tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/california-education-17977/articlesCalifornia education – The Conversation2024-03-24T11:53:19Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2222432024-03-24T11:53:19Z2024-03-24T11:53:19ZTeaching cursive handwriting to young children? Here’s how they learn, and resources for instruction<p>Good handwriting is not an end in itself. Rather, it is a means to literacy that fundamentally transforms the human experience. Developing control over the shape of the 26 letters of the alphabet ultimately unlocks the ability to engage in the world of fact, fiction — and endless possibilities of the imagination afforded by written communication. </p>
<p>Legible, fluent handwriting <a href="https://learninglandscapes.ca/index.php/learnland/article/view/642/642">makes this possible</a>. Legible handwriting can be achieved by the vast majority of young learners by the end of Grade 2, given direct instruction and ample opportunities for practice. Fluency can follow in a similar fashion with continued instruction and practice. </p>
<p>Currently, far too many young children fail to achieve handwriting benchmarks to succeed with <a href="https://theconversation.com/young-childrens-words-predict-reading-ability-5-ways-parents-and-caregivers-can-help-grow-them-205730">the academic written demands of Grade 4</a>. </p>
<p>Cursive handwriting was reintroduced on the Ontario Grade 3 curriculum in June 2023, soon <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240122-california-signs-cursive-writing-into-law-what-are-the-brain-benefits">followed by California</a>. Yet school instruction in cursive is <a href="https://theconversation.com/cursive-handwriting-is-back-in-ontario-schools-its-success-depends-on-at-least-5-things-209078">bound for failure unless strong resource support is provided for kindergarten to Grade 3 teachers</a>. </p>
<h2>Open-access resources for cursive handwriting</h2>
<p>I collaborated with volunteers from the Bow Valley Calligraphy Guild in Calgary, Alta., and drew on more than 10 years of tracking and <a href="https://doi.org/10.20360/langandlit29392">publishing data on</a> young children’s handwriting to create <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1880/118259"><em>Teaching Handwriting to Young Children</em>, an open-educational resource</a>.</p>
<p>Our <a href="http://www.bvcg.ca/p/kids-handwrite.html">resource, downloadable in</a> 15 user-friendly files, covers concepts and skills
leading up to and including cursive handwriting in the kindergarten to Grade 3 years. </p>
<h2>Proficiency grows gradually</h2>
<p>Becoming proficient in handwriting is a gradual, protracted process. It must begin early and align with developmental markers of children’s neuromotor and cognitive readiness to engage with the unfolding demands of handwriting. In turn, there are also demands of generating quality text.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00220679809597556">Research suggests that</a> a hybrid script, described as a clean, uncluttered manuscript-cursive hand, will most readily <a href="http://doi.org/10.1002/pits.21691">develop legibility and fluency</a>. Legibility and fluency of handwriting in turn create <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/the-athletes-way/202010/why-cursive-handwriting-is-good-your-brain">neuronal patterns and networks</a>. These support complex processes of organizing, planning, revising and retrieving precise and nuanced vocabulary. </p>
<p>We focus on instructing children in italic printing and cursive or connected script for a variety of reasons: </p>
<ul>
<li>economy of effort, ease of execution and demand on young learners’ musculature and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1167/15.12.76">visual motor memory</a>;</li>
<li>ease in transitioning from print to cursive hand by learning only a few connector strokes;</li>
<li>the elegance and simplicity of the script itself. </li>
</ul>
<h2>Strong foundational skills</h2>
<p>The three-part resource comprehensively mobilizes research to explain the “how and why” of teaching cursive handwriting. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583281/original/file-20240320-24-dnv5zu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An illustrated cat with many dots next to it in the same shape" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583281/original/file-20240320-24-dnv5zu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583281/original/file-20240320-24-dnv5zu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583281/original/file-20240320-24-dnv5zu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583281/original/file-20240320-24-dnv5zu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583281/original/file-20240320-24-dnv5zu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583281/original/file-20240320-24-dnv5zu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583281/original/file-20240320-24-dnv5zu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Connecting dots helps children learn to draw, play independently, focus and improve hand-eye co-ordination. It also introduces children to moving pencils between a defined start and end point.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It introduces cursive handwriting instruction and includes specific lessons to use with children, from “pre-printing” activities (like colouring, tracing and connecting dots) to lined sheets demonstrating script and letter spacing. Resources are accessible with rich use of photos, illustrations of children’s work, easy layout and design. </p>
<p>The resource combines theory and practice to help teachers or parents instruct children in developmentally progressive ways, beginning with <a href="https://theconversation.com/writing-and-reading-starts-with-childrens-hands-on-play-125182">setting in place strong foundational skills</a>. </p>
<p>At school, the focus is: </p>
<h2>In kindergarten:</h2>
<ul>
<li>on fine <a href="https://www.nifdi.org/resources/hempenstall-blog/809-handwriting-worth-the-trouble-these-days.html">motor manipulative and fine motor literacy skills</a> supported by <a href="https://theconversation.com/changes-are-coming-to-ontarios-kindergarten-program-what-parents-and-caregivers-need-to-know-222846">hands-on, play-based learning and direct instruction</a>;</li>
<li>shape recognition;</li>
<li>“path of movement” work (referring to the direction of letter strokes, to ultimately build habits that will allow children later to join letters); </li>
<li>and letter tracing, copying and printing from memory.</li>
</ul>
<p>Children must be able to reconstruct internal mental models of letters seen on a page, and then with fine motor control, reproduce letters onto a page.</p>
<p>When a child can print their name at the size of about three-quarters of an inch, this is a key <a href="https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/nov2017/emergent-writing">indicator</a> the child has developed <a href="https://www.readingrockets.org/reading-101/reading-and-writing-basics/print-awareness#">basic print concepts</a>. This means they understand print is a representational system of <a href="https://www.readingrockets.org/reading-101/reading-and-writing-basics/sight-words-and-orthographic-mapping">mapping sounds to letters</a>. They are in early stages of recognizing this through letters in their name, and so they learn to generalize to the entire alphabet. Shape recognition is really important here too, usually in early kindergarten. </p>
<p>By the end of kindergarten, young learners should be able to print most of the lower and upper case letters. This involves enormous amounts of tactile experiences with letter shapes, games and activities for developing a good pincer grip, using the tools of literacy (crayons, pencils) in developing control over fine motor skills such as <a href="https://www.amsterdamuas.com/urban-vitality/shared-content/contentgroup/writic/writic.html">drawing, colouring and “staying between the lines” tasks</a>. </p>
<p>A play-based approach that is engaging and fun for young children is important in motivating and creating a sense of confidence and agency in these early, emergent moments of written literacy learning. Training the muscle memory in these skills so they eventually come automatically are the keys to the next step in literacy development.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-help-children-learn-how-to-read-in-the-pandemic-encourage-writing-messages-as-part-of-play-153171">To help children learn how to read in the pandemic, encourage writing messages as part of play</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Grade 1</h2>
<p>Direct instruction in handwriting begins in Grade 1 with short, consistent lessons of 20 minutes, with another 40 minutes of practice opportunities during the day. Making labels, <a href="https://theconversation.com/handwritten-valentines-create-a-legacy-of-love-and-literacy-130365">greeting cards</a>, <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/the-athletes-way/201808/handwritten-thank-you-notes-have-surprising-consequences">thank you notes</a>, crafts and lists reinforce these foundational skills. </p>
