Expanding minds: Evanston officials hope African-centered program will help raise test scores.

Without any test scores or longitudinal studies, an African-centered pilot program in one Evanston school is making believers out of many parents, teachers and administrators who say the impact is visible in students, parents and teachers who seem "enthusiastically engaged," said Hardy Murphy, superintendent of Evanston-Skokie Community Consolidated School District 65.

"Their minds have been expanded," said Q.T. Carter, principal at Oakton Elementary School, where the program began in August. "They have more confidence."

The program includes 49 students from kindergarten through 2nd grade. A 3rd-grade classroom will be added in the fall, officials said.

"I have seen growth in my students both academically and socially since the beginning of the school year," said 1st-grade teacher Claudia Braithwaite. "They come into my classroom focused and ready for instruction."

The pilot program is the third proposal considered in recent years aimed at improving the achievement of black students in the school district.

In 2003, the school board rejected a proposal to reopen the former Foster School in predominantly black, west-central Evanston. Activists said black students in the area were hurt academically because they were bused to schools in other neighborhoods.

In 2004, the board adopted a proposal to hold 20 percent of the open slots at one of the district's two magnet schools for students from two west-central Evanston neighborhoods. And last year, in a contentious meeting, the school board approved the African-centered pilot for Oakton, rejected its use at another school, and tabled a last-minute proposal to establish a pilot at a "non-school site" that provoked many in attendance to leave in protest.

Critics are concerned that the program works counter to the school district's commitment to racial and ethnic integration and express skepticism about the benefits since there is little research firmly establishing the impact of African-centered education.

Unlike two Chicago schools using African-centered curricula, Oakton is a racially mixed school that strives to adhere to the school district's "60-percent guideline," which stipulates that no single racial or ethnic group should comprise more than 60 percent of the students at any school. Most students in the pilot program are black. A few students are biracial; mixed with black and another race, school officials said.

Former school board member Jonathan Baum opposed the pilot as contradictory to the district's mission, which focuses on a "quality integrated education." The mission "talks about preparing children for a multicultural world," said Baum. "Multicultural means multicultural, not Euro-centric, not Afro-centric, not Asian-centric."

Supporters cringe at the description of the program as segregated, noting that art, gym, recess, music and library are shared with other classes and that the program is open to anyone who wants to enroll. "Segregation may be more of an adult concern than a child concern," said superintendent Murphy.

African-centered advocates also point out that the 60-percent guideline is a school-wide goal and that similar complaints aren't made about racially segregated classrooms for special education or advanced-level courses.

"Nobody squawks about the group of white children who go to [Evanston Township High School] every day for geometry," said Pat Gregory, a physical education teacher at Oakton. "Nobody calls [special education] a segregated classroom, and yet it's full of black boys," added Terri Shepard, an advocate for African-centered education in Evanston since her daughter, now a young adult, was in grade school.

In the end, supporters hope the pilot program's worth will be realized in helping black students achieve, especially since black students trail their white counterparts in math and reading scores at every grade level in the district.

According to results from the 2006 Illinois Standards Achievement Test, nearly 96 percent of white 3rd-graders in District 65 met state standards in reading compared with about 65 percent of their black peers. In math, about 99 percent of white 3rd-graders met standards compared with about 81 percent of black 3rd-graders. The numbers are similar for 4th- and 5th-graders, as well.

In particular, black students at Oakton have struggled. Among 3rd-graders in 2006, just about 41 percent met standards in reading and nearly 66 percent in math.

Students learning in African-centered classrooms at two Chicago public schools fared better, particularly in reading scores. For example, at the Betty Shabazz International Charter elementary school, 69 percent of 3rd-graders met standards in reading with nearly 83 percent doing the same in math. Test scores at those two schools were part of the motivation for proposing the pilot program in Evanston.

"We firmly believe what we're going to see is academic improvement," Murphy said.

Results from this year's test won't be known for another year, but district officials said there will be other positive results not easily measured by test scores.

