Fall 2016 Today's OEA

MEASURE 97 NEEDS YOUR VOICE NOW Help pass our groundbreaking Ballot Measure 97 to build the schools our students deserve, pages 20-21.

A PUBLICATION FOR MEMBERS OF THE OREGON EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

FALL 2016 | VOLUME 91 : NUMBER 1

THE

WAKING SLEEPING GIANT

At every level, OEA Members Are Working to End Institutional Racism for our Students — and the Collective Whole

SEASON YEAR | VOLUME XX : NUMBER X

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CONTENTS / Fall2016 VOLUME 91 : ISSUE NO. 1

Features

Departments President’s Column

05 / It's Not Too Late to make a difference

By Hanna Vaandering, OEA President

Upcoming

06 / Events for OEA Members Newsflash

30 On the Cover

22 / Waking the Sleeping Giant

At every level, OEA members work to end institutional racism for our students, educators, and the collective whole

By Meg Krugel

Photo Essay

14 / dials and door-knocks

For Oregon educators, Measure 97 has become a groundbreaking effort of the heart

By Shauna Ballo

In-Depth

30 / Silence is Not the Answer

Speaking up for teacher-librarians and the vital importance of school libraries

By Amy Korst

36 / Forging Bilingual Pathways

Chemeketa Community College faculty member prepares bicultural students to pursue a future in teaching

By Julia Sanders

07 / Oregon: the best state to be a teacher?

08 / Tution isn't free for some oregon promise students Teaching & Learning

10 / In Defense of Rubrics ESSA

12 / Test Scores Optional for Evaluations 2017 OEA/NEA Positions

13 / open for nomination and election Special Insert

18 / OEA’s 2016 Election Slate Inside OEA

20 / oea-retired literacy campaign » Eye on Equity

21 / teaching with purpose carries on Sources + Resources

40 / Books and Opportunities Perspective

42 / Stephen Hawking’s Message to My Students

ON THE COVER: Sisters Leah and Rena dunbar teach Courageous Conversation classes focused on social justice and systemic racism. Photo by Thomas Patterson

Credits: Chris Becerra; David Franklin/iStock

TODAY’S OEA | FALL 2016

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE / Fall2016 Hanna Vaandering OEA President

Hanna Vaandering sits down with a student for a media interview about Measure 97 in the broadcast studio at Sabin-Schellenberg Professional Technical High School in Clackamas.

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couldn’t be more proud of the work we are doing on behalf of Oregon students and public education right now.

We are close to turning back the tide on decades of under funding our schools, over-testing our students and over-mandating our educators. We are standing up and we are speaking out – for our students, for public education, and for our colleagues.

As large corporations have poured millions of dollars into misleading ads to defeat Measure 97, your grassroots effort will make the difference in winning this for our students. Over the past year, thousands of us have made phone calls, knocked on doors, talked to friends and neighbors, carried petitions and done the heavy lifting.

Thank you!

Because of you, I believe that a week from now we will be celebrating the passage of Measure 97 and looking forward to implementing meaningful improvements in our schools, rather than bracing ourselves for yet another year of budget cuts.

We are also doing vital work to transform education through the implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act. We have the opportunity to shape education policy and make lasting changes – including ensuring meaningful assessments of our students.

Our students are at the center of all we do. As I’ve traveled the state this fall, participating in canvasses and phone banks, I’ve seen on your faces how vital this measure is. I’ve seen pain in the eyes of educators who are spread so thin they worry about the students they can’t get to each day in their overcrowded classrooms.

It’s not too late to make a difference. We cannot make transformative changes in education without adequate funding. We must pass Measure 97. It is going to be a close race, but we need to get our friends, neighbors and colleagues out to vote.

I ask you to double down and give it your all for one more week.

An investment of two hours right now to make those phone calls and knock those doors will make the difference between another round of budget cuts or implementing a plan that reduces class size, expands educational opportunities and provides our students the robust curriculum that inspires our students’ learning.

We can do this. We really can build a Better Oregon.

Go Team OEA!

AS I’VE TRAVELED THE STATE THIS FALL, PARTICIPATING IN CANVASSES AND PHONE BANKS, I’VE SEEN ON YOUR FACES HOW VITAL THIS MEASURE IS. IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Credit: Deb Barnes

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UPCOMING Fall2016

TODAY’S

OEA

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE OREGON EDUCATION ASSOCIATION Nov. 13-19, 2016

American Education Week

FALL 2016 VOLUME 91 : ISSUE NO. 1

n What: American Education Week—Nov. 13-19, 2016—presents us with a wonderful opportu-

nity to celebrate public education and honor individuals who are making a difference in ensuring that every child receives a quality education. The weeklong celebration features a special observance each day of the week. n how: For more information, go to www.nea.org/grants/19823.htm DEC. 2, 2016

Oregon Civics Conference for Teachers n WHAT: Classroom Law Project invites teachers to the State Capitol for an insider’s view of how

Oregon government works. Participants will return to schools knowing more about the Oregon Constitution and initiative system, key landmark cases from Oregon courts, meet elected officials and learn what they do. n WHERE: State Capitol Building, Salem, Ore. n HOW: Learn more at www.classroomlaw.org/programs/oregon-civics-conference sAVE THIS DATE! FEB. 2017

Black History Month n WHAT: Celebrate Black History month in the classroom. n HOW: For more information on lesson plans and activities, go to www.nea.org/tools/lessons/

black-history-month.htm march 2, 2017

NEA's Read Across America Day n WHAT: NEA provides all the resources and tools you’ll need to plan and implement a reading

celebration in your school, classroom or community on March 2. n HOW: For more information and resources, go to www.nea.org/readacross march 18, 2017

OEA Education Symposium n WHAT: Join educators and policy-makers from around Oregon for thought-provoking

conversations about the critical challenges facing students and educators in a time of rising demands and declining resources in our public schools. Explore professional practices, institutional resources and community assets that serve as the foundation for better outcomes for our students. n HOW: Details will be posted as soon as available at www.oregoned.org march 26-28, 2017

Oregon School Employee Wellness Conference n WHAT: During this conference, participants will learn what goes into creating healthier school

environments that supports the physical, social, and emotional health and well-being of staff. n WHERE: Riverhouse, Bend, Ore. n HOW: For more information, Maureen Caldwell, maureen@oeachoice.com, or Inge Aldersebaes, inge@oeachoice.com; or go to www.oeachoice.com/news-events

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TODAY’S OEA | FALL 2016

OFFICE HEADQUARTERS 6900 SW Atlanta Street Portland, OR 97223 Phone: 503.684.3300 FAX: 503.684.8063 www.oregoned.org PUBLISHERS Hanna Vaandering, President Dick Terry, Interim Executive Director EDITOR Meg Krugel PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Janine Leggett CONTRIBUTORS Janine Leggett, Shauna Ballo, Andrea Shunk, Erin Whitlock, Julia Sanders, Thomas Patterson To submit a story idea for publication in Today’s OEA magazine, email editor Meg Krugel at meg.krugel@oregoned.org PRINTER Morel Ink, Portland, OR TODAY’S OEA (ISSN #0030-4689) is published four times a year (October, February, April and June) as a benefit of membership ($6.50 of dues) by the Oregon Education Association, 6900 SW Atlanta Street, Portland OR 97223-2513. Non-member subscription rate is $10 per year. Periodicals postage paid at Portland, OR. POSTMASTER Send address corrections to: Oregon Education Association Attn: Sheila Mangan Membership Processing 6900 SW Atlanta Street Portland, OR 97223-2513 DESIGN AND PRODUCTION Francesca Genovese-Finch

Newsflash $10 Million Oracle Grant to Fund Oregon STEAM Education

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his fall, Oracle, the tech giant responsible for the failed Cover Oregon health insurance exchange, settled multiple lawsuits filed by the state of Oregon in 2014.

The settlement resolved multiple ongoing legal disputes and resulted in the state receiving more than $100 million in funds and services including free software, technical support, and a cash payout. Included in the settlement is a $10 million grant that will help fund STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) education.

"We are pleased to have this contentious litigation behind us and to provide Oregon with the flexibility to obtain the software and technical support it desires to address the State's needs over the next several years," said Oracle's executive vice president Dorian Daley. "This is an innovative resolution to a complex matter."

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Three Oregon Schools Included in List of America’s Healthiest Schools

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he Alliance for a Healthier generation used criteria such as access to physical education and healthy food to create a list identifying 328 of America’s Healthiest Schools. Included in the list are Floyd Light Middle School and Ron Russell Middle School, both located in the David Douglas School District, as well as Butternut Creek Elementary School in the Hillsboro School District. The list was featured as part of an August issue of the magazine USA Today.

Oregon: The Best State to be a Teacher?

recent study found Oregon to be the most desirable state in which to teach. It listed competitive pay, supportive principals and co-workers, and excellent job security as some of Oregon’s strengths. The study was released by the Learning Policy Institute, a think tank started by Linda Darling-Hammond, a retired Stanford University Professor and former President of the American Education Research Association.

It used data from surveys given to Credits: iStockphoto.com

One of the criteria for Healthiest School awardees was ability to exceed updated federal nutrition standards, which includes increased access to fruits and vegetables.

$3 billion Amount that Measure 97 could raise per year. The money would help offset class sizes throughout the state. teachers across the country by the National Center for Education Statistics, the NEA and Educational Testing Service.

"The relationship we have built with principals and superintendents to lift the

voice of educators helps our students learn, and we are extremely proud of that,” said OEA President Hanna Vaandering in an article in the Oregonian.

Oregon’s large class sizes and subsequent heavy work-loads are the greatest challenges that our state’s teachers face.

With classes that are the third largest in the nation, many educators hope to find relief through Measure 97, which would raise $3 billion a year to provide increased funding for the schools Oregon students deserve.

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Newsflash DID YOU KNOW? » Today’s OEA’s best story ideas come from you, our readers! Is your school working on a cutting-edge concept, or do you know an educator who should be featured? Email your suggestions for articles to webadmin@oregoned.org.

Make Your Voice Heard

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EA is committed to establishing our members as the driving force for education and professional excellence, quality teaching and learning, and innovation at every level of public education and in every policy-making arena. Educator leadership in the policy arena is vital to the advancement of our profession. Smart education policy should be shaped and guided by what accomplished educators know about teaching and learning.

Too often, though, individuals with little to no classroom experience are in charge of making policy decisions. OEA wants to change this.

This is where you come in. Share your expertise and passion by getting involved with our great work.

Here are a few opportunities to engage in policy decisions: n Giving public testimony at a State Board of Education meeting — New Business Item (NBI) 8 from the 2016 OEA-RA allows up to four members to be released to testify at each meeting n Applying for statewide policy workgroups on issues like class size, special education, or assessment n Testifying to the Oregon House or Senate Education committees n Reviewing and responding to policy documents n Attending a wide range of public meetings of governing bodies such as the Teachers Standards and Practices Commission, the Oregon Health Authority, or the PERS Board n Taking part in the annual OEA Representative Assembly n And more!

It is easy to get involved. Contact OEA President, Hanna Vaandering, at: hanna. vaandering@oregoned.org or your Board of Directors: oregoned.org/leadership.

Thank you for using your voice to improve public education in Oregon.

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TODAY’S OEA | FALL 2016

Tuition Isn’t Free for Some Oregon Promise Students

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housands of community college students across Oregon enrolled in school this fall expecting to attend college tuition-free, thanks to the Oregon Promise grant. The grant is available to students with a 2.5 grade point average or above, as well as those who obtained a GED and enrolled in a community college within six months of finishing high school.

