icope newsletter

2011-11-19T02:36:00.001-08:00

Changing Education Paradigms

This animate was adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert and recipient of the RSA's Benjamin Franklin award.

So far, more than six million people have watched this animate that helps explains the global education crisis that's giving rise to a major rethinking of the whys and hows of education.
For more information on Sir Ken's work visit: http://www.sirkenrobinson.com

2010-10-14T16:47:00.000-07:00

ICOPE's VideoWorx

Charter Starter

Charter schools are a key aspect of the current US privatization of public education. The Independent Commission On Public Education (http://ibecnewyork.blogspot.com) has created this short satirical view to help the uninformed and misinformed understand the alliance between Mayor Bloomberg and the Wall Street Hustlers.

For even more details critiquing the Charter School Bumrush, checkout: www.bnyee.org/charterschoolwars.htm

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THE LESSONS:

HI STAKES TESTING = MIS-EDUCATION

A short video that contrasts the disastrous high stakes testing syndrome with a more creative cultural competency-based form of evaluating a student's intellectual growth.

For more information on how a large public school system can be grounded in a democratic structure that recognizes that education is a human right, go to our website www.icope.org-- and click on the "Detailed Plans" button.

2008-11-16T07:58:00.000-08:00

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Resource Material for Our Education Is a Human Right Struggles
From time to time, ICOPE will post resource material that we feel will help your and your organization advance "Education is a Human Right" struggle as we fight around our various sites of struggle. Below is the first of such compilation.

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Criminalizing the Classroom: The Over-Policing of New York City Schools
New York Civil Liberties Union Report, 2007

http://www.nyclu.org/files/criminalizing_the_classroom_report.pdf

Between 2005 and 2006, 4,625 School Safety Agents worked in New York City Public Schools. Although Student Safety officers are often inadequately trained to work in schools and do not fall under the supervision of school administrators, they have been charged with controlling school safety. In this report, NYCLU and the Racial Justice Program of the ACLU present evidence from 1,000 student surveys, as well as interviews from parents, teachers, school administrators, school safety agents, and officials for the Department of Education, United Federation of Teachers and the NYPD, that confirm School Safety Agents do not create a secure learning environment for students.

The inappropriate and unacceptable treatment of students by School Safety Agents, which are well documented in the report, violates the rights of students to a safe and positive educational environment. Findings show that students that are already some of the most vulnerable, including students of color and poor students who attend large and overcrowded schools with high suspension and drop-out rates, are disproportionately affected by the actions of Student Safety offices. Recommendations for reform call for the following: restoring authority over school safety to school administrators, training school safety personnel to function in accordance with sound educational practices, limiting the role of police personnel to legitimate the security concerns of children and educators, and giving students, families and educators meaningful mechanisms to report wrong-doing by school-based police personnel.
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Statement on Culturally Responsive Education

“The achievement of ethnic pride, self-sufficiency, equity wealth, and power for African-descended people in the United States will require a collective, although not monolithic, cultural and political worldview. This type of worldview can only be transmitted through a process of culturally responsive education, strategically guided by an African Cultural orientation and understanding of how societal power relations are maintained.”

Educators use socio-cultural backgrounds, prior experiences, and worldviews of their students together with their individual learning, behavioral and communication styles in all aspects of the teaching/learning process. Cultures of success are created by incorporating student cultural and social capital into education, making students feel respected and valued. “Rather than ignoring or denying the existence of cultural influences on student behavior and their own, the culturally competent educator uses cultural knowledge to design teaching and learning environments and interventions.” Culturally responsive education is necessary for the success of our students.

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Deprived of Dignity: Degrading Treatment and Abusive Discipline in New York City and Los Angeles Public Schools
National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, 2007.

http://www.nesri.org/programs/Executive_Summary_Dignity_Report.pdf

Students from low-income communities and students of color experience degrading treatment and abusive disciplinary measures in New York City and LA public schools. This report documents these unfair punishments and the threatening school environment which police presence contributes to. Excessive and unfair suspensions, un-recorded school removals that place students in detention rooms for days and weeks, along with the lack of counseling and supportive services are just a few examples that contribute to the low graduation rates of our youth. We support recommendations of the report that protect the right to education and dignity of all students. These include:
• whole school approaches • training and resources for school staff for mediation and cultural competence • creation of clear guidelines for enforcement policy • a focus on counseling services as opposed to zero-tolerance responses • removal of armed police officer and training for student safety officers • increasing student participation in implementing discipline in their schools • participation of parents and communities in the discipline of the child and the planning of school safety policies.

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STARS: WE KNOW WE HAD SOMETHING FROM THE BEGINNING:
by Doug Christensen, 2005

http://www.nde.state.ne.us/COMMISH/STARS_Beginning.htm

Locally Constructed Student Assessment Processes in Nebraska

Today school districts in Nebraska design their own system for assessing student learning. Their goals are simple: determine what students need to know and be able to do and then to figure out how to best teach and assess that learning. As the national mania for standardized tests with consequences has grown, Nebraska educators have concluded that standardized tests are insufficient and lacking. In response, Nebraska uses a school reform model with over a decade long positive history. The program, called STARS (Student-based, Teacher led, Assessment and Reporting System), includes portfolios of assessments used by teachers, district tests measuring locally developed learning standards, a state writing test, and a national standardized test as a reality check.

The Nebraska reform process has included citizen focus groups, town hall meetings, twists and turns through the state education system and state legislature, and negotiations with the federal government’s Department of Education to avoid non compliance with the No Child Left Behind legislation. State-wide conversations about education, learning, standards, assessments, and how to best prepare our young people for life in the 21st century have resulted in new thinking about education and helped to build community and efficacy. Teachers as leaders in this process have been empowered and report they themselves have grown and changed what and how they teach. And, most importantly, they see improvements in student learning.
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The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)
2007 Report: Focus on the Whole Child

http://www.wholechildeducation.org/clearinghouse/

The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) calls for a fundamental shift in educational efforts to focus on the whole child. Academic achievement is but one aspect of growth and learning. “We shortchange our young people and limit their future if we do not create places of learning that encourage and celebrate every aspect of each student’s capacity for learning.”

The report calls for increased attention to the conditions necessary for learning including safety, as well as physical and emotional health, and a student connection to a broad, challenging and engaging curriculum. The report defines the successful learner as “knowledgeable, emotionally and physically healthy, civically inspired, engaged in the arts, prepared for work and economic self sufficiency and ready for a (changing) world beyond formal schooling.” Educators, parents, health and social service providers, arts professionals, recreation leaders, businesses, and policy makers are all asked to work collaboratively and take responsibility for redefining education to focus on the whole child.

