Ballake Sissoko says his kora, a traditional harp-like instrument, arrived in Paris in pieces.
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Thursday, February 6, 2020
Wednesday, February 5, 2020
The complex effects of colonial rule in Indonesia
The areas of Indonesia where Dutch colonial rulers built a huge sugar-producing industry in the 1800s remain more economically productive today than other parts of the country, according to a study co-authored by an MIT economist.
The research, focused on the Indonesian island of Java, introduces new data into the study of the economic effects of colonialism. The finding shows that around villages where the Dutch built sugar-processing factories from the 1830 through the 1870s, there is today greater economic activity, more extensive manufacturing, and even more schools, along with higher local education levels.
“The places where the Dutch established [sugar factories] persisted as manufacturing centers,” says Benjamin Olken, a professor of economics at MIT and co-author of a paper detailing the results, which appears in the January issue of the Review of Economic Studies.
The historical link between this “Dutch Cultivation System” and economic activity today has likely been transmitted “through a couple of forces,” Olken suggests. One of them, he says, is the building of “complementary infrastructure” such as railroads and roads, which remain in place in contemporary Indonesia.
The other mechanism, Olken says, is that “industries grew up around the sugar [industry], and those industries persisted. And once you have this manufacturing environment, that can lead to other changes: More infrastructure and more schools have persisted in these areas as well.”
To be sure, Olken says, the empirical conclusions of the study do not represent validation of Dutch colonial rule, which lasted from the early 1600s until 1949 and significantly restricted the rights and self-constructed political institutions of Indonesians. Dutch rule had long-lasting effects in many areas of civic life, and the Dutch Cultivation System used forced labor, for one thing.
“This paper is not trying to argue that the [Dutch] colonial enterprise was a net good for the people of the time,” Olken emphasizes. “I want to be very clear on that. That’s not what we’re saying.”
Instead, the study was designed to evaluate the empirical effects of the Dutch Cultivation System, and the outcome of the research was not necessarily what Olken would have anticipated.
“The results are striking,” Olken says. “They just jump out at you.”
The paper, “The Development Effects of the Extractive Colonial Economy: The Dutch Cultivation System in Java,” is co-authored by Olken and Melissa Dell PhD ’12, a professor of economics at Harvard University.
On the ground
Historically in Java, the biggest of Indonesia’s many islands, the main crop had been rice. Starting in the 1830s, the Dutch instituted a sugar-growing system in some areas, building 94 sugar-processing factories, as well as roads and railroads to transport materials and products.
Generally the Dutch would export high-quality sugar from Indonesia while keeping lower-quality sugar in the country. Overall, the system became massive; at one point in the mid-19th century, sugar production in Java accounted for one-third of the Dutch government’s revenues and 4 percent of Dutch GDP. By one estimate, a quarter of the population was involved in the industry.
In developing their research, Olken and Dell used 19th century data from government archives in the Netherlands, as well as modern data from Indonesia. The Dutch built the processing plants next to rivers in places with enough flat land to sustain extensive sugar crops; to conduct the study, the researchers looked at economic activity near sugar-processing factories and compared it with economic activity in similar areas that lacked factories.
“In the 1850s, the Dutch spent four years on the ground collecting detailed information for the over 10,000 villages that contributed land and labor to the Cultivation System,” Dell notes. The researchers digitized those records and, as she states, “painstakingly merged them” with economic and demograhic records from the same locations today
As the results show, places close to factories are 25-30 percentage points less agricultural in economic composition than those away from factories, and they have more manufacturing, by 6-7 percentage points. They also have 9 percent more employment in retail.
Areas within 1 kilometer of a sugar factory have a railroad density twice that of similar places 5 to 20 kilometers from factories; by 1980, they were also 45 percent more likely to have electricity and 4 percent more likely to have a high school. They also have local populations with a full year more of education, on average, than areas not situated near old sugar factories.
The study shows there is also about 10 to 15 percent more public-land use in villages that were part of the Dutch Cultivation System, a data point that holds steady in both 1980 and 2003.
