The State of ED for Arkansas’s

On a rainy night early this year, parents, educators and community members gathered to discuss the current state of education for Arkansas’s African American students, as well as where the future could take them.

“This evening we want to talk about where we are,” Senator Linda Chesterfield said. “Then we are going to talk about things we can do to help move our children forward.” A panel of legislators representing areas with schools in state takeover opened the event with a discussion on the challenges schools face. State Representatives Reginald Murdock, Vivian Flowers, Chris Richey, Milton Nicks THE STATE OF ED

FOR ARKANSAS’S AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY

and Senator Will Bond discussed a lack of resources and the current system’s failure to accurately measure student achievement. “This is a statewide issue,” Chesterfield said. “This concentration in Little Rock has caught the attention of everyone, but these problems are affecting districts across the state.” Rep. Flowers, who represents the Pine Bluff area, said the years when the city was the cradle for economic vibrancy in the state are gone and as jobs left, poverty took root. Even as the community suffers with the associated maladies, she says parents want the best for their children, and students want to succeed.

“Our kids are our kids no matter where they live.” - Senator Linda Chesterfield

“I visit my schools,” Flowers said. “I connect with kids in the schools, and they are bright. They are smart. They’re beautiful. They’re accomplished. They have dreams and goals.” Rep. Reginald Murdoch, who represents parts of Lee and St. Francis Counties, said the state’s adequacy process, used to determine school funding, is not working to address the true need across the state. “You hear us talk about the analysis of what we need, and we never give the resources properly,” he said. “We have to really be serious about helping communities, such as those in the Delta, that have been saddled and

burdened. This state will never be what we all want it to be until we deal with what is going on in some of these places.” Rep. Chris Richey who represents MarvellElaine and Helena-West Helena, said the consolidation of rural schools across the state is devastating small communities. When a school district shuts down, he said, it destroys the identity, pride and economic driving force of these small towns. The loss of district jobs sends the local economy into a downward spiral.

“We really need to start to remember the faces of these children... they’re actually our boys and girls that need us to do right by them academically.” - Tracey-Ann Nelson

“You lose jobs, get more poverty, and it keeps you from creating new jobs,” he said. “We have to get serious about addressing systemic issues around poverty we aren’t really willing to address.” He also said the state’s grading system is a better measure of poverty than student achievement. “When you look at achieving, non-achieving, all that; if you have a high concentration of poverty, you know where you’re going to end up on those scores,” he said. “These kids have a lot that they’re dealing with, and then they’re coming to school and they’ve got teachers who have to help them process through that to get to the place where they can learn.” Senator Will Bond of Little Rock said legislators have not been led to achieve big shared goals. While the Governor’s focus on coding is going well, Bond believes we need to unite around bigger goals, including universal Pre-K, competitive teacher pay and increasing college graduation rates. The second panel picked up on those big goals, and focused on greater possibilities in Arkansas’s future. Leading educational experts Dr. Jay Barth, Dr. Charity Smith, Lisa Smith and AEA Executive Director Tracey-Ann Nelson talked about available opportunities to help students achieve, as well as policy ideas that would improve public education. AEA Executive Director Nelson began her remarks by calling on the audience to think about the children being impacted by the policies being discussed. “I know we’re talking about big systems and the state and school districts, but we really need to start to remember the faces of these children,” she said. “They’re not a number. They’re not a grade. They’re actually our boys and girls that need us to do right by them academically.” She said the districts currently in state takeover serve high percentages of minority students, but the state’s actions are not addressing the needs of these children.

“Black and brown children are the most neglected - not just in our state but that’s the one we are dealing with - and we can be the

example of how that can look different,” she said. “What are those [student needs]? Smaller class size, tutoring, helping the parents with whatever those needs are because they are different in every community.” She said instead the state’s actions are to divest from districts and then punish their students and label schools with “F” grades. “What’s the message that we’re giving children?” she asked. “’We don’t care about them, so why should they care about themselves?’ We have a responsibility to change the perspective of our own children, and we cannot depend on other people.” Executive Director Nelson said community schools, when done right, support students and their families by meeting each community’s unique needs. For it to work, however, all stakeholders must be involved. “We have to own it,” she said. “Our communities, our teachers, we have to own it, and we have to support them with the tools and time that they need and not punish them for not achieving a certain level of growth.” She said we should be fully funding districts to meet state standards. Unfortunately the state is instead using a misguided policy that allows districts to waive state laws created to ensure quality public schools.

“We owe it to our students to have standards that we fund – which we haven’t - so that they can get the support they need and achieve the success they deserve,” she said. “You can’t lower them, and then go, ‘Oh! But they’re not learning.’ You’ve lowered the standard!”

She also wants educators to be respected as the professionals they are, both in salary and in public discourse.

“Less and less people are coming into the profession in Arkansas for many different reasons, one of which is how much you earn,” she said. “The other is how they are being treated. If you’re not going to get respect in a profession, why pursue it? For those who do, it’s their passion. So we have a responsibility to help them emerge from their teacher training ready to go into the classroom.” In closing, Senator Chesterfield told the crowd she intended the event to be the beginning of a conversation, not the end: “We’ve never had this conversation before,” she said. “Until we talk about the totality of the issue, we can’t get to it.” She called on educators to expect greatness from every student, no matter their background.

“Our kids are our kids no matter where they live,” she said. “I’m a little country girl from Hope, Arkansas, who grew up in a singleparent home on an income of 15 bucks a week. And nobody told me I could not learn. And I refuse to accept the fact that any poor kid... cannot rise to be a state Senator, or to just be a useful citizen with no title at all.”

AEA livestreamed the event, held at First Missionary Baptist Church in Little Rock. You can watch it HERE: http://bit.ly/AAstateED