Approximately 10,379 students applied for the grant this year. For low-income students who qualified for the federal Pell Grants or the Oregon Opportunity Grant, tuition will still be entirely free. However, for around one third of the Oregon

Promise students who did not qualify, they will be required to pay for a small portion of their tuition expenses.

Ben Cannon, Oregon's Higher Education Coordinating Commission Executive Director, said for some students this could mean that they would just pay a few dollars, but for others it "could be up to about $300 for the year" depending on the number of credit hours and the cost of the college in which they enroll.

Research Shows Link Between Poor Language Skills and Childhood Depression

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esearchers from the University of Missouri have recently found that low exposure to early childhood language learning beginning at age three is correlated to poor language skills in first grade and may make children more prone to depression by grade three.

“It is clear that the amount of language that children are exposed to early on is very important for their development,” said UM education professor Keith Herman.

“Whether it is through preschool classes, interactions with parents and siblings, or through consuming media such as television and books, exposure to greater amounts of language and vocabulary will help prepare children to

succeed socially and academically when they begin school. If children already are experiencing language and subsequent social and academic deficits by the first grade, chances are they will continue to fall further behind in school each year, which can lead to negative selfperceptions and depressive symptoms by third grade.”

The team of researchers used data from a group of 587 children in Hawaii. The study tracked the same children from age three through third grade.

It looked at the amount of language stimulation in the home when the children were age three, their language skills in the first grade, and depressive symptoms in the third grade.

Newsflash ELECTION DAY IS ALMOST HERE! » Check out OEA's Voter Guide for your up-to-the-minute list of recommended candidates for office, several of whom are fellow OEA members! You'll find our election slate as an insert on pages 18-19 in this issue. oregoned.org/betteroregon

Oregon Aims to Refine Services for EnglishLanguage Learners

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ouse Bill 3499, passed in 2015, designated over $12 million every two years to be spent on providing improved instruction for Oregon’s 57,000 English-language learners.

In addition to funding, the bill attempted to encourage best teaching practices as well as more transparency.

"This bill tries to create a clear guideline for school districts to realize what is appropriate funding for English-language learners and what is not,” said Wei Wei Lou, former E.L.L. program director in Beaverton.

Before the bill was passed, there was no system for budget reporting in place to account for how money slotted for E.L.L. programs was being spent.

While the Oregon Department of Education is expected to produce an action plan for over 40 underperforming districts, many parents feel that this action is inadequate.

Only half of students enrolled in an English-Language Development program in Oregon graduate high school. Advocates believe one solution is to increase parent involvement by making support services more accessible.

"A parent is totally isolated from the school activities and any support that the school is trying to provide, or any support that the parent might need to help the child — the English-language learner in this case — to make progress,” Lou observed.

Credits: James Hill | Portland Community College

> LISTENING RECOMMENDATION

This American Life, “The Problem We All Live With”

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n a recently re-aired episode of the radio show This American Life, Nikole Hannah Jones looks at what happened in a Missouri school district that accidentally launched a desegregation program. The episode follows an honors student from a predominantly black neighborhood and the struggles she goes through hoping to get a better education in a predominantly white neighborhood, as well as the reactions of white parents to the accidental desegregation. “The Problem We All Live With” first aired in July of 2015 and is episode 562 of the popular radio show. It can be found at www.thisamericanlife.org.

Medford Teacher Asked to Remove Sign from Classroom

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photo of South Medford High School teacher Paul Cynar standing next to the ‘Black Lives Matter’ poster in his classroom was taken by a student this fall and circulated among parents. As a result, complaints were made to the school resulting in Cynar removing the sign.

Cynar explained that he had hung the poster “to encourage students to grapple with other views.”

According to school policy, teachers are free to express their opinions so long as they explain that their views are theirs alone and are willing to acknowledge other opinions.

TODAY’S OEA | FALL 2016

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Teaching & Learning

IN DEFENSE OF RUBRICS

BY PAULA URSEY / Faculty Member, Umpqua Community College

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ears ago I was an assessment researcher and trainer for the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (now REL Northwest) in Portland, Ore. In my position I had an opportunity to meet with teachers all over the country. On one occasion I flew to the East Coast to meet with a group of upstate New York teachers. I was contracted to conduct a workshop on the power of rubrics for classroom teaching and learning.

I started my session by sharing a writing sample of a fourth grade student who was clearly struggling to express himself. As I was sharing this snapshot, an older teacher commented, “That child will never be a writer.”

Without responding, I told my New York teachers I was going to share another sample from the same classroom. When I shared the second sample, several of the teachers talked about how this particular student had real promise as a writer.

When the teachers finished discussing the strengths they identified in the second sample, I told them both samples were produced by the same student. The first sample was produced before the young fourth grade writer was introduced to targeted instruction using an effective writing rubric.

Dr. Judith Arter, a nationally recognized expert on assessments and Jay McTighe, educational consultant, wrote in their article Scoring Rubrics in the Classroom, “Rubrics are scoring tools containing criteria and a performance scale that allow us to define and describe the most important components that comprise complex performances and products.”

However, when used primarily as a scoring tool, rubrics are limited and have faced some fair criticism.

Educational lecturer and author Alfie Kohn argued against the notion that student work can be boiled down into a few sentences representing the essence 10

TODAY’S OEA | FALL 2016

of quality. To some degree, I believe Alfie I couldn’t agree more. Of course we’ll Kohn made a valid point. How we define always be expected to demonstrate what quality must be carefully scrutinized. As students have learned. However, we can Susan Brookhart, author of How to Create certainly change the balance of how we and Use Rubrics for Formative Assessment approach assessment. and Grading noted, the criteria and When using rubrics for both summative descriptions used affect the quality of the and formative assessments, powerful rubric. transformations are possible. Remember Dr. Heidi Andrade suggested that if the fourth grade student I mentioned? Had a rubric is narrowly defined or is not his teacher dismissed his writing potential useful, it should be trashed. It is therefore as the teacher in my workshop had done, important we use quality rubrics that are this child could have languished in school. based on research and experience.

Fortunately the student was given clear Kohn also focused his criticism expectations about his work. He was also on rubrics as tools for summative given examples of what good writing at his assessments. He disagreed with the use of grade level “looked like” and instruction rubrics for “quick and efficient” grading. on how to examine and improve his own The Carnegie Mellon University Center writing. for Teaching Excellence website describes Using quality performance assessments summative assessment as an evaluation as part of instruction helps teachers of “student learning identify areas of at the end of an needed improvement. instructional unit by According to D.T. comparing it against Conley and Linda some standard or Darling-Hammond, it ENT benchmark.” In the can also help students SSMG E S S F A NIN EM O LEAR SYST ENT wake of No Child Left improve their own NEWUL STUD P LO F EVE ING RS D EAN CATO ER M Behind, it isn’t hard performances.

EDU EMPOW O T to understand how I am currently an standardized testing associate professor can force a shift from of communication at teaching for the sake Umpqua Community of learning to teaching College in Southern to prove learning has Oregon. The courses taken place.

I teach are primarily In her spring 2015 performance-based.

Today’s OEA article, “A In my classes, New Path for Oregon,” students give Erin Whitlock states presentations, write that “summative papers, and complete service-learning assessment has been the sole measure projects. Along with other types of for district and school accountability assessments such as those used to measure and the basis to decide whether students content knowledge, I use rubrics in all my are learning.” With this understanding, classes.

Whitlock made a case to place our teaching Like all educators I am expected to emphasis on assessment for learning use clear and fair grading methods. From (formative assessment) rather than of my perspective, rubrics have been very learning (summative assessment). useful in communicating performance

A NEW PATH FOR OREGON

SON CK TTER HITLO MAS PA O IN W

BY ER S BY TH TO PHO

NT, ENT CAN MOTIVATE THE RELUCTA “USED WITH SKILL, ASSESSM THEREBY INCREASE, NOT SIMPLY REVIVE THE DISCOURAGED, AND ENT.” MEASURE, LEARNING AND ACHIEVEM (CHAPPUIS, STIGGINS, CHAPPUIS,

& ALTER, 2012).

THE POWER OF EDUCATORifVOICE

It all started with a question… an assessment educators were to propose student system that best supported l to educators, learning and was meaningfu What would what would that look like? that system? What their best hopes be for The answers that about their worst fears? the answers one to similar were followed question might expect from a different an ideal public — what is our vision for our students? school that best serves of 16 Oregon In March of 2014, a group (OEA) members Education Association in gathered from around the state President, Hanna partnership with OEA’s Chief Education Vaandering, and Oregon’s 14

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SPRING 2015

to lend their Officer, Dr. Nancy Golden, to answer knowledge and experience described those questions. The teachers l settings classrooms and other educationa creativity where curiosity was piqued, lving and was developed and problem-so part of normal a was thoughtful debate envisioned a learning. The workgroup students learning environment where studying realwere actively engaged in in math, world issues and problems science, language arts, social sciences, of other areas the arts, and the multitude available to all of study that should be students. there was a During the first meeting, — Oregon’s clear theme that emerged

was not current assessment system needs of all supporting the learning five decades Oregon students. For over the last 15 (and specifically during Child Left years with the federal No standardized, Behind law), statewide, has been seen as summative assessment and school the sole measure for district basis to decide accountability and the This whether students are learning. to frame their concern led the workgroup How do task around several questions: on the focuses we ensure that Oregon y gap for all achievement and opportunit process students and that the assessment those gaps in contributes to bridging How can we schools? and classrooms time students hold sacred the learning process need, re-focus the assessment enhance and learning, that to support own learning? student ownership in their students With the future of Oregon’s of workgroup in the hearts and minds of educators members, the diverse group accepted the rolled up their sleeves,

Teaching & Learning expectations to students. As Judith Arter and Jay McTighe stated, “Clearly defined criteria and scoring guides provide more than just evaluation tools to use at the end of instruction—they help clarify instructional goals and serve as teaching targets.”

When I assign an informative speech in a public speaking class, my students know I will be assessing three basic traits—organization, content, and delivery. Because of clear explanations and descriptions in the rubrics I use, my students also know that part of an organized, informative speech will include a five-part introduction, clear main points and support, identifiable transitions, a summary, and a closing statement.

My rubric also provides descriptions of performance quality on a scale from “emerging” to “excelling.”

As I teach students how to give informative speeches, I focus my instruction on one trait at a time. If we are discussing five-part introductions as an aspect of organizing, I give students plenty of examples, show them videos, and have them use the rubric to identify the different parts of an informative introduction we are discussing.

Then I have students team up and present five-part introductions in class.

Their peers then give them feedback using the rubric. This type of formative assessment builds both skill and confidence.

SOME OF THE STUDENTS WHO ENTER MY CLASS ARE LITERALLY SCARED SPEECHLESS. YET I HAVE NEVER MET A STUDENT WHO DIDN’T HAVE POTENTIAL AS A SPEAKER.

BY USING RUBRICS IN MY CLASSES FOR LEARNING AND OF LEARNING, MY STUDENTS START TO SEE THEIR OWN POTENTIAL. When I assess my students’ work, I am able to be both consistent and fair.

Further, by the time students present a major speech, I have to confess that grading really is “quick and efficient.” I circle the descriptions on my rubric that match observable behaviors. The rubric then provides a good “snapshot” of how the student performed on a particular assignment.

For example, a student may perform very well overall with organizational structure and delivery, but may need to work more on specific aspects of content development. Students appreciate the

specific feedback rubrics provide. It is far more helpful than telling a student “good job” on an assignment when they may have no idea what that means to the teacher.

I rarely, if ever, get disputes over my grading as expectations are clearly communicated on assignments where rubrics have been appropriately used.