“The key thing that underlies this paper, in multiple respects, is the linking of the historical data and the modern data,” Olken says. The researchers also observed that the disparity between industrialized places and their more rural counterparts has not arisen since 1980, further suggesting how much Java’s deep economic roots matter.
Net Effects?
The paper blends the expertise of Olken, who has spent years conducting antipoverty studies in Indonesia, and Dell, whose work at times examines the effects of political history on current-day economic outcomes.
“I had never really done a historical project before,” Olken says. “But the opportunity to collaborate with Melissa on this was really exciting.”
One of Dell’s best-known papers, published in 2010 while she was still a PhD student at MIT, shows that in areas of Peru where colonial Spanish rulers instituted a system of forced mining labor from the 1500s to the 1800s, there are significant and negative economic effects that persist today.
However, somewhat to their surprise, the researchers did not observe similarly promounced effects from the Dutch Cultivation System.
“One might have thought that could have had negative consequences on local social capital and local development in other respects,” says Olken, adding that he “wasn’t sure what to expect” before looking at the data.
“The differences between the long-run effects of forced labor in Peru and Java suggest that for understanding persistent impacts on economic activity, we need to know more than just whether there was forced labor in a location,” Dell says. “We need to understand how the historical institutions influenced economic incentives and activities initially, and how these initial effects may or may not have persisted moving forward.”
Olken adds that the study “can’t measure every possible thing,” and that “it’s possible there are other effects we didn’t see.”
Moreover, Olken notes, the paper cannot determine the net effect of the Dutch Cultivation System on Indonesian economic growth. That is, in the absence of Dutch rule, Indonesia’s economy would have certainly grown on it own — but it is impossible to say whether it would have expanded at a rate faster, slower, or equivalent to the trajectory it had under the Dutch.
“We can’t say what would have happened if the Dutch had never showed up in Indonesia,” Olken says. “And of course the Dutch [colonizing] Indonesia had all kinds of effects well beyond the scope of this paper, many of them negative for the contemporaneous population.”
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Whoopi Goldberg and Meghan McCain get into heated debate about Rush Limbaugh’s ‘Medal of Freedom’
Tuesday evening President Donald Trump awarded the Medal of Freedom to Rush Limbaugh and the next morning “The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg wanted answers!
“You know, I am very sorry that Rush is ill, because you never want to wish bad stuff on people,” Goldberg said of the conservative broadcaster, who announced this week that he’s battling advanced lung cancer. “He has Stage IV cancer. But I’m sorry, I thought that the Medal of Freedom was supposed to go to people who actually did stuff.”
READ MORE: Whoopi Goldberg shuts down Meghan McCain on live TV: ‘Girl, stop talking
Co-host Joy Behar chimed in to note that previously the medal had been awarded to major humanitarians like Mother Teresa and Rosa Parks, prompting guest host Alex Baldwin to joke that if he ran for president he’d tarnish the award’s meaning like Trump, by giving the award to comedian Louis C.K. Although the joke didn’t land, many do believe that Limbaugh is just as undeserving as the polarizing funny man.
“I didn’t understand,” Goldberg continued. “You’ve got a Tuskegee airman sitting there. How about, if you’re going to give the Medal of Freedom to someone who actually has made difference in the country and done all kind of stuff, how about giving it to Elijah Cummings’ wife as a thank you for all of his service.”
This is when republican co-host Meghan McCain chimed in to defend both the GOP and the president’s decision.
“He’s playing to his base and Rush Limbaugh — I used to work in radio and I actually worked underneath, I was behind Sean Hannity on the radio show I hosted,” McCain explained. “Rush was first. He has 30 million listeners a day. To put it in perspective, this show averages around 3 (million). The amount of influence he has, especially with conservatives.”
When Goldberg asked her to explain why having a popular show was enough reason to receive one of the highest civilian awards in the U.S., McCain responded, “He changed the paradigm of radio.”
At this point, Goldberg and the other hosts seemingly bristled in irritation, as Behar called out just a handful of the notoriously racist remarks Limbaugh has made on that same show against people of color.
READ MORE: Whoopi Goldberg reportedly ‘at her breaking point’ trying to contain Meghan McCain’s meltdowns
On March 19/07 this horrific piece of racism was aired on the Rush Limbaugh Show.
