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By Alicia C. Dowd Engaging the ''Race Question'': Accountability and Equity in U.S. Higher Education (Multicultural Ed [Paperback]
This book is for anyone who is challenged or troubled by the substantial disparities in college participation, persistence, and completion among racial and ethnic groups in the United States. As co-directors of the Center for Urban Education (CUE) at the University of Southern California, co-authors Alicia Dowd and Estela Bensimon draw on their experience conducting CUEs Equity Scorecard, a comprehensive action research process which has been implemented at over 40 colleges and universities in the United States. They demonstrate what educators need to know and do to take an active role in racial equity work on their own campuses.
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First published December 26, 2014
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March 8, 2016
"When you teach a man to hate and fear his brother, when you teach that he is a lesser man because of his color or his beliefs or the policies he pursues, when you teach that those who differ from you threaten your freedom or your job or your family, then you also learn to confront others not as fellow citizens but as enemies, to be met not with cooperation but with conquest, to be subjugated and mastered."
“We must admit the vanity of our false distinctions among men and learn to find our own advancement in the search for the advancement of others. We must admit in ourselves that our own children's future cannot be built on the misfortunes of others. We must recognize that this short life can neither be ennobled or enriched by hatred or revenge."
-Robert F. Kennedy, April 5, 1968
We have been having this conversation for too long. This splendid book, from a very different world, captures the difference between cost-plus or level-of-effort and performance-based contracts. Too much of our current teaching effort is precisely cost-plus or level-of-effort. What is being advocated here is a performance-based approach: do what is required to achieve equity; no excuses. The "deficits" to be addressed are not in the students, but rather in the teachers and their teaching practices.
p. 164. Such a focus suggests a shift toward institutional responsibility and away from deficit-minded assumptions about the causes of racial inequities.
p. 168. These efforts are mirrored at the state level in performance-based funding (PBF) policies, which aim to shift the funding incentives public colleges face from merely enrolling students to enduring that they graduate (. . . .).
The seventeenth book I have finished this year.
p. 97. In our application of inquiry, we focus on generating insights about institutional practices that contribute to racial disparities in college participation and outcomes.
A searing indictment of the Liberal education establishment however well-intentioned. I am reminded of Amanda Ripley's observation, in "the smartest kids in the world - and how they got that way," that some teachers have simply accepted that some students will fail.
p. 55. action research is fundamentally about producing knowledge about how to act in particular setting to achieve "the good" that motivates action in that setting.
p. 63. We conclude by arguing that the standards of justice as care cannot be realized through color-blind practices.
p. 72. With a few exceptions, faculty appeared to lack the expertise to redesign their courses to incorporate the "funds of knowledge (. . . .) of students of color into the course activities and curriculum.
We will see: at this point I struggle to see how this knowledge would be incorporated in an engineering class. It seems like it would be a mistake for engineering faculty to attempt this without outside assistance.
p. 76. If care is pitying of the cared-for it imposes what we call a "self-worth tax," undermining the participatory ideal.
p. 85. Acknowledged Lack of Expertise
p. 95. The strategies the team implemented involved local experimentation, such as curriculum restructuring, as well as the adoption of programs and policies viewed as "best practices" by the field, such as peer mentoring, intrusive advising, supplemental instruction, summer bridge programs, and academic learning communities.
The "intrusive advising" seems to be a significant part of the Starbucks/ASU system. It is a good example of addressing the "deficit" in the teaching system, rather than positing a deficit in the students.
p. 105. . . . . we tend to front load a lot of resources in the 1st and 2nd years . . . . and after that year hope they get it by then, but we were finding that they were not."
This raises questions about the long-term efficacy of The Washington STARS in Engineering Program as it is currently constituted.
p. 105. . . . . faculty from the team reached out to colleagues and started a Teaching to Diversity book group.
p. 112. All high-status individuals in educational settings have the potential to assist low-status youth in navigating structural and interpersonal barriers to educational success.
