Many different Leadership Programs across the states and for that reason my brothers and i rarely saw her pure kind of in and out of the house, but linda is amazing inspiration to me and thats why im an education policy and management student here. I am inspired by her every day. I hope i dont have to do that 5 00 a. M. Wakeup to be just like her, but thats my own wish. Linda is wonderful and also alongside carmen torres. Carmen and linda are my inspirations and im so lucky to have this opportunity to introduce my mom, my favorite educator and best mom to talk about when grit isnt enough. [applause]. Not going to could be introduced by your daughter. Kind of cool. I think they are opening up the back, so if you are a little too hot in here come i think we are getting more seats, so if anyone wants to get up. Lets give it up one more time for those kids. [applause]. Kind of why i did kind of why i do what i do because i believe deeply in the power of the arts in those kids came all the way over from georgia and took about an hour on the train with their amazing teacher. Lets give it up for the amazing teachers, i am here to talk about this book that yall are going to buy because you dont make money writing books, but you will buy it because the royalties quebec to the kids and thats really important to me. My first book still the royalties or claim back to the arts academy kids and royalties for this book will go to the arts academy kids as well as two other kids, so its important by its any buy it from independent bookstores as well. First, i want to know who is in the audience before launch in. How many of you are teachers right now . Raise your hands big and high. Of you have ever taught . Good. I feel a little better. Many of you are leading schools organizations cracks how many of you have ever led to schools organizations cracks how many are grad students . How many of you are former grad students of mine . Thank you for being here. So, i wrote this book to start a larger conversation about what we believe will help students succeed or high school. I also wrote this book because im really angry. Im angry at what it takes to really create access and equity in this country. We continue in this country to think its the responsibility of the most vulnerable amongst us, those with the least amount of access to create access for themselves. I wrote this book to say thats just not true. I wrote this book because in my first book the hardest questions that are not on the test i tell the story of sinead and i get criticized a lot for this, but i want to tell you this story because that was a lot of my motivation. She was one of my students a Boston Arts Academy and graduated at the top of her class work she was accepted to her dream college with a full scholarship. She was a first generation of scholarship student. Come any of your first jen kids . Disappointing there are two more at harvard. There should be. For complicated reasons, she never stepped foot on her college campus. She lost her scholarship in the summer after high school because it she missed a deadline to send in a deposit to hold her space. For reasons that combine a lack of experience, absence of cultural and Financial Capital and im sure some shame. This one mistake had a dramatic effect on the course of her life that story became the impetus for this new book. When i step down from the day to day leadership the Boston Arts Academy i wanted to take a more critical look at what i have accomplished and to examine some longheld assumptions of mine. I began to interview alumni. Those who had gone on to college and those who had not. Those who had done well and graduated and those who had started in left and in total i interviewed over 90 students and spoke informally to dozens more. Sinead is story i would fund soon find out was not an exception. I began to reflect on the promise i had made each year to my 125 freshmen. All of you i would say in an Assembly Like this will go on to college or a post secondary career, but i sort of set it like that. If you go on to a conservatory that was college, but all of you will go on to college. Its the right promise to make. I still feel that way, but my ethicists was wrong. I did not do enough to promote Career Opportunities along with college and as i listened to my former students, five assumptions are missed or myths became a clear refrain. If we carefully begin to interrogate them and thats really the invitation this book, i believe we will begin to build better bridges between Higher Education and prek12 education. The book is organized around these five. I want you to hear them with air quotes. One, many isnt an obstacle. Remember, air quotes. Two, race doesnt matter. Just work harder. College is for everyone. If you believe your dreams will come true. Of the College Acceptance rate of students from Boston Arts Academy is very high. I could have just that pleased with those statistics. And 94 to 90 are accepted to college and width of the nearly two thirds graduate within six years. These are extraordinary figures for any school particularly on urban school, but i wanted to understand what happened to those who did not put a college or werent successful and i wanted to understand that the jury of those in college. Its too easy for us to assume that all students start the same place that everyone has access to the same degree of knowledge to navigate the college years. As a recent New York Times article says this came out just as i was turning the book into the publisher. Quotes, for young people with College Educated parents the path to Higher Education may be stressful, but theres a roadmap if there standardized test scores are too low, they pay for a prep course. If their essay is lackluster, they can hire a writing coach. No one will be the wiser. If they cannot decide which college is the best fit, they can visit. When they are tempted to give up, their parents will push them on. Few of these supports are in place for low income or firstgeneration students and thats with this book is about. We assume that deep social inequities can be overcome by individual efforts and