As you listen & cringe to “Barack the Magic Negro,” keep in mind this pile of human garbage, Rush Limbaugh, received the Medal of Freedom.
And of course Trump listened & laughed when this aired. pic.twitter.com/HCohMVLgl0
— cαηα∂α нαтεs тя☭мρ (@Trump_Detester) February 5, 2020
“Rush Limbaugh spent a lot of Obama’s tenure singing — what did he call it? — ‘Barack the Magic Negro,’” Behar said. “He’s been so racist and misogynistic over the years, to give him — who’s next? Roger Stone? How about giving it to him or Steve Bannon.”
Co-host Sunny Hostin also joined the debate to explain why Limbaugh’s award felt like a slight against Black Americans.
“I don’t think it was lost on the Black community that he gave that honor to Rush Limbaugh during Black History Month, sitting next to a Tuskegee airman, on Rosa Parks Day,” Hostin noted. “Rush Limbaugh was a longtime birther during the Obama administration.”
“And Melania, the other birther, put the (medal) on him,” co-signed Behar.
READ MORE: Must be nice: Meghan McCain is the ‘angry Black woman’ actual Black women don’t get to be
Ah, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Awarded to cultural giants like Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison and now this man:
"Feminism has led women astray. I love the women’s movement — especially when walking behind it.” – Rush Limbaugh pic.twitter.com/ebrf1xb52P
— Padma Lakshmi (@PadmaLakshmi) February 5, 2020
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Elon Musk Says A High School Diploma is Not Needed to Work at Tesla
This should have some people lining up for a job! Tesla’s Elon Musk is looking to recruit talent but, unlike most companies, a college degree isn’t required in order to gain employment with him, according to CNBC.
Musk took to Twitter to announce that he is looking for people who work in artificial intelligence (A.I.). “At Tesla, using AI to solve self-driving isn’t just icing on the cake, it the cake” –@lexfridman Join AI at Tesla! It reports directly to me & we meet/email/text almost every day. My actions, not just words, show how critically I view (benign) AI.”
Musk makes it clear that a deep understanding of artificial intelligence takes precedence over actual degrees and formal training to work at Tesla. He mentions they are recruiting for people to work in the San Francisco Bay area in California or Austin, Texas, but “potentially any Tesla Gigafactory” would be okay, Musk tweeted Sunday.
“A PhD is definitely not required,” said the Tesla boss on Twitter on Feb. 2. I “don’t care if you even graduated high school.”
In fact, back in 2014 Musk stated as much back then. “There’s no need even to have a college degree at all or even high school.” Instead, he looks for “evidence of exceptional ability. And if there is a track record of exceptional achievement, then it is likely that that will continue into the future.”
“If somebody graduated from a great university, that may be an indication that they will be capable of great things, but it’s not necessarily the case. If you look at, say, people like Bill Gates or Larry Ellison, Steve Jobs, these guys didn’t graduate from college, but if you had a chance to hire them, of course, that would be a good idea,” Musk said.
Tesla Gigafactories are the places where electric motors and battery packs are assembled. There are Tesla gigafactories in Sparks, Nevada; Buffalo, New York; and Shanghai, China. It was announced in November, that there is a fourth factory that will be built in Berlin, Germany. Tesla vehicles are built with the hardware necessary to offer some current autopilot features and “full self-driving capabilities” in the future.
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Gervonta Davis charged with simple domestic violence battery for altercation with ex-girlfriend
Gervonta “Tank” Davis, the WBA lightweight champion, turned himself into Coral Gables, Florida police on Tuesday and was charged with simple battery domestic violence for grabbing his ex-girlfriend by the neck and forcing her from a basketball game in Miami.
READ MORE: Video emerges of boxing champion Gervonta Davis in physical altercation with woman
The assault was captured on a cell phone video that has been seen more than seven million times on Twitter. After Davis, 25, grabbed the mother of his daughter from her seat, he escorted her out of the gymnasium and they appeared to be arguing, according to ESPN.
