African American Teachers Absent from Wilson Training

DCPS is training groups of teachers in the Wilson Reading Program. Wilson is a research-based program that has proven its effectiveness for years. I was thrilled to make it into the first cohort to be trained.

One aspect of training disturbed me, though. Most teachers in DCPS are African-American (I'll try to find out the percentage). Yet, half of the teachers learning to use this highly effective reading program where white. At least two more were other non-Black races. Where are the Black teachers? Were they not interested? Did their special education coordinators not tell them about the training?

Granted, my coordinator (who is White) did not tell me about the training - I found out from a (White) friend. One White lady said a teacher in her school has the Wilson materials and has been to a training but does not use Wilson or any other effective remedial reading program.

Furthermore, five of the trainees (15% of the participants) were from the DC Teaching Fellows program. While I support the program (I'm a Fellow, myself), it is true that people who teach through alternative certification are less likely to remain in the school system.

What's going? Maybe they think Wilson is just a fad or just another program that DC is trying this year, just to be tossed aside next year.

What is DCTF about?

DC Teaching Fellows is an alternative certification program. That means if you did not get a degree in education BEFORE you began teaching, you can study for one while you teach.

There are major differences between DCTF and Teach for America. DCTF seeks people who are interested in a career as teachers, while TFA looks for people who want to make a difference for two years. DCTF requires participants to attend classes and earn a masters in education from a designated university in DC. TFA does not require participants to earn a degree.

I am writing this blog because I myself am a DC Teaching Fellow, and when I researched the program I searched online to see what people's experiences were. There were only a few websites that had information that I thought was really useful.

I don't always write about day to day teaching life, because, I didn't want this blog to be just a journal of my experiences. I wanted it to be a reliable source people can come to for ideas about how to include special needs students (especially learning disabled students) in the classroom more.

So, from time to time you'll see a post about DCTF and some of the ideas that it trains its teachers in. Right now, the month is April, so if you applied to the program in January and were accepted, congratulations! I'll try to add posts that can help prepare you for the intense, but eye-opening summer program ahead of you.

NPR's segment on New Teachers

This morning on NPR was a segment about new teachers in alternative certification programs in DC. They highlighted two first-year teachers at Shaw-Garnet-Patterson. One is having a great year, and the other admitted not having classroom control. He even calls parents during the lesson at times, which he knows is a big no-no. The segment stated that Rhee does not have a lot of patience, so the second teacher does not have a lot of time to get it together.

The segment ended by saying that older teachers are necessary to help younger teachers develop.

There was one part of the segment that needs to be clarified. The effective first-year teacher that they highlighted teaches 6th grade and all of her students tested proficient in reading so far this year. That statement was misleading. Because the segment focused on her, those outside the field of eduation might automatically think the students learned to read because of this teacher. However, if 6th GRADERS are proficient in reading, they've had several years of good teaching. They didn't just learn how to read because of this first-year teacher.