Education Week - October 19, 2022 - 18

made direct eye contact and turned her voice serious.
" We're spelling 'duck,' " Himrod said. " Duuuh, duuuh, what
letter is that? "
" D, " the girl said, earning a huge smile from her teacher.
A broken pipeline
Of course, schools can't just stick any random Black person
in front of a classroom and expect them to pull the best out of
children. Nor can they assume that teachers of color are automatically
anti-racist.
Training, credentials, and experience all matter, too.
In theory, the university partners involved with CREATE 65
were supposed to deliver all that in a way that complemented
the residents' classroom experiences. But such alignment was
sporadic at best. Himrod, for example, learned after becoming
a resident that the credits she'd accumulated while earning her
bachelor's degree a decade earlier didn't match up with National
Louis's requirements. As a result, she'd have to pay more than
$1,500 to take three extra courses over winter break.
Largely as a result of such confusion, the program's inauguThe
Civil Rights Movement came to Evanston in the early 1960s, leading local Black leaders
to push for an end to housing segregation in the town. (Evanston Fair Housing March, 1964)
it look like they're getting some Black folks on there, " she said.
" That's when my eyes began to get a little bit clearer. "
'Black people magic'
The early morning sky outside King Arts was still dark and
purple as a bruise when Himrod arrived in Room 129 for the
43rd day of the 2021-22 school year.
The next several hours would showcase the promise of CREATE
65's focus on hands-on training and mentorship for aspiring
educators of color.
The children's first task was to find a laminated card with their
name, then stick it on the feelings chart next to the emoji that
best showed their mood.
One of the Black girls, who wore camouflage pants, was still
struggling with her letters. A specialist pulled her out of the
classroom before the work got harder.
The rest of the children gathered for morning circle to discuss
their choices. Felix-who had calmed down considerably
after Himrod and Perkins called home following the early tantrums-raised
his hand and waited patiently.
" I absolutely adore Ms. Perkins, and Ms. Himrod seems very,
very sweet, " said the boy's mother, Annalese Duprey. " They
don't expect my son not to be a 6-year old, but they also aren't
going to take his 'drama-queen' stuff. "
Later that morning, Himrod took a seat in front of the room.
She pulled out a small dry-erase board, then clicked her crimson
fingernails against its shiny white surface to draw the children's
attention.
She'd just started leading lessons of her own. Her focus was
supposed to be on giving clear instructions.
" You know what to do, draw your four squares, " Himrod told
the class. " Can somebody tell me how many days we have been
in school? "
The activity was intended to help children develop their number
sense by giving them multiple ways to represent the number
43. In one of the squares on their whiteboards, Himrod had the
children write the word " forty-three. " In another, she had them
brainstorm simple arithmetic problems that would yield the
same number.
Then she stumbled.
" We are going to fill in our ten frames, " Himrod started. " You
know what to do. I'm not giving it to you. "
The children were supposed to visualize the number 43 by
drawing one rectangle divided into ten boxes for the " tens "
place and another for the " ones " place, then mark four boxes
in the first rectangle and three boxes in the second. But many
students were confused. Room 129 grew quiet.
Watching from the back, Perkins saw several sets of little legs
bouncing anxiously under their desks.
" Remember, " the veteran teacher said as she strode to the
front of the room. " For the number 43, how many tens do we
have? Fill them in all together. "
Himrod later said she welcomed the on-the-spot
18 | EDUCATION WEEK | October 19, 2022 | www.edweek.org
intervention, a key to the residency model.
" She corrects me right in the moment, " she said of Perkins.
It helped that the veteran teacher had made a point of trying
to improve her own practice, too. It was hard to argue the need
for change; in early 2019, test score data had revealed that Black
children at King Arts scored 51 points worse than their white
counterparts in math and 61 points worse in reading.
To attack such disparities, Superintendent Horton wanted
District 65 teachers to craft lesson plans that focused more on
the needs of each individual child.
So for that morning's phonics lesson, Perkins divided her
class into small groups based on the letters each student knew.
She worked with the advanced group, which included Quincy;
after meeting with the boy's parents, Perkins made sure he
regularly received extra assignments.
On the other side of the classroom, meanwhile, Himrod
eased herself down onto a purple floor mat, extending her
creaky knees and crossing her legs at the ankle. She was working
with the children still struggling with phonemic awareness.
They were supposed to point out letters on a laminated chart as
Himrod read them aloud. But the girl in the camouflage pants
began rocking back and forth, then took off her COVID-19