“As a result of an ongoing investigation after being notified through social media and the victim, on February 1, 2020, (Davis) was observed battering his former girlfriend (with) whom have a child together,” Coral Gables police released in a statement. “(Davis) surrendered himself to Coral Gables police detectives assigned to the case.”
Once the video went viral, Davis took to Instagram to try and defend himself. “I never once hit her, yea I was aggressive and told her come on… that’s the mother of my child I would never hurt her other than that happy New Years.. January was trash,” Davis said in the post, which was later deleted, according to ESPN. He has since wiped clean all posts on his Instagram.
Leonard Ellerbe of Mayweather Promotions, who is Davis’ promoter, did not respond to ESPN’s messages seeking comment. Tim Smith, a spokesman for Premier Boxing Champions, who manages Davis, declined to comment.
“It looks like it’s a legal matter. We don’t comment on legal matters,” Smith reportedly told ESPN.
READ MORE: ‘I knew I was spiraling’: Fabolous finally speaks out after 2018 domestic violence incident
Davis of Baltimore is undefeated. He has collected three world titles in two weight classes. His next fight, a likely bout with Leo Santa Cruz, the junior lightweight titlist, is expected to be on pay-per-view later this year.
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Viola Davis and others thank Joaquin Phoenix for his BAFTA speech
Viola Davis is here for Joaquin Phoenix’s BAFTA speech where he drew attention to “systemic racism” in the film industry.
READ MORE: ‘Joker’ star Joaquin Phoenix blasts ‘systemic racism’ in film industry during BAFTAs speech
Davis, who won a British Academy Film Award in 2017 for her role in Fences, thanked Phoenix for his “honesty, solidarity and courage,” according to a tweet she posted before adding “well done.”
Thank you Joaquin Phoenix. For your honesty, solidarity AND courage. Well done 🤜🏿🤜🏿👏🏿👏🏿❤️#GreatBAFTAspeech https://t.co/MXrwmn1JX3
— Viola Davis (@violadavis) February 3, 2020
Director Lulu Wang, who made The Farewell, also thanked Phoenix for his stand, as did Alma Har’el, director of last year’s film Honey Boy, who tweeted: “Correct me if I’m wrong but this is the first time… In a long time… I see a white man use the stage he’s given to say what we all need to hear. We mostly hear women speak up and this is encouraging and will help our work. Thank you Joaquin.”
An uncomfortable silence filled the hall for a long noticeable moment. Thank you Joaquin.
— Lulu Wang (@thumbelulu) February 2, 2020
Correct me if I’m wrong but this is the first time… In a long time… I see a white man uses the stage he’s given to say what we all need to hear.
We mostly hear women speak up and this is encouraging and will help our work. Thank you Joaquin. https://t.co/tuDA5iDtna
— Alma Har’el🌪 (@Almaharel) February 3, 2020
LaToya Morgan, writer for Shameless and The Walking Dead, said Phoenix demonstrated for others “how you use your time & platform. Well said, Joaquin. Well said,” according to her tweet.:
This is how you use your time & platform. Well said, Joaquin. Well said. #BAFTAs https://t.co/Sy9BPx7cjO
— LaToya Morgan (@MorganicInk) February 2, 2020
Phoenix won the best actor award for his portrayal of the Joker at this year’s British Academy Film Awards and when he came up to the podium to accept his award, he unleashed on the lack of diversity of those nominated for awards. He said while he was “honored” to be presented with the award, he was also “conflicted” about other deserving actors and actresses of color who were ignored by the academy.
“I think that we send a very clear message to people of color that you’re not welcome here. I think that’s the message that we’re sending to people that have contributed so much to our medium and our industry and in ways that we benefit from,” Phoenix said.
READ MORE: Joaquin Phoenix fans came for Beyoncé on social media for not standing when he won a Golden Globe
When the British Academy announced this year’s nominees, there were no actors or actresses of color in the four-film lead or supporting actor or actress categories. Additionally, the British Academy failed to nominate a single female director, leaving five white men vying for the title.
The Oscar nominees followed the same disturbing trend, with mostly white men leading each of the major award categories.