Instead, when students want to discuss their performance, it often becomes a learning opportunity where we can both talk about their strengths and areas where they can grow. It also provides feedback for me so I can modify instruction as needed.

It is probably no surprise that a lot of my students initially hate the idea of taking one of my public speaking classes. Some of the students who enter my class are literally scared speechless.

Yet I have never met a student who didn’t have potential as a speaker. By using rubrics in my classes for learning and of learning, my students start to see their own potential. By the end of the term, I get to witness some amazing transformations in my students. To me, that’s what teaching is all about.

For assignments involving performances or student products, I believe that integrating quality rubrics into instruction for formative assessments and then using them for grading can empower our students. I also believe using rubrics appropriately and effectively can transform our own teaching.

We Want to Hear from You!

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EA’s Center for Great Public Schools is excited to work with and hear from our members who are using quality assessment practices to produce meaningful student learning, which is why we are empowering over 30 educators from all around Oregon to work on enhancing and developing their knowledge and skills as a part of our Quality Assessment Professional Practices

(QAPP) cadre. This passionate group of OEA members is part of a network of educators across the state who are now leading their colleagues, teams, local associations, schools, and districts in this work.

From the ground up, these teacher leaders are affecting positive changes in the balance of their system of assessment, working with partners to advocate for

the power of classroom-level quality assessment practices, and moving the dial for Oregon’s students.

We would like to share some resources with you, created by educators, that can help you and your colleagues do a deeper dive into quality assessment practices: oregoned.org/assessment.

If you are interested in learning more, please email: oea-gps@oregoned.org.

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ESSA

TEST SCORES OPTIONAL FOR EVALUATIONS

BY ANDREA SHUNK / Policy & Practice Strategist, OEA Center for Great Public Schools

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ducators this fall have cause to celebrate. For 2016-17, teachers do not have to use Smarter Balanced Assessment results to measure their Student Learning and Growth goals.

This change is a signal that Oregon is on a new path to building a better system of assessment that measures student learning and supports student growth.

This change to Oregon’s evaluation system marks the second year teachers in tested subjects and grades do not have to use the results of the summative assessment as a portion of their evaluation.

Educators must still write two Student Learning and Growth goals (SLG goals) for the 2016-17 school year, but educators can select the measure they will use to determine if they met those goals, meaning they can use classroom measures that more accurately reflect how students are learning and growing in their classes.

Educators can still use Smarter Balanced Assessments in grades 4-8 for English and math if they want to. These are known as Category 1 measures and again, they are optional.

OEA does not recommend using Smarter Balanced Assessments to measure SLG goals for two main reasons. First, these tests were not designed to measure how effective an individual teacher’s instruction is. Second, the Smarter Balanced Assessments don’t provide teachers or students with enough information about how students are doing on specific standards. So teachers and students can’t make decisions about how to adjust instruction or where to ask for help.

Instead of using Smarter Balanced, teachers can use Category 2 measures, which are assessments connected to the classroom: what teachers are teaching, and what students are learning. The Oregon Department of Education lists the following types of assessments as Category 2 measures:: n Additional statewide assessments like

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the science, social sciences, or English Language Proficiency assessments; n Commercially developed assessments

that include pre- and post-measures;

n Locally developed assessments that

include pre- and post-measures;

n Results from proficiency-based assess-

ment systems;

for three measures of evidence to evaluate educators: evidence of professional practice, professional responsibilities, and student learning and growth. Evidence of student learning and growth became the Student Learning and Growth goals teachers have been writing since the 2013-14 school year.

The End of NCLB

n Evaluation and professional growth

In December 2015, President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act into law, which effectively ended the era of No Child Left Behind. Additionally, all state waivers and the requirements that went with those waivers, expired on Aug. 1, 2016.

That includes the requirement to link summative statewide test scores to evaluations.

The Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA, does not include the same requirement to link student test scores to evaluations. In fact, the law specifically prohibits the federal U.S. Department of Education from mandating any aspect of a state educator evaluation system. ESSA returns decision making about evaluations back to states, where it belongs.

As the Oregon Department of Education worked with education partners including OEA to read and interpret this new education law, it issued guidance in April 2016 making the use of Smarter Balanced Assessment results optional for Student Learning and Growth goals.

This August, ODE issued further guidance for the 2016-17 school year. Once again, educators do not have to use Smarter Balanced Assessment results to measure their Student Learning and Growth goals unless they choose to.

n And aligned professional learning.

More Changes on the Horizon

n Or locally developed collections of evi-

dence, i.e. portfolios of student work that include multiple types of performance (Source: Oregon Department of Education Guidance for Setting Student Learning and Growth (SLG) Goals, Revised August 2016).

Any measure you use to evaluate whether or not you met your SLG goals should be a quality assessment that meets the Oregon Department of Education Criteria for High Quality Assessments, available online at www.ode. state.or.us/search/page/?id=512.

History of SLGs

Back when Oregon first received a federal waiver from No Child Left Behind’s accountability system, the state had to agree to overhaul its evaluation system for educators and administrators, including linking educator evaluations to summative test scores. The resulting legislation was Senate Bill 290, passed in 2011.

Under SB 290, the evaluation system included five components: n Standards of professional practice; n Differentiated performance levels; n Multiple measures of evidence;

cycle;

The multiple measures provision called

Later this fall and winter, ODE will be

proposing rule changes to SB 290, the evaluation law, to the State Board of Education. OEA members and staff have been involved with proposing those rule changes so Oregon can have an evaluation system that supports educators and their growth.

Those proposals to revise Oregon’s evaluation system are part of a bigger comprehensive state plan that addresses all the new components of ESSA. ODE expects to make that ESSA state plan public later this fall and gather public input before submitting the plan to the U.S. Department of Education in March 2017. The larger plan will include: n The components of an Oregon school accountability system

that includes indicators of school quality and student success;

n How schools with room for improvement will be identified and

supported;

n A description of how ODE will continue to involve education

partners like families, teachers, and community groups;

n And a plan to ensure all students have equitable access to ef-

fective educators.

To download the evaluation guidance documents, visit www. ode.state.or.us/search/page/?id=3759.

To get the latest information about how ESSA is affecting your classroom, school and students, visit www.oregoned.org/ESSA and sign up for the OEA ESSA newsletter to receive news and updates about the Oregon ESSA plan.

2017 OEA/NEA POSITIONS OPEN FOR NOMINATION & ELECTION The following positions are open for nomination for the 2017 elections: ELECTED AT OEA RA: n OEA President:

1 position for a 2- year term n OEA Vice President:

1 position for a 2-year term n NEA Director: 1 position for

a 2-year term (term begins September 1, 2017)

n NEA Director: 1 position for

a 3-year term (term begins September 1, 2017)

ELECTED BY MAIL BALLOT: n State Delegates to the NEA RA: 14 positions: Region I: 7 positions for a 3-year term; Region II: 4 positions for a 3-year term; Region III: 3 positions for a 3-year term.

(The number of delegates per region may be adjusted as the number of members within the region dictates as indicated by the JanuaryFebruary NEA membership report.)

OEA BOARD OF DIRECTORS: (strikethrough = not eligible for re-election) n 12 positions for 3-year terms in Board Districts: 01b (Christensen), 02 (Barnhart), 03a (Clark), 09 (Minson), 10c (Cohen), 11 (Gorman), 13 (Marden), 15b (Warren), 16 (Huffman), 24 (Jared), 27 (Wiskow) and 30b (Wallace) n 1 position for a 2-year term

in Board District: 20 (Cunningham)

TODAY’S OEA | FALL 2016

13

DIALS AND DOOR-KNOCKS FOR OREGON EDUCATORS, MEASURE 97 HAS BECOME A GROUNDBREAKING EFFORT OF THE HEART

A

cross our state, Oregon educators have been talking to voters about why passing Measure 97 is critical for providing our students the schools they deserve.

Measure 97 is a chance to roll back decades of underfunding our schools. It would make large, out-of-state corporations with more than $25 million in Oregon sales finally pay their fair share of taxes.

As large corporations continue to pour in millions of dollars to defeat the measure, our grassroots effort is getting the truth to voters.

Thousands of OEA members have shown up for phone banks and neighborhood canvasses in communities large and small.

After hectic workdays, our dedicated members spend night after night with phones

SALEM-KEIZER

pressed to their ears and go door-to-door every weekend to share their personal experiences with voters. It can be grueling, and it can be soggy, and it can be also filled with incredible moments of joy — when the stories start rolling in about the impact education (and yes, educators!) have had on our fellow Oregonians’ lives.

If these photos tell any story at all, it’s that OEA members have sustained this groundbreaking campaign from the very beginning. We have so much to be proud of.

There is still time to join the effort. No one wants to wake up November 9 with a bad result and wonder if one more volunteer shift would have made the difference. Sign up for a shift at bit.ly/OEAsignup.

— Shauna Ballo

IAL N N E T N E C

EUGENE

ALBANY

Check in to a local OEA office around 4 p.m. on any given day this fall, you'll find a group of extraordinarily dedicated OEA members making calls for Measure 97. On these pages, we've rounded up some of our favorite images of our educators out on the trail (or phone, as the case may be). Thank you to the many OEA members and staff who submitted their photos for inclusion in this essay.

BEND

TODAY’S OEA | FALL 2016 Credits: Photos submitted by OEA members and staff across Oregon

15

MEDFORD

Photo by Thomas Patterson

OEA STAFF

HILLSBORO 16

TODAY’S OEA | FALL 2016

EUGENE

IELD F G N I SPR

PORTLAND

EUGENE

CLACKAMAS

TODAY’S OEA | FALL 2016

17

2016 Voter

Guide

As educators, our votes on issues and candidates make a huge difference in the outcome of elections. Our elected leaders make decisions that directly impact education. And this year, we have an opportunity to make an historic difference for our schools with Measure 97.

Here are OEA’s recommendations for the 2016 election.

YES on Measure 97 Oregon needs Measure 97. After decades of underfunding, our schools are suffering while corporations pay lower taxes here than anywhere else. By making Comcast, Monsanto and Wells Fargo pay their fair share, like they do in other states, we can build the Oregon that working families deserve. Measure 97 will make large, out-of-state corporations with more than $25 million in Oregon sales pay their fair share. Measure 97 requires the revenue be directed to schools, health care and services for senior citizens.

Other Races OEA Endorses State Senate Races

House Races

SD 01 Jeff Kruse (R) SD 02 Herman Baertschiger (R) SD 03 Tonia Moro (D) SD 05 Arnie Roblan (D) SD 09 Fred Girod (R) SD 14 Mark Hass (D) SD 18 Ginny Burdick (D) SD 21 Kathleen Taylor (D) SD 22 Lew Frederick (D) SD 23 Michael Dembrow (D) SD 25 Laurie Monnes Anderson (D) SD 27 Tim Knopp (R)

HD 05 Pam Marsh (D) HD 06 Mike Moran (D) HD 08 Paul Holvey (D) HD 09 Caddy McKeown (D) HD 10 David Gomberg (D) HD 11 Phil Barnhart (D) HD 12 John Lively (D) HD 13 Nancy Nathanson (D) HD 14 Julie Fahey (D) HD 15 Andy Olson (R) HD 16 Dan Rayfield (D) HD 18 Tom Kane (D) OEA MEMBER HD 19 Larry Trott (D) HD 20 Paul Evans (D) OEA MEMBER HD 21 Brian Clem (D)

HD 22 Teresa Alonso Leon (D) HD 23 Jim Thompson (I) HD 24 Ken Moore (D) HD 26 Ray Lister (D) HD 27 Sheri Malstrom (D) HD 28 Jeff Barker (D) HD 29 Susan McLain (D) OEA MEMBER HD 30 Janeen Sollman (D) HD 31 Brad Witt (D) HD 33 Mitch Greenlick (D) HD 34 Ken Helm (D) HD 35 Margaret Doherty (D) OEA MEMBER HD 36 Jennifer Williamson (D) HD 37 Paul Southwick (D) HD 38 Ann Lininger (D) HD 39 Bill Kennemer (R)

There is still time to volunteer. Go to www.oreg

OEA Recommends: Brad Avakian

Hillary Clinton

for President

for Secretary of State

Governor

Tobias Read

Kate Brown

for State Treasurer

Attorney General

YES

Ellen Rosenblum

on Measure 97

the Following Candidates and Local Measures: Local School Funding Measures Measure 3-487

YES

Measure 34-254

YES

North Clackamas School District

Sherwood School District

Measure 34-248

Measure 2-104

YES

YES

Tigard Tualatin School District

Corvallis School District

Measure 3-504

Measure 3-501

YES

Molalla River School District

Measure 24-417

YES

Estacada School District

YES

Jefferson School District

goned.org/BetterOregon to get involved today!

