Stanley Brown says Hopkins a 'courageous' district that asks tough questions on race and culture

BY Marc Ingber - Sun Newspapers

Growing up and attending school in Harlem, Stanley Brown says he was always reminded of how the world should be a place where everyone was afforded the same opportunity to succeed.

"The teachers I had were very much centered around equity and justice for all people," he said. "Their students were always reminded of what equity is not only in the classroom, but in the world."

Brown has been carrying that message with him throughout his teaching career for the last 30 years and will now bring it to Hopkins, where he has been hired as the district's equity coordinator.

Brown moved to Minnesota in 1983 and has been a teacher at the West Metro Education Program's Interdistrict Downtown School in Minneapolis the last nine years. Hopkins Public Schools is a partner in WMEP, a consortium of 11 urban and suburban school districts designed to cooperatively address integration issues in the west metro.

Brown is familiar with Hopkins Public Schools through his work at WMEP.

"I was impressed that Hopkins was a suburban school that walked the talk with equity and inclusion," he said. "It has always been a courageous school that looks at race and culture and asks the hard questions."

As equity coordinator, Brown hopes to continue the conversation about race and culture.

"If we don't understand how race impacts learning, we don't move very far," he said.

The conversation will lead into more difficult questions of how it can continue to hold students to high expectations, he said.

Each school in the district has an equity leadership team made up of teachers and principals that are designed to address the achievement gap between white students and students of color. Brown said it was important for these teams to brainstorm with district administration on methods toward eliminating the gap.

Hopkins, like many districts in the metro, continues to struggle with an achievement gap. Earlier this year, the state released the results of the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments Series II (MCA-II), which measures student proficiency in reading and math.

Eighty-seven percent of Hopkins students in the White subgroup scored proficiently on reading, compared to 84 percent for American Indian, 67 percent for Asian, 45 percent for Hispanic and 52 percent for Black.

In math, 78 percent in the White subgroup scored proficient, compared to 50 percent for American Indian, 70 percent for Asian, 34 percent for Hispanic and 38 percent for Black.

Brown said he would like to see less of an achievement gap on the MCA-IIs. However, an unfortunate by-product of the exams, he said - which are administered under the federal No Child Left Behind Act - was that teachers had to spend a significant amount of time in preparing students for the test.

"I don't want us to teach to the test in terms of losing the creativity many teachers have," he said.

One of the greatest ways of improving learning, Brown said, is creating strong student-teacher relationships. Though any teacher is able to form a strong relationship with any student, he said, it often helps if students of color have teachers of color to look towards as role models.

"It's important students see someone standing in front of them that looks like them," he said.

One of his goals as equity coordinator will be to increase the hiring and retention of teachers of color.

The diversity of Hopkins' staff was discussed at the Sept. 18 School Board meeting. Assistant Superintendent Nik Lightfoot said about 10 percent of district staff were teachers of color. He said district administration would like that number to mirror the percentage of students of color - about 35 percent - but it's often a systemic issue because fewer minorities go into education careers.

"It's an incredible dilemma," Lightfoot said. "We're beginning from a limited pool at the start. We try to do as much recruiting as we can."

Brown agreed with his assessment. "It is not only a Hopkins question," he said. "It is a national one."

He said one area the district has been strong in is providing its students with a "multi-cultural and anti-racist" curriculum.

"I'm excited to be here," Brown said. "I have followed Hopkins for years and it has been in the forefront of diverse and multicultural education."

This article was first published Sept. 25 on our website, www.mnsun.com. Visit the site for your daily local news, including next-day city council and school board coverage.

Hopkins, like many districts in the metro, continues to struggle with an achievement gap. Earlier this year, the state released the results of the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments Series II (MCA-II), which measures student proficiency in reading and math.

Eighty-seven percent of Hopkins students in the White subgroup scored proficiently on reading, compared to 84 percent for American Indian, 67 percent for Asian, 45 percent for Hispanic and 52 percent for Black.

In math, 78 percent in the White subgroup scored proficient, compared to 50 percent for American Indian, 70 percent for Asian, 34 percent for Hispanic and 38 percent for Black.

Brown said he would like to see less of an achievement gap on the MCA-IIs. However, an unfortunate by-product of the exams, he said - which are administered under the federal No Child Left Behind Act - was that teachers had to spend a significant amount of time in preparing students for the test.

"I don't want us to teach to the test in terms of losing the creativity many teachers have," he said.

One of the greatest ways of improving learning, Brown said, is creating strong student-teacher relationships. Though any teacher is able to form a strong relationship with any student, he said, it often helps if students of color have teachers of color to look towards as role models.

"It's important students see someone standing in front of them that looks like them," he said.

One of his goals as equity coordinator will be to increase the hiring and retention of teachers of color.

The diversity of Hopkins' staff was discussed at the Sept. 18 School Board meeting. Assistant Superintendent Nik Lightfoot said about 10 percent of district staff were teachers of color. He said district administration would like that number to mirror the percentage of students of color - about 35 percent - but it's often a systemic issue because fewer minorities go into education careers.

"It's an incredible dilemma," Lightfoot said. "We're beginning from a limited pool at the start. We try to do as much recruiting as we can."

Brown agreed with his assessment. "It is not only a Hopkins question," he said. "It is a national one."

He said one area the district has been strong in is providing its students with a "multi-cultural and anti-racist" curriculum.

"I'm excited to be here," Brown said. "I have followed Hopkins for years and it has been in the forefront of diverse and multicultural education."

This article was first published Sept. 25 on our website, www.mnsun.com. Visit the site for your daily local news, including next-day city council and school board coverage.