CORE

CORE Co-Chair Jackson Potter is a delegate to the “Catalyst Caucus,” an ongoing online discussion between teachers, unionists, students, and other educational stakeholders. The current topic is school turnarounds.

From Catalyst:

Jackson Potter Co-chair of CORE and teacher at Little Village High School of Social Justice, CORE-Caucus of Rank and File Educators

Role: Delegate

[Potter]: Another question we need to ask is if this model is actually a new model. Many schools in Chicago have gone through a variety of similar transformations, like reconstitution and small school redesign, where staff had to reapply for their jobs. If these types of reforms from the 1980s and beyond have not resulted in the miracle schools that have been promised, perhaps there is something wrong with the model.

There is also the Chicago-based Strategic Learning Initiative at Finkl Elementary, where staff and schools are resourced at a much lower cost than turnarounds and have shown some very positive results. The use of the nuclear option on our neighborhood schools can be devastating, such as in the case of Fenger High.

Schools are living entities with an ecology of adults and community ties that are not easily reproduced. When Duncan and Company push to eliminate everyone in the building, it can wreak unforeseeable havoc. As author Malcolm Gladwell describes in the book “Outliers,” people who are considered brilliant at what they do often have spent an inordinate amount of time practicing their craft. Turnarounds are based on the assumption that bringing in primarily inexperienced teachers and replacing the old, forlorn veteran staff will bring positive results. However, the Teach for America approach to staffing urban schools does not provide for a long-term commitment to developing a professional community.

Last, there is the question of discrimination. A disproportionate number of the teachers fired in turnaround schools are veteran black teachers. According to ISBE, Chicago has lost more than 2,000 black teachers since 2002. What is the impact of having fewer black professionals mentoring black youth in low-income communities throughout the city?