A Blueprint for Action: Policy Makers

VII: Policy Makers

Preamble:
Recognizing that policy makers have the ultimate authority to plan and provide for effective educational policies and programs, we ask that this weighty influence be directed to the goals of achieving educational equity and excellence for Black children. We therefore commit to:

ACTION ITEMS IMPLEMENTATION ACTIVITIES

A. Eliminate and replace those policies and practices that are institutionalized but obsolete.
1. Review and analyze systematically all existing school district policies and practices.

a. Identify, prioritize, isolate and eliminate those policies and practices most detrimental to the effective education of Black Children.
b. Adopt a program of corrective action consistent with the priorities.

2. Adopt policies which require teachers of Black students to demonstrate knowledge about the history, culture, and language of Black people.

3. Require teachers of Black students to have successful preservice or supervised inservice experience with Black students.

4. Advocate that the National Standards Board for Teacher Selection incorporate in its criteria recognition of the special needs of Black students, teachers, and principals.

5. Adopt and implement a clear affirmative action hiring and promotional policy to assure parity for Blacks in the education system.

6. Adopt a policy which assures that some faculty and staff represent the racial/ethnic makeup of the student body.

7. Adopt a policy which requires that all screening and hiring committees include Black members.

a. Become thoroughly familiar with the "Oversight on School Discipline" hearing, held before the Subcommittee on Elementary, Secondary, and Vocational Education (House Committee on Education and Labor, January 23/24,1984).

B. Develop policies aimed at providing a safe and effective or high quality teaming environment at all schools. 1. Develop, review and evaluate current and proposed legislation and other policies, to ensure they avoid the victimization of Black children.

2. Communicate with and provide information to other policy makers advocacy and monitoring groups as necessary.

3. Provide the knowledge resources and assistance to parents, students, teachers, administrators, community organizations, business and others that have an impact on the education of Black children to avoid their victimization as it relates to all federal and state legislation:
a. ESEA Title I
b. School-to-work;
c. National Community Services Trust Act;
d. Special Education and ESEA (Title 6);
e. Goals 2000: Educate America Act;
f. Crime Bill; and
g. Related federal, state and local legislation, statutes and ordinances.

4. Develop and present policy models that reduce the overrepresentation of Black students referred for discipline, exclusion, suspension, or expulsion.

5. Develop and present policy models that reduce the number of Black students who drop out.

6. Develop and present local, state, and federal policies that assure funding addresses the needs of Black students as outlined in the Blueprint for Action.

7. Advocate the reauthorization of all federal, state and local education-related legislation in a manner which assures maximum benefit to Black students:
a. Educate legislators to reinstate mandatory and meaningful parental involvement.
b. Educate constituency and others to assure that reauthorization allocates full funding and is based on an equitable formula.
c. Educate constituency and others to assure that reauthorization allocates full funding for academic and social programs needed by children "at risk".
d. Obtain information and educate the constituency and others on how to examine, evaluate and select newly developed assessment/evaluation techniques to avoid the victimization of Black children.

8. Address issues of attracting, recruiting, and retaining Black teachers.

9. Provide scholarships and loans through federal, state, and local levels with funds targeted for Black families.

10. Avoid expenditures in all programs which do not clearly reflect the emphasis on the opportunity to ream.

11. Policy Makers shall examine the issue of desegregation to avoid the continued victimization of Black children in racially isolated schools.

C. Adopt policies and practices that facilitate school personnel interaction with community and social services agencies. 1. Encourage interaction with those organizations focusing on the preservation and stabilization of Black families.

2. Establish programs and procedures for utilizing the resources of civic, social and religious organizations within the Black community.

3. Encourage local groups and lodges to come and talk about the need for involvement, as in gender-focused or theme modeled (math, science, technology) educational support.

4. Be informed on what external groups can do. Outline suggested action recommendations.

5. Call on leadership groups such as the NAACP, the National Urban League, etc., to rally other groups to work with school board members; have them set clear goals-long range (5 to 10 years)-establish high performance outcomes for Black students. For example:
a. Within 10 years, Black children in each grade in the district will score, as a group, at or above average national norms on standardized tests.
b. Within 5 years the percentage of black and white enrollment in college preparatory programs will be approximately the same.