<p>Handwriting should be legible at the end of Grade 1. </p>
<h2>Grade 2</h2>
<p>Grade 2 represents a transition point where the joins or ligatures are introduced. Again, this involves movement and patterning exercises for developing the muscle memory for connecting letters beginning with the diagonal move such as ai, an. </p>
<p>Making connections and minimizing the number of “lift offs” (where pencil must lift from the page) facilitates developing speed, thus opening precious working memory space for other demands of generating text such as retrieving and mobilizing precise and nuanced vocabulary choices. Young learners continue to work on letter shape and size. </p>
<h2>Grade 3</h2>
<p>Grade 3 consolidates these foundational skills by making increased numbers of connections and control over shape, size, space and slant of handwriting — with indicators of speed or fluency of hand. </p>
<p>It becomes clear that developing fluent handwriting imposes many competing demands on young learners. Early, direct, programmatic, developmentally progressive, sustained instruction with ample practice opportunities throughout the school day can go a long way toward realizing better handwriting outcomes among our young learners and in turn, better academic outcomes. </p>
<p>Good instruction and resource support are key to achieving this success.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222243/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hetty Roessingh receives funding from SSHRC. A Werklund School of Education Teaching and Learning Support Grant provided funding for the development of the resource discussed in this story.</span></em></p>Developmentally progressive instruction allows children to learn handwriting. An open-educational resource by literacy and writing experts supports instruction for kindergarten to Grade 3 children.Hetty Roessingh, Professor, Werklund School of Education, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1264862019-11-18T14:04:16Z2019-11-18T14:04:16ZWhy the nation should screen all students for trauma like California does<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301652/original/file-20191113-77326-97rx6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The effects of childhood trauma can be long-lasting.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/child-psychology-psychiatric-therapy-children-concept-611762108?src=8561abd2-efb1-41ec-85e1-0322bb931bf0-2-0">shutterstock.com/lightspring</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the first person to hold the new role of Surgeon General of California, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris is pushing an unprecedented plan to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/california-s-first-surgeon-general-screen-every-student-childhood-trauma-n1064286">implement universal screenings for childhood trauma</a> for children in the state’s Medicaid program.</p>
<p>Childhood trauma is <a href="https://www.isbe.net/Pages/Trauma.aspx">defined</a> by the National Institute of Mental Health as an “emotionally painful or distressful” event that “often results in lasting mental and physical effects.”</p>
<p>Burke Harris’ plan is already more than a dream: In June, Gov. Gavin Newsom approved a budget that provides <a href="https://cpehn.org/blog/201901/governor-newsom%E2%80%99s-budget-makes-important-investments-health-equity-and-prevention">roughly $45 million</a> for trauma screenings and another $50 million to cover training for those who will administer the screenings. Burke Harris’ vision of universal screening for trauma in children may be a massive undertaking, but it’s also already under way.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301653/original/file-20191113-77363-acbz5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301653/original/file-20191113-77363-acbz5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301653/original/file-20191113-77363-acbz5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301653/original/file-20191113-77363-acbz5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301653/original/file-20191113-77363-acbz5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301653/original/file-20191113-77363-acbz5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301653/original/file-20191113-77363-acbz5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The first ever Surgeon General of California, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, being sworn in.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/">California Governor's Office</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Well-intentioned critics might question the cost of Burke Harris’ project. As a <a href="https://socialwork.vcu.edu/about/our-team/sunny-h-shin-phd.html">social work professor</a> whose <a href="https://rampages.us/innovativewellness/">research</a> has long focused on childhood traumatic experiences and addiction, I believe such a program is needed nationwide.</p>
<p>If all the country’s children could undergo developmentally appropriate screenings for what we in the medical and social work communities call adverse childhood experiences, I suggest, based on my research, millions of tax dollars could be saved every year, <a href="https://rampages.us/innovativewellness/adverse-childhood-experiences-child-maltreatment/">premature deaths and diseases could be prevented</a> and schools would be healthier, happier places for students and teachers. A quiet but urgent public health crisis could finally be seriously addressed. Here’s why:</p>
<h2>1. Untreated childhood trauma can cause permanent biological damage</h2>
<p>Recent <a href="https://acestoohigh.com/2016/09/08/7-ways-childhood-adversity-changes-a-childs-brain/">biological evidence</a> confirms what many child development experts have long suspected: When kids experience certain types of childhood trauma, the impacts are not necessarily temporary. It can fundamentally change their brain development and other aspects of physical development.</p>
<p>One example of this: It appears that for some children who face adverse childhood experiences, the brain and body <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3968319/">changes the way it responds to future stress</a>. Many of the changes affect the prefrontal cortex, which plays a key role in the regulation of emotions. A possible consequence: Some children with unresolved traumas are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0145213415000551?via%3Dihub">not sufficiently able to understand their own or their peers’ emotions</a>. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this disconnect can lead to various <a href="https://rampages.us/innovativewellness/addictive-behaviors/">behavioral problems in schools</a>.</p>
<h2>2. Early detection can largely resolve the impacts of trauma</h2>
<p>A traumatic experience itself cannot be undone. However, adults often underestimate just how <a href="http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/resilience/according-experts/resilience-after-trauma-early-development">resilient</a> children can be in the face of even the most serious adverse childhood experiences. And when adverse experiences are detected <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14686458">early</a>, trained professionals can help sufferers resolve lingering effects of trauma through therapy before they turn into much bigger behavioral problems.</p>
<p>Efforts, then, should focus on ensuring early detection of traumatic experiences. They should also focus on fostering habits that strengthen children’s resilience. That includes getting enough sleep and exercise, opportunities for mindfulness practice, and the support of a nurturing community.</p>
<h2>3. Screenings can help educators better understand their students</h2>
<p>When teachers better understand what might lie behind violent, stubborn or erratic behavior, it can help them be <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740914000267">less punitive</a> and respond in ways that get closer to the root cause. In other words, teachers can spend more time proactively addressing the bigger potential issues rather than simply reacting to what has already happened. For example, if a teacher knows a child has been exposed to domestic violence, the teacher may have the school nurse check regularly whether the child is having any biological reactions. And school social workers and psychologists can talk to the child about whenever the student reacts negatively to something that took place in class.</p>
<h2>What’s next after universal trauma screenings?</h2>
<p>Once we’re screening for trauma across the board, educators and school systems will have no choice but to develop a language and practice around trauma-sensitive and trauma-informed education. This can only be a good thing for our schools, our children, and our society.</p>
<p>I think of trauma screenings as being similar in some ways to an X-ray: Even the most advanced machines cannot heal the bone. In order to heal the fracture, what you need is treatment that often involves resetting the bones and immobilizing it with a cast or splint. We will have to stress: What will we do with these results? How can we help our systems get to the point where they’re more than ready to handle the next step?</p>
