Professor Engel and Melinda Hamilton

It turns out that I wasn't the only person to exchange emails with Professor Susan Engel, who wrote the Op Ed in the NYT of which I was so critical (see http://edreform.blogspot.com/2010/02/my-response-to-professor-engel.html).  Melinda Hamilton, Vice-Chair of the board of Elm City College Prep and Elm City Elementary, two Achievement First schools in New Haven, shared this with me this email she sent to Prof. Engel (and gave me permission to share it):

 

Susan --

 

After reading your op ed piece a number of times, I can only plead with you to come visit the Achievement First schools in New Haven.  We are at a critical juncture in education reform in our country, and we need to do everything we can to bring about positive change.  I don't think you are that far apart from the best education reformers, but I think your article is demonstrates a misunderstanding of where we are trying to go.  I think it is also misleading, and at worst damaging to efforts to close the achievement gap.

 

Consider the following points:

 

1.  I think you would like the curricula in our schools.  In the middle school, for instance, our scholars spend 3.5 hours a day reading -- aloud and to themselves, fiction and non-fiction, books and stories that are relevant to their lives. They spend more time (I'm not sure of the length of time) writing -- stories about their lives, journals, poetry, reports, and letters.  They spend again more time learning the basics of mathematics and applying them to their science experiments, their environment, and their daily lives.  Along the way, they build relationships with their teachers, have their teachers cell phone numbers for 24 hour access, have pizza parties and take local trips.  They go on field trips to museums, colleges and universities, and in the case of the last Presidential election, to the Inauguration.  Our schools work hard on what they call the "J" factor in their culture, the joy of learning.  For the first time in their lives, many of our scholars learn that it's fun, even cool, to be smart.  These things sound just like what you are promoting in your article as good educational practices.

 

2.  None of this gets in the way of the seriousness with which our teachers and scholars approach their work.  Our schools will show you that accountability, in the form of the testing you so dislike, works well within a curriculum like I've just described.  We test, using Interim Assessments every six weeks.  Those assessments are used to understand how well the scholars have absorbed what they have been taught in the previous period.  They are also used to understand how well the teachers have done their jobs.  Following every Interim Assessment is a full day dedicated to improving our teaching, from individual concepts to overall skills, in a deeply thought out professional development program.

 

3.  And here's why it's important.  To say that America's public schools have let down our urban youth is a gross understatement.  Those schools have been allowed to operate without standards, in an environment in which poor teachers and ineffective administrators languish.  The current state of urban education threatens the civil rights of our youth, the safety of our citizens, and the economy of our state and our country.  We can't afford to screw around with this any longer.  In order to effect change, we need to establish standards, accountability, common goals, and agreed-upon methods.  These things can be done without stifling either the effectiveness or the joy of our children's learning.  To suggest that they can't only gives nay-sayers and the status quo fodder not to change.

 

Please come visit our schools, watch our scholars learn, watch our teachers teach, and absorb an environment in which learning is joyful, serious, and celebrated.

 

Melinda Hamilton

 

Melinda wrote to me that "Ms. Engel responded to me that she is puzzled by the criticism of her article, that she is not opposed to developing shared standards and goals, and that she would like to visit our schools.  We're setting a date for a May visit, and I'm hopeful that she will come to better understand the achievement gap challenge and (publicly?) support great teaching for all."