "Sula,"
and/or "Tracks" and class discussions will include all students. The 12
students (of 25) who have chosen to take the course at the AP level are
studying additional literature in three groups of four students each:
one group is studying William Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury"; a
second group is studying Toni Morrison's "Beloved"; and a third group
is studying novels and short stories by Ernest Hemingway. I meet with
each group on a weekly basis (although many of my colleagues prefer to
meet with students individually) and offer my expertise to them. Do my
AP students have to do additional work? Yes, they certainly do. In
addition to the extensive writing portfolio required of all students,
AP students will go through the process of writing a seven-to-nine page
analysis of their text (AP 1) or a 10-to-12 page analysis of their
text(s) that includes literary criticism (AP 2). </p><p>
In my 12 years at the high school, I have yet to see honors/AP students
who are taught at a slower pace and given less challenging literature
to analyze. Each trimester I have seen several young people excel who
have not previously considered themselves strong readers or writers.
They have excelled in literary analysis of profound texts and have
offered perspectives in class discussion and writing assignments that
would not have been possible if they were kept out of these high-level
classes. The English teachers in my department firmly believe that all
students deserve access to high-level challenging curriculum. </p><p>
As the current English Department Head, I welcome direct comment,
question, and opportunity for discussion at <a href="mailto:iversonk@arps.org">iversonk@arps.org</a>. </p><p>
<em>Kristen Iverson is the English Department chairwoman at Amherst Regional High School.</em></p><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Jan 9, 2010 at 11:32 AM, <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:peterheinze@verizon.net">peterheinze@verizon.net</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div>
Greetings,<br><br>I've not yet posted a message to the list but am wondering if any folks might be able to assist with a current undertaking.<br><br>I live in the sister towns of Maplewood/South Orange and, for the last 3 years or so, have been involved in a group (South Orange/Maplewood United for Academic Excellence) which has been vigorously engaged in attempting to eliminate the school system's long standing policy of leveling (aka tracking). In a nutshell, this system plays out along racial lines - the majority of white kids are in upper levels and kids of color (primarily African-American) in lower levels. <br>
<br>This is an extremely contentious issue as, predictably, the community is comprised of folks who see themselves as non-racist (e.g. "Why would I live in such a diverse community if I was racist?") but yet many have no problem supporting the leveling system. There are also a number of African American residents who favor leveling as well (the arguments in favor of it convince folks that it's a beneficial/paternalistic system intended to help struggling students - however the disparity in academic performance based on race is appalling). <br>
<br>Our group has not only conducted our own empirical study, but has also attempted to present research (e.g. the successful detracking efforts of the Rockville Center, Long Island school district, stereotype threat, implicit bias, Dweck's work on the "growth mind set", etc.) in order to encourage dialogue and shift attititudes. We've actually been somewhat successful, as the Superintendant formed a task force (which includes one of our group members) to address the issue. <br>
<br>Of note, I had a conversation recently with a white woman (she happens to be a very well informed journalist and reads a lot of research) who is forming her own deleveling group (I've attended two meetings so far) and many of the goals are worthy. Of note after the last meeing we had an interesting discussion (at least I thought it was! :) ). I was emphasizing that it's important that the deleveling effort convey the message that the kids who have been in the lower tracks are not inherently unable to perfrom well (e.g some want to delevel, but still convey that black kids are intellectually/academically inferior). She mentioned that in her research she found that black kids begin kindergarten with notable deficiencies in verbal and math skills and attributed this to differences in the pedagogy of black preschools (more reward/punishment based, and with a greater emphasis on rote memory) vs. white (more group engagement of higher level concepts). <br>
<br>In response I mentioned a study that I heard Tim Wise (Hi Tim!) reference, indicating that, due to non-Euro American groups possessing an oral tradition, kids from these traditions performed more poorly than whites on written tests of comprehension but equally when asked to verbally describe what they read. I used this example to indicate that our educational system (and definitions of intelligence) are based on a Euro-centric norm. <br>
<br>Soooo........if anyone out there has any research, etc. that might address this putative "deficiency" due to pre-school experience, or any other work revealing how the system, by default, would make kids of color appear to be less able academically, I'd be greatly appreciative!<br>
<br>Thanks in advance.<br><br>Best wishes for the year.<br><br>Peter Heinze <br><br> <br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>Oct 5, 2009 02:16:35 PM, <a href="mailto:wasummit@lists.wacan.org" target="_blank">wasummit@lists.wacan.org</a> wrote:<br>
<blockquote style="border-left: 3px solid rgb(102, 153, 204);">I agree, there is something new happening right now. It had been about 7 years since I'd had a Nazi show up at one of my speeches, but I had one (from the National Alliance) come to my speech last month in Kentucky...also a serious uptick in hate mail lately. I don't think this necessarily signifies real growth in these groups, per se, but it may indicate a growing boldness in the face of the Obama Administration, and the belief by some of the more fascist type groups that they can harness some of the more mainstream public anger in a blatantly white nationalist/supremacist direction.<div>
<br></div><div>tim wise</div><div><br><div><div>On Oct 5, 2009, at 2:11 PM, Dottye Burt-Markowitz wrote:</div><br><blockquote type="cite"><span style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Futura; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 1ex; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<div dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><div><div><div>Jeff,</div><div> </div><div>I am wondering if other folks on the WAsummit listserve are seeing blatant white supremacist activities in their areas. I got a call last week from a white friend who received an anonymous postcard, obviously from a white supremacist group that chose not to identify itself, telling him (after his name appeared in the newspaper in an article about a telephone pole that needed to be replaced) that "he has more to worry about than a phone pole", and then making racist and anti-immigrant statements about the neighborhood where my friend lives. It's been more than 20 years since we've seen this kind of organized white supremacist activity in Baltimore (where the 65% African American population tends to keep the extreme extremists away or at least out of sight).</div>