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Disney Shelled out $75 Million for the Right to Bring ‘Hamilton’ to Theaters and Streaming Platform
Disney is bringing Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton to the masses. The iconic Broadway hip-hop musical is heading to the big screen thanks to Walt Disney Studios, which will release a film version with Hamilton’s original cast in 2021.
Walt Disney Studios announced the news on Twitter.
Disney presents: Hamilton.
With The Original Broadway Cast.
Filmed onstage at The Richard Rodgers Theatre.
In A Theater Near You.
October 15, 2021. #Hamilfilm pic.twitter.com/08YP6CTbF8— Walt Disney Studios (@DisneyStudios) February 3, 2020
The film isn’t an adaption of the play, but an actual recording of the play, which was captured in 2016. Disney reportedly paid $75 million for the global rights to the finished film.
“Lin-Manuel Miranda created an unforgettable theater experience and a true cultural phenomenon, and it was for good reason that Hamilton was hailed as an astonishing work of art. All who saw it with the original cast will never forget that singular experience,” Disney chairman Robert Iger told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement. “And we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to share this same Broadway experience with millions of people around the world.”
“I fell in love with musical storytelling growing up with the legendary Howard Ashman-Alan Menken Disney collaborations — The Little Mermaid, Beauty and The Beast, Aladdin,” said Miranda. “I’m so proud of what Tommy Kail has been able to capture in this filmed version of Hamilton — a live theatrical experience that feels just as immediate in your local movie theater. We’re excited to partner with Disney to bring the original Broadway company of Hamilton to the largest audience possible.”
Thomas Kail, a producer of Hamilton, said: “We are thrilled for fans of the show, and new audiences across the world, to experience what it was like on stage, and in the audience, when we shot this at The Richard Rodgers Theatre on Broadway in June of 2016. We wanted to give everyone the same seat, which is what this film can provide.”
Miranda stars as Alexander Hamilton, alongside Leslie Odom Jr. as Aaron Burr; Phillipa Soo as Eliza Hamilton; Renee Elise Goldsberry as Angelica Schuyler; Daveed Diggs as Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson; Christopher Jackson as George Washington; Jonathan Groff as King George; Okieriete Onaodowan as Hercules Mulligan and James Madison; Anthony Ramos as John Laurens and Philip Hamilton; and Jasmine Cephas Jones as Peggy Schuyler and Maria Reynolds.
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By not standing, Jay-Z and Beyoncé were not protesting the ‘Star Spangled Banner’
Jay-Z says he and Beyoncé were not protesting the National Anthem when they remained seated during Demi Lovato’s Super Bowl performance, they were working.
Jay addressed the controversy at Columbia University on Tuesday when he was asked by a professor if the move was done to “convey a signal,” to which Jay replied “it actually wasn’t. Sorry.” He said he, Bey and Blue Ivy were seated because they were honed in on Demi’s performance, reported TMZ.
READ MORE: Jay-Z and Beyoncé did not stand for the National Anthem during Super Bowl
“We immediately jumped into artist mode,” Jay-Z said.
According to Jigga, Beyoncé told him she was thinking about what was going through Demi’s mind in the seconds before she started singing. For Jay, he was thinking about the equipment.
“I’m really just looking at the show. The mics start. Was it too low to start?” Jay said he was focused on all aspects of the audio supporting Demi’s performance.
As the new head of entertainment for the league, Jay-Z’s Roc Nation partnered with the NFL and Pepsi to bring the Super Bowl performances, which also included Yolanda Adams singing “America the Beautiful” and Jennifer Lopez and Shakira who co-headlined a high-energy Super Bowl Halftime Show.
Jay told the Columbia professor that there was no need for a “silent protest” because, through entertainment, the league was “making the biggest loudest protest of all” by choosing a slate of diverse artists to perform, reported TMZ.
For what it’s worth, Jay also thought it funny that people would think Blue Ivy was in on the plot, saying it would be impossible for his 8-year-old to fake like she was playing it cool, particularly on camera.