mask and started spinning around on her knees.
Despite an unsettled home life, she had plenty of supports in
place. At King Arts, the girl saw Perkins and Himrod, plus three
different specialists. She also received after-school help from
the choir director at her church.
But Himrod had noticed a disconnect.
" Three of us are Caucasians and three of us are AfricanAmericans, "
she said. " I'm not saying that the Caucasian teachers
don't have a stake, but I think they get caught up in the 'Oh,
she's had such a rough life.' Whereas Ms. Perkins, myself, and
the choir director, we're like, 'Yeah, you're right. She has been
through a lot. But when are we going to make sure she can do
what needs to be done?' "
The value of that perspective is backed by an overwhelming
body of evidence.
Researchers have repeatedly found that Black students who
have a Black teacher attend school more regularly, score higher
on tests, graduate at higher rates, and feel more academically
challenged. That's likely because Black teachers as a group are
more likely than their white colleagues to have high expectations,
build strong relationships with their families, and spend
time meeting their individual needs.
Many researchers also believe that Black teachers are generally
better-equipped to recognize and tap into the gifts Black
children bring to the classroom.
" There's a kind of 'Black people magic,' for lack of a better
term, " said Decoteau J. Irby, an associate professor of educational
policy studies at the University of Illinois-Chicago. " It
shows up in your tone of voice, your facial expressions, how you
interact, your cultural sensibilities, how you show high expectations
instead of pity. "
Such magic was evident in Room 129. Himrod scooched over
close to the girl in the camouflage pants, snuggled in next to her,
and tucked the strap of her mask back behind her ear. Then she
ral cohort of 19 residents had started to dwindle. Himrod, fresh
off celebrating her 50th birthday, was determined to hold on.
On a sunny Friday morning, she headed to the public library,
where she'd reserved a private room to sit through her three-hour
online teaching practicum. The instructor, a white former 2nd
grade teacher, sent the class into breakout rooms for an activity.
" I don't even know what we're supposed to be talking
about, " a woman in Himrod's group said.
" Me neither, " Himrod replied.
" I'm literally making a balloon garden right now, " the
woman continued, tilting her laptop camera down to show
a field of pink.
Absent direction, the conversation soon turned to the Illinois
Licensure Testing System. Every aspiring teacher in the
state had to pass the relevant ILTS exam in order to become
licensed and certified. The previous year, however, just 6 percent
of Black test-takers passed on their first attempt.
Such numbers are one reason why many researchers view
such exams as a significant barrier to rebuilding the nation's
Black teaching force.
" It's important that teachers are competent, " said Desiree
Carver-Thomas, a researcher and policy analyst with the
Learning Policy Institute. " But the research does not indicate
that these tests consistently predict teacher effectiveness. "
As Himrod's group began comparing notes, she revealed
she'd recently failed the test. Each subsequent attempt would
cost her another $120.
" It's a racket, " Himrod said, leading the faces on her screen
to nod in unison.
Eventually, the class got to work. Their assignment was to
review a curriculum guide and determine whether a lesson
plan had clear objectives and directions.
For Himrod, the good news was she'd soon be teaching the
lesson in question, about how to add three single-digit numbers
by first combining two of the numbers to make ten.
The bad news was her group was reviewing a guide from a
publisher District 65 didn't use.
Worse, when it came time to teach the activity herself, the
district and National Louis had confusing-and sometimes
competing-expectations for the lesson plans she and the
other residents were supposed to develop.
The overlapping demands were starting to overwhelm Himrod.
On the 55th day of school, her lesson on adding three singledigit
numbers went off the rails almost immediately.
" I'm going to put down some numbers, and you're going to
add them together, " Himrod began.
" Uh-uhh, " interjected Perkins.
After being asked to take on a second resident mid-semester,
she'd also grown annoyed with CREATE 65. This time, she
didn't get up to stand beside Himrod, instead correcting her
from the back of the classroom.
" Say, 'Write down any two numbers you know that if you add
them together will make ten,' " Perkins said.
Chastened, Himrod promptly made an arithmetic error.
Then she gave more confusing directions. Before she could
clear things up, a light snow began to fall outside, leading the
children to abandon their desks and rush to the windows.
" It's been a day, huh? " CREATE 65 staff member Tracey
Carter said when Himrod arrived harried and late for her afternoon
coaching session upstairs.
" It's been a whole year, " Himrod replied.
" Hold on a second, boo. I'm getting a phone call, " Carter said.

http://www.edweek.org

Education Week - October 19, 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Education Week - October 19, 2022