Dr. Arthur Levine:
Passionate about The Need to Redirect Teacher Education
By Joan Baum Ph.D.
Although a new plan at Teachers College (TC) establishes “educational
equity” as the major mission, a key word for the locus
of related activities has already been changed. No longer an
Institute, the new initiative is now the Campaign for Educational
Equity, a shift in semantics that reflects a new emphasis on
procedure. “Institute” sounded too formal, too
establishment, says Dr. Arthur Levine, the president of TC.
He wants a more activist and process-oriented center that will
tell the public, we’re uniting researchers here in the
city and nation wide to look at issues in a real-world way.
Does “Campaign” sound political? Well, yes and
no, he answers. Yes, because the idea is to implement data-driven
policies, to inform and influence policy makers, but no, in
the sense that the work of the Campaign will be non-partisan.
He jumps up, full of energy and impish excitement: “do
you know what the number-one issue is facing the schools in
the city?” Pause. Silence. “Glasses!”
That’s right, preliminary studies have identified glasses
as a major problem in low-income urban schools. Optometric
examinations are not enough; sending information home is not
practical. How do we deal with a situation that’s seriously,
adversely, affecting academic performance? Who pays for the
glasses? What can be done to convince children to wear them,
since glasses are not “cool?” How would the Campaign
advocate for change, in this case and in general? By targeting
the right audience, in this case legislators, whether at the
city, state or federal level. Then by writing up the research
findings in clear language and educating lawmakers and their
staffs. Then by bringing in experts to testify at public hearings
and offering demonstration programs, models that work. And
because the Campaign will be a united effort, integrating major
components—a think tank, a state-by-state report card
on schools, an annual symposium, and model programs—it
will have muscle. Dr. Levine already has the support of Lee
Bollinger, President of Columbia, which means access to university
scholars. The issue of school children needing, getting, and
wearing glasses, for example, affects several disciplines:
public health, law, social work, economics, psychology, journalism.
“Equity.” For 30, 40 years we’ve called
it “closing the achievement gap,” Dr. Levine says,
but not much has really changed and there’s been backsliding.
Why? Because public schools in cities are now overwhelmingly
filled with lower-income children who bring with them numerous
problems. Then, too, the states have changed the rules, the “marks
of success,” setting a common standard now for all school
children (49 out of 50 states are now “outcome based”),
regardless of starting point or special need. The economy has
also changed, Dr. Levine adds, making a high-school diploma
the minimum requirement for getting a job. There’s no
mystery here, he says, others have said it: pay urban teachers
more, start the school day earlier, make the year longer, and
focus research on creating practical models. Learning disabilities,
for example, are not the same as learning difficulties, but
special education models do not make appropriate distinctions.
Brain research so far would suggest that each child should
have a personal contract for education. Impossible? The Campaign
will address such issues without taking refuge in simplistic
all-purpose formulas. Perhaps teaching will become prescription
and evaluation, diagnosis of learning processes and recommendations
of individualized software. Who knows, but such forward thinking
is also what the Campaign is about.
“The costs of educational inequality are tremendous,
Dr. Levine reminds audiences, and most Ed.D. programs, as he
has been quoted in The New York Times as saying, are “incoherent” if
not failures. Educational equity must be put back on the national
agenda, no matter how pressing the other problems—health
care, elder care, social security. Pockets of excellence, such
as TC- related schools in Harlem empowerment zones, must become
known. Being the premier institution to gather, disseminate
and advocate for research-based change will restore TC to its “historic
mission,” which at its founding was to serve “poor
immigrant kids who weren’t making it in New York,” by
training “a radical new breed of teachers.” About
70% of TC’s faculty will be involved in the Campaign. “Nobody,
but nobody, chooses to go into education because they’re
going to make a lot of money. They enter education because
they’re idealistic; they want to change the world.” It
is Dr. Arthur Levine’s goal to realize once again this
noble goal.#