READ MORE: Wendy Williams slams Beyoncé & Jay-Z for not standing during National Anthem at Super Bowl
Since Jay partnered with the NFL, he has also partly sponsored some new PSAs that have rolled out that spotlight police brutality, racism, the criminal justice system and other important causes, however, Colin Kaepernick still hasn’t been signed to a team.
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Nancy Pelosi shreds Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech. Right there on the podium.
By LAURIE KELLMAN and LISA MASCARO Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — And then she tore up the speech.
No sooner had President Donald Trump finished his State of the Union address than House Speaker Pelosi ripped the paper it was printed on in two.
Right there, on camera, behind Trump’s back. As he stepped down, she ripped again. Then a third time. And a fourth. If Trump knew about the American carnage going on behind him, he didn’t react as he left. But Pelosi was on her turf, with a deep understanding of her audience — and she wasn’t finished. In case any confusion remained, Pelosi held up what remained of the address to her family in the gallery, in full view of reporters.
“It was a manifesto of mistruths,” Pelosi told reporters as she left the Capitol. The ripping was not planned, according to a person close to the Democratic speaker who was unauthorized to speak publicly.
Republicans dismissed her display, on the eve of Trump’s acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial, as a tantrum.
“She might as well rip up any plans for attracting independent voters,” Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said. “Pelosi and the Democrats sat on their hands through all of the good news for Americans in that speech.”
“This speech was about American heroes and American workers,” tweeted Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the Republican vote-counter. “She decided THAT was worth literally tearing apart.”
Tearing the speech gave Pelosi the last visual word over Trump, who had spoken to the House from a position of strength. He arrived in the chamber with the full force of the Republican Party behind him. She is leading a party in the throes of a divisive presidential nomination fight that had botched the kickoff Iowa caucuses only the night before. The House had impeached Trump on her watch. But the Senate was poised to acquit him.
From the start, the event was awkward because the history between those two was so icy. They had not spoken since October, when Pelosi pointed at Trump over a White House conference table, suggested that Russia controls him and walked out.
Now, Trump was returning to the very chamber where he was impeached, standing before the same Democrats who have called him unfit for office and sought to oust him. He stepped to the podium and handed navy blue folders containing his speech to Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence. Photos from that moment show that Trump mistakenly handed Pence’s copy to Pelosi. The outside reads in gold letters: “The President of the Senate of the United States.” That’s Pence’s title.
At that moment, Pelosi extended a hand. Trump did not acknowledge it, instead turning around to begin his speech.
Pelosi, famous for casting shade, especially on Trump, gave a look.
For 78 minutes, Trump went on to extol a “Great American Comeback” on his watch, just three years after he took office decrying a land of “American carnage” under his predecessor. Pelosi read through her copy as he spoke.
Trump bestowed the Medal of Freedom on Rush Limbaugh to raucous applause and a glum reception from House Democrats.
“My fellow Americans, the best is yet to come,” he finished.
Pelosi had already gathered the papers for her big ripping finish, which she later said was “the courteous thing to do, considering the alternative.”
The moment was a less joyful echo of last year’s State of the Union, when Pelosi stole the show with a smirk-and-clap, eye to eye with Trump. Then, Democrats were triumphant after election gains that flipped the House from Republican control and put Pelosi back in the speaker’s chair.
That night, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez arrived on the scene wearing a white caped pantsuit and sat prominently at the center of the Democratic section. Tuesday night, on the eve of Trump’s acquittal, the congresswoman skipped the speech altogether.
“After much deliberation, I have decided that I will not use my presence at a state ceremony to normalize Trump’s lawless conduct & subversion of the Constitution,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted a few hours before the speech. “None of this is normal, and I will not legitimize it.”
___
Follow Kellman and Mascaro on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/APLaurieKellman and http://twitter.com/LisaMascaro
___
This story has been corrected to show Limbaugh was given the Medal of Freedom, not the Medal of Honor.
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Meet The Transformative Business Leader Preparing Chicago’s Students Of Color For ‘The Fourth Industrial Revolution’
Phyllis Lockett is a transformative force in public education.