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http://www.city-journal.org/html/eon2007-09-28dr.html
Diane Ravitch: New York State Test Scores: Who to Believe? National tests cast doubt on New York’s feel-good story
The City Journal, September 2007

In this article, Diane Ravitch argues for transparency and truth when New York City’s public school scores in reading and math are reported to the public. Not only is our education system failing to teach students of color, it is purporting to the public these very students’ successful achievements. With the release of national data statistics it became clear that there has been no significant improvement in reading and math for New York City public school kids from 2005 to 2007, with improvement in 4th grade math as the only exception. The achievement gap between white and Asian students and students of color remains the same. What we need is an independent agency to relay the truth to the public about the realities of our youth’s achievements in the public schools.

Race Realities in New York City, Human Rights Project of the Urban Justice Center, 2007.

http://www.urbanjustice.org/pdf/publications/racerealities.pdf

This report documents the racial discrimination in the New York City public school system which is failing “to support children of color in their full and equal enjoyment of the right to education.” There is persistent segregation in our schools, racial disparities in educational attainment, and disparities in state funding for schools with students of color. This unequal resource distribution affects our class size, our textbooks and class materials, and how experienced our teachers are. We agree with the recommendations which state that racial disparities must be acknowledged, smaller class sizes must be implemented, security measures must be reformed and parents and guardians must have the opportunity to have substantial decision-making power in their children’s education and curricula. We need policies that will move away from high stakes testing and those that ensure that administrators and key decision-makers on educational policy in the City are experienced educators with a track record of understanding race and class disparities.

Teachers Talk: School Culture, Safety and Human Rights
A report produced by NESRI and Teacher’s Unite

http://www.nesri.org/Teachers_Talk.pdf

Based on surveys of more than 300 middle and high school teachers in over 136 public schools in New York City and data from focus groups with more than a dozen teachers, this report documents New York City schools’ punitive punishments, aggressive policing, suspensions, and other harsh approaches to discipline that undermine students’ human right to education. Students of color and students from low-income communities are disproportionately affected by these punitive measures and exclusionary suspension policies and that fail to address the root of the conflicts. The reliance on metal detectors and School Safety Agents (SSA) not only make students late for classes but undermine students’ safety within schools. 42% of the teachers who intervened in a conflict between students and SSA said they did so because of harassment or disrespectful behavior on the part of police personnel towards students, or because they felt SSAs or police were instigating or escalating a conflict. Teachers also cited overcrowding, lack of quality training for teachers, inadequate numbers of guidance counselors and social workers, and the lack of opportunities for teachers, students and parents to influence discipline policies as confounding factors that undermine the human right to education. “Teachers Talk” proposes a human rights framework as an approach to reforming discipline and improving school climate to create positive school cultures, teach behavior skills, and use conflict resolution. The report also highlights positive models being used in three New York City public schools.

2008-06-16T12:10:00.000-07:00

A Human Rights Based Vision of Public Education An Alternative to Mayoral Control

Introduction

The Independent Commission on Public Education (iCOPE) believes that system transformation based on Human Rights principles, not merely a change in governance, is needed to create schools that meet the needs of every child and place greater power in the hands of parents, students, educators and school communities.

iCOPE is a volunteer, citywide collective and the founding organization of the Education is a Human Right campaign. Over the past two years, iCOPE, together with hundreds of parents, students, educators and community members, has developed an alternative vision of public education based on Human Rights.

Human rights ensure the equality and dignity of every human being. A human rights culture would mean that New York City schools are safe, nurturing learning environments where children fully develop their capabilities.

iCOPE contends that the New York City public education system, both under the current system of mayoral control and under previous regimes, has failed to meet human rights standards. Further, the causes of these persistent failures are systemic and can only be addressed if they are tackled collaboratively by those with the political will and courage to create an effective 21st Century system of public education.

The purpose of the Education is a Human Right campaign is twofold: 1) to show that a more just, democratic, and effective education system is possible; and 2) to encourage citywide dialogue before a legislative decision is made in Albany about the future governance system of the education system. We insist that this decision, affecting the education of 1.1 million students be made only after open public dialogue.

Below, iCOPE offers its vision of a Human Rights based system of public education. We urge others to make explicit their own vision of education, since we believe that the purpose question, “What kind of system do we want” must come before the implementation question, “How should the system be governed?” We did not ask the purpose question before the mayor was given control of NYC schools in 2002. This has negatively affected children, parents and educators. Over the next year we have another chance to ask this question. Let’s work to find common ground and build the consensus needed to change the lives of hundreds of thousands of young people in our city! iCOPE says we can and we must!

The two competing ideas about education iCOPE believes that the Mayor’s concept of education is flawed. Despite rhetoric to the contrary, the mayor’s inappropriate use of a business model, with its misguided accountability system, has actually made matters worse not better.

A little history is needed here: The current educational system in New York City and in the rest of the country was designed over a century ago. In its early years, the goal of the system was to “sort out” only a small percentage of children for high school. Now it is expected that more students will graduate from high school, but the level of skills and knowledge that many achieve is still expected to be quite low, limiting them to work in low-wage jobs and to military service. Throughout the system’s history, up until the present, many students do not graduate. Built into the system is an expectation that not all children will reach their full potential or fully participate in society. This system fails to meet both human rights standards and the needs of New York City’s diverse communities. It fails to prepare students for the realities of our interconnected world.

In the current business model implemented by the mayor, education is seen as “services delivered” to students who, along with their parents, are considered “customers” of the system. The important role of parents and neighborhood communities has been virtually eliminated. So-called “choice” allows a few families to send their children to “better” schools. The rest have to settle for poorer quality education.

Under the mayor’s control, learning is measured by standardized, commercial tests. Schools have become “test prep” factories. To add insult to injury, many blame students and their families for the school’s failure to educate effectively. Students and their families who come from neighborhoods with poor housing, inadequate health care, high unemployment and poverty cannot easily compete for educational resources taken for granted by the middle class.

In short, the current “business model” of education fails our children. The concentration of power at the top keeps decision making out of the hands of parents, teachers, principals, students and community members. Overcrowded classrooms, inadequate school facilities, and inadequate support services create a chaotic environment that robs students of their humanity. The narrowed, test-centered curriculum denies students the knowledge and skills they need to develop their full human potential and claim their full human rights in a democratic society.

Finally, current disciplinary practices violate students’ right to basic human dignity. They do not ensure students’ safety. Inequitable resource distribution perpetuates a racially biased system that sorts students so that a few receive an adequate education while most receive such poor quality schooling that their options after school are limited to low-paying jobs, the military, or prison.

In sharp contrast to the current education system, a Human Rights Based system promotes education as a caring relationship between a teacher, a student and his/her family. A Human Rights Based education system builds on the knowledge of and respect for each student’s family, community, language and culture. Schools are the centers of their communities. Parents and their communities are essential resources for the schools, and the community and the city are an extension of the classroom.

In a Human Rights Based system, students learn to be citizens by making democratic decisions about their school and community life. The city administration, knowing that schools can’t solve social problem by themselves, works to eliminate the poverty and conditions that lead to feelings of hopelessness that affect many of our communities.

