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Oakland school board
``` [Although I am not entirely comfortable with the celebrated Oakland school board resolution on "Ebonics", I am considerably more uncomfortable with the absolute nonsense that has been circulated about it in the media. This would make an excellent case for a class on crisis communications, where the first axiom is: when something happens, a vacuum opens up in the media, and if you don't fill that vacuum with facts then someone else will fill it with speculation, presupposition, disinformation, and nonsense. I'll admit that this doesn't bother me so much when it happens to someone I don't like, but it bothers me more when it happens in a case where I see real scientific and moral principles at stake, as here.]
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Date: Sun, 22 Dec 1996 21:23:44 -0800 Subject: Oakland School District & Ebonics
OAKLAND UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
SYNOPSIS OF THE ADOPTED POLICY ON STANDARD AMERICAN ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Education approved a policy affirming Standard American English language development for all students. This policy mandates that effective instructional strategies must be utilized in order to ensure that every child has the opportunity to achieve English language proficiency. Language development for African American students, who comprise 53% of the students in the Oakland schools, will be enhanced with the recognition and understanding of the language structures unique to African American students. This language has been studied for several decades and is variously referred to as Ebonics (literally "Black sounds"), or "Pan-African Communication Behaviors," or "African Language Systems."
This policy is based on the work of a broad-based Task Force, convened six months ago to review the district-wide achievement data (see Appendix 1) and to make recommendations regarding effective practices that would enhance the opportunity for all students to successfully achieve the standards of the core curriculum (see Appendix 2). The data show low levels of student performance, disproportionately high representation in special education, and under-representation in Advanced Placement courses and in the Gifted and Talented Education Program. The recommendations (see Appendix 3), based on academic research, focus on the unique language stature of African American pupils, the direct connection of English language proficiency to student achievement, and the education of parents and the community to support academic achievement (see bibliography in Appendix 4).
One of the programs recommended is the Standard English Proficiency Program (S.E.P.), a State of California model program, which promotes English-language development for African-American students. The S.E.P. training enables teachers and administrators to respect and acknowledge the history, culture, and language that the African American student brings to school. Recently a "Superliteracy" component was added to ensure the development of high levels of reading, writing, and speaking skills. The policy further requires strengthening pre-school education and parent and community participation in the educational processes of the District.
proficiency as the foundation for competency in all academic areas. Passage of this policy is a clear demonstration that the Oakland Unified School District is committed to take significant actions to turn around the educational attainment of its African-American students.
Oakland's Standard: English!
Unfortunately, because of misconceptions in the resulting press stories, the actions of the Board of Education have been publically misunderstood.
Misconceptions include:
*Oakland School District has decided to teach Ebonics in place of English. *The District is trying to classify Ebonics (i.e. "Black English,") speaking students as Bilingual. *OUSD is only attempting to pilfer federal and state funds. *OUSD is trying to create a system of perverse incentives that reward failure and lower standards. *Oakland is condoning the use of Slang. *Oakland has gone too far. *Ebonics further segregates an already racially divided school district. *There is no statistical evidence to support this approach or that this approach will improve student achievement.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
1. The Oakland Unified School District is not replacing the teaching of Standard American English with any other language. The District is not teaching Ebonics. The District emphasizes teaching Standard American English and has set a high standard of excellence for all its students.
2. Oakland Unified School District is providing its teachers and parents with the tools to address the diverse languages the children bring into the classroom.
3. The District's objective is to build on the language skills that African-American students bring to the classroom without devaluing students and their diversity. We have directly connected English language proficiency to student achievement.
4. The term "genetically-based" is synonomous with genesis. In the clause, "African Language Systems are genetically based and not a dialect of English," the term "genetically based" is used according to the standard dictionary definition of "has origins in." It is not used to refer to human biology.
APPENDIX 1: FINDINGS
*53% of the total Oakland Unified School District's enrollment of 51,706 is African American. *71% of the students enrolled in Special Education were African American. *37% of the students enrolled in GATE classes were African American. *64% of students retained were African American. *67% of students classified as truant were African American. *71% of African American males attend school on a regular basis. *19% of the 12th grade African American students did not graduate. *80% of all suspended students were African American. *1.80 average GPA of African American students represents the lowest GPA in the district.
