Tell a truth long enough, until it sets in!

 

RACISM 101
Under no circumstances whatsoever can commercial curriculums, high-stakes testing or "For Profit Ed Reformers" ever fix a moral wrong!

Tell a truth long enough, and it may just set in.
Spread the word, Dr. Turner knows why they call our public schools the: The School to Prison Pipeline.

Children, teachers and parents are not responsible.

The system spends $23 billion more each year on White Schools, than the schools in predominantly Black and Brown Communities.

Say this truth loud. Say it often. Call it out.

Spread the word until it is undone.

"Nationally, predominantly white school districts get $23 billion more than their nonwhite peers, despite serving a similar number of children. White school districts average revenue receipts of almost $14,000 per student, but nonwhite districts receive only $11,682." Simple Google AI Search Quote

Don't blame teachers, parents, children, or poor schools of color.

Read the source: Link https://edsource.org/2020/budget-deferrals-today-could-force-schools-into-a-23-billion-hole-next-year/636749

Telling The Truth ~ Until It Is Made Right.

Dr. Jesse P. Turner
Professor Emeritus of Literacy, Elementary, Early Childhood Education
WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven Readman: Truth to Power Host If you like to listen to the tune that inspires my walk this morning...

it's Jimmy Cliff "Many Rivers To Cross" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzS-Jis7kfA

"School Choice" ~ without equity ~ is just a cover for inequality in our public schools!

Dr. Robert Cotto from Trinity College talking "School Choice" with Dr. Jesse P. Turner Literacy Professor Emeritus, and Readman: Truth to Power Hour host on 103.5 FM New Haven on Friday 6/6/25. 

Dr. Cotto and I see school choice as smoke and mirrors for the status quo of inequality here in Connecticut, and around the nation.  This supposedly "School Choice" gives cover to legislative leaders for inequality in our schools. It leads to massive declines in the local public school population.  It takes away much needed funding from community public schools.  School choice has not desegregated our schools.  It has actually increased racial isolation for Black and Brown children. 

Take a quick look at the desegregation failure of School Choice programs.  Here is a link to UCONN https://today.uconn.edu/2022/06/understanding-segregation-and-school-choice/# 

Listen to Dr. Cotto an I as we discuss School Choice today on air,  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO7GAi3AAzQ  Be informed. 


Listening to this song that inspires me today, Joe Bataans "Poor Boy" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIB2av7TvN4&list=PLJLAdjFrCeXq_MwhyveDIJPyfyv7D69Nn&index=4

The new Attack on Public Schools in Communities of color

 

Just saying if they really cared

"More than 50 years of research across more than 60 studies show that students with access to well-resourced school libraries with certified librarians consistently perform better academically and score higher on standardized assessments.2 While underserved students see even bigger gains from robust library services, they are less likely to have access to these resources. Meanwhile, information literacy is becoming increasingly important in an age of misinformation and disinformation. Yet since 2000, there has been a nearly 20 percent drop in school librarian positions, which translates to 10,000 fewer full-time school librarians across the country.3 While more than 90 percent of schools in the United States have school libraries, only about 60 percent have full-time librarians, according to a 2019 report from the American Library Association (ALA). Read on to see the trend of closing school libraries and the damage being done. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/investing-in-school-libraries-and-librarians-to-improve-literacy-outcomes/

Moving beyond the endless same old same old, the test scores are falling 

Rather than talking about the low scores of Black children, we should talking about the decline in funding for school libraries in Black and Brown communities. One of the most harmful trends in America’s public schools in poor communities of color is cutting librarians and media specialist in these schools. Not to mention the total defunding of libraries in poor communities.

If your aim is to ban books, nothing bands truth like closing libraries.

Trust me Connecticut is not immune from this trend.

So, before you start talking low scores, let talk underfunding the very places that provide access to large selections of book to Black and Brown families.

Expect a 103.5 FM New Haven Readman: Truth to Power show in August on this issue.

6 decades of research point to the libraries and access to books as one of the best ways to improve test scores.

Tell it on every street corner,

whisper it in every alley,

Shout it at every school board meeting,

Tell it on every mountain,

Leadership that defunds and closes school libraries in poor communities does not care about all children.

I will not be silent,

Dr. Jesse P. Turner

Professor Emeritus of Literacy, Elementary, and Early Childhood,

Host of The 103.5 FM New Haven Readman: Truth to Power Hour



The song the inspired my morning walk today is Public Enemy "Don't Believe the Hype" https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=jfxvYcen4KI