ABO1625

HD 40 Mark Meek (D) HD 41 Karin Power (D) HD 42 Rob Nosse (D) HD 43 Tawna Sanchez (D) HD 44 Tina Kotek (D) HD 45 Barbara Smith Warner (D) HD 46 Alissa Keny-Guyer (D) HD 47 Diego Hernandez (D) HD 48 Jeff Reardon (D) HD 49 Chris Gorsek (D) OEA MEMBER HD 50 Carla Piluso (D) HD 51 Janelle Bynum (D) HD 52 Mark Reynolds (D) OEA MEMBER HD 53 Gene Whisnant (R) HD 54 Gena Goodman Campbell (D)

Inside OEA

BUNDLE UP! OEA-RETIRED HEADS TO ICELAND

I

s it possible to have a good time and also turn the experience into a tax deduction?

OEA-Retired has worked that out for you.

Through its travel partner, Collette, one of its tours for next summer, July 23–31, will be “Iceland: Land of Fire and Ice.” The tour to this near-Arctic Circle country will begin and end in Portland. The first stop will be Reykjavik, the capital, with travel around the central and western part of the island. Travelers will experience the formation of Iceland from volcanic forces and see the dramatic contrasts of steaming lava fields and hot pools with massive glaciers, including a dip in one of the pools.

A camera will be a must to capture sightings of minke and humpback whales, along with white beak dolphins and harbor porpoises in their natural habitat. There will also be countless birds—puffins, cormorants, kittiwakes and white tailed eagles—for viewing.

Other sights will include learning about the 400-year-old tradition of catching and

Gígjökull, an outlet glacier extending from Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland. Lónið is the lake visible in the foreground.

preserving Greenland shark, a folk museum that covers all aspects of Icelandic life and geothermal greenhouses.

The tour will last nine days and include 13 meals, airfare from Portland, taxes and fees, day trips, cruises, and a full-time guide for a total cost of $4,599 double occupancy.

A deposit of $250 will reserve the trip.

Travel insurance of $280, purchased through Collette, is recommended and must be purchased at the time of deposit. The trip can be

canceled up to 24 hours prior to departure with the full cost of your deposit refunded, but the insurance fee is not refundable. January 17 is the deadline to reserve a booking to see the spectacular landscape of this small island and learn much about Iceland to take back to share with your students.

For more information and/or registration materials, contact Nancy Lewis at nancyjolewis@gmail.com or 503-639-7050.

— Ray Johnson, OEA-Retired

Putting Books into the Hands of Oregon Children "There is no substitute for books in the life of a child."

— Mary Ellen Chase, American scholar, teacher and writer

T

he Oregon Education Association-Retired Literacy Project has been going strong since 2009. Our mission is simple: putting books into the hands and homes of Oregon children. At every OEA-Retired meeting and event (and at OEA-RA), we collect new and gently used children’s books, and then distribute them to places where there are children—social service agencies, clinics, preschools, shelters, and, of course, schools.

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TODAY’S OEA | FALL 2016

The only requirement is that the books must be given to children to take home “for keeps.”

We check the books for appropriateness and condition, used books are cleaned with disinfecting wipes, and then a sticker is placed on the front of each book that says, “TAKE ME HOME! I am donated to you by Oregon Education Association-Retired members.”

We have provided over 8,500 books to Oregon children from Lakeview to Astoria, from Enterprise to Coquille, and many points in between. The thank you notes, letters and pictures we get from adults and children are truly heartwarming. One of the best: “I feel happy because I get to keep the book.”

If you have donated books to our project, we thank you.

If you know of a place that would like to receive a donation, please contact me at gogirl2@ comcast.net.

— Janet Jackson, OEA-Retired

Eye on Equity

TEACHING WITH PURPOSE CARRIES ON

BY MARY MEREDITH DREW / OEA Member

I

t was quite a guest list.

Dead Prez was there, and Supaman.

Dr. Geneva Gay and respected Portland educator Joyce Harris. James Cole, Deputy U.S. Secretary of Education and leader of President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative, was there.

So was Dr. Salam Noor, Oregon’s Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction. OEA President Hanna Vaandering, Maimouna Youssef and Oregon Representative Lew Frederick. George Russell from the State Board of Education, and nationally known anti-racism activist Tim Wise.

Educators, artists, and community members spent Oct. 14-15 at the 7th annual Teaching with Purpose Conference. They learned and planned together, in morning plenaries and afternoon breakout sessions at Portland’s Parkrose Middle School, culminating with an evening Hip-Hop and Soul Fest at the Tao Event Center.

Founder and organizer Karanja Noumba Crews knows how to bring people together in common cause. According to conference emcee Dr. Charlene Williams, TWP’s cause is to “build a collective consciousness toward educational equity and answer the call to culturally responsive practice.”

As Rep. Lew Frederick said, “We’ve been fighting dragons so long we’ve forgotten how to build castles. And I’m so pleased to see that we’re starting to change that mindset.” We’ve been primarily in a compliance mindset for too long, he said, and we’re starting to talk about how we can increase the joy of learning.

We can’t decide now where the students are going to end up, he insisted. This event brings us together to talk about who’s out there in our community and how we can best help individual students where they are.

Joyce Harris, educator and founder of Portland’s Black Education Center, received the Community Engagement Award, and used her acceptance speech time to describe how she first met Karanja

Credits: Andreas Tille; David Franklin/iStock; James Coreas

As seen on Facebook: author and activist Tim Wise “Seriously, some of the best work in truly radical and revolutionary education praxis is being done in Portland by Karanja Crews and Teaching With Purpose...amazed at the folks he brings together to do the work...got to see Chris Emdin do his thing today (the best speech on education I've ever seen, ever)... got to hear M1 and Stic from Dead Prez discuss their journey and also rhyme a bit (which was incredible...)The conference was focused on Hip-Hop pedagogy and Social Change and it was some of the most revolutionary stuff I've heard or been a part of in 25 years of working with teachers.”

Crews, a soft spoken, determined young teacher and father who came to her for advice because he wanted to start a conference.

She asked him how much seed money he had, and she said he reached into the bottom of his raggedy backpack and pulled out a wrinkled up piece of paper. “Eightynine dollars,” he told her.

With Harris’ advice and assistance, and Crews’ persistence, hard work, and gift for luring talent, the project dug in and took off. Max Lubin, from the U.S. Department of Education, and his boss James Cole said it was the best conference they had ever attended.

For his part, James Cole answered a question about standardized testing from a teacher in the audience at his presentation by saying that the Obama administration was taking seriously the problems posed by standardized testing, pointing out that the new Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) gives more flexibility to states to figure out how to deal with the over-reliance on

standardized testing. “We are being as supportive as we can to reduce the testing,” Cole said, noting that it takes away from quality instructional time.

He maintained that we do need to monitor students’ progress, and stressed the importance of accountability and not leaving any child behind.

Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings, a renowned scholar and author from University of Wisconsin at Madison, introduced herself and her topic with a rap about where she’s from, culminating in “I’m from a place you can feel and see, and you know me, I’m Dr. GLB.” Having grown from 15 or 20 attendees in a room at PSU the first year, attendance this year surpassed available space at Parkrose with nearly 600 participants and guests. On the second day of the conference, registration volunteers had to turn hopeful attendees away because the conference was “at capacity.”

You want to be at Teaching with Purpose next year. And you want to sign up early.

TODAY’S OEA | FALL 2016

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WAKING THE SLEEPING GIANT At every level, OEA Members Are Working to End Institutional Racism for our Students, Educators, and the Collective Whole BY MEG KRUGEL

S

he was in the seventh grade.

Her teacher had told her they would be studying African American history in class, and she was thrilled. For the first time in her schooling up to this point, she’d see her own ancestral history on the pages of her textbooks.

The entire unit ended up being one film about slaves coming over to this continent from Africa. Her classmates kept looking back at her and then at the screen, whispering.

“I thought, 'this is it?' It made it clear to me that the contributions of my racial group were not going to be taught. They were not spoken of. I became very angry.

I used to love school, and then I didn’t really love it anymore,” Jennifer Scurlock remembers.

It’s a different story now for Scurlock, who teaches Language Arts at Churchill High School in Eugene. She opens the school year with a personal narrative project on overcoming obstacles, which each student presents in front of the class. There are often tears in this vulnerable space. “My goal is to create a safe classroom environment so that when we talk about racism, or sexism, or 22

TODAY’S OEA | FALL 2016

socioeconomic inequities, they can really learn from and listen to each other,” she says.

She knows that she has to own some of that process, too. “Do I have to put myself on the line and pour my own heart out?

Yes, I do. Do I get emotional? Yes, I do. But does it inspire their voice? Yes, and so it is well worth it,” Scurlock reflects.

Around Scurlock’s classroom hang cultural artifacts; on bookshelves, you’ll find texts featuring authors of every ethnicity, telling the stories of each and every racial group represented in her classroom, and then some.

Scurlock, who was recently appointed an NEA Director to represent OEA members at the national level and is part of OEA’s Ethnic Minority Affairs Committee, can talk about systems-level equity work.

If you ask her, she’ll tell you how our union can more strategically address institutional racism for our students and staff of color. But despite her state and national level experiences, for Scurlock, one thing remains abundantly clear: creating safer, more welcoming spaces where all students can thrive will always start where the heart of a school beats: in the classroom.

"Education and history must focus on the positive contributions of ev

Addressing a Real and Rampant Problem

One doesn’t need to be told a slew of statistics to know that systemic racism is alive and well in public schools today.

Nevertheless, the statistics paint a pretty clear picture, starting as early as preschool.

Last year, NPR reported that African American preschoolers make up just 18 percent of the preschool population but represent nearly half of all out-of-school Credit: Meg Krugel

“Do I have to put myself on the line and pour my own heart out? Yes, I do. Do I get emotional? Yes, I do. But does it inspire their voice? Yes, and so it is well worth it.”

— JENNIFER SCURLOCK

very racial group," Scurlock says, a value that is reflected on the walls of her classroom. "If we do not do that, we are feeding in to systemic racism."

suspensions.

By the time students of color enter K-12, the rates have climbed. Black students make up almost 40 percent of all school expulsions, and more than two-thirds of students referred to police from schools are either Latino or African American, according to the Department of Education.

By the same study, black children are three times more likely to be suspended than white children.

By the time senior year rolls around,

only 50 percent of all black students, 51 percent of Native American students and 53 percent of all Latino students will graduate from high school (with the rates for solely male students nearly 10 percentage points worse, respectively), according to a report released by the Urban Institute and the Civil Rights Project at Harvard called “Losing Our Future: How Minority Youth Are Being Left Behind by the Graduation Rate Crisis.”

