Kaya Henderson

Has education reform gone wrong? What problems are American educators actually trying to solve? Should our focus be on securing our economic future, or on securing the future of our nation’s children? In this Vision Talk, Chancellor of DC Public Schools Kaya Henderson spells out her vision for education and our young people.

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Partial transcript:

My name is Kaya Henderson and I am chancellor of DC Public Schools. But before I was chancellor of DC Public Schools, I am mom to Marcus, who is 9, and Robert Jr., who is 18. But before I was mom to them, I was Kaya Henderson, a little girl who got a great public education and is living the American dream.

Yeah, I got a great house, drive my own car. I have a good job. I don’t borrow money from my parents every month to pay my bills. (Inaudible) – exactly what a good public education is supposed to do for you. In fact, my family started out in the projects of Mount Vernon, New York. My family lived in the projects for 47 years. And we moved solidly out of the lower income rung into the middle class. My mother was the first person in our family to go to a college, the first person in our family to buy a home, and the first person in our family to propel the second generation, me, to the kind of middle class existence that I think every parent hopes for their kid in America. I am living the American dream.

And so my vision for education is totally fueled by my individual experience, by my experience as Kaya the mom and then as my experience as Kaya Henderson, chancellor of DC Public Schools. What’s my vision? My vision is that the same public educational system that was able to do it for my mother, that was able to do it for me and to propel me to one of the best universities in this country, Georgetown University – (inaudible) – and that I have that count on that education system to do it for Marcus and to do it for Robert. And if it can do it for my mom and for me and for Marcus and for Robert, then it can do it for every kid in Washington, DC, public schools. That’s my vision.

My vision is not one where my children only know how to read and do math. My vision is one where my children and every child in the city of Washington actually know how to read and do math. They can master science and social studies. They have technological facility. They can speak a foreign language, at least one, right? They can master an instrument. They play a sport. And they might do a few other things that I haven’t thought about because that’s what a great public education provides.

My vision for education is that we can do that for every single one of our young people, whether they come from a middle class background or whether they come from an impoverished background. My vision for education is we can do whether they are general education students or whether they come to us with special needs. My vision for education is that we can accomplish that, whether they speak English as their first language or English as their second or third language.

Somehow or another, I think we’ve gotten away from the belief that we can do that for every student in Washington, DC, and in America. In fact, I think education reform, whatever that means, has gone wrong. We don’t know what problem we’re actually trying to solve. We’re trying to increase test scores or we’re trying to outcompete the Finns or we’re trying to make sure – to secure our economic future. But Kaya the mom doesn’t really care about our economic future. Kaya the mom cares about whether or not Robert and Marcus are going to come home after college and live with me. (Laughter.) Kaya the mom wants to know that when they leave DCPS, they are leaving 41-1013 place, too, permanently. (Laughter.) Kaya the mom wants to know that when my children leave, they can be and do anything that they want to do.

I don’t know what my children’s test scores are. I don’t care. What do people say when their children don’t score well on tests? Oh, my kids just don’t test well. Do we think they’re not smart? No. So why are we putting all of our emphasis around tests? In fact, we care about way more than tests. We care about whether they can do a number of things. And in fact, we are getting this all wrong because we’re concentrating on the wrong things.

Has education reform gone wrong?