<p>Implementing universal trauma screenings is an understandably daunting proposition. It would be highly costly and require intense logistical planning. School systems will also need to anticipate what they’ll do with the results if universal trauma screenings become a reality. The benefits of such screenings, however, far outweigh the logistical and financial costs. In my view, not implementing screenings for childhood trauma should be more worrisome than the challenges associated with the implementation. Too many modern societal problems, such as chronic disease and addictive behaviors, originate from ignorance around childhood trauma. But with a trauma screening plan like the one in California, schools could better work toward massively beneficial solutions.</p>
<p><em>This article has been corrected to show that the childhood trauma screenings in California are not set to take place in the state’s schools.</em></p>
<p>[ <em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklysmart">You can get our highlights each weekend.</a> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126486/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sunny Shin receives funding from the National Institutes of Health, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, ABMRF/The Foundation for Alcohol Research, Virginia Department of Social Services, and Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth. </span></em></p>California’s surgeon general has implemented schoolwide screenings for trauma. A social work professor explains why the rest of the nation should do the same.Sunny Shin, Associate Professor, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/952812018-05-01T10:41:54Z2018-05-01T10:41:54ZWhy top US universities have law schools but not police schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216678/original/file-20180427-135803-1js5qzf.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Police school lecture series, 1935.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of Berkley, Ca. Police Department – Historical Unit</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In response to protests calling for police reform and accountability, some U.S. police departments are partnering with colleges and universities to develop anti-bias training for their employees.</p>
<p>In Washington D.C., <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/dc-police-to-learn-black-history-as-part-of-new-training-program/2018/04/13/92920070-3f55-11e8-8d53-eba0ed2371cc_story.html">for example</a>, officers are taking a critical race theory class at the University of the District of Columbia Community College. The idea of providing liberal arts education to officers to improve police-community relations and productivity is not new.</p>
<p>As early as 1967, <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/documents/2461070-the-challenge-of-crime-in-a-free-society">a federal commission</a> charged with finding solutions to rising crime and police brutality recommended that all police “personnel with general enforcement powers have a baccalaureate degree.”</p>
<p>However, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abstract/10.1080/10511253.2014.923010#.VNUC5i5A-Ch">research</a> indicates that education has mixed results. While some evidence suggests that college-educated officers are less likely to use force, it also shows they are less satisfied with their jobs than peers with less education. </p>
<p>As a postdoctoral fellow, I have been studying police reform movements of the 1950s and ‘60s. I was surprised to learn of the long and complicated relationship between the police and academia.</p>
<p>The story of the School of Criminology at the University of California, Berkeley, in particular, reveals the challenges of developing a true “police science” – a way of improving practices within this profession by involving police in university-level research and teaching. The potential benefits of such a science are unclear, as police work has struggled to find a home in academia. </p>
<p>The following story is constructed from archival records at <a href="http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/libraries/bancroft-library">Berkeley’s Bancroft Library</a>. </p>
<h2>College cops at Berkeley</h2>
<p><a href="https://cap-press.com/books/isbn/9781611635591/August-Vollmer">August Vollmer</a> has been described by some scholars as the most influential police reformer in modern history. Vollmer served as the chief of the <a href="https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Police/Home/History_The_Earliest_Years_1905-1925.aspx">Berkeley police from 1909 to 1932</a>, where he and his protégés improved the lie detector test, developed the world’s first fingerprinting system, adopted radio communication and automobile patrol, and set up the first crime lab in the country. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216214/original/file-20180424-57584-9cfmyx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216214/original/file-20180424-57584-9cfmyx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=835&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216214/original/file-20180424-57584-9cfmyx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=835&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216214/original/file-20180424-57584-9cfmyx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=835&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216214/original/file-20180424-57584-9cfmyx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1049&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216214/original/file-20180424-57584-9cfmyx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1049&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216214/original/file-20180424-57584-9cfmyx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1049&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">August Vollmer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004673130/">Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of all Vollmer’s projects, the one dearest to his heart was the professional development of police through education. To this end, he established the world’s first police academy at Berkeley in 1908. Defying convention, he also regularly hired college students to work on his force. At the time, academic training was often <a href="https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4112&context=jclc">considered a handicap</a> to good police work because it made officers bookish. </p>
<p>Vollmer’s interest in academia was clear: He wanted to develop a team of expert police who would be sensitive to the needs of the communities they served. <a href="https://archive.org/details/augustvollmer01vollrich">In 1930</a>, he wrote: “Why should not the cream of the nation be perfectly willing to devote their lives to the cause of service providing that service is dignified, socialized and professionalized?” </p>
<p>Vollmer and his colleagues partnered with Berkeley in pursuit of this vision. In 1916, they began offering summer university courses for police officers. By 1923, they were conferring criminology degrees through the political science department. In 1950, they founded the School of Criminology – the first standalone department at Berkeley dedicated to police science. The school required future officers to take courses in traditional academic departments – sociology, history, mathematics – alongside practical training in police work – things like fingerprinting and interrogation. They could receive a Bachelor of Arts, a Bachelor of Science or Master of Criminology upon completion.</p>
<p>The school was run by police for police. <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-per-flash-owwilson-0707-20130707-story.html">O.W. Wilson</a>, the first dean of the school, was a police officer who did not have a Ph.D. At the time, it was rare, although not unprecedented, for working professionals to lead academic departments at Berkeley.</p>
<p>Students came from all over the world to study at the School of Criminology. In the Bancroft archives, I found letters from alumni as far away as the Chinese Ministry of the Interior. Vollmer’s work inspired similar programs in other states including <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10511253.2016.1186992">Indiana, Washington and Michigan</a>. It also <a href="http://www.ppic.org/publication/higher-education-in-california-californias-higher-education-system/">made the case</a> for offering police courses at the other public higher education systems in the state: the California State University and California Community Colleges.</p>
<h2>'Too occupational’</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/02/us/clark-kerr-leading-public-educator-former-head-california-s-universities-dies-92.html">Clark Kerr</a>, former president of the University of California, had major reservations about educating police at Berkeley. </p>