As CEO of Chicago-based LEAP Innovations, this bold business leader has developed an organization working directly with educators and experts nationwide “to pilot, research and scale” personalized learning technologies and unique approaches within classrooms and outside learning platforms. Says Lockett of her goal: “As you know, education has been the pathway for African Americans’ access to freedom and the American dream. I started LEAP because I wanted to command resources to rethink how learning can be redesigned to enable more of our students to be competitive in this fourth industrial revolution.”
She is perfectly suited for this mammoth undertaking. The Chicago native hails from a multi-generational family of educators, which started with a great grandfather born into slavery and extended to both parents who served as teachers for the Chicago Public School system that she attended. Earning a degree in industrial engineering from Purdue University and a Master’s from Northwestern University’s J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, she held marketing, sales, and business development positions at such major corporations as IBM, Kraft Foods, and General Mills.
When she returned to Chicago and visited her grandparents’ neighborhood years ago, Lockett says she was struck with an “a-ha moment” that led to her to marry her business chops with her renewed sense of community service. As a result, she became involved with the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, a phalanx of CEOs dedicated to advancing local economic development and education, among other areas, and then took the position of president and CEO for New Schools For Chicago, raising more than $70 million to open 80 new schools in high-need Chicago communities.
Her visionary zeal and experiences led to the creation of LEAP, which currently serves more than 140 schools. Using the four-step LEAP Learning Framework—define, develop, pilot and measure—has had a demonstrative impact on students, teachers, and administrators. In fact, LEAP has been so effective in the Chicago Metro that Lockett has “codified some of our resources and tools that are being used across about 17 states and organizations in the country. We’re looking at how to help more educators in the pre-service space, as well as practicing educators, develop their competencies in this new learning system.
LEAP is also focused on equity in education. Using the hashtag #EdEquity, the organization has partnered with New America to bring together educators, researchers, and advocates on Feb. 6 for a special forum to explore how inclusive teaching practices and innovative instructional models can help educators in the PreK-12 system “overcome implicit biases in the classroom, raise expectations for students of all backgrounds, and prepare all students to succeed in today’s increasingly dynamic world.”
As part of our BLACK ENTERPRISE C-Suite Interview Series, Chief Content Officer Derek T. Dingle talked with Lockett, who is a board member of CME Group and a member of the BE Registry of Corporate Directors, about LEAP’s organizational evolution and driving a diverse pipeline for the 21st-century workplace. The following are edited excerpts from that conversation:
A More Targeted, Dynamic Learning Approach
In designing innovative programs for education, one size does not fit all. With that said, how do you effectively replicate the personalized instruction model from school to school?
Every student has a pathway tailored to [their] needs, interests, and strengths. That learning has to enable agency. We talk about this construct we call “learner led,’ where we are enabling learners to co-design and set goals with their educator. They have choice in their learning. We’re building their confidence to get their problem solved and take ownership and agency for their learning.
We are “learner demonstrated,” which is focused on competency-based approaches. This is the part about the notion of a high-stakes task is really defining the capacity of a learner. It’s really about learners having multiple ways of showing what they know. If learners are demonstrating that they have mastery, they can move on, and they don’t have to wait for the rest of the class. If they need more time, they can take it.
What are other aspects of this approach?
The next is being “learner connected.” That is connecting students to relevant learning experiences beyond the classroom. We’ve translated those into teaching and learning practices, where we have worked with over 140 schools across Chicago to implement with educators, to shift their practice. You can imagine how we grew up, one teacher teaching 30 students. In most U.S. classrooms we have students who are at a six proficiency level. The notion that we can have one educator to tailor to the learning of every single student is really hard. We are shifting educator practice and their roles. We’re also enabling this through a pilot network and helping schools redesign their entire constructs, to be able to deliver learning in this way. We’re leveraging technologies in math and literacy that enable educators to access data in real-time, so they are better equipped to pinpoint a specific need that a student has. It’s a much more targeted, dynamic learning approach.
How do you target schools you’re going to work with and get them to embrace this collaborative model?
We knew a couple of things. No. 1, principals had to buy into the new construct. We also knew that top-down never works. We needed this to be a collaborative approach with the educators at the table with the principal leader, co-designing this experience.