The question, of course, isn’t whether

or not institutional racism exists in our schools. It painfully and clearly does.

This past year, in particular, has been an uphill fight for education’s social justice movement. From a national standpoint, Donald Trump’s divisive bid for the presidency has created what many educators are calling the “Trump Effect.”

Over the course of his candidacy, Trump has spoken of deporting millions of Latino immigrants, building a wall between the United States and Mexico, banning Muslim TODAY’S OEA | FALL 2016

23

For this first time, sisters Leah and Rena Dunbar get the opportunity to co-teach a course together — an Ethnic Studies 101 class at Lane Community College this fall.

“The purpose of understanding how institutionalized racism, or sexism, or any of the ‘isms’ work, is not to create the victim story or elevate the victim story, but to create a transformation story where our students are aware of the circumstances of their lives, AND they have the tools to change.”

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TODAY’S OEA | FALL 2016

— LEAH DUNBAR

“We’re trying to support other teachers in being comfortable of letting go of authority — instead, letting students have their own authority over their voice and their own sovereignty within the classroom. It is really challenging.”

— RENA DUNBAR

Campaign on Our Nation’s Schools.”

Over two-thirds (67 percent) of educators reported that young people in their schools—most often immigrants, children of immigrants, Muslims, African Americans and other students of color— had expressed concern about what might happen to them or their families after the election.

Spurred by a passion for equity, by personal experience, by the oftenunfathomable times we’re living in and the national, negative rhetoric around race that has become so pervasive — educators are finding their niche in bringing to light the issues and forging their own paths toward undoing oppression.

Elevating the Discussion

immigrants and even killing the families of Islamist terrorists.

This past year, the Southern Poverty Law Center conducted an online survey of approximately 2,000 K-12 teachers and found that respondents noted “an increase in bullying, harassment and intimidation of students whose races, religions or nationalities have been the verbal targets of candidates on the campaign trail," according to their report “The Trump Effect: The Impact of the Presidential Credits: Thomas Patterson

Born just 13 minutes apart, identical twin sisters Leah and Rena Dunbar have deep understanding for what it means to be on the outside of the institution.

“I almost feel like we are tri-racial: our black background, our white background, and our multiracial background.

Because of that, we’ve been negotiating a lot of different racial spaces and have experienced a lot of ‘othering’ throughout our lives. We had no space that was truly the tri-racial space that was just ours, except with each other,” Rena says.

Their parents were both educators in Fort Wayne, Ind., but lost their jobs in the 1960s because they were a mixed-race couple. “They were trailblazers in a lot of ways because we were a mixed family. I think that being educational activists is in our DNA because of who our parents are,” says Leah.

Eventually, the sisters’ inextricably linked paths led them both to Eugene, Ore., where they student-taught in the same classroom at Churchill High School, three

years apart. Their mentor teacher, Diana Granberry, was also a Midwest transplant and civil rights activist who had biracial children. “She was our educational mother — she provided an educational home for so many of her students at Churchill. I really believe that she waited until somebody came along who could carry the torch and take care of vulnerable students, particularly students of color,” says Leah.

Rena gives similar credit to her mentor at South Eugene High School, Sally Lowe.

The torchbearers would, unsurprisingly, become the Dunbar sisters. Sixteen years later, Leah is still teaching in the same classroom where she spent her early years as a student teacher, and Rena teaches at the Early College & Career Options (ECCO) High School on the Lane Community College campus.

“It’s interesting that we both had these mentor teachers who would not retire until they knew that there was somebody to take care of what they called the ‘sleeping giants.’ But I feel like it’s the institution that’s really sleeping. Hopefully, we’re doing our part to wake the institution up,” says Rena.

Together, the sisters have launched a Courageous Conversations program in Eugene 4J, a class offered in four of Eugene’s area high schools where students explore institutionalized racism and internalized oppression, within the vocabulary of equity, and elevate that discussion in other spaces and other classrooms.

Through open, meaningful dialogue with one another (each student is required to speak at least once every single day), students begin to understand the “cultural backpack” they come into the room with (as Rena describes it), and how they can begin to unpack it. “It’s process over product, because we’re creating the TODAY’S OEA | FALL 2016

25

knowledge along with our students. We’re not in charge. That can be pretty scary because it’s very unpredictable,” Rena says.

“We’re trying to support other teachers in being comfortable of letting go of authority — instead, letting students have their own authority over their voice and their own sovereignty within the classroom. It is really challenging.”

The first trimester of the year-long course opens with an Ethnic Studies 101type curriculum where students learn the language of social justice. “The purpose of understanding how institutionalized racism, or sexism, or any of the ‘isms’ work, is not to create the victim story or elevate the victim story, but to create a transformation story where our students are aware of the circumstances of their lives, AND they have the tools to change,” Leah says.

Rena adds to that — “We talk a lot about de-colonization. We’ve all been institutionalized and taught a certain narrative. If we don’t do well in math, it’s because we’re not smart, as opposed to asking — 'how have I not been seen?

How has my story been left out?'” It’s an especially poignant topic for her students enrolled at the alternative high school at LCC, which was originally created as a junior/senior transitions programs for students marginalized by the system. “Our school exists because of institutionalized marginalization – but we can shift the victimization story. I call my students warriors. They have resisted the system and they are survivors,” Rena says.

The second trimester is focused on mass incarceration; students read “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander and explore the intimate connection between the public education system and the criminal justice system. “There is something so authentic about looking at these systems and reflecting how you fit in to them. You can’t begin to understand what has happened in Baltimore, or what’s happening in Charlotte, or what Ferguson meant, without understanding the impact that generational trauma has on all of us,” Leah says, noting how important the Black Lives Matter movement has been to this course so far.

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TODAY’S OEA | FALL 2016

Students analyze how all aspects of human identity have been socialized to separate us rather than bring us together.

The conversations are extraordinarily powerful, and time and again, the Dunbar sisters are inspired by how well-equipped students are to have them.

“Students can engage in conversations about marginalization and racism in ways that many of their own teachers haven’t even experienced,” Leah says of the predominantly white, middle-class teaching force in Oregon.

“It is the responsibility of the people who would like to interrupt the achievement gap to figure out how to support students in having productive conversations about their lives, justice, identity and democracy.

That’s the consciousness-raising of the nation that is being forced by this movement.”

Taking a Stand

Last May, the rural community of Forest Grove found itself in the national spotlight of this movement after a racist banner was anonymously hung in the open school foyer at Forest Grove High School. Interestingly, it wasn’t the “Build a Wall” banner, really, that brought media attention to Forest Grove, a school district with a greater percentage of Latino students than any other district in Washington, Multnomah and Clackamas counties (approximately 50 percent Hispanic and 50 percent white/nonHispanic).

The sight of that banner caused student activism to erupt in a way the community hadn’t witnessed before — and people noticed. A week after the incident, hundreds of students walked out of class and down Main Street, joined by community members and other students from five neighboring Washington County schools. After the walkout, students began sharing with the School Board their painful experiences of harassment, microaggressions and bias.

Forest Grove educators listened. On the opening day of teacher in-service this year, Forest Grove Education Association (FGEA) organized a peaceful solidarity

Dawn Nelson engages her students in furthering their analysis on a cl

march for students and hung positive, affirming signs around the high school to greet students when they returned to the building the following week. FGEA members spent the remainder of the day in professional development focused on equity. “The district has made a commitment to focusing in on equity this year, and as a local association, we too have looked at how we can be better prepared to deal with race-related issues,” says Jeff Matsumoto, co-president of FGEA. “The voice of the union needs to be really clear about this.”

At the 2016 OEA Representative

“We’re humans, and sometimes our conversations can be a little messy and difficult. But, I want this to be as much as possible a place where they can feel comfortable.”

— DAWN NELSON

lass project to identify key points in both Oregon and the United State's history that shaped race relations.

Assembly, delegates made clear their stance on transforming decades-long patterns of systemic inequities in our public schools.

More than 700 members in the room voted to pass a New Business Item that implored OEA to “lead to address institutional racism by: 1) Spotlighting systemic patterns of inequity — racism and educational injustice — that impact our students; and 2) Taking action to enhance access and opportunity for all Oregon students, consistent with the NEA Institutional Racism NBI. OEA will use our collective voice to bring to light the ongoing Credits: Meg Krugel

institutional racism and initiate change to policies, programs, and practices that condone or ignore unequal treatment and hinder student success.”

Matsumoto and his co-president Marcia Camacho look to their fellow teachers for inspiring examples of this work already underway. The need could not be more pressing, especially given the events of the last year in Forest Grove. “I feel like we are behind in this work already,” says Camacho. “The students are leading and as educators, we’ve been called up short a little bit in terms of what the students are doing. We don’t have the luxury to take a

really gradual approach to equity work.

The kids need it now.”

Building the Curriculum

When she moved to Forest Grove from the Bay Area five years ago, high school English teacher Dawn Nelson noticed that there was an engagement gap, so to speak, for the Latino students at FGHS. She was eager to make changes in her own curriculum, but because of the recession and tight funding, there wasn’t a lot of wiggle room to introduce anything new.

“I wanted [my class] to reflect their backgrounds, their questions and their TODAY’S OEA | FALL 2016

27

“I feel like we are behind in this work already. The students are leading and as educators, we’ve been called up short a little bit in terms of what the students are doing. We don’t have the luxury to take a really gradual approach to equity work. The kids need it now.”

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TODAY’S OEA | FALL 2016

— MARCIA CAMACHO

interests,” Nelson says of her Latino students.

Each year, Nelson would approach her administrators about the idea of adding on a “Culture and Identity” elective course.

The course was finally approved this year as a general-ed English 11 course. One of the first assignments was to read a book called Century of the Wind, a brief history of 20th century from the Latin American perspective.

Many of Nelson’s students spoke about how wrong it seemed that they were nearly 18 years old and this was the first time they’d really been given the opportunity to learn about their own cultural histories.

“I find that, as an English teacher, I focus more on the historical and current events that surround a novel than I do the actual novel. I like to let the kids explore what’s happening in the book, and why it’s relevant to the past and the future and the present,” Nelson says.

Two months in to teaching her first social justice course, Nelson is weathering the normal bumps that come with a new class, new lesson plans, and the start of the school year. “The kids and I are on this journey. It’s very fluid,” she says.

Inevitably, not every day goes according to plan. After opening a class with a project about deconstructing stereotypes, Nelson reflected: “We’re humans, and sometimes our conversations can be a little messy and difficult. But, I want this to be as much as possible a place where they can feel comfortable,” she says.

white woman, I was the right person to be teaching it,” she says. The reality, as it often is in Oregon, was that the ethnic diversity of the high school’s staff in no way mirrored the diversity of its student population, which left few options for any other teacher to step to the plate.

Statewide, teacher diversity is on a steady but slow climb upwards. The 2014-15 data in ODE’s "Oregon Educator Equity Report" reveal that the number of culturally and linguistically diverse teachers employed in Oregon public schools has increased by 233 staff members since 2011-12 and is currently 9.7 percent of the employed teacher workforce.

Camacho, FGEA’s Co-President and a teacher at Neil Armstrong Middle School, is pushing the district to forge a partnership with Pacific University, the local college in Forest Grove, to provide financial support to students of color

interested in pursuing a career in teaching.

“We simply do not have enough staff of color at the high school or middle school levels. It’s good at the elementary level in our dual language schools,” she says.

“I taught in the [elementary] bilingual program, and there were some very talented future teachers right there in front of me," she says of her former students. "But, we can’t expect them to negotiate the whole college system on their own — it’s so complicated.”