that everyone has an equal chance of success and if we just work harder we will be fine. We assume this because there are so many wonderful stories of young people who make it and i tell those wonderful stories also. Many of you may have heard of diane in the country we love. She placed a little latina and orange is the new black. Shes one of mine and she was when i interviewed for the book, but we make that assumption that those who just like determination or who are not sufficiently gritty are the reason that folks wont get ahead in this grit if you will is something thats really been popularized in our schools and some of our schools and education. I hope to hear. This just work harder kind of ecos and so i really want you to critically examine that. I will read a little excerpt from the book where i describe two classrooms. One where the teacher is all about grit and the other where the behavioral expectations are bit more relaxed and im reading this in the hopes that you all run out of here, by the book and say great isnt what we need to be talking about right now. Your we go. This is page 84 in case any of you want to follow. I will read it from my big tax. 25 thirdgraders sat crosslegged on the rug facing her teacher and a video screen. As you know we are about to begin our snake unit and this is the video i promised we would watch. A hand shot out that a little girl with many braids and ribbons asked in an whisper, is this the one where we get to see the snake talk out of its skin, yes we will see that and we will take notes like scientists as we watch and make sketches. Everyone nodded. The teacher disturbed at clipboards papers and pencils and nervous excitement rippled through the class to clearly, this was a lesson they had been eagerly anticipating. When we are already and a city like amanda and on, sitting up and tracking me i will start the video. Of the students repositioned themselves and help their clipboards at the ready in their lap. However, to students in the back row of the rug were overtaken with giggles seem to have a hard time either putting in the paper are paying attention. The teacher redirected them a couple of times, but they were clearly in a world of their own. All others had their eyes facing forward and work to paying much attention to the gig goers, but suddenly the teacher said, its clear to me that the class is not ready to engage in learning. Lets go back to our desks until we have 100 engagement. You are not respecting the learning process. You have completely forgotten about slanting trick did you lose your back muscles over the weekend . To many of you are slashing. On going to begin to hand out demerits. For a minute to make sure we know what planting is. Is your hand if youve heard the acronym . Sit up. Look. Asked questions. Not, check the speaker. Part of the great ego is that all kids know how to do that ondemand. The little girl returning to the text with the braids returning to her friend we are not showing respect. Her friend nodded gravely in the students quickly got to their feet and with an air of despondency back to their desk. Now, we will have to wait until tomorrow to see the video the little girl said sadly and i really dont want a demerits. Twin the class was dismissed for lunch the teacher demanded everyone lineup silently and as they proceeded to the cafeteria, they passed a second grade class who were walking in hugs and bubble formation. Does anyone know what that is . Very common in lots of schools these days. These eight yearolds held their arms crisscross across their chests, fica and a straitjacket. They proceeded silently to the cafeteria where they dropped their arms and relaxed their body. There were five different classrooms classes in the cafeteria and all of them ate in complete silence while teachers monitor the room. Going to stop. I think i dont you what schools these are from, but this is not an exceptional school. I visited many many schools like this. I inquired if this silent lunch was a punishment for bad behavior and i was informed silent lunch was a regular occurrence. We want students to have time in the day where they are quite peaceful, but it felt anything but peaceful to me. It seemed more like a prison with the teachers has guards. I was stunned that this had become a regular practice. Gone is the joy of meeting friends at lunch and chattering about anything or nothing. Gone is being a carefree kid, none of the students in this school are white. Has in many schools, all of the teachers are young and white female. What message does this send to kids who are not of the dominant culture . The school, to me, felt depressive. While making eye contact and nodding at speakers is not wrong, this slant to system is not contextualized into a variety of learning environments its use in this escort resulted in an emphasis on behavior over active learning. In other words, you are considered a good learner if you can demonstrate slant, but this is a minimal condition for learning. For many students this behavior have nothing to do with a learning. Of course its hard to teach kids to students are cutting up in class, but the third grade Science Teacher had clearly been trained to stop the lesson in the absence of 100 attention. In our conversation later the teacher admitted to me she felt badly about her decision to abort of the lesson in favor of behavior. Into this school, we believe if students are practicing the slant then learning will be compromised. Its like the broken window theory. Got to take care of the small things before you can take care of the big things or nothing will get fixed. But, this adherence to slant that i have witnessed in so many schools we wonder about the message we send to our young people. The word oppressive kept coming to mind, little room existed for diversion. I reflect on another school i visited, which was the opposite of this no excuses school. In an urban Public School in new york city, i witnessed a group of eighthgraders discussing the novel. What struck me in addition to their professional level of discourse was how they had arranged themselves in the classroom. Sunset