S T O P B E A T I N G A R O U N D T H E B U S H . . .
Presented by Anthony Outler, PhD
A N D G E T T O
T H E R O O T
Deodorized Discourse
“…masquerades as courtesy, but is truly motivated
by the selfish desire to remain comfortable”
“Our future is ripe, outrageously rich in its
possibilities, yet unleashing the glory of that
future will require difficult labor, and some
may be so frightened of its birth they will
refuse to abandon their NOSTALGIA FOR
THE WOMB.” – Toni Morrison
www.epicempowerment.com
Black students are more likely to be held
back, despite mounting research showing that
holding back children doesn’t benefit them socially or
academically 
Nearly half of the nation’s African American students
attend high schools in which graduation is not the
norm, compared to 11 percent of white students. 
Black preschool students are suspended at a higher
rate than White preschool students
Black students entering kindergarten for the first
time score lower than their White counterparts in
reading, mathematics, science, cognitive flexibility
and approaches to learning — every category tested. 
88 percent of African American eighth graders read
below grade level, compared to 62 percent of white
eighth graders.
 The twelfth-grade reading scores of African
American males were significantly lower than those
for men and women across every other racial and
ethnic group.
HOW DID
OUR
SOCIETY
GET TO BE
THIS WAY?
(The Root)
One in four blacks, one in four Native Americans and
one in five Hispanics are classified as poor. By
contrast, only 1 in 10 whites and 1 in 10 Asians are
poor.
 The employment rate for African American men has
been 11 to 15 percentage points lower than that for
whites in every month since January 2000.
 Blacks are two to three times more likely than
whites to suffer from hypertension and diabetes,
leading in turn to higher rates of cardiovascular
disease.
Less than half of black families (41 percent) and
Hispanic families (45 percent) live in owner-occupied
housing, as of 2014. For white families, that figure is
71 percent.
HOW DID
OUR
SOCIETY
GET TO BE
THIS WAY?
(The Root)
84% of Black elementary school
students in Pinellas County are
failing state exams
Ninety-five percent of black
students tested at the schools are
failing reading or math, making
the black neighborhoods in
southern Pinellas County the
most concentrated site of
academic failure in all of Florida.
HOW DID
OUR
SOCIETY
GET TO BE
THIS WAY?
(The Root)
Purpose
Historical Literacy
1619-First enslaved Africans brought to the
U.S.
Attack on the psyche of Black people
1865 – 13th Amendment Ratified
1964-Civil Rights Act Passed
> 246 years of enslavement
101 years of limited rights 
55 years of equality?
In Blinded by Sight, Obasogie argues that rather
than being visually obvious, both blind and sighted
people are socialized to see race in particular ways,
even to a point where blind people "see" race. So
what does this mean for how we live and the laws
that govern our society? Obasogie delves into
these questions and uncovers how color blindness
in law, public policy, and culture will not lead us to
any imagined racial utopia.
--Stanford University Press
Ideaology
Narratives
Design
Actions
Outcomes
Source: Dr. Ruha Benjamin, “Schools as Laboratories for Social Change”
Deficit Perspective
Deficit thinking refers to the notion that students (particularly low income, minority students)
fail in school because such students and their families experience deficiencies that obstruct the
learning process (e.g. limited intelligence, lack of motivation and inadequate home socialization).
THERE’S
NOTHING
INHERENTLY
WRONG
WITH 
BLACK
PEOPLE.
Scripted
Curriculum
Achievement
Gap
Data-driven
instruction
Racism
Classism Sexism
Materialism
Culture and
Climate
Increase Rigor
Teach the
Standards
School
Uniforms
1. Re-visit the Purpose of U.S. Education
“ED’s mission is to promote student achievement and
preparation for global competitiveness by fostering
educational excellence and ensuring equal access.” 
(https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/mission/mission.ht
ml)
…preparation for global competitiveness…
Noun 
“possession of a strong desire to be more successful
than others.”
(Re)Purpose Education
“To provide students with the skills and knowledge
necessary for them to expand their capacities both to
question deep-seated assumptions and myths that
legitimate the most archaic and disempowering social
practices that structure every aspect of society and to
then take responsibility for intervening in the world
they inhabit.”
(Re)Purpose Education
“To make sure that the future points the way to a
more socially just world, a world in which the
discourses of critique and possibility in conjunction with
the values of reason, freedom and equality function to
alter, as part of a broader democratic project, the
grounds upon which life is lived.”
“We have guided missiles and misguided men”--MLK
“We have guided missiles and misguided men”--MLK
Misguided Children Misguided (Wo)men
“If your classroom library is diverse, but your life
isn’t, you’re missing the point.”
2. Teacher Preparation
“Often, educators…speak and are not understood
because their language is not attuned to the
concrete situation of the people they address.” –
Paulo Freire
HOMEWORK:
3. Curriculum
Social and Emotional Learning
Culturally responsive teaching
Social literacy
Tools, capacities, habits of mind that help us read reality;
view patterns in society
Historical literacy
Project and inquiry based learning
Service Learning
Engagement in community projects, internships, digital
simulations
“True compassion is
more than flinging a
coin to a beggar; it
comes to see that an
edifice which produces
beggars needs
restructuring”--MLK
Scripted
Curriculum
Achievement
Gap
Data-driven
instruction
Racism
Classism Sexism
Materialism
Culture and
Climate
Increase Rigor
Teach the
Standards
School
Uniforms
New Design = Education for Transformation
“If we want different learning and life outcomes for students, we
have to DESIGN for them.” 