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A Human Rights based education system is built on the following 7 principles:

1. Every child has the individual right to a quality education, promoted through curricula, teaching methods and services that adapt to meet each child’s specific needs.

2. The purpose of education is to help children reach their full potential to participate in society, to do rewarding work for a living wage, and to continue learning throughout their lifetime.

3. Education develops each child’s respect for his or her family, language, and culture and simultaneously creates an environment that honors each child’s unique culture.

4. The dignity of every child is guaranteed by preventing practices and disciplinary policies that cause harm or humiliation to children, and promoting self-confidence and self-expression.

5. The equitable distribution of resources is guaranteed across communities according to need to ensure equality in educational outcomes.

6. Non-discrimination is ensured regardless of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, language, religion, immigration status, disability or other factors.

7. The meaningful participation of students, parents and communities is guaranteed in decisions that affect their schools and their right to education.

These seven Human Rights have been agreed upon by governmental bodies thoughout the world. More importantly for us in the US, these same principles are imbedded in our Declaration of Independence, our Constituion and our Bill of Rights. Our Founding Fathers boldly claimed that all men were created equal with the inalienable or human right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” . They limited these rights to free white men who owned property. It took decades of struggle for women and people of color to become full citizens with voting rights. While some progress has been made, iCOPE believes that real democracy is not possible until and unless all children receive an excellent education. As you reflect on these principles ask yourself:

• To what extent does the current system in NYC meet these standards?
• Should the public education system in NYC aspire to these standards?
• If yes, what can we do together to move toward these standards within the next 3-5 years?

What Will Governance Look Like in a Human Rights Based Education System?
iCOPE believes that a governance plan for a new human rights based education system should be founded on three pillars:
1) Human Rights for all (as outlined above);
2) Decision making partnership among parents, students, educators and the community;
3) Building the knowledge and opportunities necessary for the whole school community to sustain a workable democratic partnership.
Here are some specific aims, structures and mechanisms that would meet these human rights standards. We look forward to hearing your comments and suggestion to this emerging vision of a Human Rights based system of public education for NYC.

•The purpose of education is the full development of each child’s potential regardless of his/her family’s race, wealth, language or neighborhood.
• Decisions are made at the school level. Each school ‘s School Leadership Team (parents, students, educators, staff and community partners) hires its own principal as leader of the school community and then collaboratively makes decisions about curriculum, school policy and budget to ensure the full development of the whole child. The curriculum and teaching methods are adaptable to the needs of the children in the school community. In addition, the school becomes the center of the community. It is open evening and weekends to meet the needs of students, their families and communities for lifelong learning, recreation and fellowship. Health and wellness services are available on site in collaboration with health agencies and community based organizations.

• Each neighborhood is fully supported to offer excellent and coordinated pre-K to 16th grade education and to ensure that families and community members are fully engaged partners in their children’s education. Neighborhood School Councils (NSC), composed of representatives from each School Leadership Team in the neighborhood, meet with staff support several times a year. The NSC ensures that curriculum is coordinated from pre K to 12, children are exposed early on in their school careers to opportunities for post secondary academic and/or vocational education and real world internships.

• Districts support schools and their Neighborhood School Councils. Each of the 59 District Education Councils (co terminus with the existing Community Boards) hires a superintendent who, with a small professional staff, supports (as a “critical friend” not as a rating officer) the schools in his/her district. Districts coordinate with the existing 59 Community Planning Boards and their Service Councils to ensure that children and their families get needed health and social services to help children enter and stay in school ready to learn.

Diagram of a Human Rights based system of Public Education
(click on diagram to enlarge)

• A citywide Board of Education, selected by citizens, monitors each school’s progress toward Human Rights goals and hires a Chancellor who, with a central staff, develops human rights guidelines and benchmarks to monitor each school’s Human Rights Education plan. The plan ensures yearly progress towards academic excellence, the development of the whole child, improvement in school climate and organization, and student, parental and community involvement in the life of the school. The central staff manages human resource and audit functions and those services which are best managed centrally. The Board develops and implements a fair funding formula. The Board also works with the state to develop a broader range and more authentic assessment process.

• Independent and funded parent and student unions, with training academies, ensure that parents and students participate, with teacher and administrators, as informed and knowledgeable partners in all decision making processes.
•Borough Education Centers provide staff development and technical assistance to schools.
• There are checks and balances to ensure good government including: an independent research organization to study and evaluate the movement towards the Human Rights goals of education; independent financial audits to provide user-friendly, transparent information and to promote accountability for the use of public funds; and an independent education ombudsperson to resolve conflicts not handled at lower levels, to monitor the whole system and to provides timely remedies when rights are violated. Full deliberative democracy is an essential part of the education system.

• City elected officials are mandated to ensure that every child, regardless of the family’s wealth, race, language or zip code, attends school with his or her basic housing, health care and income needs met.

• City Council members monitor schools within their district to ensure additional local oversight.

How do we get from here to there?
The civil rights, women’s rights, and environmental justice movements resulted from the collective efforts of ordinary people becoming an extraordinary force for positive social change. Quality education based on Human Rights is our 21st century struggle. It will become the Human Right’s Based Education Movement when we unite to claim our human rights and demand that the government fulfill these obligations.

iCOPE believes we can begin the Human Right’s Based Education Movement by working for passage of a state law to authorize the new Human Rights Based Education system for NYC. This law will include a Transition Commission charged to develop a strategic, multi-year Human Rights Implementation plan. An interim acting chancellor and a Board of Education will keep the current system running until the Transition Commission completes its work and the new Human Rights Based plan is endorsed by parents, students, teachers, administrators and community members.
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To endorse the plan, join the Education is a Human Right campaign, invite iCOPE to speak to your group or for more information contact:
Independent Commission on Public Education (iCOPE)
www.iCOPE.org or icopenyc.blogspot.com
718 499- 3756

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FROM The Youth Researchers for a New Educational System (YRNES) Report---

--CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE--

The Problem Tree

During our project design process, the Collective of Researchers on Educational
Disappointment and Desire (CREDD) utilized the “Problem Tree” with our
group to aid us in identifying our research questions. CREDD borrowed the
problem tree technique from popular education and used it to both help
conceptualize and plan our project, and as part of our data. The problem tree is
an approach to mapping (creating a visual representation) a specific problem
determined by a group.

In this method, we began with the question, “What concerns us about our
school system?” and used a tree shaped outline to map the symptoms, intermediate
causes and roots of this problem. Then, we deconstructed or pulled
apart our tree in order to think about how to address this old problem in new
ways. (An extended discussion of this method, along with images of our
Problem Tree and the deconstructed Tree appear at the end of the full report. Also
see Ferreira and Ferreira, 1997; Tuck, 2007; and Tuck et. al. 2008.)