Matsumoto, a second grade teacher at Harvey Clark Elementary, has hope such a program will eventually take flight.

“We need to look at how we can get those kids into the profession. How we can engage them and say, ‘This is a worthwhile endeavor. You will impact so many lives.'

And yet, I don’t think there's an outlet for that yet in Forest Grove, at least that I’m aware of,” he says.

Fueling the Pipeline

Interestingly, Nelson almost didn’t teach the course for which she so strongly advocated. “I feel this heavy responsibility for this and I want it to go well. But, honestly I didn’t know if, as a 28

TODAY’S OEA | FALL 2016

After nearly leaving teaching for good due to ongoing racial microaggressions in her former school, Jennifer Scurlock has found a new and welcoming home at Churchill High School.

Latino students make up nearly half of the student population at Forest Grove High School and were the driving force behind last year's solidarity actions.

Protecting Our Greatest Resources

Jennifer Scurlock, the Language Arts teacher in Eugene, knows the union has a powerful role in seeing this work through.

It was just two short years ago that Scurlock was on the brink of leaving the teaching profession forever.

In 2013, Scurlock had grown increasingly aware of how many of her students were targeting her with racist comments. She’d walk by a group of kids in the hall and hear the ‘N’ word. The same was happening to her son, Donovan, in his school — he’d hear students make jokes about wearing KKK hoodies in his presence, as an example.

When she mentioned the incidences to fellow staff members who were not of color, they brushed it aside — trying to minimize what was happening to her as ‘kids just being kids.’

“I realized I could not stay in a place that either minimalized or ignored the impact Credits: Meg Krugel

of institutional racism. That minimization over a long period of time made me question if I should continue to teach, and even continue to live in Oregon," she remembers, her voice breaking. "How do I raise my kids in a place where they don’t feel safe?”

Scurlock’s darkest days as a teacher and parent ended up becoming a turning point.

Eugene Education Association President Tad Shannon knew what Scurlock was going through and invited her to attend an NEA Leadership Conference focused on equity and social justice. He repeatedly checked in with Scurlock and helped her transfer to a new school environment at Churchill, which has made all the difference. “He really wanted to make sure that I knew that OEA — my union — knew I was important,” she says.

And that, right there, is the key. “If the union is truly behind addressing issues of institutional racism, then the union must be present in these conversations. That’s it.

Now is the time for us to be moving these conversations forward,” she says.

One of the keys to changing this culture, Scurlock believes, is a more focused effort on recruiting educators of color to take an active role in the union, just as her local president did for her.

“In order to change the culture, we have to intentionally recruit staff of color to be a part of OEA. We have to be culturally competent and be fearless in doing so. Our call to action must be to defend the rights and worth of our students and educators of color. And if we do not do this, we may unintentionally become part of the problem.” n

Please join us in our work to put an end to institutional racism and promote racial justice by getting involved. Contact OEA President Hanna Vaandering at: hanna.vaandering@ oregoned.org for a list of opportunities open to all OEA members.

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i r g Up fo Speakin ibrarians and -L Teacher mportance lI the Vita Libraries ol of Scho Korst

By Amy

magine hearing the lunch bell ring. Instead of running to the cafeteria, you run to the school library, arriving just in time for the … zombie apocalypse?

You have just entered teacher-librarian Amy Wilde’s library at Cascade Middle School in Bend, Ore. Imagine that your high school classes have been cut short so you can attend an assembly to listen to Jay Asher, acclaimed author of Thirteen Reasons Why, speak. On another day, the guest speaker is Michelle Lesniak, 2013 winner of Project Runway, or a photojournalist whose work documents the Black Panther Party. These speakers have all been brought to the school as a part of an author visit program spearheaded by Paige Battle, teacher-librarian at Grant High School.

Or imagine you are an elementary student challenged to participate in the competitive reading program known as Battle of the Books by Ridgeview Elementary School teacher-librarian Karen Babcock, whose principal believes unfailingly in the importance of fully funded school libraries.

Now, imagine you attend school in a building that has cut library funding so severely that there is no certified teacher-librarian at the helm. The book budget has been decimated. So has the technology budget. If you’re lucky, a library assistant remains to help you check out materials — but only if you’re lucky.

A Banned Book display peaks students' interest in the library at Cascade Middle School in Bend.

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This final bleak scenario is reality for the majority of students in Oregon since the 2007 recession. Only Oregon’s luckiest (read: most often wealthiest) students have access to fully qualified teacher-librarians and wellresourced libraries, once again placing students in poverty at a disadvantage.

This is in spite of the fact that access to teacher-librarians is proven time and again to improve student learning.

Despite a rebounding economy in which schools are starting to re-invest in many of the programs cut during the economic downturn, school library programs have been left to stagnate, and students are suffering.

Oregon’s teacher-librarians are fighting back.

At the OEA Representative Assembly in April 2016, member Tricia Snyder, a teacher-librarian at Reynolds Middle School in Multnomah County, crafted a New Business Item seeking to conduct a study of student access to both teacher-librarians and library resources in Oregon. The study was approved and is well under way. Initial data is confirming what nationwide studies have already shown conclusively — teacher-librarians are vital to a school’s success. Without them, students suffer.

“In my own district, I’ve seen music specialists brought back, PE specialists brought back,” Snyder says, noting that these are not all full-time positions. “But the library has still not been discussed. It’s (seen as) important, but it’s never important enough to make it back on the table.”

Her mission, then, in crafting the NBI is to bring awareness to the trends plaguing Oregon’s teacher-librarians that are to the detriment of students.

Oregon’s libraries are under-staffed

In 1980, there were 880 full time teacherlibrarians employed in Oregon schools. By 2014, that number dropped to 144, according to a report released in 2014 by the Oregon Association of School Libraries (OASL).

Put another way, the number of licensed school librarians in Oregon has dropped by 61 percent since 1980, while the number of students per librarian has more than tripled, according to the Quality Education Model

Many students at Cascade Middle School spend their lunch hour in the library with teacher-librarian Amy Wilde.

(QEM) and School Libraries' 2011 annual report.

Jen Maurer, school library consultant for the state of Oregon, explains that the QEM was the Oregon Legislature’s attempt to determine the level of funding necessary to fund a best-practice prototypical school.

The QEM created three “prototype” schools (elementary, middle, and high school) and drew out detailed, itemized budgets.

Credits: Chris Becerra; nadinejb/freeimages.com (orange book)

“They do, in that model, have three points that speak to school library programs. One is how many FTE of licensed librarians you would have, one is about support staff in the schools, and the third is how much you would spend on books and periodicals, all together, print or electronic, per student,” she says.

Maurer says that in 2011, the last year the QEM library data was analyzed, only five schools met the QEM’s library funding TODAY’S OEA | FALL 2016

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levels.

Many teacher-librarians will tell you that the ideal level of staffing for school libraries is at least one full time teacher-librarian and one full time library assistant per building. These two employees, one certified, one support professional, often work in tandem with a textbook clerk, local library volunteers, and student aides.

Only then can the school library function most effectively.

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“The research is clear on what makes a difference in academic achievement, and what makes a difference in academic achievement is a school library that is staffed by a teacher-librarian, supported by classified library manager or library technician,” says Anne Urban, the district librarian for Three Rivers School District in Josephine County.

The research is also clear that a full-time teacher-librarian on staff results in higher academic performance as measured by

reading test scores, according to the 2016 edition of School Libraries Work! A Compendium of Research Supporting the Effectiveness of School Libraries.

The problem is, many people don’t understand what it is, exactly, that a teacherlibrarian does.

A teacher-librarian goes by many names including school librarian and library media specialist. Both are accurate terms, but teacher-librarian is how Oregon’s school

Karen Babcock, a librarian at Ridgeview Elementary School in Springfield reads to students.

librarians refer to themselves because the hyphenated job title describes both aspects of the profession.

Like any librarian you would find in a public library, teacher-librarians are information specialists, helping the public find and access information. They are research experts, and as information expands to other mediums (including all the resources of the digital age), they must be experts at accessing information in various print and Credits: Thomas Patterson

electronic forms.

Librarians also exist to help guard the principles of free speech in a democratic society and they help connect readers with books that will open them to the joy of reading.

Teacher-librarians do all that and more.

They are certified teachers who have added a library media endorsement to their teaching credentials. In addition to their “librarian” duties, teacher-librarians wear a “teacher” hat, too. They teach students to use media and do research. These skills are becoming more and more critical in a 21st-century society in which students are bombarded by information from sources that aren’t always reliable.

Teacher-librarians even have their own state standards covering information literacy, reading engagement, social responsibility, and technology integration.

“The role of a teacher-librarian in today’s school is different than it was 20 or 30 years ago. It's to be an instructional leader,” Urban says. “It’s to help create a culture of literacy to support teachers in integrating instructional technology into their practice; it’s to help teachers and students learn to be experts at digital citizenship and looking at information.”

When a library assistant works with a teacher-librarian, several educational opportunities exist at once. The teacher-librarian can visit a classroom and conduct a lesson on research skills while the library stays open, allowing the library assistant to make book recommendations and check out books.

Today, the reality in many schools is a library staffed by an education support professional making a valiant effort to keep the library afloat. This is simply not adequate, and students suffer as a result.

Oregon’s libraries are under-resourced

“The technology in my library is abysmal,” says Snyder, the impetus behind the OEA library study. While funding is scarce for school library staff, the story is no different when it comes to new materials and technology.

And in a world where technology changes rapidly, the inability to update library and

technology collections with new materials becomes a very real problem for students who need to navigate this tech for their future careers.

With a lack of new technology or access to a professional to help them navigate, Oregon’s students are showing up to college without the research skills necessary to thrive.

Anne-Marie Deitering, associate university librarian for learning services at OSU, works with incoming college freshmen and while she has noticed a willingness to dive into research, she says students don’t really know what to do when their first search does not yield answers.

“Students tend of come in with a fairly high comfort level with finding information and finding answers. It’s not necessarily a very deep knowledge,” she says. “They don’t necessarily have experience with a lot of different discourses or a lot of different types of sources.”

The unfortunate reality for many public school students today is that they have been without a teacher-librarian for so long that they don’t even know what resources they are missing.

Maurer relays a conversation she had with a parent in the Beaverton School District who played an instrumental role in that district’s recent decision to re-prioritize library spending.

“And she said to me, ‘The sad part is, if we wait too long and we go any more years without having a librarian, I have no parents to talk to who understand what a librarian would be doing and could be doing,’” Maurer says. “They have no frame of reference at that point. And I think that’s what’s sad, is that with the years of lack of library programs in Oregon, there’s no point of reference for the majority of parents, the majority of teachers, the majority of administrators.”

Deitering agrees, mourning the loss not just of library staff and resources but also a loss of cultural awareness around the function libraries play in society.

“When they’re not in schools, we lose the idea of libraries as a common good, which means we are less likely to have them in the university, we’re less likely to have them in the community. Most of what we do in TODAY’S OEA | FALL 2016

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school is very, very heavily focused on rewarding [students for] knowing things and penalizing [them for] not knowing things.

I think we teach people to be afraid to show that they don’t know things, but libraries are a safe space to not know things,” Deitering says.

Teaching research skills in a way that encourages genuine inquiry is a skill all college-bound students need. It’s hard to teach, and while subject-area teachers don’t have this training, teacher-librarians do. They are experts at teaching research, but in order to teach that authentic inquiry, they must have cutting-edge technology tools, tools that students will be expected to successfully navigate at the college level — tools that many Oregon schools aren’t funding.

“It comes down to the fact that we are trying to build independent thinkers. That’s the core of what school libraries do,” Maurer says. “Advanced search skills are not easy to come by.”

