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RE: A response to Charles
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From: Charles Bayless <charles.bayless_at_ttmd.com>
Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2014 14:39:25 -0500
Thanks Debbie,
Other than the Sleeter review, I have seen most of these before. I appreciate you offering them but they have to do with something different than what I am asking for. I am trying to find evidence as to what the consequence might be in terms of the content of what a child electively reads when young and their life outcomes. While I would be interested in any research, I am most interested in the 0-6 years old time frame since so many life trajectories are already established by then.
And this is much wider than the narrow issue of race we are discussing here. If you are fed a diet of science books, are you more likely to become a scientist? If you read books with a lot of violence are you more likely to be violent? If you are provided a diet only of religious books are you more likely to be faith based? If you read books with characters with whom you self-identify, are you more well adjusted? As well as the narrow question here, if you read more books with racial self-identification or gender self-identification, do you have better life outcomes? That is the evidence I am looking for and these studies don't really address that. Does early content have any material influence on later outcomes?
The whole issue of school programs and teaching is an entirely different ball of wax. And even here, in the institutional program environment of school, it is unclear and nuanced. From Sleeter's conclusion:
Considerable research evidence shows that well-designed and well-taught ethnic studies curricula have positive academic and social outcomes for students and that curricula are designed and taught somewhat differently depending on the ethnic composition of the students and the subsequent experiences they bring. These positive findings should not be interpreted, however, as meaning that schools can assign any teacher an ethnic studies curriculum to teach, or that students of color will automatically achieve more if ethnic content is added to the curriculum.
That appears consistent with what I have seen elsewhere. The differentiating factor is whether the program is well designed and well taught versus the ethnic content per se. It is kind of an undeniable tautology - well designed and well taught programs have good results. No disputing that. We have long known that great programs and great teachers make a material difference. The challenge is institutionalizing that in a fashion that makes the trial project work at scale across multiple schools and the whole district.
In terms of having to prove anything, that is not what I am saying. I am suggesting that publishers have a very strong incentive to publish books that sell. If you can provide robust evidence that there is demand (people willing to spend money) or find a way for publishers to easily recognize and cheaply fulfill that demand, then publishers are likely to respond in a fashion that you desire. And if not one publisher, then another among the many hundreds that are competing. You don't have to provide solid evidence but it makes it more likely that the outcome you want will occur. It is entirely reasonable as well that you leave the market to eventually find the demand that you think is there. I am not making any attempt to discredit voices, simply observing that one set of actions is more likely to lead to the desired outcome than another.
Charles
From: Debbie Reese [mailto:dreese.nambe_at_gmail.com] Sent: Sunday, February 16, 2014 1:49 PM To: CCBC-Net Network Subject: [ccbc-net] A response to Charles
I read Charles's posts as ones that tell us we have to prove there is a need for the literature we want. Empirical proof is what he wants. I find that position and insistence on proof troubling but am not able to articulate why it is so troubling. It is tangled up in the power structure and history of discrediting the voices of people of color.
That said, I can point to some research studies, but am aware that any study can be refuted if the power structure wants to do so.
In an earlier post (the one in which I provided an overview of what happened with Mexican American Studies in the Tucson school district), I referenced studies that found that students who had taken courses in MAS performed better. There, the power structure succeeded in passing laws that said ethnic studies programs were anti-American, and then found the MAS program guilty of violating that law. It doesn't matter what the studies found.
Here's one of the studies, conducted by professors at the UA:
http://posting.tucsonweekly.com/images/blogimages/2012/11/12/1352763151-1128 86925-emprical-analysis-mas-report-2012.pdf
Heres' the Cambium report:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/58025928/TUSD-ethnic-studies-audit
I can also point to research conducted by researchers at the U of Arizona and Stanford, regarding the impact of mascots/stereotypes. Findings in this study showed that self-efficacy of Native students was depressed upon seeing stereotypical imagery.
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/daphna.oyserman/files/frybergmarkusoysermanstone2 008.pdf
Christine Sleeter has a report worth reading, too. It is an analysis of ethnic studies programs.
http://hin.nea.org/assets/docs/NBI-2010-3-value-of-ethnic-studies.pdf
Debbie
__________________________________________________________
Debbie Reese, PhD
Tribally enrolled: Nambe Pueblo
Email: dreese.nambe_at_gmail.com
Website: American Indians in Children's Literature
_at_ http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.net
Now: Studying for MLIS at San Jose State University
Then: Assistant Professor in American Indian Studies, University of Illinois
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Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2014 14:39:25 -0500
Thanks Debbie,
Other than the Sleeter review, I have seen most of these before. I appreciate you offering them but they have to do with something different than what I am asking for. I am trying to find evidence as to what the consequence might be in terms of the content of what a child electively reads when young and their life outcomes. While I would be interested in any research, I am most interested in the 0-6 years old time frame since so many life trajectories are already established by then.