Later in our project, we returned to the tree to help us analyze the results of our
other methods. Now, we have shared our Problem Tree with a range of audiences
to show the relationships between the everyday experiences of a broken
school system and the larger ideological and systematic roots of the problems.
--YRNES Student Researchers

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YRNES STATS
(culled from the students' research)

• Percent of NYC High School Graduation after four years: 48
• Percent of low-income students who feel their getting a good education: 48
• Percent of middle-high-income students who feel that way: 70
• Percent of low-income students who feel they have little resources: 49
• Percent of students who want to help set school rules and policies: 80
• Percent of students who believe they know how to make their schools better: 76
• Percent of students who want a community voice in school policy: 65
• Percent of students who feel police in schools have negative impact: 47
• Percent of students who feel the mayor knows best about schools: 13
• Percent of students who feel mayoral control has been negative: 53

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For PDF copies of The YRNES Report, to schedule a press interview, or to request a group presentation, or more information on the “Education is a Human Right Campaign,” please contact Ellen Raider at the Independent Commission on Public Education (iCOPE) (718) 499-3756 or Ellen.Raider@gmail.com

NYC Students' Report08: “The current New York City school system isn’t working”

NEW YORK, New York-June 6, 2008— Lead by an impassioned charge; “The current New York City school system isn’t working,” a diverse group of current and former public high school students took to the streets (and computers) of this city with a common goal: to be instruments of change in the NYC public school system. Named the Youth Researchers for a New Educational System (YRNES) the group designed a participatory action research project that has resulted in a scathing, yet decidedly hopeful analysis of the public school system, published as “The YRNES Report.”

The researchers, aged 17-21, conducted a city-wide survey of more than 500 youth, and their findings call attention to issues of mayoral control, school decision making and community participation, maldistributed resources and educational opportunities, and the need to recalibrate the purposes of schooling.

Unlike most education-reform white papers, The YRNES Report provides youth perspectives on the barriers to learning, including a compelling graphic “Problem Tree” that maps the everyday symptoms and structural roots of a flawed school system. Youth perspectives on racist school practices, closed access to needed opportunities, school crowding, testing, school safety, and humiliating conditions are presented.

The YRNES researchers found that youth of color, low-income youth, and youth from large and/or recently converted schools experience more inequities in school. Many youth reported that they do not get the resources they need to learn, and that they do not get the help they need to make their education work for them. Youth report that they feel that they need to compete for things in school to which they actually posses rights. Youth critique the current model of mayoral control, and argue for opportunities for meaningful participation in school decision making.

The report features a clear portrayal of the research findings, with dynamic images (like the Problem Tree below) and easy-to-read charts. The report will serve the work of youth and adult education activists, concerned citizens, school leaders and educators, and anyone working toward more fair and more meaningful schooling. The report concludes with a platform of recommendations for change.

The YRNES Project was completed in collaboration with the Collective of Researchers on Educational Disappointment and Desire (CREDD), Fordham University’s National Center for Schools and Communities, and the Independent Commission on Public Education (iCOPE).

Organizations co-sponsoring the report include Advocates for Children; the Participatory Action Research Collective at the Graduate Center, CUNY.

For PDF copies of The YRNES Report, to schedule a press interview, or to request a group presentation, or more information on the “Education is a Human Right Campaign,” please contact Ellen Raider at the Independent Commission on Public Education (iCOPE) (718) 499-3756 or Ellen.Raider@gmail.com

2008-06-12T12:02:00.000-07:00

Watts School rallies around dismissed Watts "Malcolm X" teacher

Fired Teacher, Karen Salazar, surrounded by her students at rally

NOTE: The work that ICOPE has being doing over the past 3 years has been centered around creating a new neighborhood-student-parent-teacher based public education system grounded in Education is a Human Right. In these past years, we have seen and heard from many parents and teachers within the Los Angeles Unified School District as they fought successfully against mayoral control. We have also watched as their school system- along with ours and ALL other urban school systems degenerate into systems of pre-prison centers making billions for the hi-stakes testing privateers and the prison-industrial complex.

Now, we are seeing hundreds of mainly Black & Latino high school students rebellion against this mis-education process: from DeWitt Clinton Hi School and IS 318 in the South Bronx to Jordan Hi in Watts, Los Angeles. These are great moments that need to be supported by those of us who deem ourselves FOR democracy and progressive education.

Listen to these youngfolk and their teachers on these two videodocs... and you'll hear them talk of their HUMAN RIGHTS. They know that these are inalienable rights that we have to hold onto in a nation that is increasingly becoming a fascist state where schools are militarized and students are automatically seen as "perps" prime for military recruitment or becoming inmates.

Watts School rallies around dismissed Watts "Malcolm X" teacher

Jordan High School students lead a protest for Jordan English Teacher, Karen Salazar, who was recently fired for allegedly espousing "extremist views" in her class room. Students for Salazar were accompanied by Jordan H.S. Teacher and Poet, Mark Gonzales, Jose Lara and other members of the Association of Raza Educators (A.R.E.), as well as members of the community and of the independent press. The protest took place Thursday, June 5, 2008, during after-school hours. Amongst many of the heartfelt words Ms. Salazar shared with people regarding her students, she expressed deep appreciation for their bold acts of self-sacrifice. "I feel humble that they were here because a lot of students know that it's risky to walk home after the school crowd has left....Walking home alone, things can happen to them," Salazar said. For more information, contact Students for Salazar C/O The Sixth Sun Productions: sixsun@mac.com To get directly involved with the campaign to force the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) to renew Ms. Salazar's contract, contact Jose Lara at the Association for Raza Educators (A.R.E.) at razaeducators@yahoogroups.com Also, professional poet and Jordan Teacher, Mark Gonzales, can be reached at humanwrites@gmail.com
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2008-05-03T03:37:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the ICOPE eZINE!!

The Independent Commission on Public Education of NYC (iCOPE) has started this online newsletter to chronicle our fight to create a free public education system in New York City that is in the hands of parents, students and teachers and is grounded in the internationally recognized policies of education as a human right.

We will periodically post iCOPE commentary on a host of education issues and crises currently confronting us on almost a daily basis. YOU are welcome to reply to our commentary and alanlysis.

We will also post what we feel are key weblinks and key documents that help us successfully achieve total system-change for parent-teacher-student power over New York's public education.

Also, feel free to visit our website: www.icope.org

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ICOPE's Human Rights Based Education System:

A New System of Public Education and Governance for New York City

Executive Summary

The Independent Commission on Public Education (ICOPE) offers an alternative vision of public education in New York City from which emerges a proposal for a new governance structure. Whether explicitly stated or not, all systems of governance encode values, apprehensions, philosophies, and purposes. For purposes of clarity and accountability ICOPE calls upon elected officials and the public to place these underlying concepts in the foreground of any discussion of governance.