D. Assure that recognition and appropriate Incentives are directly related to the success of Black students. 1. Mandate district-wide evaluation policy based on the improvement of Black student achievement.
a. Require that all evaluation and assessment instruments used in the evaluation and placement of Black children be reliable, valid and unbiased in order to avoid the victimization of Black children.
b. Require that the results of all testing be used to enhance the achievement of Black children.
c. Restrict excessive testing, evaluation and assessment of Black children.
d. Enforce those requirements of Title I and other special funding which makes unlawful the use of special funding to support existing school programs.
e. Consider "reconstitution" and other similar techniques to make those responsible for the delivery of high quality education for kids responsible for their failure.
f. Be responsible for reviewing the student achievements and failures, school support and resources, and to compare them with norms when found lacking, and formulate corrective strategies for improvement. Make sure federal and state monitoring guidelines are enforced.
g. Develop some method to assure that special fund dollars are spent in a manner to improve student achievement.

2. Evaluate and reward schools based on the performance of Black students in at least the following areas:
a. improved academic achievement;
b. improved attendance;
c. decreased suspensions;
d. decreased dropout rate; and
e. increased college eligible rate.

3. Provide school incentives to encourage superior teachers to remain in the classroom.

E. Encourage school-business partnerships. 1. Promote adopt-a-school arrangements targeting businesses that support the public schools and Black business people.

2. Promote talent-mentoring partnerships.

3. Require documentation and recognition of successful partnerships as models.

F. Develop and present instructional policy models that meet the needs of Black students. 1. Match teaching styles with student reaming styles for improved instructional outcomes.

2. Assign teaching staff based upon the needs of Black students and related school programs.

3. Assure gender fair instruction, focusing on achieving equity of Black males and Black females.

4. Eliminate policies that promote disparity in student performance between Black students and their peers in other ethnic group.

G. Develop policies that promote and support high standards of academic excellence and cultural awareness. 1. Develop policies that focus on basic skills followed by higher cognitive and effective skill development.

2. Develop polices that focus upon those aspects of the Black experience which offer the greatest potential to sustain the "effort" required to achieve excellence (e.g., prominent displays of achievements by Blacks in science, inventions, social justice, educational attainment, business success, elective offices.

H. Recognize and understand the concept of "privatization" as it relates to Public Education. 1. Acquire knowledge which enables policy makers to evaluate proposals effectively.

2. Examine all proposals relating to privatization to ensure that they avoid the victimization of Black children families and communities.

3. Gather and disseminate information about privatization.

4. At the initial consideration of privatization, policy makers will convene all stakeholder groups to assist in evaluating proposals.