<p>Kerr was one of the architects of <a href="http://www.lao.ca.gov/2009/edu/master_plan_intro/master_plan_intro_111209.aspx">the Master Plan for Higher Education in California</a>, which in 1960 laid out a system of higher education in the state as it still exists today. That plan called for coordination between different types of public institutions. Occupational training programs – like those for police – would be housed at Cal State campuses and community colleges. The University of California campuses would be responsible for scholarship and providing the state’s top performing students with a liberal arts education.</p>
<p>In line with this perspective, a faculty committee reviewed the School of Criminology in 1957, and found it to be “not a proper pursuit for an undergraduate” at Berkeley.</p>
<p>They wrote: “Its aims are too ill-defined to constitute a truly intellectual discipline, its techniques too disparate and fragmentary, and its perspective too occupational.”</p>
<p>The committee recommended completely dismantling the School of Criminology. However, by then, the school had become far too important to California law enforcement to go down without a fight. </p>
<p>The Bancroft’s archives contain dozens of letters from police officers and other officials asking Berkeley administrators to stall the school’s closure. They include petitions from faculty in police training programs at Cal State campuses. Without Berkeley supplying the Cal State programs with police professors and research on policing, they feared their programs would suffer.</p>
<p>As a condition of staying at Berkeley, the school had to look more like a traditional academic department. It would have to hire Ph.D.’s from the social sciences, eliminate vocational coursework and focus on graduate education. Several former officers who were on faculty left the department for more hospitable workplaces. Dean Wilson went on to become the chief of police in Chicago and was replaced by <a href="http://texts.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb229003hz;NAAN=13030&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=div00024&toc.depth=1&toc.id=&brand=calisphere">Joseph Lohman</a>, a sociologist from the University of Chicago who also worked as Cook County Sheriff.</p>
<p>After 1960, the school became a place for sociologists to study crime. Many criminology faculty were outspoken critics of the police. In 1971, criminology professor Tony Platt was <a href="http://www.theragblog.com/tony-platt-remembering-alex-haley-and-mario-savio/">arrested by the Berkeley police</a> during a political protest. The relationship between the school and the local law enforcement it once trained was deteriorating.</p>
<p>In 1972, the school came under fire again.</p>
<p>A review committee rebuked it for its “current pursuit of academic goals in large part divorced from a professional orientation.” In other words, it had succeeded too well in distancing itself from its original mission of educating police officers. </p>
<p>This time around, few law enforcement officials came to its defense. Despite protests from student groups, Berkeley’s School of Criminology closed its doors for good in 1976.</p>
<h2>Lessons from Berkeley</h2>
<p>Berkeley’s School of Criminology was one of the most ambitious projects in police education ever undertaken in the U.S. After its demise, police professors <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED382081">came under attack</a> at other universities and in professional associations for a “lack of academic prestige or acceptance.” Under constant threat of closure, starvation or neglect, schools of police science reinvented themselves as criminal justice departments. This required expanding their focus to include the courts and corrections.</p>
<p>As other scholars <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10511253.2016.1190134">have pointed out</a>, criminal justice is a poor replacement for police science. Students who major in criminal justice do not necessarily plan to become police officers. Nor do faculty need any knowledge of or experience with the police. A <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abstract/10.1080/10511253.2014.923010#.VNUC5i5A-C">recent survey</a> of 2,109 officers in eight metropolitan police departments found that 45 percent of officers had a bachelor’s degree or higher. Only half of these majored in criminal justice.</p>
<p>Even if these programs were designed exclusively for police, their absence at major research universities is telling. The vast majority of campuses of the University of California do not offer degrees in criminal justice.</p>
<p>In 2016, California State University, Sacramento launched the <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/education/article107744802.html">Law Enforcement Candidate Scholars Program</a>, which prepares college students from all majors to become police officers through workshops on policing and internships in law enforcement agencies. It may provide valuable information on creating and sustaining police-university partnerships.</p>
<p>For now, as policymakers, educators and police departments consider various strategies for police reform – including the <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-police-officers-required-college-degree-article-1.2731129">ever-popular suggestion</a> that officers be required to have a college degree – it is important to remember the challenges of integrating this profession into the Ivory Tower. It is unclear whether college-level education is beneficial to police, what kind is most useful, how it should be delivered or by whom. </p>
<p>Precisely because major research universities have been reluctant to adopt a robust science of the police, we don’t have much evidence for what works and what doesn’t. It may be time for educators to ask themselves: What harm is our reluctance to study and educate this profession causing our society?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95281/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nidia Bañuelos does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The demise of the first academic department dedicated to policing at the University of California has left unanswered questions about the best way to educate cops.Nidia Bañuelos, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, DavisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/779192017-11-01T10:12:41Z2017-11-01T10:12:41ZAfter tax cuts derailed the ‘California dream,’ is the state getting back on track?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188673/original/file-20171003-31723-rqh9np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">While Prop 13 may have saved the California dream for some, it destroyed it for many others. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Lennox McLendon</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 1978, the year I graduated from college with a degree in economics, most voters in my state chose to turn their backs on the “California dream.” </p>
<p>Not unlike the American dream, California’s iteration focused on the limitless possibilities awaiting anyone who moved to the state. It was the state’s basic philosophic footing, a <a href="https://www.russellsage.org/publications/immigrants-and-boomers-0">social compact</a> that connected generations, geographies and economic classes in a common destiny.</p>
<p>Proposition 13, which Californians approved in a referendum in June 1978, marked a turning point away from the kind of public investment in education, infrastructure and social services – as well as a shift in an attitude that welcomed all comers – that made the California dream a reality for so many. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Prop-13-remains-controversial-after-a-quarter-of-2595918.php">highly controversial measure</a> slashed property taxes, impoverished local governments and made it very hard for the state to raise new revenues. Besides ushering in an era of underinvestment, it spread the fantasy – since gone national – that governments can cut taxes without reducing services. </p>
<p>Almost 40 years later, California <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/have-california-voters-finally-had-enough-of-prop-13/">is at a crossroads</a> and may finally be ready to begin to reverse Prop 13’s damage. As <a href="https://stateofresistancebook.com/">I explore in a forthcoming book</a>, the state is pushing against the national grain by protecting immigrants, tackling climate change and raising the minimum wage. And most significantly for the legacy of Proposition 13, more residents are coming to see how replenishing the state’s coffers is key to restoring prosperity. </p>
<h2>Pulling up the drawbridge</h2>
<p>Just days after Proposition 13 passed, I stood in front of my fellow graduates at the University of California, Santa Cruz, to give the student address. I chose to talk about the result of the vote – not because it had anything to do with my chosen field of study but because of the sharp rift with the past it represented. </p>
<p>California had invested in me, like millions of others, by funding quality public schools, a world-class university system and economic growth. Now, a majority of voters were seeking to selfishly pull up the drawbridge on future generations. So I spent my 15 minutes of fame in front of classmates, professors and parents explaining why I thought Prop 13 would shipwreck the state. </p>