ICOPE’s purpose in offering this draft plan is twofold:

1) to show that indeed another more just, democratic, and effective education system is possible through a Human Rights framework, and

2) to start a citywide dialogue so that all New Yorkers can knowledgably share their views before a legislative decision is made in Albany affecting the educational future of the 1.1 million children in NYC.

A strong belief in the inherent value of education, deliberative democracy, and human rights form the warp and woof of the ICOPE plan. Moreover, ICOPE believes them essential to the effectiveness of any plan to fulfill New York City’s children right to education.

ICOPE’s plan for a new public education system in New York City addresses the persistent causes of failure in the business model of public education. The business model of education has been in place, albeit “reformed”, for over a century. The persistent causes of failure are: Conflicting, Unstable, and Inadequate Definitions of Education and the Mission of the Public Education System; A Dysfunctional, Impersonal View of the Nature of Teaching and Learning; Pervasive Silence on the Issues of Structural and Institutional Racism; Weak Connections with Public School Families and Communities; and Corruption, Patronage, and Waste.

ICOPE’s plan recognizes the unique role schools play in the lives of families in exercising significant custodial care of their children over a significant span of years. ICOPE believes that the custodial character of schools makes them anomalous to the standard bureaucratic model of city and state agencies. ICOPE recognizes that this custodial relationship requires a governance structure that is separate and distinct from municipal administration controlled by the mayor: one that is more open, responsive, accountable, and democratic.

The three pillars of the ICOPE plan are: a human rights framework, democratic partnership, and capacity building.

1. Human rights framework: Human rights are the natural rights of any human being and which governments are obligated to recognize, protect, and fulfill. For public education, human rights principles bring a much needed coherence to all facets of a public school system in a manner which dignifies education itself.

The goal of education, and thus part of the mission of a school and an education system is, in a human rights framework, the education of the whole child. Human rights principles also require deliberative mechanisms which fulfill parental rights to shape their children’s upbringing, the civil and political rights of community members to participate in decisions concerning their communities, and the rights of teachers and other civil servants employed in the education system to have a voice in decisions concerning their work, among other labor rights. As one means by which to hold the system accountable ICOPE proposes an independent ombudsman office along with an enhanced oversight role for City Council.

2. Democratic partnership: ICOPE proposes a democratic partnership model for decision-making and oversight in the public education system. By partnership ICOPE means “the relation of joint principals in a common undertaking”. Democratic means equitable principles and mechanisms by which all constituents have a view over and a voice in the functioning of a system.

The plan envisions a system of governance in which the school community, through an entity like the School Leadership Team, makes collaborative decisions on principal hiring, evaluation and retention; curriculum & pedagogy; school day and budget. The district office supports school level decision-making with professional and administrative expertise and is overseen by a publicly elected District Education Council. The city level Board holds together the human rights framework for the education system by developing standards and benchmarks for school progress towards the human rights standards in education and by ensuring the transparency of the system. The Board of Education is selected by electors sent from each District Education Council.

3. Capacity building: Capacity building entails both opportunities and mechanisms for decision-making on the one hand and timely information and training on the other. ICOPE calls for a Parent Union and a Student Union to be collective support and voices for their members. ICOPE also calls for a Parent Academy and a Student Academy to be publicly funded but constituted independently of the Board. Rebuilding the neighborhood school and making school districts co-terminus with the Community Planning Boards enhances local capacity for school governance.

The transition from the current system into a human rights based system of education will require substantial planning and training. ICOPE proposes a Transition Committee to guide the process.

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About The Independent Commission on Public Education
The Independent Commission on Public Education (iCOPE), is a volunteer citywide collective of parents, students, educators and activists, and founding organization of the “Education is a Human Right” Campaign. Over the past two years, iCOPE has developed an alternative Human Rights based vision of public education for NYC. iCOPE believes that system transformation based on Human Rights principles, not merely a change in governance, is needed to create schools that meet the needs of every child and place greater power in the hands of parents, students, educators and school communities. See our web site for more information www.icope.org

For a copy of the entire plan contact iCOPE 718 499 3756
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Part IV: The Lst Segment of Jitu Weusi's April 2007 Testimony at Ed Tribunal

2007-05-26T05:01:00.001-07:00

Part IV- the last of a powerful testimony by longtime Brooklyn educator and activist, Jitu Weusi. he continues to breakdown he structurally racist public education system of NYC....
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Jitu Weusi's Testimony at NYC Education Tribunal April 2007: Part III

2007-05-26T04:50:00.000-07:00

Part III of a powerful testimony by longtime Brooklyn educator and activist, Jitu Weusi. he continues to breakdown he structurally racist public education system of NYC....
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Jitu Weusi's Testimony at NYC Education Tribunal April 2007

2007-05-22T14:33:00.000-07:00

Jitu Weusi speaks about 40 years of fighting against a racist public education system and fighting FOR real Democratic Community Control--
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ICOPE In YES! Magazine

2007-05-17T17:41:00.001-07:00

YES! Magazine Spring 2007 Issue: Is the U.S. Ready for Human Rights?

Education, by Rights
by Liz Sullivan and Cecilia Blewer

Parents and educators propose an innovative approach to fixing New York’s public schools: rebuild the system using human rights.



	El Puente Academy students work on portfolios. Instead of a focus on high-stakes testing, students demonstrate their mastery and document community projects in portfolios, which are like mini-theses incorporating research, writing and a formal presentation. The goal is for students to use the knowledge and skills they learn in the classroom to achieve social justice in their own community.

The El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice is a New York City high school that focuses on the holistic development of young people so that they can become informed and inspired leaders in the struggle for human rights. The curriculum reflects this focus, with an emphasis on community development projects, non-violence, and social change.

The El Puente Academy was created in 1993 to reflect the values, practices, and culture of the community in which it is located. Under the leadership of Frances Lucerna, the founding principal, the school developed an integrated curriculum that teaches young people to use the knowledge and skills they learn in the classroom to achieve social justice and human rights in their own community.

The students’ community projects become part of their portfolios and are used to measure their academic progress. One senior class, for example, used math, along with research and organizing skills, to create a community garden in an abandoned lot in their community.

As the first public high school for human rights, the Academy has been recognized and studied as a national model. When the school was first founded, students were required to take New York state graduation tests and consistently scored among the highest in the state. The Academy has a graduation rate of over 85 percent and nearly all graduates go on to college. As a result of its success, the school has received permission from the New York State Education Department to grade students based on their portfolios rather than their test scores.

Human Rights and Schools
Inspired by examples such as El Puente, the Independent Commission on Public Education (ICOPE) in September 2005 began building a citywide dialogue about how to re-design the failing New York City public school system to guarantee the human rights of students, their parents, and communities.

According to the National Assessment of Education Progress, 45 percent of fourth graders in New York City schools are reading below grade level. Less than 40 percent of high school students are graduating in four years.

For students of color, graduation rates are even lower—only 32 percent of African-American and 30 percent of Latino students are graduating on time, compared to 58 percent of white students.