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ACTION ITEMS	IMPLEMENTATION ACTIVITIES
A. Eliminate and replace those policies and practices that are institutionalized but obsolete.	1. Review and analyze systematically all existing school district policies and practices. a. Identify, prioritize, isolate and eliminate those policies and practices most detrimental to the effective education of Black Children. b. Adopt a program of corrective action consistent with the priorities. 2. Adopt policies which require teachers of Black students to demonstrate knowledge about the history, culture, and language of Black people. 3. Require teachers of Black students to have successful preservice or supervised inservice experience with Black students. 4. Advocate that the National Standards Board for Teacher Selection incorporate in its criteria recognition of the special needs of Black students, teachers, and principals. 5. Adopt and implement a clear affirmative action hiring and promotional policy to assure parity for Blacks in the education system. 6. Adopt a policy which assures that some faculty and staff represent the racial/ethnic makeup of the student body. 7. Adopt a policy which requires that all screening and hiring committees include Black members. a. Become thoroughly familiar with the "Oversight on School Discipline" hearing, held before the Subcommittee on Elementary, Secondary, and Vocational Education (House Committee on Education and Labor, January 23/24,1984).
B. Develop policies aimed at providing a safe and effective or high quality teaming environment at all schools.	1. Develop, review and evaluate current and proposed legislation and other policies, to ensure they avoid the victimization of Black children. 2. Communicate with and provide information to other policy makers advocacy and monitoring groups as necessary. 3. Provide the knowledge resources and assistance to parents, students, teachers, administrators, community organizations, business and others that have an impact on the education of Black children to avoid their victimization as it relates to all federal and state legislation: a. ESEA Title I b. School-to-work; c. National Community Services Trust Act; d. Special Education and ESEA (Title 6); e. Goals 2000: Educate America Act; f. Crime Bill; and g. Related federal, state and local legislation, statutes and ordinances. 4. Develop and present policy models that reduce the overrepresentation of Black students referred for discipline, exclusion, suspension, or expulsion. 5. Develop and present policy models that reduce the number of Black students who drop out. 6. Develop and present local, state, and federal policies that assure funding addresses the needs of Black students as outlined in the Blueprint for Action. 7. Advocate the reauthorization of all federal, state and local education-related legislation in a manner which assures maximum benefit to Black students: a. Educate legislators to reinstate mandatory and meaningful parental involvement. b. Educate constituency and others to assure that reauthorization allocates full funding and is based on an equitable formula. c. Educate constituency and others to assure that reauthorization allocates full funding for academic and social programs needed by children "at risk". d. Obtain information and educate the constituency and others on how to examine, evaluate and select newly developed assessment/evaluation techniques to avoid the victimization of Black children. 8. Address issues of attracting, recruiting, and retaining Black teachers. 9. Provide scholarships and loans through federal, state, and local levels with funds targeted for Black families. 10. Avoid expenditures in all programs which do not clearly reflect the emphasis on the opportunity to ream. 11. Policy Makers shall examine the issue of desegregation to avoid the continued victimization of Black children in racially isolated schools.
C. Adopt policies and practices that facilitate school personnel interaction with community and social services agencies.	1. Encourage interaction with those organizations focusing on the preservation and stabilization of Black families. 2. Establish programs and procedures for utilizing the resources of civic, social and religious organizations within the Black community. 3. Encourage local groups and lodges to come and talk about the need for involvement, as in gender-focused or theme modeled (math, science, technology) educational support. 4. Be informed on what external groups can do. Outline suggested action recommendations. 5. Call on leadership groups such as the NAACP, the National Urban League, etc., to rally other groups to work with school board members; have them set clear goals-long range (5 to 10 years)-establish high performance outcomes for Black students. For example: a. Within 10 years, Black children in each grade in the district will score, as a group, at or above average national norms on standardized tests. b. Within 5 years the percentage of black and white enrollment in college preparatory programs will be approximately the same.
D. Assure that recognition and appropriate Incentives are directly related to the success of Black students.	1. Mandate district-wide evaluation policy based on the improvement of Black student achievement. a. Require that all evaluation and assessment instruments used in the evaluation and placement of Black children be reliable, valid and unbiased in order to avoid the victimization of Black children. b. Require that the results of all testing be used to enhance the achievement of Black children. c. Restrict excessive testing, evaluation and assessment of Black children. d. Enforce those requirements of Title I and other special funding which makes unlawful the use of special funding to support existing school programs. e. Consider "reconstitution" and other similar techniques to make those responsible for the delivery of high quality education for kids responsible for their failure. f. Be responsible for reviewing the student achievements and failures, school support and resources, and to compare them with norms when found lacking, and formulate corrective strategies for improvement. Make sure federal and state monitoring guidelines are enforced. g. Develop some method to assure that special fund dollars are spent in a manner to improve student achievement. 2. Evaluate and reward schools based on the performance of Black students in at least the following areas: a. improved academic achievement; b. improved attendance; c. decreased suspensions; d. decreased dropout rate; and e. increased college eligible rate. 3. Provide school incentives to encourage superior teachers to remain in the classroom. E. Encourage school-business partnerships. 1. Promote adopt-a-school arrangements targeting businesses that support the public schools and Black business people. 2. Promote talent-mentoring partnerships. 3. Require documentation and recognition of successful partnerships as models. F. Develop and present instructional policy models that meet the needs of Black students. 1. Match teaching styles with student reaming styles for improved instructional outcomes. 2. Assign teaching staff based upon the needs of Black students and related school programs. 3. Assure gender fair instruction, focusing on achieving equity of Black males and Black females. 4. Eliminate policies that promote disparity in student performance between Black students and their peers in other ethnic group. G. Develop policies that promote and support high standards of academic excellence and cultural awareness. 1. Develop policies that focus on basic skills followed by higher cognitive and effective skill development. 2. Develop polices that focus upon those aspects of the Black experience which offer the greatest potential to sustain the "effort" required to achieve excellence (e.g., prominent displays of achievements by Blacks in science, inventions, social justice, educational attainment, business success, elective offices. H. Recognize and understand the concept of "privatization" as it relates to Public Education. 1. Acquire knowledge which enables policy makers to evaluate proposals effectively. 2. Examine all proposals relating to privatization to ensure that they avoid the victimization of Black children families and communities. 3. Gather and disseminate information about privatization. 4. At the initial consideration of privatization, policy makers will convene all stakeholder groups to assist in evaluating proposals.