<div> </div><div>Dottye</div><div> </div><div>On Sat, 03 Oct 2009 09:37 -0400, "Jeff Hitchcock" <<a href="mailto:jeffhitchcock@euroamerican.org" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">jeffhitchcock@euroamerican.org</a>> wrote:</div>
<blockquote type="cite" style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(20, 79, 174); margin: 0px; padding-left: 1em;"><div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://minnesotaindependent.com/46255/community-mobilizes-to-oppose-neo-nazi-rally-in-minneapolis" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">http://minnesotaindependent.com/46255/community-mobilizes-to-oppose-neo-nazi-rally-in-minneapolis</a></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"></span></span></div><h1 style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 24pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-weight: bold;">
<b><span style="font-size: xx-large;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"><a title="Permanent Link to Community mobilizes to oppose neo-Nazi rally in Minneapolis" href="http://minnesotaindependent.com/46255/community-mobilizes-to-oppose-neo-nazi-rally-in-minneapolis" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Community mobilizes to oppose neo-Nazi rally in Minneapolis</a></span></span></b></h1>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">By<span> </span><a title="Posts by Andy Birkey" href="http://minnesotaindependent.com/author/andy-birkey/" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Andy Birkey</a><span> </span>10/2/09 1:17 PM</span></span></div>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://minnesotaindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/200px-Nazi_Swastika.svg.png" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span></span></span></a>The National Socialist Movement, a homophobic and anti-semitic white supremacist group, is threatening to protest a workshop at the Minneapolis YWCA about white privilege and white supremacy. It will be the first public NSM event here since a 2007 book-burning, and several groups of Twin Citians say they plan to make that visit an unwelcome one.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The neo-Nazi group, which<span> </span><a href="http://minnesotaindependent.com/2884/top-neo-nazi-group-leaves-minneapolis" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">up until late 2007</a><span> </span>was headquartered in<span> </span>Minneapolis, announced it will protest the “More Than Skin Deep: Uprooting White Privilege and White Supremacy one cell at a time” workshop being<span> </span><a href="http://www.tc.indymedia.org/2009/sep/more-skin-deep-uprooting-white-privilege-and-white-supremacy-one-cell-time" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">held Saturday at the Midtown YWCA</a>. The event “is for white people who already have an understanding of white privilege and white supremacy (WP/WS) and want to learn more about how to dismantle WP/WS through embodiment work, education, visioning and practical action.” Attendees will learn to “use critical race content and embodiment exploration to uproot ideologies of white supremacy and systems of white privilege in our lives.”</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">And workshop attendees will likely get a first-hand look at white supremacy if members of the NSM show up.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A number of counter-protests are planned for Saturday. “The NSM has been holding racist anti-immigrant rallies in southern<span> </span>Minnesota, and now they are seeking to establish a presence inside the City of<span> </span>Minneapolis,” reads a flier posted at the May Day Cafe in south<span> </span>Minneapolis. “They plan to bring their racist, homophobic, anti-immigrant, antisemitic message of division and hate right into the heart of the city. They must not go unopposed!”</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">On Wednesday, more than 100<span> </span>Minneapolis<span> </span>residents attended an emergency meeting to develop strategies for the counter protest.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“We need to defend the vibrant, multi-ethnic diversity we have here in<span> </span>Minneapolis,” Dan Gannon, an anti-racist community organizer, said in a press release Friday. “Our city must remain a ‘no-go’ zone where white supremacists cannot organize or build a movement with their hate speech and violence.”</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A<span> </span>Minneapolis<span> </span>resident who attended the meeting, Angelina Vazquez, said, “We’re not going to let this happen in our city. This is an attack on our multiracial, multicultural community. We refuse to be put under siege by violent right-wingers.”</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Workshop organizers say they haven’t organized a counter-protest, but they’re happy the community is coming together to oppose the NSM.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Heather Hackman and Susan Raffo are organizing the YWCA workshop. “Susan and I are grateful that people are stepping up against these protesters,” said Hackman. “We are also very grateful for the support of the Y.”</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“There are a number of people responding in a number of ways to this protest, and challenging racism and challenging white privilege,” she said. “It’s clear that this community is not going to stand for this.”</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Hackman says the organizers will address the crowd at 10 am.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Saturday protest will be followed by an NSM-organized rally “against illegal aliens and communism” at the Veteran’s Memorial in<span> </span>Austin,<span> </span>Minn., on Oct. 17, according to the group’s Web site.</span></span></p>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"></span></span></div><span><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">--Jeff</span></span></div></span></div></blockquote></div></div></div><pre>--
Dottye Burt-Markowitz
Paso Training and Consulting
425 South Chester St.
Baltimore MD 21231
phone: 410-327-0134
<a href="mailto:pasoconsulting@fastmail.fm" target="_blank">pasoconsulting@fastmail.fm</a>
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