McLeod & Shareski, “Different Schools for a Different World”
S O S T O P B E A T I N G A R O U N D T H E B U S H . . .
A N D G E T T O
T H E R O O T !
F O L L O W M E O N I G :
@ T H E U N S C H O O L E R
T H A N K
Y O U .

The Root

  • 1.
    S T OP B E A T I N G A R O U N D T H E B U S H . . . Presented by Anthony Outler, PhD A N D G E T T O T H E R O O T
  • 4.
    Deodorized Discourse “…masquerades ascourtesy, but is truly motivated by the selfish desire to remain comfortable”
  • 5.
    “Our future isripe, outrageously rich in its possibilities, yet unleashing the glory of that future will require difficult labor, and some may be so frightened of its birth they will refuse to abandon their NOSTALGIA FOR THE WOMB.” – Toni Morrison www.epicempowerment.com
  • 6.
    Black students aremore likely to be held back, despite mounting research showing that holding back children doesn’t benefit them socially or academically  Nearly half of the nation’s African American students attend high schools in which graduation is not the norm, compared to 11 percent of white students.  Black preschool students are suspended at a higher rate than White preschool students Black students entering kindergarten for the first time score lower than their White counterparts in reading, mathematics, science, cognitive flexibility and approaches to learning — every category tested.  88 percent of African American eighth graders read below grade level, compared to 62 percent of white eighth graders.  The twelfth-grade reading scores of African American males were significantly lower than those for men and women across every other racial and ethnic group. HOW DID OUR SOCIETY GET TO BE THIS WAY? (The Root)
  • 7.
    One in fourblacks, one in four Native Americans and one in five Hispanics are classified as poor. By contrast, only 1 in 10 whites and 1 in 10 Asians are poor.  The employment rate for African American men has been 11 to 15 percentage points lower than that for whites in every month since January 2000.  Blacks are two to three times more likely than whites to suffer from hypertension and diabetes, leading in turn to higher rates of cardiovascular disease. Less than half of black families (41 percent) and Hispanic families (45 percent) live in owner-occupied housing, as of 2014. For white families, that figure is 71 percent. HOW DID OUR SOCIETY GET TO BE THIS WAY? (The Root)
  • 8.
    84% of Blackelementary school students in Pinellas County are failing state exams Ninety-five percent of black students tested at the schools are failing reading or math, making the black neighborhoods in southern Pinellas County the most concentrated site of academic failure in all of Florida. HOW DID OUR SOCIETY GET TO BE THIS WAY? (The Root)
  • 9.
  • 10.
    Historical Literacy 1619-First enslavedAfricans brought to the U.S. Attack on the psyche of Black people 1865 – 13th Amendment Ratified 1964-Civil Rights Act Passed > 246 years of enslavement 101 years of limited rights  55 years of equality?
  • 14.
    In Blinded by Sight,Obasogie argues that rather than being visually obvious, both blind and sighted people are socialized to see race in particular ways, even to a point where blind people "see" race. So what does this mean for how we live and the laws that govern our society? Obasogie delves into these questions and uncovers how color blindness in law, public policy, and culture will not lead us to any imagined racial utopia. --Stanford University Press
  • 15.
  • 16.
    Source: Dr. RuhaBenjamin, “Schools as Laboratories for Social Change”
  • 17.
    Deficit Perspective Deficit thinking refersto the notion that students (particularly low income, minority students) fail in school because such students and their families experience deficiencies that obstruct the learning process (e.g. limited intelligence, lack of motivation and inadequate home socialization).
  • 18.
  • 19.
  • 20.
    1. Re-visit thePurpose of U.S. Education “ED’s mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.”  (https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/mission/mission.ht ml)
  • 21.
    …preparation for globalcompetitiveness… Noun  “possession of a strong desire to be more successful than others.”
  • 23.
    (Re)Purpose Education “To providestudents with the skills and knowledge necessary for them to expand their capacities both to question deep-seated assumptions and myths that legitimate the most archaic and disempowering social practices that structure every aspect of society and to then take responsibility for intervening in the world they inhabit.”
  • 24.
    (Re)Purpose Education “To makesure that the future points the way to a more socially just world, a world in which the discourses of critique and possibility in conjunction with the values of reason, freedom and equality function to alter, as part of a broader democratic project, the grounds upon which life is lived.”
  • 25.
    “We have guidedmissiles and misguided men”--MLK
  • 26.
    “We have guidedmissiles and misguided men”--MLK
  • 27.
  • 29.
    “If your classroomlibrary is diverse, but your life isn’t, you’re missing the point.” 2. Teacher Preparation
  • 30.
    “Often, educators…speak andare not understood because their language is not attuned to the concrete situation of the people they address.” – Paulo Freire
  • 31.
  • 32.
    3. Curriculum Social andEmotional Learning Culturally responsive teaching Social literacy Tools, capacities, habits of mind that help us read reality; view patterns in society Historical literacy Project and inquiry based learning Service Learning Engagement in community projects, internships, digital simulations
  • 33.
    “True compassion is morethan flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring”--MLK
  • 34.
  • 35.
    New Design =Education for Transformation “If we want different learning and life outcomes for students, we have to DESIGN for them.”  McLeod & Shareski, “Different Schools for a Different World”
  • 36.
    S O ST O P B E A T I N G A R O U N D T H E B U S H . . . A N D G E T T O T H E R O O T ! F O L L O W M E O N I G : @ T H E U N S C H O O L E R T H A N K Y O U .