Education expert Jeannie Oakes described last night how a number of middle-school principals attempted to reform their schools by confronting racism and implementing curriculum changes.
Oakes told an audience of approximately 100 Dartmouth students and local educators in 105 Dartmouth Hall about a middle school educational reform study she researched in 16 different schools in five states.
The detailed study assessed the success of various middle school reforms and the difficulties and problems that administrators encountered.
"Doing this study allowed me to explore school reform from the bottom up," Oakes said.
In the speech, Oakes described three key schools that she said encompassed her entire study. Using fictitious names, she described three school districts -- a wealthy, predominantly white, traditional district; a predominantly white school system that merged with one that was predominantly black; and a school comprised primarily of immigrants, where 590 suspensions were issued to a student body of 575 in one year.
She explained that the principal of each school wanted to reform his school, working toward faster, more effective learning, better core curriculums and the possibility for all students to succeed. All schools wanted to become more child-centered and create safe, cooperative learning environments.
Some also wanted to allow children to take part in community service and help refurbish their school buildings. All three also wanted to detrack students -- instead of grouping children by ability, they wanted to allow all children to work together in non-competitive environments.
Oakes discovered four things that all schools wanted to be: educational, inclusive of all students, caring and democratic. She said that the educators wanted a place where learning was fundamentally social.
She explained that all of the principals worked to create close communities. In one school, kids voted on what they would study, and in another, the principal personally cooked free spaghetti dinners so that minority parents would be willing to come and talk about educational issues.
She said that the principals spent time balancing individual liberties with the common good and confronting self-individualization policies and racial ambivalence.
Oakes said that although the schools were successful in their reform, the reforms were neither thorough nor perfect. She said that there was powerful resistance from conservative parents, school district offices and intolerant students and faculty who caused problems.
"Perhaps the schools were becoming better than we wanted them to be," Oakes said.
Audience member Eleni Manis '00 disagreed. "What is the incentive for high-track, privileged students to have all students mixed?" she asked.
"We have a lot of technology that does not create a slow-moving education," Oakes replied. "Also, policy makers have a responsibility to the public to make a fair and equal education for all. We have wonderful private institutions for elitists."
Oakes also said that techniques used by gifted student programs were immensely successful in mainstream, detracked classes.
Gifted programs "have to invent all kinds of ways to make kids look smart, and these techniques are good for all students," she said.
Oakes ended her speech by explaining that the affluent district's principal's contract was bought out, the merged district's principal became nationally recognized, but he left his district; and the third principal is still working hard to make his reforms work.
She explained that policies and mandates were not enough to induce effective school reform and to create personal, social communities.
Oakes taught high school English for seven years before earning her Ph.D. from University of California at Los Angeles in 1980. She is currently a professor of education and assistant dean in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA.