<p>I wish I had been wrong – and that I’d spent more of my allotted time thanking my parents, neither of whom had finished high school and were beaming with pride because the California dream had come true for their son. Sadly, Prop 13 meant that dream would be much less likely to come true for others. </p>
<p>At its core, Proposition 13 was written as an amendment to the state’s constitution with <a href="https://www.nationalaffairs.com/public_interest/detail/on-understanding-proposition-13">three key elements</a> and affected all types of property, from residential to commercial: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>It rolled back assessed property values to their estimated market value in 1975 and limited annual increases to no more than 2 percent as long as the property wasn’t sold. With any new sale, the assessed value could climb to the actual sale price, essentially locking in the property tax for long-time homeowners and shifting the burden to newcomers. </p></li>
<li><p>It capped the property tax rate at 1 percent of the assessed value for city, county, school and other local governments, down from an <a href="https://www.nationalaffairs.com/public_interest/detail/on-understanding-proposition-13">average of 2.6 percent</a> before the measure, draining local coffers.</p></li>
<li><p>It mandated that any change in state taxes that would increase the tax take would require a two-thirds vote in the legislature (while tax cuts required only a majority vote) and that any increase in designated or special purpose taxes by local governments would require two-thirds voter approval. This effectively staightjacketed the ability of a changing electorate to raise new revenues.</p></li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188669/original/file-20171003-739-5wnt1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188669/original/file-20171003-739-5wnt1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188669/original/file-20171003-739-5wnt1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188669/original/file-20171003-739-5wnt1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188669/original/file-20171003-739-5wnt1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188669/original/file-20171003-739-5wnt1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188669/original/file-20171003-739-5wnt1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Howard Jarvis, right, joins Gov. Jerry Brown at a news conference after Proposition 13 passed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Robbins</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Prop 13 and its racial undertones</h2>
<p>One reason for Prop 13’s popularity was that the median value of a house in California rose by over <a href="http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/census/histcensushsg.html">250 percent</a> from 1970 to 1980, more than twice as fast as <a href="http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/Databank/Income/state1.xls">median household income</a> in the state. With reassessments triggering property tax hikes that outpaced family finances, the die was cast for a taxpayer rebellion.</p>
<p>But the roots of this <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/7634.html">suburban-based revolt</a> were far deeper than a fight over taxes. The forces behind it were the same ones that fought against fair housing in the 1960s and busing to promote <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520266568">school integration</a> throughout the 1970s. And they were goaded by a series of court decisions that mandated the <a href="https://heydaybooks.com/book/game-changers/">equalization of school spending</a> across districts, stirring white resentment that local property tax dollars were not being spent on “our kids.”</p>
<p>Indeed, at the same time that property rates were soaring, the <a href="https://usa.ipums.org/usa">share of youths who were minorities</a> rose from 30 percent in 1970 to 44 percent by 1980 – the largest decadal change in California’s history. And while these racial undertones were, well, undertones, the resentment of the changing demography was clear when Prop 13’s main architect, Orange County businessman <a href="https://www.hjta.org">Howard Jarvis</a>, wrote after it passed that immigrants “<a href="https://web.stanford.edu/%7Emrosenfe/Hanono_Thesis_California_Dreamin.pdf">just come over here to get on the taxpayers’ gravy train</a>.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188675/original/file-20171003-30864-11arrxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188675/original/file-20171003-30864-11arrxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188675/original/file-20171003-30864-11arrxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188675/original/file-20171003-30864-11arrxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188675/original/file-20171003-30864-11arrxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188675/original/file-20171003-30864-11arrxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188675/original/file-20171003-30864-11arrxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protesters demonstrate against California’s Proposition 187 outside the Heritage Foundation in Washington in 1994 as then-Gov. Pete Wilson speaks inside.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Joe Marquette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In essence, Proposition 13 became the first shot across the bow in a series of referendums some dubbed “<a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520266643">racial propositions</a>” that reached their apogee with <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_187,_Illegal_Aliens_Ineligible_for_Public_Benefits_(1994)">Proposition 187</a>, the famous 1994 measure that sought to cut off nearly all public services, including education, to undocumented immigrants.</p>
<p>That was followed by voter-approved measures to ban affirmative action, eliminate bilingual education and expand a prison system <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520266643">marred by racial disproportionality</a> in its sentencing and rates of incarceration. </p>
<p>That Prop 13 itself was a sort of generational warfare with overtones of race was clear in its structure. Since the assessment didn’t increase more than 2 percent unless property changed hands, incumbent homeowners (<a href="https://www.census.gov/prod/www/decennial.html">who were older and whiter</a>) wouldn’t see their tax burden change much as long as they didn’t sell. Meanwhile, <a href="http://popdynamics.usc.edu/pdf/2009_Myers_Demographics-Prop-13.pdf">new homeowners</a> (more likely to be younger, minority and eventually immigrant) would have to pay higher tax rates and thus bear a disproportionate share of the costs of local services.</p>
<p>And that wasn’t the only bias against the future. The requirement for a supermajority to pass legislation to raise taxes effectively constrained the ability of future state governments to pour in the sort of money that had built the state’s <a href="http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/171974/california-by-kevin-starr/9780812977530/">famed transportation, water and university systems</a>.</p>
<h2>The consequences</h2>
<p>The immediate damage from Prop 13, however, was masked. When local property tax revenues quickly fell by about 60 percent, the <a href="https://www.nationalaffairs.com/public_interest/detail/on-understanding-proposition-13">state government stepped in</a> to fill the gaps. </p>
<p>But over time, the damaging effects of Proposition 13 in terms of education spending and income inequality became increasingly apparent. In the 1960s, California <a href="http://www.dailybreeze.com/article/zz/20130727/NEWS/130728685">ranked among the top 10 states</a> in terms of per-pupil spending. By 2014, its ranking <a href="http://www.edweek.org/media/2016/12/29/school-finance-education-week-quality-counts-2017.pdf">had plunged to as low as 46</a>. And while California’s level of income inequality was in the middle of the pack nationally in 1969, it is now the <a href="https://stateofresistancebook.com/">fourth most unequal state in the country</a>. </p>
<p>While Proposition 13 was not the only culprit behind these trends, it didn’t help. About <a href="http://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3497">half of the total residential property tax relief</a> provided by Prop 13 went to homeowners with incomes in excess of US$120,000 a year – or about 15 percent of all households. </p>
<p>And because the property tax was no longer a growing source of revenue for local governments, cities and counties had more reason to chase sales taxes with retail development and less incentive to promote housing, helping to set in motion the <a href="http://www.ocregister.com/2017/03/29/amending-prop-13-by-raising-property-taxes-could-help-solve-housing-affordability-crisis-expert-says/">severe housing shortage that wracks the state today</a>.</p>