Site-based management creates equity issue

For many teacher-librarians, the real rub is that students who would benefit the most from a well-resourced, well-staffed school library are the least likely to have access to one.

“Poor children and children of color are least likely to have access to a high-quality library program, and the research shows they are the most likely to benefit,” says Urban.

In part, this has to do with the amount of adult guidance a child receives in a library.

Middle class children are more likely to have reading role models at home than children who live in poverty. This becomes a significant problem at the middle primary grades when, Urban explains, a drop-off in reading occurs. "The number one reason kids stop reading is that they don’t know what to read next," says Urban, citing research done by Scholastic.

"Whereas middle class children will go to the library and receive help from their parents in picking a book to read, poor children and children of color are [disproportionately] more likely to not have a lot of guidance when they're in a library," she says, speaking to equity issues at play in access to library services.

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In 1980 there were 880 full time teacher-librarians employed in Oregon schools.

By 2014 that number dropped to 144.

Exemplary school library programs set the standard

Wilde’s lunchtime library zombie apocalypse, along with her other lunch and afterschool programs, is just one instance of an exemplary Oregon school library program.

Whether it’s due to a supportive principal or a teacher-librarian who has figured out how to do more with less, there are school libraries across the state that serve as exemplars that all districts can strive toward.

The zombie apocalypse was a clever ruse to teach students wilderness survival skills — and to suck them into the library. Wilde invited in a wilderness survival expert from the local community college, who transformed the library into a post-apocalyptic scene complete with tents, food rations, and all kinds of survival gear.

Students were divided into table groups where their wilderness survival skills were put to the test. A winner emerged at each of the two lunches, and those lucky students carried away survival packs stuffed with food rations, bandanas, Band-Aids and other assorted survival gear. All student participants received an “I survived the zombie apocalypse at Cascade Middle School” bumper sticker.

“We got kids in there that normally wouldn’t be in the library at lunch,” Wilde says.

A persistent stereotype exists in the world of all librarians, Maurer explains. It’s rare to run across a pop culture depiction of a

librarian who isn’t “shushing” people. As a result, the general public tends to see all librarians as stuffy folks who demand whispering while they check out books. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Teacher-librarians are experts at packaging information so that the mundane becomes exciting.

“I hated the stuff that I teach,” Wilde says about herself as a student. “I didn’t like to do research. It wasn’t made exciting and interesting to me. When I teach I try to put myself in those shoes. I want my lessons to be able to connect.”

Babcock’s lessons certainly connect with her elementary school students. She won her district’s Certified Teacher of the Year award last year for Ridgeview Elementary School’s library program. She describes her two pet projects as Oregon’s Battle of the Books, a reading competition in which participants read selected books and answer questions about their reading, and BookTubes, a project in which students make promotional videos for books.

Babcock attributes much of her success to collaboration with her principal, Jim Crist, who asked her when she started working for him, “What do you want? What’s your dream job?”

Together, Babcock says they hatched out a plan to enhance, through a focus on instructional technology, the learning experience of students.

Babcock knows she is succeeding when students are excited to spend time in the library.

“It’s not just a warehouse of books. You need somebody who breathes life into it,” she says.

Paige Battle and Nancy Sullivan, both teacher-librarians for Portland Public Schools, know a little something about motivating students. They run complementary programs in their respective schools; Battle is passionate about her author visit program and Story Slam, while Sullivan runs a popular poetry slam program.

“Every day in the Madison Library is different, often radically so, depending on the time of year and where classroom teachers are with curriculum, research assignments, and other projects,” Sullivan says, describing the library at Madison High School.

Karen Babcock, teacher-librarian at Ridgeview Elementary School in Springfield, won her district's Certified Teacher of the Year award for her efforts in the school library.

“For example, today our History of Portland classes are hosting a World’s Fair in the library. Students have created poster board displays based on their research of the 1905 “World’s Fair,” or Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition. Calliope music is playing, the diameter of the largest tree in Oregon at the time is taped off on the floor, there are displays representing attractions from the exposition. Classroom teachers are bringing groups through to learn from the students in the class.”

Advocating for school libraries and ESSA

While Oregon’s school libraries have been in a state of emergency for nearly a decade, there are some positive signs of change.

Because of tireless advocacy from passionate teachers, librarians, and parents, some school districts are re-investing in school library programs.

Both Portland Public Schools and the Beaverton School District brought back numerous teacher-librarians in 2015.

“There has been a push over the last few years to reinstate at all levels,” Battle says.

Credits: Thomas Patterson

It’s not just big districts that are refocusing on school libraries. The Three Rivers School District in rural Josephine County is small, yet has made it a priority to begin strengthening the school library program.

One important step was the hiring of Urban, the district’s librarian. Her job is to support all 13 school libraries in the district.

One goal the district is working toward is collaboration between classroom teachers and teacher-librarians.

“My district and school board have been very supportive of that connection,” Urban says. “One challenge is how do we find the funds to support it?”

There has recently been a glimmer of hope in that arena.

The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA), which replaced No Child Left Behind, specifically includes teacher-librarians and high-quality libraries as eligible for uses for some federal dollars.

“School librarians are mentioned in a few places in the law, where they have never been mentioned before,” Maurer explains, adding that there’s a national effort in place to help departments of education understand that ESSA supports library funding.

All the necessary elements are now in place to make a strong push to reinstate teacher-librarians in Oregon schools: n School librarians ease the workload of classroom teachers by shouldering one of the most challenging aspects of instruction, teaching research. n Studies demonstrate conclusively that teacher-librarians mean higher state test scores at all grade levels. n ESSA provides language supporting districts using federal funds to staff and outfit school libraries.

While these three elements taken together offer a compelling case for fully reinvesting in school libraries, librarians need the help of classroom teachers to advocate for their return.

The key to a librarian’s success lies in collaboration with classroom teachers and administrators.

After a successful collaboration, Battle recommends sharing success stories far and wide.

“Share those stories with people who make decisions, so that the teacher-librarian doesn’t have to toot their own horn,” she says. n TODAY’S OEA | FALL 2016

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Forging Bilingual Pathways Chemeketa Community College faculty member prepares bicultural students to pursue a future in teaching

BY JULIA SANDERS PHOTOGRAPHS BY THOMAS PATTERSON

Having immigrated to the United States with her own family, Sara Csaky has a deep understanding of the struggles faced by Oregon’s young immigrant population. It’s an understanding that has had a tremendous impact on her work.

“Teachers are mirrors. Each student can find themselves in those mirrors as learners and as people. I am a mirror where students can see what it means to be an immigrant, what it means to be bilingual, what it means to be a person who speaks with an accent, a person who is not afraid of saying that she is from Argentina. I cook, eat, and sleep the Argentinian way and I am not going to give that up because that is me,” says Csaky. “I am a practitioner that has the ability to connect theory and practice.

I don’t need to look for examples in the book because I have it in my heart.”

Csaky is a professor in the Bilingual Student Teacher Pathway program at Chemeketa Community College, a specially designed path that offers financial assistance to Spanish-speaking students hoping to become teachers. Her life experience has equipped her with a unique insight into what Oregon’s bilingual students and teachers need in order to thrive.

Though Oregon is one of the least culturally diverse states in the country, minority enrollment in K-12 public schools has been increasing steadily over the past decade and shows no sign of slowing down. In 1998 minority students made up just 16.4 percent of K-12 students in the state, a number which has since risen to 36.4 percent. As Oregon’s student population becomes more diverse, diversity among teachers has only grown by 4.6 percent. Csaky and Chemeketa’s Bilingual Pathway program seek to encourage bilingual and bicultural individuals to enter the teaching force in order to provide students with role models who look like them, sound like them, and help them discover their individual identities.

“Connecting to a person who looks like and speaks like your family is a little faster and easier than connecting with a person who doesn’t,” says Csaky. “I don’t want people to think that if you aren’t bilingual or bicultural you won’t be successful working with students though, because what is most important is for your heart to become bicultural. Sometimes people think that they only have one culture, but really we all have many cultures. Culture can be broader than ethnicity or language.”

Csaky, who immigrated from Argentina as an adult, comes from a long line of educators. “My great grandmas were teachers and my grandmas were our teachers at home and helped model good teaching to us,” Csaky explains. Her two younger sisters are teachers in Mexico and Argentina, her brother married a teacher, and after her husband gave up a career in engineering, he became — you guessed it — a teacher. “You can see that teaching is a real love of the family,” she says with a smile.

In addition to teaching, Csaky’s love of language runs in the family. “I learned a lot about languages when I was a kid because 38

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“Sometimes a teacher’s glasses can only see a certain thing and not much more beyond that.

It’s not because you have a bad heart or bad intentions. The majority of the time it is just a lack of information.”

— Sara Csaky

my grandparents were immigrants. In my household growing up there were other languages spoken,” she says. “I was raised by grandparents speaking with accents. My grandmother spoke five different languages. My mom learned many languages and it was expected of us to at least learn English.

I had the important experience of learning a second language as a child.”

Csaky’s passion for teaching and learning started at a very young age. The power of knowledge was made evident in her experiences as a young adult living in a country that was transformed from a dictatorship to a democracy. “In Argentina, I went to a private Catholic School because at that time, we had a lot of social turmoil and had a dictatorship. Because of security, going to public school was really not an option, so we ended up in a private all girls Catholic school,” says Csaky. “I finished high school with a technical degree in teaching. While there, I took classes in education, psychology, history of education, and the philosophy of education.”

“My first year of college was the first year of democracy in Argentina. This was an event that really helped frame my life,” Csaky says. The dictatorship of Jorge Rafael Videla lasted from 1976-1981. He was later prosecuted for large-scale human rights abuses and crimes against humanity, including kidnappings, torture, and murder of dissidents. It is estimated that

13,000-30,000 people vanished during his reign.

“A dictatorship means that you listened to the only radio [station] that [they approved], that you read the books that they approved. We had a curfew, everything was super controlled, and there was no freedom at all. So, when my generation started college, we had all of these professors who had been exiled that were coming back. Freud’s books came back after being banned for years. We had people with degrees returning to school to sit in on our classes to learn what was not available to them years before. Because of that, my college was really intense, rich and amazing.”

After graduating from college with a degree in psychology, Csaky became a professor at the same college she attended as a student. After seven years of teaching, she decided to move to the United States.

“When my family moved up here, it was not as easy as everybody thinks it is. I was very lucky, and I found a job as a teacher in the Woodburn School District,” she says. “Teaching in Woodburn was really challenging for me, but the slang of English was already in my brain, so the culture shock wasn’t as hard for me as it was for my husband and my kids.

"Woodburn is a place where migrant students are always present in the school population and where Spanish speakers are the majority, so I found myself in familiar waters. I learned that anything I could do for the students would be a positive experience for them,” Csaky says.

Through her experience as a teacher in Woodburn, Csaky became acutely aware of how much power educators have and how big of an impact, both positive and negative, teachers can make.

“I think the key is to review our biases and our stereotypes. We have to be conscious that as teachers we have the power to send messages. Sometimes we don’t realize that we are sending messages that include our biases and stereotypes,” she says. “One of the strongest messages we send is that you have to learn English or you won’t make it in this world. It’s a good message if, on top of that, you explain that you don’t need to lose your identity or your culture of origin in order to learn

Sara Csaky teaches ESOL students at both the Woodburn and Salem-area Chemeketa Community College campuses.

English. There are bilingual teachers who don’t send that message, and there are also monolingual teachers who do send that message. Sometimes a teacher’s glasses can only see a certain thing and not much more beyond that. It’s not because you have a bad heart or bad intentions. The majority of the time it is just a lack of information.”