Jackie Muhammad recalls a "priceless" moment when her daughter, Amirah, a 1st-grader, recognized Madam C.J. Walker among a display of noted entrepreneurs during a trip to Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. Amirah remembered Walker--generally acknowledged to be the first black female millionaire in the U.S.--from a display in the halls at Oakton.

"If she had been at another school, it would not have meant anything to her," said Muhammad. "The purpose is to root them and help them understand that it's more than just music, and basketball and sports. African Americans did great things. You, too, can achieve great things."

Like the two Chicago schools using African-centered curricula, students in Oakton's three African-centered classrooms begin their day with a morning ritual that affirms the principles of Ma'at. The students recite a self-affirming creed about their high capabilities and ambitions. It begins with "I have faith in myself" and ends with "I believe. I will achieve. I will succeed. I am the one who is talking" The students also sing the black national anthem, "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing."

"We learn a new principle every two months. The children apply these principals to their everyday routines," said kindergarten teacher Neidra Berry. "We encourage each student to help each other and love each other."

Hanging on classroom walls are pictures of prominent African Americans, and hanging in the hallways are essays the students have written about what they want to be when they grow up--doctors, lawyers, designers, police officers, and an aspiring beauty queen who also wants to be a doctor. Inside the classrooms, students learn about the contributions of Africans and African Americans, from ancient times through the present, in fields like mathematics, medicine, engineering and architecture.

Murphy says the African-centered curriculum is built upon state standards and the district's content, which has included some multi-cultural aspects. The school board voted unanimously to boost the multi-cultural content district-wide and better train all teachers to infuse it into their classrooms. "Do you have to push other things aside to make sure [the African-centered] perspective is included?" he says. "I'm not sure that you do."

Jerome Summers, the school board's only black member when the pilot was approved, called the program "a step in the right direction" but not enough.

"When I see that 90-plus percent of white children are succeeding, and over 50 percent of black and Latino children are not meeting grade-level expectations, there's something terribly wrong that must be corrected," Summers said, referring to test scores prior to 2006. "We should be the lighthouse district. This is Evanston, Illinois. Children should not fail here."

Contributing: Natalie Y. Moore

RELATED ARTICLE: Supreme Court could threaten Evanston's racial balance policy.

For two decades, Evanston public schools have maintained a racial and ethnic balance by making sure no one racial or ethnic group is more than 60 percent of a school's total population.

But an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court decision may threaten that practice.

Already the court has heard oral arguments on behalf of Parents Involved in Community Schools, a non-profit group that is challenging a racial balancing policy in Seattle. The group doesn't want the Seattle school district to deny children admission to their high school preference solely because of their race. The Supreme Court is considering another case involving a similar policy for the school district in Jefferson County, Ky.

If the justices rule that the racial balancing policies in Seattle or Jefferson County are unconstitutional, this may affect magnet school selection and the student assignment process in the Evanston/Skokie Community Consolidated School District 65, said Superintendent Hardy Murphy. Officials don't know what the next step would be in that scenario.

"I'm awaiting the Supreme Court decision just like everyone else to see where we are heading next," said Murphy. "I think everyone would have to admit that integration has benefited our country and our community in a number of significant ways, and I think it's a very important question for [the U.S. Supreme Court] to decide."

In the spirit of the Supreme Court's landmark 1954 decision in the Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka case, which outlawed segregated schools, urban public school districts have used racial balancing policies to prevent segregation.

But some critics think these policies have gone too far.

In Evanston, a desegregation plan was put in place in 1967. But the schools were predominately white, and by 1979 declining enrollment caused schools to close, including a predominantly black elementary school.

During the mid-1980s, the district came up with the 60-percent guideline. Race is also among the selection criteria for students attending magnet schools and for those receiving permissive transfers within the district.

Murphy said racial balance is important because schools can be a model for transforming the larger community into what it should be.

"It's important just in this whole spirit of embracing diversity as a way of life and helping students to understand each other and hopefully then develop a sense of community where people of all backgrounds, races, creeds and colors can live together in the spirit of harmony," Murphy said.

--Natalie Y. Moore