Students face policies, practices, and conditions that stifle their development and disengage them from learning. Schools lack adequate resources, forcing students to struggle to learn in sub-standard facilities and over-crowded classrooms. A focus on high-stakes testing has narrowed the content of education and pressed teachers into a test-driven curriculum. Abusive discipline policies create destructive school climates and push youth out of school.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes that children have the right to a quality education that develops their full personality and potential, not an education that limits their ability to learn, violates their dignity, and fails to graduate half of our children. These conditions reflect the same economic inequalities and institutional racism in U.S. society that deny some communities the right to decent housing and health care.

For decades, attempts to reform this broken school system have failed. Since 2002, when the New York State Legislature gave Mayor Michael Bloomberg control over this vast school system, parent and community participation in school system decision-making has become even more difficult and school policies even less transparent.

“Our children are being denied their human rights by a school system focused on raising test scores and policing school hallways instead of supporting the full development of children. We need a new system of public education based on human rights.”

These are the words of a public school parent who spoke on the steps of City Hall in Manhattan on September 28, 2005, at the launch of the Education is a Human Right Campaign. On that day, students, parents, community organizers and educators from across New York City came together to support ICOPE in their work to create a new vision for the public school system.

For positive change to take place, we at ICOPE believe that the system’s structures, culture, and relationships must be fundamentally altered and the school system must be redesigned.

In April 2006, the National Center for Schools and Communities at Fordham University launched Task Force 2009 in collaboration with ICOPE to develop a vision and legislative proposal for how to design a new system. The Task Force, made up of educational leaders, community organizers, parents and youth, is charged with developing recommendations for 2009 when the state law that gave the mayor control of the school system will be up for reconsideration. This legislative timetable provides the public with an opportunity to develop an alternative community-based vision for schools.

A New Vision for New York City Schools
Human rights provide a common framework that allows people from different racial, socio-economic, language and age groups with different personal interests and passions to work together to build a common vision. In particular, for community activists and parents used to fighting against the negative practices and policies in schools, a human rights framework pushes them to think in terms of the positive vision that communities want for their schools.

Human rights are universal, indivisible, and interdependent. In other words, all people have human rights as their inalienable birthright; there is no hierarchy of rights, all rights are equally important; the fulfillment of one particular right depends in whole or in part on the fulfillment of all others.

Some of the work of designing a new system of public education based on human rights has already been done by schools and school districts around North America—even though they might not have framed their innovative work under a human rights umbrella.

Some school districts involve parents, teachers, students, and others in locally controlled schools, rather than relying on the top-down corporate-style bureaucracy we have in New York City. The Edmonton Schools in Alberta, Canada, for example, have developed an inter-nationally recognized system of school-based budgeting that gives maximum control over resources to local schools.

In the Chicago public schools, locally elected school councils hire the prin-cipal and decide whether to renew his or her contract. In McComb, Mississippi, parents and community members brought health education and health care services into the schools.

Our vision of a human rights-based school system for New York City includes a governance structure that gives parents, students, and community members decision-making power.

Governance must be transparent and free of corruption. Parents, students, and community members must have the support, training, and information necessary to fulfill their roles.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes that every child has the right to an education “directed to the development of the child’s personality, talents, and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential.” This concept of education goes far beyond the current focus on high-stakes testing, which narrows and distorts education as teachers are forced to “teach to the test.”

Other school districts have been able to implement alternative assessment techniques. For example, the state of Nebraska was able to convince the federal government to allow them to integrate the No Child Left Behind requirements into their own teacher-based assessment process, which combines a portfolio of classroom assessments, locally developed tests, and a limited number of state and national tests.

Our vision of a human rights-based school system includes art and music, field trips, teaching methods that adapt to the learning styles of different students, curricula that teach social and civic skills, emotional education, critical thinking and ethical reasoning, and an individualized system of assessment.

Getting Organized
Before launching the Education is a Human Right Campaign, ICOPE asked a wide range of education advocacy organizations to contribute “planks” to the campaign’s human right “platform.”

Endorsers of the campaign include:

Black New Yorkers for Educational Excellence, an organization that works to ensure that school staff, curriculum, and teaching methods respect and promote the diverse histories and cultures of students of color. The Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes that education should develop respect for each child’s “own cultural identity, language, and values.”
Class Size Matters. Although there is no specific human right to small class sizes, human rights require that there are adequate numbers of teachers and classrooms to meet students’ needs.
Prison Moratorium Project, which fights to get police officers—whose presence and involvement in discipline create destructive school climates—removed from schools.
Center for Immigrant Families, which conducted a two-year investigation of how schools serving mostly middle-class families on Manhattan’s Upper West Side had been turning away low-income students of color.

Human rights are a tool for mobilizing and empowering communities to fight for their right to education. A parent in the Bronx who is a part of the Education is a Human Right campaign said, “I realize now that most of the things that are happening in schools that I don’t like are violating my children’s human rights, and I have a right to do something about it.”

In April 2006, ICOPE recruited more than 60 parents, community activists, educators, and youth to serve on five Independent Borough Education Commissions, one in each of the five boroughs of New York City. These commissions gather input from the community and do outreach to build a grassroots movement.

ICOPE has also launched a youth action research project that will engage youth ages 16 to 21 in gathering information about the lived experiences of New York City public school students.

Looking back to move forward
On December 2, 2006, ICOPE hosted a dialogue that brought members of the campaign together to learn about the history of the 1968 civil rights movement for community control of New York City schools. Participants gathered lessons from the struggle of African- American and Latino communities in the Lower East Side, Harlem, and Oceanhill-Brownsville in Brooklyn, who 40 years earlier, fought for their vision for quality public education.

During the meeting, a high school student noted that his school doesn’t teach students about the 1968 struggle. Unfortunately, 40 years after that struggle, parents and students are still fighting to gain accountability from a school system that continues to ignore and under-mine the needs, values, and stories of strength of communities in New York City.

ICOPE’s goal for the future is to kick-start a movement for change by creating networks of committed community members. In doing so, ICOPE works within a broader human rights movement that is emerging in the United States to challenge inequalities in every aspect of American life.

Elizabeth Sullivan is the education director of the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative.

Cecilia Blewer is a parent and a co-founder of the Independent Commission on Public Education (ICOPE), 718/499-3756.

Brooklyn IBEC Tribunal beginning Part I and II

2007-05-15T14:11:00.000-07:00

IBEC Tribunal Part I and II
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ICOPE In The News: Newsday + Daily News

2006-03-05T06:43:00.000-08:00

ICOPE in Newsday & Daily News

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Parents demand respect,
greater say in schools
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By NAHAL TOOSI
Associated Press Writer

March 4, 2006

NEW YORK -- One recent evening, a handful of parents and education activists gathered in a dimly lit Brooklyn bar and vented about how the city’s public schools are being managed.

