VOL. 39, NO. 3 | FALL 2015 www.aft.org /ae Where It All Comes Together HOW PARTNERSHIPS CONNECT COMMUNITIES AND SCHOOLS PAGE 4 12 18 28 33 Austin’s Community Powerful Partnerships in Bilingual Education: Do Students Remember Schools Saint Paul An American Tradition What They Learn? PLAN NOW TO ATTEND THE AFT’S 18TH ANNUAL CENTER FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE: THE Next Generation JANUARY 21–24, 2016 | NEW YORK CITY The AFT’s Center for School Improvement and the United Federation of Teachers Teacher Center are partnering again to deliver an institute on collaboration skills for labor-management and community teams to transform schools and communities. PARTICIPATING TEAMS INCLUDE: • School-level union representatives, parents, • District personnel who share responsibility for community partners, principals, members of facilitating transformation in multiple schools school improvement teams, and individuals jointly identified by the district and union; and with day-to-day responsibility for supporting • Parents, members, elected officials, and school-level redesign; community leaders of district school • Union leadership or staff assigned to support improvement teams. redesign at both the school and district levels; Participants will discover new strategies, tools, and processes that will strengthen collaborative team leadership as well as help make schools, districts, and communities more effective. QUESTIONS? Email [email protected] WHERE WE STAND Schools at the Center of Communities RANDI WEINGARTEN, AFT President ONE OUT OF FIVE CHILDREN in the Here’s what happens at community and high-stakes consequences of United States lives in poverty today, schools: educators, school leaders, standardized tests. ey also believe that according to the latest Kids Count report parents, businesses, faith-based organiza- schools are underfunded. What these poll from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. at tions, higher education institutions, public results tell us is that parents have a good number has climbed steadily over the agencies, and community groups deter- sense of the better path for their kids— past few years, despite claims that our mine—together—how to ll their com- public schools where children are nation is recovering from the Great munity’s needs, from child care services engaged, class sizes are smaller, teachers Recession. and dental clinics, to counseling, English are supported, and all students have In our public school system, the rate is language instruction, family engagement access to a relevant, well-rounded even higher—one in two students is poor. opportunities, legal assistance, and curriculum and wraparound services. What that means is that teachers, like housing services. e aim is to provide e AFT and others have called for Sonya Romero in Albuquerque, New coordinated supports to give students, increased support for community schools Mexico, have become rst responders to the stress, exhaustion, and hardship these kids face, day in and day out. The community school strategy has proven incredibly Meanwhile, this school year is starting effective in helping to mitigate inequity and poverty. with widespread teacher shortages, and teachers are feeling more strained than ever before. Nearly three-quarters of parents, and teachers the tools to teach, in the reauthorization of the Elementary educators nd their work stressful, while learn, and grow. As a result, community and Secondary Education Act. e Senate 96 percent are physically and emotionally schools become centers of the version of the law, known as the Every exhausted at the end of the day, accord- community. Child Achieves Act of 2015, includes an ing to a recent survey from the AFT and ere are 5,000 community schools in amendment sponsored by Senators the Badass Teachers Association. the United States today, serving more Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Joe Manchin “When my students rst come in my than 150 localities. Community schools (D-WV) to create a dedicated grant door in the morning,” says Sonya, who in Baltimore, Chicago, Cincinnati, and program to support schools that want to has taught kindergarten for 19 years, “the many other cities (including Austin, implement the community school rst thing I do is an inventory of immedi- Texas, as outlined in this issue) have strategy, in addition to an amendment by ate needs: Did you eat? Are you clean? A boasted extraordinary success, with Senators Brown, Manchin, and Shelley big part of my job is making them feel drops in chronic absenteeism, lower Capito (R-WV) to support the community safe. e job of teacher has expanded to dropout rates, increased graduation rates, school model as a way to improve student counselor, therapist, doctor, parent, and better student participation in safety, health, and academic achievement. attorney.” afterschool programs. At the same time, we need to promote Teachers like Sonya want to help kids, However, in order to truly build on this local and state policies to support but they know they can’t do it alone. success and help all kids get what they community schools, from the statehouse Which is why, in