Yes! This is the basis for the dream of Walla Walla Friends of Students in STEM.
p. 122. . . . . White students at the U"W" 2-year colleges needing English or math remediation was 40%. The corresponding percentages were 60% of African American students, 47% of Hispanic/Latino students, and 54% of American Indian students (. . . .).
O.K. these are students entering technical colleges so perhaps the percentages are different elsewhere: not withstanding that to the contrary it is apodictic that we are failing a large percentage of our students.
p. 130. However, in large part, the inaction stemmed from conflicting interests among the participating leaders, who sought to protect the interests of their institutions.
p. 131. No single individual needed to act on explicitly racist views for the racial marginalization and exclusion that we're part and parcel off the system to be perpetuated.
p. 133. The high need for basic skills interaction at the college level is a failure of the educational system as a whole.
p. 141. The perpetuate a belief that racism is only manifested in individual acts of prejudice rather than as a widespread phenomenon that is historically grounded in cultural and institutional practices. Further, [those with] colorblind perspectives suggest that ate best way achieve equality is to act was if race does not exist at all.
p. 147. There are three cornerstone principles that must inform a racial equity agenda:
1. . . . . racial inequities in student outcomes represent a failure not of students but of society and educational institutions, . . . . .
p. 148. 2. . . . . a "self-worth tax" may not be imposed on students, . . . .
3. The accountability field has a moral obligation to provide incentives to institutions of higher education to deconstruct and reconstruct the educational systems that are reproducing racial inequities.
p. 157. The development of data systems will not stimulate meaningful change if practitioners do not acknowledge that their current practices are failing students and historically disenfranchised communities.
p. 162. This example uses the milestones of year-to-year persistence rates, culminating in a 6-year graduation rate.
Yes to this! Definitely something we should do in the Washington STARS in Engineering Program.
p. 163. Without equity standards, institutions cannot evaluate their performance; without measures of performance, institutions cannot learn; and without learning, institutional change is unlikely.
p. 166. Through their actions, language, and what they pay attention to, leaders communicate priorities, values, and expectations.
p. 168. President Obama and major higher education philanthropies such as the Gates and Lumina foundations are calling on colleges and universities stop do a better job of retaining students and moving them through the credit-bearing curriculum.
Yes. An initiative to add the type of support that Starbucks provides to their students at ASU, to the Washington STARS in Engineering Program, would be a prefect fit with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Post Secondary Success Initiative.
“We must admit the vanity of our false distinctions among men and learn to find our own advancement in the search for the advancement of others. We must admit in ourselves that our own children's future cannot be built on the misfortunes of others. We must recognize that this short life can neither be ennobled or enriched by hatred or revenge."
-Robert F. Kennedy, April 5, 1968
We have been having this conversation for too long. This splendid book, from a very different world, captures the difference between cost-plus or level-of-effort and performance-based contracts. Too much of our current teaching effort is precisely cost-plus or level-of-effort. What is being advocated here is a performance-based approach: do what is required to achieve equity; no excuses. The "deficits" to be addressed are not in the students, but rather in the teachers and their teaching practices.
p. 164. Such a focus suggests a shift toward institutional responsibility and away from deficit-minded assumptions about the causes of racial inequities.
p. 168. These efforts are mirrored at the state level in performance-based funding (PBF) policies, which aim to shift the funding incentives public colleges face from merely enrolling students to enduring that they graduate (. . . .).
The seventeenth book I have finished this year.
p. 97. In our application of inquiry, we focus on generating insights about institutional practices that contribute to racial disparities in college participation and outcomes.
A searing indictment of the Liberal education establishment however well-intentioned. I am reminded of Amanda Ripley's observation, in "the smartest kids in the world - and how they got that way," that some teachers have simply accepted that some students will fail.
p. 55. action research is fundamentally about producing knowledge about how to act in particular setting to achieve "the good" that motivates action in that setting.
p. 63. We conclude by arguing that the standards of justice as care cannot be realized through color-blind practices.
p. 72. With a few exceptions, faculty appeared to lack the expertise to redesign their courses to incorporate the "funds of knowledge (. . . .) of students of color into the course activities and curriculum.