After being hired by Chemeketa Community College, Csaky began her work teaching future bilingual educators to help students who are learning English as a second language reconnect with their cultural identities.

“The program has the goal of inviting and inspiring more bicultural and bilingual students to become teachers, because Credits: Thomas Patterson

of the huge need and the growth of the population. I think keeping that in mind with all of my classes is very important,” Csaky says.

“Kids hear a lot of contradictory messages. For instance, it is wonderful that you speak Spanish, but you need to know that if you want to go to college, all of your classes will be in English. The reality is that the stronger you are in your first language, the stronger you will be in your second language. We now have a generation of young people who do not know who they are because they cannot connect to their roots.”

“Sadly the majority of students are ashamed of speaking Spanish because

they have received the message that it is not a good part of who they are,” explains Csaky. “As a bilingual teacher, it is always a struggle to empower these students to find the pride of their identity. Language is a way that you can keep your connection with your ancestors and to help you find who you are. Being bicultural is an enrichment. It is a summative thing, not a subtractive thing where you have to choose one or the other.” n

For more information about Chemeketa’s Bilingual Student Teacher Pathway Program visit www.chemeketa.edu/programs/education/bilingualpathway.html.

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Sources + Resources The following information is provided as a resource to members of the Oregon Education Association. Their publication within Today’s OEA is not to be construed as a recommendation or endorsement of the products or services by the Oregon Education Association, its Board of Directors or staff.

AWARDS, GRANTS, SCHOLARSHIPS

Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching Program

WHAT: This program seeks to improve mutual understanding among teachers, their schools and communities in the U.S. and abroad by providing teachers with international professional development opportunities for three to six months abroad. n WHO: U.S. K-12 educators are eligible. n WHEN: Application deadline is Dec. 1, 2016. n HOW: For more information, go to www. fulbrightteacherexchange.org. n

Classroom Technology Grant

WHAT: Directpackages.com Classroom Technology grant program awards $1,000 grants each to full-time K-12 teachers to spend on classroom technology. To apply, n

submit a 400-500 word essay about the impact new classroom technology could have for you and your students. n WHO: To find what schools in Oregon are eligible, go to https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/ schoolsearch/. n WHEN: Submission deadline is Feb. 24, 2017. n HOW: For more information, go to www. directpackages.com/teachers-grant.

Toshiba/NSTA: ExploraVision Awards

WHAT: The ExploraVision science competition challenges teams of 2-4 students sponsored and lead by an educator to research the technologies and scientific principles that could have great impact 20 years from now. Winning teams will receive savings bonds and an expenses-paid trip to Washington, DC. n WHO: K-12 students are eligible. n

WHEN: Deadline: Projects must be received by Feb. 6, 2017. n HOW: For more information and to register, go to www.exploravision.org/ what-exploravision. n

OPPORTUNITIES

The Reading Association 2016 Fall Institute

WHAT: This session will describe comprehension strategies that help readers better understand and learn from their reading and offers participants the opportunity to do their own reading and notice their own process of comprehension from the inside out. Keynote speaker is Stephanie Harvey, author of Strategies that Work and Comprehension Collaboration: Inquiry Circles in Action. Registration Fee: Member–$175, Non-Member–$200. n

Autumn Offerings from Classroom Law Project Classroom Law Project is Oregon’s leader in preparing youth to become active, engaged, and informed participants in democratic society. A key element of this work is providing Oregon teachers with quality professional development and classroom materials. This includes our current set of elections lessons and our upcoming Civics Conference.

We road-tested the lessons at workshops around the state in late September, introducing them to teachers in Portland, Bend, and Medford. Now the lessons are available for everyone on our website. www.classroomlaw.org/2016-electionslessons.

Elections Lessons

The first Friday of each December is Oregon Civics Day for Teachers. In honor of this state law, Classroom Law Project hosts a Civics Conference at the State Capitol in Salem for educators at all levels. www.classroomlaw.org/professionaldevelopment/oregon-civics-conference/ Participants get a behind-the-scenes look at how Oregon government works. Elected and appointed officials from all three branches offer insights and observations. They are joined by civic leaders, scholars, and master teachers. Attendees receive lessons, course materials, inside information, and creative ideas.

Join us on December 2, 2016, from 8:15 to 4:15 p.m. and learn with us! Events include a keynote introduction, breakout sessions, and honoring the next Civics Educator of the Year.

Elections fill the headlines. This presidential election dominates the news. Your students may come to class with last night’s cringe-worthy sound bite. How do you manage civil discourse and weed out the hype in these highly-charged times?

Classroom Law Project can help by providing our high quality elections lessons. These instructional materials cover: n major party candidates for president and Oregon governor, n the Electoral College, n voter ID, and n tips for facilitating civil conversations in your classroom.

Carefully researched, non-partisan, and classroom ready, these lessons will save you time and help you through these tricky topics.

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Oregon Civics Conference

Sources + Resources Oregon PDU Units available and Washington Clock Hours. n WHO: Grades 6-12 teachers and administrators n WHEN: Nov. 4, 2016 n WHERE: Holiday Inn Portland Airport, Portland, Ore. n HOW: For more information and to register, go to oregonread.org/ fallinstitute/

Wordstock Book Festival

WHAT: This festival features more than 100 authors writing in all genres and for all ages and focuses on discussions about literature and the intersections between themes of the books we are celebrating.

Also offered is a series of writing, including two free classes for youth (advance registration required). n WHEN: Nov. 5, 2016 n WHERE: The Portland Art Museum n HOW: For more information, go to portlandartmuseum.org/wordstock/. n

BOOKS

Literacy, Libraries, and Learning: Using books and online resources to promote reading, writing, and research

By Ray Doiron and Marlene Asselin Pembroke Publishers, Ltd, 2005; ISBN: 9781551381961; $28.00 (List Price); Available at www.stenhouse.com This comprehensive guide discusses the changing responsibilities of classroom teachers and teacher-librarians in helping students become better readers, writers, and researchers. The book offers a current selection of resources, instilling students with the reading habit, and encouraging the integration of emerging technologies and traditional resources.

Inclusive Literacy Teaching: Differentiating Approaches in Multilingual Elementary Classrooms

By Lori Helman Teachers College Press, 2016; ISBN-13: 9780807757864; $34.95 (List Price); Available at www.tcpress.com This book presents key foundational principles in language and literacy development for linguistically diverse students. Readers see these ideas enacted through the journeys of real students as they progress from 1st through 6th grade.

FOR THE CLASSROOM

Teacher Checklist for Creating Positive Classrooms

WHAT: This website provides a free, downloadable Teacher Checklist—a research-based practitioner checklist to help establish positive classrooms. n HOW: To download, go to www. coachingwhatworks.com/tcl2. n

“ISIS and American Foreign Policy” Lesson

WHAT: This website offers tools that students can use to analyze what actions the U.S. has taken against ISIS and how those actions relate to our overall foreign policy. There are free lesson plans and educator resources. n HOW: For more information, go to www. billofrightsinstitute.org/educate/educatorresources/lessons-plans/current-events/ isis-american-foreign-policy/ n

Cultivating Curiosity in K-12 Classrooms: How to Promote and Sustain Deep Learning

By Wendy L. Ostroff Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2016; ISBN-13: 9781416621973; $25.95 (List Price); Available at www. barnesandnoble.com This book describes how teachers can foster student curiosity through exploration, novelty, and play; questioning and critical thinking; and experimenting and problem solving. With techniques to try, scaffolding advice, and relevant research from neuroscience and psychology, this book will help teachers harness the powerful drive to know, understand, and experience the world in a meaningful way.

Literacy Essentials for English Language Learners: Successful Transitions

By Maria Uribe and Sally Nathenson-Mejia Teachers College Press, 2008; ISBN-10: 0807749044; 26.95 (List Price); Available at www.tcpress.com This book provides research-based, best practices for teaching English language learners in kindergarten through fifth grade.

This hands-on text features sample lessons and children’s literature that can be used to help ELL students develop the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in school.

TODAY’S OEA | FALL 2016

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End Note

THE SMARTEST MAN ON THE PLANET HAS A MESSAGE FOR MY STUDENTS

BY BRETT BIGHAM / Special Education Teacher, George Middle School

O

ver the years as a special education teacher, I have had over a dozen students who use voice output devices. To inspire my students, I have shared videos of Dr. Stephen Hawking. “If he didn’t use his talker,” I told one student, “nobody would know he was the smartest man in the world.”

Believe me when I say that Dr. Stephen Hawking is my hero.

And now, imagine my surprise when, this summer, my hero invited me to Cambridge University’s Research Centre for Theoretical Cosmology to talk about community access and voice output machines.

Special educators hold a special place in our heart for Dr. Hawking. He is that shining example to all of us how people with disabilities have much to contribute. He has faced down a disease and continued to stretch the boundaries of mind and science.

To have a couple of hours of his time to discuss advances in technology and his experiences using a talker was, to me, the height of my professional experience.

As Hawking used his cheek muscle to scroll through the alphabet to type messages one letter at a time, I shared about how inspiring my students were to me. I commented on how patient he was to be able to spend so much effort to type out a single word. I told him I don’t think I would have the same patience. He smiled and said, “I have typed four books on this thing.” It was a joke, but also showed the incredible drive and stamina contained in this man.

Consider the letter T is the 20th letter of the alphabet. Imagine scrolling through the alphabet, one cheek twitch at a time, to type the word “the.” Imagine the effort to type just this page. Or four books. The man is amazing.

Hawking asked me to send three questions in advance so he could type up

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Brett Bigham, center, and his husband Mike Turay meet with Stephen Hawking in Hawking's office at Cambridge University.

the answers at his leisure. Instead of a third question, I asked a favor: would he be so kind as to make a short video encouraging a past student, and all kids with talkers, to use their talkers no matter how difficult? Next month, I’ll be sharing that video with the student and I hope she will be as touched by the effort as I was.

The meeting was certainly one of the high points of my career and the science teachers reading this are probably geeking out as well. To them, I want to share what was probably one of the most surreal moments of my life. The day I flew to Cambridge, the Washington Post ran a story about

an Israeli scientist who had just proven Stephen Hawking’s Theory of Radiation. I read the article thinking how historical it was to meet Dr. Hawking on the same day the theory that made him famous had been proven.

An hour into the conversation, I pointed out it was a pretty exciting day for him, with the Post article and all. Dr Hawking had not heard about it! He and his staff had been busy filming a special for the BBC all day and I was breaking the news. I was ordered to tell them exactly what I had read and for the next three or four minutes I tried to explain how the scientist had used sound waves to create a black hole. Or something like that. Or maybe nothing like that…in all honestly I fear I might have said something like, “He took a thing-a-ma-jig and a thinga-ma-bob and created a whatcha-ma-callit.”

But, even as I spoke my mind was swirling around the idea that there I was trying to explain astro-physics and black hole theory to Dr. Stephen Hawking…the smartest man on the planet. How on earth did I find myself in such a situation?

Hawking and his staff finally put me out of my misery and told me, “never mind, we’ll get a copy of it,” and so ended my short career in astro-physics. But, I can proudly say, on Aug. 17, 2016, I confused the heck out of Stephen Hawking.

Brett Bigham is the 2014 Oregon State Teacher of the Year and a recipient of the 2015 NEA National Award for Teaching Excellence. He was awarded the Teacher Role Model Award in 2015 by the NEA LGBT Caucus and is an NEA Foundation Global Fellow. Brett is currently partnering with Microsoft Sway to create an international platform for his series of support books for people with autism and he is teaching special education at George Middle School in Portland.

Credits: Anthea Bain

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Full List of OEA's Election Recommendations Inside this Issue!