<p>The final irony is that Prop 13 – a measure promoted by those in favor of smaller government – <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520266568">pushed authority and decision-making to the state capitol</a>, which became the main source to bail out local municipalities.</p>
<h2>Efforts to change it</h2>
<p>So why has Proposition 13 not been overturned?</p>
<p>Its political appeal remains, particularly to older residents who vote and to businesses worried about any increase in taxes. Efforts to keep the protections for residential homeowners but allow commercial and industrial property to be assessed at market rates – a so-called “split roll” – have <a href="https://www.boe.ca.gov/meetings/pdf/3a_101911_Split_Roll.pdf">failed or stalled</a> and currently command the <a href="http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/survey/S_515MBS.pdf">thinnest possible majority in public polling</a>.</p>
<p>So while the split role remains <a href="http://makeitfairca.com/">a goal for some reformers</a>, many concerned about the effects of Prop 13 have simply tried to raise taxes elsewhere to offset the lost revenue. California voters approved a <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_30,_Sales_and_Income_Tax_Increase_(2012)">temporary “millionaire’s tax”</a> in 2012 and its <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_55,_Extension_of_the_Proposition_30_Income_Tax_Increase_(2016)">long-term extension</a> in 2016. And more than two-thirds of voting taxpayers in Los Angeles County approved sales tax hikes in 2008 and 2016 that will generate <a href="http://prospect.org/article/great-los-angeles-revolt-against-cars">$160 billion over the next 40 years</a> for transportation investments ranging from rail expansion to highway improvement to new bike paths. </p>
<p>But such tinkering does not solve the fundamental problems with Prop 13 that I’ve noted above. Addressing those will require a new set of conversations about optimal tax policy and how to address legitimate concerns such as how to protect older homeowners with a fixed income from the potential end of Prop 13. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188674/original/file-20171003-12115-3wj7tz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188674/original/file-20171003-12115-3wj7tz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188674/original/file-20171003-12115-3wj7tz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188674/original/file-20171003-12115-3wj7tz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188674/original/file-20171003-12115-3wj7tz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188674/original/file-20171003-12115-3wj7tz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188674/original/file-20171003-12115-3wj7tz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">President Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ plans follow a playbook similar to what resulted from Prop 13.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Jae C. Hong</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>California – and the country – at a crossroads</h2>
<p>Unfortunately, the same demographic shifts, economic anxieties and political polarization that spurred Prop 13 have since gone national. The president’s plan to “Make America Great Again” similarly involves slashing taxes while underinvesting in <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/05/22/529534031/president-trumps-budget-proposal-calls-for-deep-cuts-to-education">education</a> and social services – the kinds of investments that actually made America great in the 20th century.</p>
<p>California has the opportunity to show the nation how to get this right and invest in our future and our collective dreams rather than shortchange them. And a <a href="http://makeitfairca.com/endorsements/">growing number of voices</a>, including local governments, unions and political groups, are calling for reform. </p>
<p>So while the discussion about Prop 13 might seem to be about a few obscure tax rules, it is highly symbolic: At stake is the future of the state and, indeed, the nation. A day of reckoning for a measure that seems increasingly out of date may soon be upon us.</p>
<p><em>Read more about the past and future of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/california-dream-39642">California Dream</a>. This series is published in collaboration with KQED.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77919/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Manuel Pastor receives funding from the Ford Foundation, The California Endowment, the James Irvine Foundation, and the California Wellness Foundation.</span></em></p>In 1978, Californians voted to pass Proposition 13, which slashed property taxes and ushered in an era of underinvestment, ending the ‘California dream’ for many.Manuel Pastor, Professor of Sociology, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and SciencesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/444982015-07-13T10:22:19Z2015-07-13T10:22:19ZThe calamity of the disappearing school libraries<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88114/original/image-20150710-17478-ou3b84.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Lower-income students benefit the most from libraries. Yet, budget cuts are leading to a decline in their numbers.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/peskylibrary/407779909/in/photolist-C2YL6-aBpQzA-bSidyF-4DiFh-hEnJNa-6f8r52-6573FT-7tmPPK-743Sdj-bqHA8Z-3BqQCE-7tmPX4-brK835-r4ydw-cW5cXG-3ajJub-zCQEo-bmPZau-aspQch-6jtwev-8EFdiQ-9sHwcQ-743Rzb-jeP57L-8Jfwof-jeRzQG-8Dkgqa-4npQn4-8ww6qj-5zPUYo-9f4udZ-97Yski-d7224j-5qGm6e-6233yC-9sEwMc-7fj5Ft-5xbUho-7Ap9zi-g5pkZ-g5cyq-bSidtK-5Ga7Za-984jVU-bBr2E3-6YX7Ly-9fn2ya-8BF4ar-8JcsPr-8BJbtE">Pesky Librarians</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>From coast to coast, elementary and high school libraries are being neglected, defunded, repurposed, abandoned and closed. </p>
<p>The kindest thing that can be said about this is that it’s curious; the more accurate explanation is that it’s just wrong and very foolish.</p>
<p>A 2011 survey conducted with my graduate students of <a href="http://sl-it.mansfield.edu/upload/MU-LibAdvoBklt2013.pdf">25 separate statewide studies</a> shows that students who attend schools with libraries that are staffed by certified librarians score better on reading and writing tests than students in schools without library services. And it is lower-income students who benefit the most.</p>
<p>This clear empirical evidence has had little impact on budget cutters, however. They act – mistakenly – as though there is no link between libraries and educational achievement.</p>
<p>Here are the numbers and the arguments to which they need to pay attention. </p>
<h2>A dramatic decline in school libraries and librarians</h2>
<p>The number of school libraries in New York City has dropped from <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/03/18/number-of-libraries-dwindle-in-nyc-schools.html">nearly 1,500 in 2005 to around 700 in 2014.</a> </p>
<p>Over a recent five-year period, <a href="http://www.slj.com/2013/10/schools/lacking-district-vision-or-mandate-houstons-school-librarian-numbers-continue-to-shrink/">43% of school librarian positions</a> in the Houston Independent School District evaporated. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.slj.com/2015/01/legislation/oh-department-of-education-will-vote-to-purge-school-librarian-requirement/">Ohio has lost more than 700 school library positions</a> over a decade. </p>
<p>California has hemorrhaged school librarians to the point where it now has <a href="http://edsource.org/2014/school-librarians-a-rare-find-in-california-public-schools/62226#.U4ZLhXa2XFw">the worst ratio</a> – <a href="http://www.slj.com/2014/01/schools/california-school-librarians-look-to-higher-ed-during-advocacy-overhaul/#_">1-to-7,000 librarians-to-students</a> – of any state in the nation. </p>
<p>And, finally, in my own home state of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia provides a dramatic story. In 1991, there were 176 certified librarians in Philadelphia public schools. <a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20150201_Shelved.html">Today there are 10</a>. It appears that 206 out of 218 classroom buildings in the school district of Philadelphia have no librarian. Two hundred Philadelphia schools do not have a functional library book collection. A majority lack the technology to access necessary e-resources. And <a href="http://www.williampennfoundation.org/newsroom/30-million-investment-aims-improve-literacy-outcomes-48000-children-school-district">85% of these children</a> come from homes in poverty. </p>
<h2>Proven impact</h2>
<p>This is happening despite the fact that we know school libraries are highly effective. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.slj.com/2011/09/industry-news/something-to-shout-about-new-research-shows-that-more-librarians-means-higher-reading-scores/">A 2011 study</a> using data from the <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/">National Center for Education Statistics</a> revealed that “..states that gained librarians from 2004–2005 to 2008–2009 — such as New Jersey, Tennessee and Wyoming — showed significantly greater improvements in fourth grade reading scores than states that lost librarians, like Arizona, Massachusetts, and Michigan.”</p>