And this is much wider than the narrow issue of race we are discussing here. If you are fed a diet of science books, are you more likely to become a scientist? If you read books with a lot of violence are you more likely to be violent? If you are provided a diet only of religious books are you more likely to be faith based? If you read books with characters with whom you self-identify, are you more well adjusted? As well as the narrow question here, if you read more books with racial self-identification or gender self-identification, do you have better life outcomes? That is the evidence I am looking for and these studies don't really address that. Does early content have any material influence on later outcomes?
The whole issue of school programs and teaching is an entirely different ball of wax. And even here, in the institutional program environment of school, it is unclear and nuanced. From Sleeter's conclusion:
Considerable research evidence shows that well-designed and well-taught ethnic studies curricula have positive academic and social outcomes for students and that curricula are designed and taught somewhat differently depending on the ethnic composition of the students and the subsequent experiences they bring. These positive findings should not be interpreted, however, as meaning that schools can assign any teacher an ethnic studies curriculum to teach, or that students of color will automatically achieve more if ethnic content is added to the curriculum.
That appears consistent with what I have seen elsewhere. The differentiating factor is whether the program is well designed and well taught versus the ethnic content per se. It is kind of an undeniable tautology - well designed and well taught programs have good results. No disputing that. We have long known that great programs and great teachers make a material difference. The challenge is institutionalizing that in a fashion that makes the trial project work at scale across multiple schools and the whole district.
In terms of having to prove anything, that is not what I am saying. I am suggesting that publishers have a very strong incentive to publish books that sell. If you can provide robust evidence that there is demand (people willing to spend money) or find a way for publishers to easily recognize and cheaply fulfill that demand, then publishers are likely to respond in a fashion that you desire. And if not one publisher, then another among the many hundreds that are competing. You don't have to provide solid evidence but it makes it more likely that the outcome you want will occur. It is entirely reasonable as well that you leave the market to eventually find the demand that you think is there. I am not making any attempt to discredit voices, simply observing that one set of actions is more likely to lead to the desired outcome than another.
Charles
From: Debbie Reese [mailto:dreese.nambe_at_gmail.com] Sent: Sunday, February 16, 2014 1:49 PM To: CCBC-Net Network Subject: [ccbc-net] A response to Charles
I read Charles's posts as ones that tell us we have to prove there is a need for the literature we want. Empirical proof is what he wants. I find that position and insistence on proof troubling but am not able to articulate why it is so troubling. It is tangled up in the power structure and history of discrediting the voices of people of color.
That said, I can point to some research studies, but am aware that any study can be refuted if the power structure wants to do so.
In an earlier post (the one in which I provided an overview of what happened with Mexican American Studies in the Tucson school district), I referenced studies that found that students who had taken courses in MAS performed better. There, the power structure succeeded in passing laws that said ethnic studies programs were anti-American, and then found the MAS program guilty of violating that law. It doesn't matter what the studies found.
Here's one of the studies, conducted by professors at the UA:
http://posting.tucsonweekly.com/images/blogimages/2012/11/12/1352763151-1128 86925-emprical-analysis-mas-report-2012.pdf
Heres' the Cambium report:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/58025928/TUSD-ethnic-studies-audit
I can also point to research conducted by researchers at the U of Arizona and Stanford, regarding the impact of mascots/stereotypes. Findings in this study showed that self-efficacy of Native students was depressed upon seeing stereotypical imagery.
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/daphna.oyserman/files/frybergmarkusoysermanstone2 008.pdf
Christine Sleeter has a report worth reading, too. It is an analysis of ethnic studies programs.
http://hin.nea.org/assets/docs/NBI-2010-3-value-of-ethnic-studies.pdf
Debbie
__________________________________________________________
Debbie Reese, PhD
Tribally enrolled: Nambe Pueblo
Email: dreese.nambe_at_gmail.com
Website: American Indians in Children's Literature
_at_ http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.net
Now: Studying for MLIS at San Jose State University
Then: Assistant Professor in American Indian Studies, University of Illinois
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Received on Sun 16 Feb 2014 01:40:46 PM CST