on top of their desks, others on chairs and if you were standing. Not everyone was in a circle. One young man sat outside the circle and participated in the discussion even though he looked angry that entire time. Another student said at the teachers desk and when i asked the teacher, mr. Johnson, if their seating arrangement was distracting to him or other students he looked at me curiously. Why should it matter how they sit if they are participated and respecting one anothers opinions . Thats my goal. Can they talk to one another from the text, can they find evidence about their points of view, can they build off of what each other said . What about the fact that not everyone was living by the same rules. Clearly the directions were to sit in the circle. Look, he began somewhat impatiently with me, would i like everyone to sit in a circle . Of course. Do i want to sacrifice valuable teaching and learning time to be constantly reminding students of the expectations . More importantly, do i want to make sure the classroom is a place where theres also breeding time . I know whats going on with carlos and edward and i know why they moved out of the circle. The rest of the class doesnt care. I was not sure i was satisfied with the answer. Wanted to know if mr. Johnson had seen the practices in the sony no excuse schools where rules were adhered to and where teachers felt teaching could begin. Of course, he told me. Many of these students have come from schools like that where they were asked to leave those of schools because they were not disciplined enough. He held up his fingers to make the air quotes. Carlos is still smarting from the memory of his last school and by the way you wont see those college banners all over my walls. My job is to teach my students to think and i know this may sound political, but to get them to think for themselves. I agree with that and i was uncomfortable with the lack of structure and consequences for behavior in his classroom. I wondered about some of the note excuses, great pedagogy could be used in this case. Couldnt this teacher see how well behaved the students were in those schools and was impressed with their test scores . They had learned to listen to one another. You countered, i know many of my colleagues believed by following that formula slant and no excuses kind of practices kids will get into college in large numbers and get out of the ghetto. Again air quotes. Again, i dont think they are asking the students or the community of the students come from what his success would look like for them. I think was missing here is learning about selfdetermination and advocacy for oppressed people everywhere. I know its a lot to ask teachers, but we cannot see ourselves as historical beings. We as teachers have particularly white to teachers like me need to understand that students of color are in this situation because of this democratic system. We have to critically examine how we might be perpetuating that. Mr. Johnson went on to describe how his students were doing in high school. The ones that challenge me the most are often the students who do the best in high school and then college they know how to think critically and independently. Issued this book, i ask if these no excuses slant to kind of intervention are actually successful. I question their longrange effectiveness. I question the race and class implications in the classroom. I question whether training teachers in these methods will create the classroom for teachers deserve. The benefit of lock step, learning and grits may have been overrated and traits such as curiosity increased to the given short trip to the boys who giggled the most may actually be the most curious learners later on. Of those 21st century competencies of critical thinking, collaboration, communication, creativity you just saw here earlier that employers and others insist are the key to a productive and competitive economy are not well facilitated by the no excuses approach. Another that i also address in the book is one that says colleges for everyone. We know that is not true and also not realistic to it we have done little in our schools to truly prepare students for careers that will allow them to lead middleclass lives. We must change our language. From to college and career ready and move away from what i see and hear into a secondary schools, which is everyone will go to college. My new colleges success and dignity for all with the promise of earning a living wage it or morse distinctly, college and career for all. Youre the national statistics. 52 of High School Graduates enroll in college. That means nearly half of our students do not. What kind of preparation, giving them . To answer that question i look both locally and internationally heres what i conclude. We must do a better job with career and Technical Education with internships and with Work Experiences while young people are in high school. I want you to consider this next visit. Took me a long time to get this in my head. The teenagers with the highest employment rates come from families with income above 120,000. Teenagers with the highest employment rates here im largely for Work Experience come from the families with incomes over 120,000. We are perpetuating again and again income inequality. Of those young people from low income sectors are in the greatest need of Work Experience , but the lease to likely to receive them. In switzerland, one of the countries i looked at as a counterexample Students Experience a more cohesive approach to education and to work. At least 50 of 16 to 19 yearolds are involved in Vocational Education and one of the hallmarks of the swiss system is that its permeable students can go back and forth between career and Technical Education and more academic education. There is a real sense there that apprenticeship is a high status we to learn. I saw this level of career and Technical Education in some schools in our country, not nearly enough. In the book i talk about one school about 40 miles from here located in a workingclass Community Just outside of the boston. Heres what one student said to me. Using