They used words such as “imperial” and “corporatist.” But the most important word was “power,” something the participants said parents have sorely lacked since Mayor Michael Bloomberg took control of the city’s massive, struggling school system nearly four years ago.

“He has disenfranchised people,” said Ellen Raider, a co-founder of the Independent Commission on Public Education, an education advocacy group. “It’s being run as a business.”

In what could prove a significant challenge to the mayor’s control over schools, several parent-led groups are taking highly visible _ and potentially influential _ steps to back up their complaints. The Bloomberg administration and education officials are downplaying the actions, however, and some experts question if the parents’ moves will do much beyond bolster the teachers union.

The most concrete step came in February, when the prominent Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council declared it won’t join the education department’s annual lobbying day in Albany on March 28. The council and several other parent groups will stage their own lobbying day on March 14.

Parent leaders are also teaming up with friendly city council members and raising money to get professional lobbyist training. And some parent activists already are talking about ways to change the schools’ command structure when mayoral control comes up for review by the Legislature in
2009.

“We have to pull out from trying to fight a war on their terms _ it is a war,” said Carmen Colon, president of the Association of New York City Education Councils.

Not every parent uses such strident language, but many believe they are disrespected by the mayor and Joel Klein, the appointed schools chancellor.

They complain that their views on hot-button topics such as testing, class size, and the creation of charter schools are given lip service at best. And some claim that the schools’ parent coordinators _ hired at a cost of $50 million _ are little more than administration lackeys.

Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott played down the possibility that independent lobbying by parent groups could hamper the city’s own agenda. He said plenty of individual parents are expected to join the education department’s lobbying day.

“One thing that we want (is) parents to be active and engaged in the process,” Walcott said.

Jemina Bernard, head of the education department’s Office of Parent Engagement, noted that “parents and parent leaders don’t always agree on what the priorities are” and defended Klein’s availability to parents.

But if the most organized and involved parents push for legislative actions that conflict with the mayor’s desires, it could result in headaches for Bloomberg and Klein.

The mayor wants the power to authorize new charter schools; parent groups plan to lobby against it. Parents also want lawmakers to give Community Education Councils, largely powerless groups that replaced the previous, sometimes-corrupt community school boards, more authority over hiring and budget decisions.

Both sides want more funding for city schools _ especially the billions in court-ordered allocations under a lawsuit that the governor’s office is disputing. But parent groups say they want stricter spending rules.

Parent agitation has helped force school shake-ups before. The city has had various forms of decentralized and centralized school systems; in the 1960s, minority parents’ frustrations helped fuel a movement that resulted in a more decentralized format. But that system lost favor over the next three decades.

The recent parent actions may not rise to the level of “historic” but “it’s a very important signal of parent dissatisfaction,” said Diane Ravitch, an education historian who has been critical of Bloomberg and Klein.

She noted that some of those she calls “professional parents” are talking about the system beyond 2009. Raider’s group is helping create a task force to design and pitch a new type of school system altogether, one Raider says will be “based on human rights principles.”

Andrew Rotherham, a Washington-based education analyst, said the group that would likely gain most from a parent rebellion is the United Federation of Teachers. The parents are going to Albany the same day as the union, which has voiced similar frustrations about Bloomberg and Klein’s management style.

“It’s sure an awfully happy coincidence,” Rotherham said.

Union President Randi Weingarten said nobody is “using” the parents.

“This is not something that we asked for,” she said. “This is something that parents came to us and asked for us to help them. The bottom line is when teachers and parents are together in support of our kids, it is an unstoppable coalition.”
Copyright (c) 2006, The Associated Press

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This article originally appeared at: 0,754554.story?coll=ny-nycnews-headlines>

Visit Newsday online at http://www.newsday.com

EDUCATION ACTION SUMMIT PLATFORM

2006-01-19T07:09:00.000-08:00

EDUCATION ACTION SUMMIT PLATFORM
Building A Human Rights Vision
For New York City Public Schools

Seeking a Common Vision
through a Human Rights Framework

On April 16, 2005, parents, students, teachers and advocates met at the Education Action Summit to call for a new system of public education in New York City based on human rights. Whole system change is needed to create schools that meet the needs of every child and place greater power in the hands of parents, students, teachers and school communities.

Human rights represent a legal framework, political vision, and global strategy for ensuring the equality and dignity of every human being, as well as a culture shift in attitudes and practices. Bringing a human rights culture to New York City schools would mean the creation of safe and nurturing environments for children that help fully develop their capabilities. The Convention on the Rights of the Child and other human rights documents guarantee the rights to quality education, dignity and safety for every child, an equitable distribution of resources, freedom from discrimination, and meaningful participation for parents, students and communities.

The current New York City school system fails to guarantee these human rights standards. Children are denied the skills and knowledge they need as a result of inadequate resources in the classroom, overcrowded and crumbling schools, the pressure and narrow focus of testing, inadequate counseling, and the criminalization of schools. Disparities in resources and outcomes based on race and class violate the human rights principle of non-discrimination. These disparities stem from the historical and present reality of American society which sorts people into two groups – those who receive a good education and those who do not – limiting one group of people to work in low-paid jobs. Our system’s top-down bureaucracy prevents flexibility in reform efforts, and keeps the power to change the system away from parents, students, educators and communities. These problems run too deep for any one change in policy or shift in governance to solve. A whole system change in education is needed.

Creating an Independent Task Force
for Whole System Change

The Independent Commission on Public Education (iCOPE) calls for the formation of an independent task force of parents, community members, students, teachers, principals, policy-makers, elected officials, scholars and business leaders that is free of political partisanship and control to shape a new common vision for our schools based on human rights. The independent task force will be charged with leading a civic conversation and inspiring the mobilization of the community to demand a restructuring of the school system including strategies for:

∑ Focusing policy at the school level to create effective “learning communities” based on a teamwork model that respects the professionalism of teachers, the central role of students and families, and the need for collaboration among all participants. The only function of structures and bureaucracies above the school level is to support and ensure the success of such learning communities. ∑ Creating an accountability system with less top-down, testing-based control and management, but rather much more effective means for school staff, parents, and students themselves to assess each student's progress and take action to assure successful outcomes. More reliable information for the public, city, state, and federal governments is needed to assess the success of each school, and provide assistance and intervention.

∑ Building a governance structure that guarantees the rights of parents, students and communities to have power in education decision-making independent of the Mayor, School Board and Chancellor. The governance structure must be transparent and free of corruption. A public advocate or ombudsperson should be created to ensure that parents, students and communities have the support, training, and information necessary to fulfill their roles, and to guarantee that remedies are available when rights are violated.

∑ Ending discrimination by developing school policies, relationships, and classroom methods to eliminate institutional racism and class bias.