APPENDIX 2: CORE CURRICULUM STANDARDS AT BENCHMARK GRADE LEVELS
Grade 1: All students will read and perform mathematics at grade level.
Grade 3: All students will read at grade level, have mastery of mathematical operations, and compose written works on a computer.
Grade 5: All students will meet or exceed the fifth grade standards for the core curriculum in Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Science.
Grade 8: All students will be able to read and engage with complex and diverse literature, conduct a research project and write a scholarly paper on that research, perform mathematics at a level required to enroll in Algebra, organize and participate in community service and social events, and utilize technology as a tool for learning and work.
Grade 10: All students will successfully complete college required coursework in English, Math, and Science, and will enroll in a career academy or program.
Grade 12: All students will successfully complete courses required for entrance into a college or university, meet the requirements for an entry level career position, and develop and defend a senior project.
APPENDIX 3: OVERVIEW OF RECOMMENDATIONS
The recommendations, based on identified conditions and outcomes, are aligned with the Content Standards adopted by OUSD, pre-kindergarten -12th grades, 1996-1997.
It is the consensus of the African American Task Force that the African American students' language needs have not been fully addressed.
This report addresses the language needs of African American students as one of the nine major areas of recommendations to be implemented by OUSD.
1. African American students shall develop English language proficiency as the foundation for their achievements in all core competency areas.
2. All existing programs shall be implemented fully to enhance the achievements of African American students.
3. The Task Force on the Education of African American Students shall be retained in order to assist OUSD in developing workplans and implementation strategies.
4. Financial commitments shall be made to implement the Task Force on the Education of African American Students recommendations during the current fiscal year.
5. The district's identification and assessment criteria for GATE and Special Education Programs shall be reviewed.
6. The community shall be mobilized to partner with OUSD to achieve recommended outcomes.
7. OUSD shall develop a policy which requires all categorical and general program funding to be used to ensure access to and mastery of the core curriculum.
8. All resources of the district shall be applied and used to ensure that these recommendations be implemented.
9. OUSD shall develop recruitment procedures that facilitate the hiring of administrators, teachers, counselors and support staff that reflect the culture of African American students composition of the student population.
APPENDIX 4: BIBLIOGRAPHY
Alleyne, M. C. (1971). Linguistic Continuity of Africa in the Caribbean. In H. J. Richards (Ed), Topics in Afro-American Studies (pp. 119
* 134). New York: Black Academy Press.
Chomsky, Noam (1972). Language and Mind. New York: Harcourt Brace, Janovich.
California Language Arts Framework (1987). California Department of Education.
De Franz, Anita (1994). Coming to Cultural and Linguistic Awakening: An African and African American Educational Vision. In Jean Frederickson (Ed) Reclaiming Our Voices: Bilingual Education Critical Pedagogy and Praxis. Ontario (CA): California Association for Bilingual Education.
Delpit, Lisa (1988). "The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People's Children." Harvard Education Review, Vol. 58, No. 3.
Dillard, J. L. (1973). Black English: Its History and Usage in the United States. New York: Vintage Books.
Fromkin, Victoria and Robert Rodman (1978). An Introduction to Language. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Greenberg. J. H. (1966). Essays in Linguistics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Hale-Benson, Janice (1994). Unbank the Fire. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Hilliard, Asa (1987). Testing African American Students: A Question of Validity. A Special Issue of The Negro Education Review.
Hilliard, Asa (1995). The Maroon Within Us. Publishers Group West.
Hoover, Mary (1990). Successful Black Schools. Oakland California: NABRLE Publications.
O'Grady, W., M. Dobrovolsky, and M. Arnoff (1993). Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction. New York: St. Martins Press.
Ogbu, John (1978) Minority Education and Caste. New York: Academic Press.
Smith, Ernie A. (1994). The Historical Development of African American Language. Los Angeles: Watts College Press.
Smitherman, Geneva (1994). Black Talk. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Turner, Lorenzo D. (1974). Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.
Vass, Winifred K. (1979). The Bantu Speaking Heritage of the United States. Los Angeles: Center for Afro-American Studies, University of California, Los Angeles.
Welmers, W. E. (1973). African Language Structures. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Williams, Robert L. (1975). Ebonics: The True Language of Black Folks. St. Louis: Institute of Black Studies. ```
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