school districts across need, we must scale up and sustain the to the school board, to ensure that the the country, AFT aliates and their community school strategy with support, community school model is imple- partners are bringing together the both public and private, at the federal, mented and funded. resources of our communities to help state, and local levels. We must move We know what works. We know what raise up all children—and give them and away from our current obsession with we need to do. Instead of pursuing their families the supports and resources measuring and sanctioning, and move strategies that promote deepening they need to succeed. toward an approach of supporting and inequities, we must invest in services that e community school strategy— improving and working together to meet level the playing eld. e community using the neighborhood public school to the needs of the whole child. school model is built on shared responsi- weave together community partners to Most Americans agree with this bility and eective solutions. It’s going to provide all the services and supports strategy. According to the latest Phi Delta take all of us working together to create students and their families need—has Kappa/Gallup poll of the public’s safe, welcoming neighborhood public proven incredibly eective in helping to attitudes toward public schools, our schools that are at the center of ourish- mitigate inequity and poverty. nation is fed up with the overemphasis ing communities. Follow Randi Weingarten: twitter.com/rweingarten. AMERICAN EDUCATOR | FALL 2015 1 Download this issue for free at www.aft.org/ae. MAILBOX VOL. 39, NO. 3 | FALL 2015 www.aft.org /ae OUR MISSION e American Federation of Teachers is a union of professionals that champions 4 Where It All Comes fairness; democracy; economic Together opportunity; and high-quality public How Partnerships Connect education, healthcare and public Communities and Schools services for our students, their families B M J. B L and our communities. We are committed V to advancing these principles through community engagement, organizing, e movement to establish collective bargaining and political community schools has come a activism, and especially through the work long way since the AFT made it a our members do. priority in 2008. More than 150 28 Bilingual Education communities across the country RANDI WEINGARTEN Reviving an American Tradition have established these schools to President B C G LORRETTA JOHNSON reduce chronic absences due to K W Secretary-Treasurer poor health, decrease disciplinary MARY CATHRYN RICKER issues and truancy rates, increase Debates rage today on the role of Executive Vice President family engagement, expand bilingual education, but America’s AMY M. HIGHTOWER Editor learning opportunities, and create long history of bilingual instruction JENNIFER DUBIN more stable home lives for is often forgotten. Educators and Managing Editor children. policymakers should reclaim this MIKE ROSE legacy to nurture and promote Contributing Writer JANE FELLER 12 Cultivating Community bilingualism, not only for language SEAN LISHANSKY Schools minority students but for those who Copyeditors speak English at home. LAWRENCE W. MCMAHON Austin’s Grassroots Effort Editorial Assistant B J D JENNIFER CHANG 33 Ask the Cognitive Scientist Art Director A plan to transform one Texas Do Students Remember MICHELLE FURMAN school facing closure eight years Graphic Designer What They Learn in School? ago into a place where students JENNIFER BERNEY B D T. W Production Coordinator and teachers thrive has evolved AMERICAN EDUCATOR (ISSN 0148-432X, USPS 008-462) into an extensive partnership, in Although students do forget some is published quarterly by the American Federation of which the union and the school of what they learn in school, Teachers, 555 New Jersey Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20001-2079. Phone: 202-879-4400. www.aft.org district hope to turn other high- research shows that they remem- Letters to the editor may be sent to the address above poverty schools into community ber far more than they—and their or to [email protected]. schools. teachers—might think. AMERICAN EDUCATOR cannot assume responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts. Please allow a minimum of four weeks for copyright permission requests. Signed articles do not necessarily represent the 18 All Hands on Deck 24 The Professional Educator viewpoints or policies of the AFT. Organizing for the Schools Connecting with Students and AMERICAN EDUCATOR is mailed to AFT teacher members as a benet of membership, and to faculty Saint Paul Children Deserve Families through Home Visits in colleges of education. Subscriptions represent $2.50 B E S. F B N F of annual dues. Non-AFT members may subscribe by mailing $10 per year by check or money order to the In negotiating its most recent Educators and parents have a address below. MEMBERS: To change your address or subscription, contract, the Saint Paul Federation common interest in seeing children notify your local union treasurer or visit www.aft.org/ of Teachers in Minnesota rallied succeed, but too often they have members.