<p>So why, in the face of readily available evidence, are so many budget cutters targeting school libraries? </p>
<h2>A vulnerable institution</h2>
<p>One reason they cut is because they can. </p>
<p>For example, look at my state of <a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20150201_Shelved.html">Pennsylvania</a>, where schools are not required to have libraries. Prisons must have them. Barber and cosmetology schools must have them. They are <a href="http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2014/11/philadelphia-teacher-carol-heinsdorf.html">compulsory</a> in nursing programs. But in public schools they are optional. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88115/original/image-20150710-17482-loeb3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88115/original/image-20150710-17482-loeb3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88115/original/image-20150710-17482-loeb3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88115/original/image-20150710-17482-loeb3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88115/original/image-20150710-17482-loeb3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88115/original/image-20150710-17482-loeb3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88115/original/image-20150710-17482-loeb3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Why are budget cuts targeting school libraries?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/scrc/6307493694/in/photolist-aBny8h-e4T2Wr-e4T56K-e4YJrm-e4T5We-e4T5rv-bJkmUV-bvqzfN-bvqyTo-bJkmzn-e4T52g-92FmHu-j366bw-hYcuBE-bPDTKt-9SeVSB-77XDLs-92Vshx-3rLG3W-bAKeW1-5hdRNK-bPDTJp-6b6kuh-JsQda-hijUps-77XDQL-bPDTGP-btw3TK-c7aJjS-9LdX64-c7dXYY-c7dXLo-4pA3xE-5V8StD-eHZkc2-3UUACG-6fSTAK-5STK33-98VAEn-aCuS7K-dyN3BD-dyTwaY-9tLwdH-98VAxn-98YJrQ-7kw78j-8ry7Wh-8wwyyJ-7jq62r-7jq5Q8">W&M Swem Library</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Or consider the city of <a href="http://www.slj.com/2013/10/schools/lacking-district-vision-or-mandate-houstons-school-librarian-numbers-continue-to-shrink/">Houston, Texas</a>, where decisions on school staffing for certain positions, including certified librarians, are left to the discretion of school principals. It is not alone in that. </p>
<p>Also at work in the minds of budget cutters may be the hoary falsehood that the internet has made the need for libraries obsolete. </p>
<p>But those who think that the internet replaces a library must think it is okay to use WebMD instead of going to a doctor. </p>
<p>Librarians teach information literacy – how to separate the useful from the less useful, the credible from the inaccurate, and how to navigate the internet safely.</p>
<h2>Capitol Hill to the rescue?</h2>
<p>There is some hope, however, and it comes from legislation unanimously passed on July 8 by the US Senate. </p>
<p>In a bipartisan <a href="http://hottytoddy.com/2015/07/10/senate-approves-cochran-amendment-supporting-school-libraries-modernization/">amendment</a> – sponsored by Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Thad Cochran (R-MS) – to Senate Bill 1177 that reauthorizes the <a href="http://www.ed.gov/esea">Elementary and Secondary Education Act/No Child Left Behind (renaming it the ESEA)</a>, school districts would be authorized to use federal funds “…to develop and foster effective school library programs…programs with certified school librarians at their core.”</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.psla.org/">Pennsylvania School Librarians Association</a> and the Pennsylvania PTA, who have been active on this issue, lobbied both of their state’s senators aggressively. But presumably party pressure played a factor, as 100% of the senators voted unanimously for the amendment. </p>
<p>However, in the narrowly passed reauthorization of its version of ESEA (<a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2015/07/House_passes_ESEA_rewrite.html">the Student Success Act</a>), the House of Representatives included no language about school libraries or librarians. </p>
<p>When the Senate finishes its deliberations and (presumably) passes S1177, a conference committee will need to meld the House and Senate versions together. </p>
<p>Will the language supporting school libraries and librarians survive this process?</p>
<p>In his <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-state-union-address">State of the Union Address</a>, President Obama said that “In the 21st century, one of the best anti-poverty programs is a world-class education.” </p>
<p>The research is clear. School librarians are an integral part of a world-class, 21st-century education. </p>
<h2>Congress needs to step up</h2>
<p>It is time for a rethinking and redirection of federal policy in education. Former President George W Bush and President Barack Obama have <a href="http://pdk.sagepub.com/content/96/7/41.abstract">called</a> education the civil rights issue of our time. </p>
<p>However, allowing each state and each school district to decide how funds should be expended to educate students and provide library services has brought about huge inequities particularly in impoverished communities with resource-starved schools. </p>
<p>In the 1960s and 1970s, the now 50-year-old Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) pumped millions of dollars into building school library collections for school students. Since then, only a few competitive grant programs have been available from the federal level to fund any improvements to school library programs. </p>
<p>With the defunding of the <a href="http://www.ala.org/advocacy/advleg/federallegislation/eduleg/schoollibraries">Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program</a> in 2011, today there are no <a href="http://www.ala.org/advocacy/advleg/federallegislation/eduleg/schoollibraries">federal programs</a> for school library funding. Clearly, the states, taking the lead from the feds, continue to ignore the funding of school libraries.</p>
<p>Yet, until now, federal education policy and legislation have neglected to support the role of school librarians. That needs to change. We need a national agenda and our elected officials to take a stand and ensure equity of library services and certified school librarians to teach the next generation to find and apply information to solve problems, think critically, and develop innovations.</p>
<p>Until such time, we shortchange our students and our future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/44498/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Debra Kachel previously received grant funding from the Institute for Museums and Library Service to administer a Pennsylvania school library research grant project. She is affiliated with the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association, the Assn. for School Librarians, and the American Library Association.</span></em></p>The number of libraries is dropping drastically across almost all states. Will a revised No Child Left Behind law make a difference?Debra E. Kachel, Professor of School Library and Information Technologies Program, Mansfield University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/425882015-06-19T10:18:16Z2015-06-19T10:18:16Z‘Teaching artists’: creative ways to teach English to immigrant kids<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83468/original/image-20150601-15234-1j39n89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Freese Elementary first graders starting to paint a giant puppet with teaching artist Felix Diaz.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of California eScholarship Repository</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Bringing professional actors and dancers into the classroom may seem an unusual strategy for boosting the speaking skills of children who speak a language other than English at home. Yet, these creative drama and movement activities can help children struggling to improve their fluency in the English language. </p>
<p>English language learners face a <a href="http://edsource.org/2015/mexican-american-children-lag-behind-white-peers-by-age-2-study-finds/77678#.VYDxrM7u78s">daunting challenge</a> in today’s classrooms, which have an increased focus on written work. To improve their English language skills, these children need <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/10/21/08ell.h29.html">frequent opportunities</a> to engage in verbal interactions. Children who do not become proficient in reading by the end of third grade are at an <a href="http://www.aecf.org/resources/early-warning-why-reading-by-the-end-of-third-grade-matters/">increased risk</a> of dropping out of school. </p>
<p>Schools in San Diego, California, are successfully leading the way in using creative ways to teach English. </p>
