Journal of a Black Teacher

By Don Allen (Editorial Opinion) - Journal of A Black Teacher (2024) In education, data speaks volumes, yet it’s often met with silence. Teachers, administrators, and policymakers stand at a crossroads when using data to drive decisions. Schools are rich in one crucial resource: children. The talent we have in our students is immeasurable. They are our society's future thinkers, creators, and leaders, and we are fortunate to be surrounded by this talent daily. But what happens when school sites and districts don’t listen to the data, refusing to acknowledge where the challenges lie? How can we possibly nurture this talent if we don’t understand the obstacles in their way? This article explores the consequences of neglecting data and how the lack of collective determination in favor of individual agendas stifles growth and progress. Despite the immense talent within our classrooms and the available resources — human capital, expertise, and technology — our schools still struggle. Th

By Don Allen, Educator and Truth Teller  The Black Lives Matter fundraising movement left the Twin Cities with $90 million dollars (plus) ignoring the need to address systemic racism, institutional racism, education, and economic justice in the Twin Cities. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine, the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) saw to it that the local (Minnesota) organization Feeding Our Future quickly scaled up during the COVID-19 pandemic, and received $193 million in federal grants in 2021 after having gotten $307,000 three years before. The rapid rise came crashing down in January (2022) when dozens of federal agents raided locations owned by subcontractors who have been accused of stealing millions of dollars (Fox 9 News).. Of course, we don’t know where the money went, nor can we find a family that was saved from this mysterious agency funded by MDE.  When Black Americans in Minnesota lose, our losses are monumental, devastating, mostly man-made, a

By Don Allen, M.A. Ed./MAT  “ As a matter of self-preservation, a man needs good friends or ardent enemies, for the former instruct him and the latter take him to task. ”   ~Diogenes Laertius, (c. 404—323 B.C.E.) Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 6, Chapter 35. He “Diogenes of Sinop, (Turkey)-School of Cynicism ”, is labeled mad for acting against convention, but Diogenes points out that it is the conventions which lack reason citing that most people, he would say, are so nearly mad that a finger makes all the difference. “For if you go along with your middle finger stretched out, someone will think you mad, but, if it’s the little finger, he will not think so” (Diogenes Laertius).  Logic and common sense scare many good natured foundational folks in education. When you look at challenges in our public educational system, it’s even more scary to see the actions of good natured people that have generationally ignored best practices outside of their own cultures and just simply put, b