We will see: at this point I struggle to see how this knowledge would be incorporated in an engineering class. It seems like it would be a mistake for engineering faculty to attempt this without outside assistance.
p. 76. If care is pitying of the cared-for it imposes what we call a "self-worth tax," undermining the participatory ideal.
p. 85. Acknowledged Lack of Expertise
p. 95. The strategies the team implemented involved local experimentation, such as curriculum restructuring, as well as the adoption of programs and policies viewed as "best practices" by the field, such as peer mentoring, intrusive advising, supplemental instruction, summer bridge programs, and academic learning communities.
The "intrusive advising" seems to be a significant part of the Starbucks/ASU system. It is a good example of addressing the "deficit" in the teaching system, rather than positing a deficit in the students.
p. 105. . . . . we tend to front load a lot of resources in the 1st and 2nd years . . . . and after that year hope they get it by then, but we were finding that they were not."
This raises questions about the long-term efficacy of The Washington STARS in Engineering Program as it is currently constituted.
p. 105. . . . . faculty from the team reached out to colleagues and started a Teaching to Diversity book group.
p. 112. All high-status individuals in educational settings have the potential to assist low-status youth in navigating structural and interpersonal barriers to educational success.
Yes! This is the basis for the dream of Walla Walla Friends of Students in STEM.
p. 122. . . . . White students at the U"W" 2-year colleges needing English or math remediation was 40%. The corresponding percentages were 60% of African American students, 47% of Hispanic/Latino students, and 54% of American Indian students (. . . .).
O.K. these are students entering technical colleges so perhaps the percentages are different elsewhere: not withstanding that to the contrary it is apodictic that we are failing a large percentage of our students.
p. 130. However, in large part, the inaction stemmed from conflicting interests among the participating leaders, who sought to protect the interests of their institutions.
p. 131. No single individual needed to act on explicitly racist views for the racial marginalization and exclusion that we're part and parcel off the system to be perpetuated.
p. 133. The high need for basic skills interaction at the college level is a failure of the educational system as a whole.
p. 141. The perpetuate a belief that racism is only manifested in individual acts of prejudice rather than as a widespread phenomenon that is historically grounded in cultural and institutional practices. Further, [those with] colorblind perspectives suggest that ate best way achieve equality is to act was if race does not exist at all.
p. 147. There are three cornerstone principles that must inform a racial equity agenda:
1. . . . . racial inequities in student outcomes represent a failure not of students but of society and educational institutions, . . . . .
p. 148. 2. . . . . a "self-worth tax" may not be imposed on students, . . . .
3. The accountability field has a moral obligation to provide incentives to institutions of higher education to deconstruct and reconstruct the educational systems that are reproducing racial inequities.
p. 157. The development of data systems will not stimulate meaningful change if practitioners do not acknowledge that their current practices are failing students and historically disenfranchised communities.
p. 162. This example uses the milestones of year-to-year persistence rates, culminating in a 6-year graduation rate.
Yes to this! Definitely something we should do in the Washington STARS in Engineering Program.
p. 163. Without equity standards, institutions cannot evaluate their performance; without measures of performance, institutions cannot learn; and without learning, institutional change is unlikely.
p. 166. Through their actions, language, and what they pay attention to, leaders communicate priorities, values, and expectations.
p. 168. President Obama and major higher education philanthropies such as the Gates and Lumina foundations are calling on colleges and universities stop do a better job of retaining students and moving them through the credit-bearing curriculum.
Yes. An initiative to add the type of support that Starbucks provides to their students at ASU, to the Washington STARS in Engineering Program, would be a prefect fit with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Post Secondary Success Initiative.
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November 20, 2015379.26 D745 2015
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