<p>Educators and teaching artists have come together in San Diego schools to <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/TRTR.1192/abstract">demonstrate</a> how theatre games and creative movement activities in early grades can help children improve their English language fluency. </p>
<h2>Making it happen</h2>
<p>Having begun my career as an educator in Europe, I was attracted by the idea of an arts-rich curriculum that motivated children through imaginative engagement. </p>
<p>As the director of the Center for Learning in the Arts and Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, I approached the Visual and Performing Arts Department of the <a href="http://www.sandi.net/site/default.aspx?PageID=1">San Diego Unified School District</a> about setting up a pilot project in 15 San Diego elementary schools. </p>
<p>In 2007, our proposal was funded by the <a href="http://www.cpec.ca.gov/">California Postsecondary Education Commission. </a></p>
<p>Over a period of several months, the San Diego Visual and Performing Arts Department recruited and trained the professional actors and dancers who would serve as “teaching artists.” </p>
<p>The idea of recruiting teaching artists was to have a group of professionals trained in dance and drama, who could visit as many as five classrooms each day and encourage English learners to use language as a tool of <a href="http://sites.uci.edu/class/kindergarten/theater-kindergarten/kindergarten-theater-lesson1/">communication</a> even during the first lessons. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85600/original/image-20150618-23223-1ls7zd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85600/original/image-20150618-23223-1ls7zd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85600/original/image-20150618-23223-1ls7zd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85600/original/image-20150618-23223-1ls7zd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85600/original/image-20150618-23223-1ls7zd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85600/original/image-20150618-23223-1ls7zd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85600/original/image-20150618-23223-1ls7zd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Two teachers at Central Elementary lead a theatre warm-up.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of California eScholarship Repository</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Classroom teachers co-taught with a teaching artist for 50 minutes each week for 28 weeks (14 weeks of drama, 14 weeks of dance). Teachers practiced with their pupils on the days between visits. Videos of lessons were made available online, so that teachers could remind themselves of details. </p>
<h2>How it worked</h2>
<p>In a way, this program was not all that new. These lessons were only an enhanced version of the theatre and dance curriculum that was available to all San Diego elementary schools before testing and budget pressures caused the school district to reduce its offerings. </p>
<p>Budget cuts over the years have forced the elimination of arts activities in kindergarten to second grade in many school districts nationwide. A <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2011/2011078.pdf">study</a> by the <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/">National Center for Education Statistics</a> found that in 2009–2010, only 4% of US elementary schools offered instruction that was designated as drama or theatre; just 3% offered dance. </p>
<p>When the teaching artists arrived in San Diego classrooms, children welcomed them enthusiastically and eagerly joined in. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://sites.uci.edu/class/first-grade/theater-first-grade/grade-1-theater-lesson-1/">lessons</a> generally started with the class standing in a circle, responding through words and physical movements to directions given by the teaching artist. Instead of memorizing vocabulary and studying grammar, children learned through active participation. </p>
<p>And English learners who were unsure of the meaning of verbal instructions could check their understanding by watching the teaching artist and other students. </p>
<p><a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/rrq.90/abstract">Rigorous evaluation</a> has shown that the program has helped children, especially those with the most limited English speaking skills.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85601/original/image-20150618-23246-1yikqjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85601/original/image-20150618-23246-1yikqjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85601/original/image-20150618-23246-1yikqjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85601/original/image-20150618-23246-1yikqjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85601/original/image-20150618-23246-1yikqjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85601/original/image-20150618-23246-1yikqjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85601/original/image-20150618-23246-1yikqjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kindergartners at Balboa Elementary practice a dance activity with their teacher.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of California eScholarship Repository</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Teacher interviews affirmed that the vocabulary and communication skills of all children were enhanced by the teaching artist visits. </p>
<p>The most striking improvement was in the speaking skills of the English learners. </p>
<h2>Limited learning in classrooms</h2>
<p>Today’s classrooms face many challenges.</p>
<p>Nearly <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=96">10% of the student</a> population in the US now comes from non-English speaking homes. In California, children whose home language is not English <a href="http://edsource.org/wp-content/publications/ELStats0308.pdf">make up over 20%</a> of the public school enrollment.</p>
<p>The passage of [Proposition 227](http://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_227,<em>the</em>%22English_in_Public_Schools%22_Initiative_(1998) in 1998 has made the situation particularly challenging for non-English speaking children. Proposition 227 requires California public schools to teach even limited English-proficient students in classes that are taught nearly all in English. </p>
<p>In today’s classrooms, children’s learning is limited by several factors.</p>
<p>Contemporary kindergarten classrooms <a href="http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/what-happened-kindergarten">resemble</a> the first grade classes of a generation ago. First graders are tackling assignments that were formerly taught in second grade. </p>
<p>Moreover, the demands of a highly structured curriculum and rising class sizes leave limited opportunities for rich verbal interactions between the teacher and the pupil. Chances for <a href="https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3tg4k5xx">individualized feedback</a> are also often limited. </p>
<p>This is reflected in the <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml">No Child Left Behind (NCLB)</a> data: only 11 of the 50 states are meeting adequate yearly progress targets for limited English-proficient students under NCLB. At the same time, the number of school-age kids who speak English as a second language is continuing to grow. </p>
<h2>What English learners need</h2>
<p>Unfortunately, preparation programs for elementary teachers currently dedicate little time to methods for teaching oral language skills. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.bilingualeducation.org/pdfs/PROP2272.pdf">Research</a> has demonstrated that oral language proficiency in the primary grades is critical to the literacy development of children in general, but especially of English learners.</p>
<p>Drama and dance activities in which nonverbal communication is utilized in combination with verbal interactions can offer an effective substitute for one-on-one interactions with the classroom teacher. </p>
<p>Given that the weekly teaching artist visits constitute a relatively low-cost intervention, such programs may provide a means of affordably addressing an urgent problem.</p>
<p>The San Diego project did not just help English learners; it provided [benefits](https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8573z1fm#page-1](https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8573z1fm#page-1 ) for English-speaking students as well through increased engagement, attendance and exposure to the arts.</p>
<p>But clearly, the need is greater for English learners, for whom the arts can provide a bridge to understanding the language of the classroom. </p>
<p><em>Next: How should kids learn English: through Old MacDonald’s farm or Ali Baba’s farm?</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42588/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liane Brouillette received funding for this research from the California Department of Education and the United States Department of Education.</span></em></p>Want kids to improve fluency in English language? Try dance and drama as teaching tools.Liane Brouillette, Associate Professor of Education, University of California, IrvineLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.