Ed J. Harris
"Ed Harris is an exceptional educational leader who is passionate about eliminating the African American achievement gap. In Shattering Low Expectations, he not only compels us to action, he points the way!" Jeffrey R. Spiegel - Superintendent, Ferguson-Florissant School District, St. Louis, Missouri
“When Dr. Ed Harris was hired to assume a leadership role, and he turned a school improvement plan from failing status to exemplary. Ed''s success is a perfect example of Shattering Low Expectations. How wonderful it is that he is sharing it with us.”
Linda Putz, Mathematics teacher, Instructional-Technology Coordinator, and School Improvement Consultant, O’Fallon School District, Illinois
"Since the first time I met Ed Harris, I have been impressed with his intellectual prowess, his understanding of the ''real'' issues in education, his knowledge of the ''adult'' factor in schooling and his commitment of making the educational system work for all children, regardless of race, socioeconomic status or gender…Ed is a visionary and an activist.” Ron Jackson, Director of St. Louis For Kids and member of the school board of St. Louis Public Schools.
"Collaborative School Transformation is interactive. Quo Process touches every learning style.” Dr. Rudell Kirkwood, Principal, Rich South High School, Rich Township, Illinois
"Data reinforces and backs up what Ed Harris is talking about regarding Collaborative School Transformation. When minorities achieve, everyone achieves – this is a powerful message sent by Collaborative School Transformation. Ed Harris has credibility because he is a working practitioner." Larry Tandy, Assistant Superintendent, Rich Township School District, Illinois
“Ed Harris is a man who always puts the interests of students first; above his own interests and job security, above faculty prejudices and biases, above Central Office hang-ups, and above the self interest of influential community members. He is a student-oriented guy; a risk-taker for kids; the kind of man you want as principal of your child’s school.” John Todd, Assistant Superintendent of Quincy, Illinois School District, Retired. (John Todd was assistant principal when Ed Harris was principal of Quincy High School, Quincy, Illinois)
Dr. Edward Harris, Principal, Cahokia High School in Cahokia, Illinois, and Developer of the QUO Process
Dr. Harris has worked in education for over 27 years and has won numerous awards, including the Good Apple Award and in 1999 the Illinois State Principal of the Year award. After graduate study at the University of Illinois Dr. Harris later earned a Ph.D. in education curriculum at the University of Berkley, Michigan, a Specialist Degree in Administration and Superintendency at Truman University in Kirksville Missouri, a Masters of Education at Maryville University in St. Louis, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Studies for Secondary Education at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He taught for 10 years in the Parkway School District in St. Louis MO. He has also coached football and women’s basketball for more than 15 years at both the high school and college levels. Dr. Harris has served as adjunct professor at both Maryville and Southern Illinois at Edwardsville Universities.
Prior to serving as principal at Cahokia, Dr. Harris was the principal at Quincy, Edwardsville, IL, and at Oakville High School in a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. Dr. Harris has served as an administrator in a variety of locations; he served as Assistant Superintendent in the Normandy School District, and began his administrative career as assistant principal in the Parkway and Ladue School Districts in St. Louis, Missouri. His wide experience base includes work in rural, urban, and suburban schools. Dr. Harris has written several articles and in the year 2000 published a book about parenting teenagers entitled A Letter from the Principal. He can be reached at: ejh@enteam.org
The Right Stuff
Unfortunately, volumes of data show that at-risk students, especially American-black students, are simply not learning enough of the “right stuff” in public schools to prepare for the high-stakes tests facing students throughout the country. This lack of preparation will eventually impact the students’ earning power and narrow their choices beyond high school. Almost all of the low achievers will endure poverty and extremely limited opportunities. The realities that accompany this condition usually create volatile hostilities within many low achievers. Lessons from history reveal that a poor, hostile populous with external similarities such as color, religion, and race, that are different from the majority population, creates a very negative psychological situation.
Whatever criteria are used to determine selection will have its opponents and proponents. Educators, beyond personal feelings concerning the effectiveness or non-effectiveness, rightness or wrongness of the testing criteria, must in the final analysis discover which criteria will be used to determine which students will be advanced, accepted, or selected. Then, educators must find ways to help students gain the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to be able to meet or exceed the benchmarks. In this way educators, teach the right stuff and help students progress along avenues of interest as they enter post-secondary life.
Authentic vs. Academic
Among low-achieving American-black students, many reject learning and intimidate and harass students who do earn high marks. The harassing students often bully the achieving American-black students, sometimes calling them “Uncle Tom,” and sometimes actually causing physical harm. The accusation many achieving American-blacks dread most is that academic achievement equals “trying to be white.”
The insidious psychology behind this thinking is that American-blacks attempting to succeed in school are merely imitating whites; this implies that learning academic information rests solely with American-white persons. By this way of thinking, one cannot be authentically black and academically successful simultaneously. This worldview also implies something is wrong when American-blacks use American-white people as role models, heroes, or mentors. Furthermore, American-blacks should avoid having American-white friends. This psychology further implies that a white person is weak-minded when it comes to real life and earthy existence, un-cool, and out-of-touch with reality—the consummate nerd. This line of thinking leads to, and even requires, separatist, segregationist thinking and behaviors.
Using if-then logic, the people that forward such psychology believe that American-black students should not find value in learning academic information, should reject anything advocated by whites, should avoid all cordial relationships with whites, and should embrace all black people and their ideas and behaviors, even when wrong. This thinking devastates American-black students and often blocks the pursuit of academic achievement. Many achieving American-black students seldom want their achievement to become common knowledge. They realize that to gain notoriety for smartness brings ridicule and contempt from many of their American-black student peers.