∑ Ensuring a holistic educational system based on a shared responsibility between the home, school and broader community, requiring the collaboration of cultural, civic and health agencies to address the many social and economic problems facing our communities that our schools alone cannot solve. This new vision for public schools should be guided by the following human rights standards:

∑ The individual rights of every child to a quality education must be promoted through curricula, teaching methods and services that adapt to meet each child’s specific needs.

∑ The aims of education must be to help children reach their full potential to participate in society, to do rewarding work for a living wage, and to continue learning. Education must develop each child’s respect for his or her family, language and culture.

∑ The dignity of every child must be guaranteed by creating an environment of respect and tolerance in schools, preventing practices and disciplinary policies that cause harm or humiliation to children, and promoting self-confidence and self-expression.

∑ The equitable distribution of resources must be guaranteed across communities and grade-levels according to need to ensure equality in educational outcomes.

∑ Non-discrimination must be ensured regardless of race, class, sex, sexual orientation, language, religion, immigration status, disability or other factors.

∑ The meaningful participation of students, parents and communities must be guaranteed in decisions that affect their schools and their right to education.

∑ Protection of the family must be ensured in the educational process with respect for the responsibilities, rights and duties of parents, guardians, or extended family members.

The independent task force should develop this new vision and strategy in the next two years so that members of the community seeking fundamental changes to the school system through human rights can use it as a basis to fight for change. This strategy will involve participating in debates around city and state elections as well as mobilizing students, parents, and teachers. As we approach the end of the current mandate for mayoral control in 2009, the task force should work to put this new vision into practice to create a more participatory and child-centered school system. As a first step, the task force should identify existing education models that meet human rights standards to encourage their replication and help develop this new vision.

Why We Are Calling for Whole System Change
Based on Human Rights

The current educational system in New York City was designed over a century ago. In its early years, the goal of the system was to “sort out” only a small percentage of children for high school. Now it is expected that most students will graduate from high school, but the level of skills and knowledge that many achieve is still expected to be quite low, limiting them to work in low-wage jobs and the military. Built into the system is an expectation that not all children will reach their full potential or fully participate in society. These limited expectations fail to meet both human rights standards and the needs of New York City’s diverse communities, and fail to prepare students for the realities of our interconnected world.

The basic hallmarks of this system include: 1) primary decision-makers far removed from actual teaching and learning; 2) racial and class-based segregation and discrimination; 3) narrow educational goals which exclude the emotional and social development of the child (such as building leadership and character, social skills, ethics, etc.); and 4) the lack of authentic implementation of existing standards for the content of curricula. Piecemeal reform efforts cannot change the beliefs, relationships, and organizational structures reflected in the current system. Furthermore, recurring cycles of piecemeal reform regularly expose children, especially poor children, to great instability producing school closures, high teacher turnover and frequent program terminations, without tackling the underlying issues. Instead reform struggles are needed that draw people into the larger, ongoing struggle for total system change.

In order to create a school system that guarantees universal, high-quality education for all children, the current distribution of educational resources and aims of education must be fundamentally altered. The human rights framework demands that educational resources must be distributed across communities according to need to ensure that children from different socio-economic backgrounds and with different economic, social and emotional capabilities are all able to receive a quality education.

This system change must be reflected at all levels – student, family, classroom, individual schools and school system. It must tackle the most difficult of systems problems, such as what decision-making processes and funding allocations are necessary to create an educational program that is high quality and meets the needs of all children. Whole system reform must also address the challenge that educators face when children are denied other fundamental rights which impact the right to education, such as the right to food and healthcare. Without addressing these rights, school systems will not adequately educate children. Yet schools by themselves cannot bear the weight created by failures of other social institutions, such as the healthcare system. Whole system reform in education must be combined with efforts to improve quality and access in other social services affecting children and their families.

Unifying Our Struggle through Human Rights

Ineffective and piecemeal approaches to education reform are fueled by the lack of a shared vision for system change. The many controversies confronting public education over reading methods, bilingual education, institutional racism, discipline and many other issues prevent a dialogue about a shared vision. Such a shared vision is also challenged by the advocacy communities that tend to work only on a particular issue or for a particular constituency. A human rights approach provides ways to talk about system change that engage the full range of the education reform community. Human rights can strengthen the struggle for equity and quality in education because they bring all of these issues together under one framework.

Education Action Summit
Platform Planks:
Highlighting Current Struggles

As we call for whole system change in public education, we work in solidarity with those fighting to address the many individual problems facing our schools. We support their struggles and call on them to unite with us – only through whole system change can all of the problems be addressed. We highlight the following issues included in our Platform Planks:

ÿ Curriculum must be reformed to ensure that it meets the needs of the diverse community of students in New York City, and is geared towards the full development of the child.

ÿ High stakes testing must not narrow the aims of education or punish students who are not receiving a quality education in our schools. Instead, tests should be combined with alternative assessments to measure student progress and hold schools accountable.

ÿ Nutritional, health and recreational needs of students are currently not being met by New York City schools and must be ensured.

ÿ A safe, orderly and caring learning environment must be guaranteed for all students.

ÿ Police presence in schools is not compatible with safe and child-friendly school environments. Alternative security measures are being successfully implemented in many schools and should be replicated along with human rights-based training for staff.

ÿ Communities must not be forced to accept military recruitment in their schools to access the right to education. The right to privacy of students and families must be protected.

ÿ The State must provide an equitable, rational, transparent and streamlined funding formula based on an objective analysis of the actual cost of providing all students with an education that meets human rights standards, ensures the full development of the child’s personality, and prepares them for the economic realities in a globalizing world.

ÿ Class sizes must be reduced to appropriate levels based on both the needs of the specific student population and the subject matter being taught.

ÿ All schools should have education in art, music, and second languages at all grade levels.

ÿ Parents of children in the school system must have access to comprehensive training around the structures and processes of participation in the system. School-policy and resource-allocation decision-making must be participatory, transparent and accountable.

ÿ Translation services must be clearly and comprehensively mandated to prevent discrimination against parents or guardians with limited English skills.

ÿ All students regardless of their status, including students at risk of dropping out and students with behavioral and/or disciplinary problems, must be provided with the programs and services necessary to meet their educational needs.

ÿ Students with disabilities must be afforded the full range of necessary support, services and specially trained staff to fully exercise their right to an education.

ÿ The misdiagnosis of disabilities, in particular over-diagnosis of emotional disturbance and learning disabilities among Black and Latino students, must be prevented and students must receive the appropriate services for their needs. Psychological testing and psychiatric drugs can only be administered with parental consent and without coercion.

ÿ Students who are still learning the English language must receive the full range of necessary support to learn all subjects. Comprehensive plans at the school and district level should be developed to meet the needs of this population.

ÿ Children in transitional housing and foster care must have continued access to schooling.

ÿ Admissions policies at the school and district levels must not lead to the discriminatory placement of students based on race, class, language, disability or other factors.

Welcome to the ICOPE E-ZINE!!

2006-01-19T06:52:00.000-08:00

Also, feel free to visit our website: www.icope.org