Urban Essentials 101

I believe that success in urban, underperforming, public schools comes down to two over-arching principles or themes:  Relationships and Resources.  I further believe that we will not realize sustained positive growth in urban, underperforming schools until the two are solidly established simultaneously.  Then, and only then, will urban underperforming public schools rival high performers all over the country.

Currently in underperforming schools, the overwhelming majority of the focus is on the resource side of the model.  We tend to think that money and/or using money to acquire books and materials, the latest pedagogical strategies, and certificated or “quality” teachers is the answer.  We never stop to consider whether the materials and strategies are relevant for their intended audience, or whether the teachers can forge real relationships with the students and the community.  The reason that we never investigate this arena is simple.  Most of the policy makers come from environments where this relationship component is a natural part of the communal landscape.  Consequently, they structure the politics of urban education around their experience and their frame of reference.  This one-sided version of education leaves them practically blind to the fact that relationship formation precedes academic acquisition.  This one-sided version of the predicament leads to flawed reasoning.  It is this flawed reasoning that invariably leads to flawed policies and programs.  And as a result of the flawed policies we continue to get a cookie cutter, one-size-fits-all program approach to education.  The program inevitably focuses first and foremost on the best instructional practices that money can buy, to the detriment of the best relationships that people can build.