We started small. Some of those early adopters started with four to six classrooms at a time in [one] school. We worked with those educators for six months initially to unpack the realism that they aren’t tailoring learning to every student. Lots of folks come to our professional learning with the idea that “I know my kids. I’m differentiating for every single student.” We have them literally walk in the shoes of their students…walk home with them, engage with parents, sit down and talk to the students about what’s going on with them.
A full engagement approach?
Yes. Real in-depth engagement. They journal this learning journey. They come back with the admission, “Wow, I really didn’t know my kids.” That really helps to engage the educators and principals around this journey as well as shape the communities that they’re serving with the students that they’re serving. They’re really the experts if you will, that’s given the opportunity to redesign the experience. That’s how we got it going.
[There has also been] higher teacher engagement and satisfaction in their jobs. It turned into wildfire in Chicago, such that Chicago Public Schools established an Office of Personalized Learning. We believe that this is igniting what educators have the money to do for a long time. I have 30 vetted educators telling me that they will never go back to the old way of teaching again and they’ve rediscovered their love for teaching. They’re inspired with the way our students are engaged.
Instilling Students With Learning Agility In Preparation For The Unknown
What has been the impact on students?
The results have been pretty extraordinary when you consider student engagement, reduction in suspensions, increased attendance. It is a demonstrable difference in the thrill of learning, the passion for learning. What we need to be implementing in our students is that agility around problem-solving, curiosity, ability to collaborate and self-discovery, especially when you consider that the majority of the jobs for students who are in school right now don’t exist yet. This is about instilling the skill sets around learning agility that we are creating in our students of the youngest of ages.
So you’re preparing students for the unknown related to future jobs and advanced technologies. You’re giving them the confidence and proficiency to figure out what will come next in terms of an ever-changing business world.
That’s exactly right. In addition, we’re working with educators because we need an army of them that understand how to deploy these kind of practices that enable exactly what you’re talking about as well as what is the design of schools that enable our students to thrive in any type of environment.
Let’s talk about resources, which is always challenging for schools. How much does your program cost? How is it made affordable to schools?
So, one of our programs enables schools to do this in a stair-step fashion. It’s about $75,000 over an 18-month period. That’s really over two budget cycles. What we’ve found is an important element of ownership at the school level. We have them contribute a little less than half toward that contribution. Then we supplement the balance through philanthropy. Ultimately, we’ve set up an investment for professional learning and leveraging some education technology resources. What you have is a sustainable model.
Creating A Diverse Pipeline For The Tech Space
I talked with John Thompson, chairman of Microsoft, a while back, and he shared the fact that there is a shortage of workers in the tech space. Assuming that trend continues, more African Americans and Latinos will be required to become more tech proficient to fill that void. In that context, has LEAP been able to attract major corporations as partners?
I think the corporations play a critical role in the process. I’m thankful to John for making the connection. You see all the projections on the skills we have, right? If you even consider the top students that have graduated, 50% of them are working in jobs that don’t require a college degree. That is a severe mismatch. We have had a number of corporations provide philanthropy support. I think the next level, to your point, is connecting corporations to the student pathways. We have some examples of that that need to be scaled.
Lindblom High School, which also happens to be my alma mater, is a school that we’ve worked with for a number of years to transform their model into personalized learning. What they’ve done is created colloquiums for students [tied to] their interests and passions. They’ve had students that are involved in biotech in which they have a partnership with Baxter International. There’s a club and a program with the corporation involving students—some of whom have received internships. Same thing on the cybersecurity level.
The lines are going to blur in the future, and they absolutely have to do better in connecting the needs of future economy and corporations to how the K-12 system is preparing students. We’ve got to really drive these linkages. We can’t do it without addressing the talent pipeline in the African American community. We’re never going to get there as a country.
Do you envision LEAP developing that corporate pipeline through a partnership with HBCUs in the future?
Absolutely. It’s a must. In Chicago, only 19% of our students who graduate go to college and earn a degree. There’s something that is structurally off. I think that system worked really well for our parents’ generation, even ours, because the construct of the economy was different. This new one is going to require a very different construct. LEAP is engaged, and our passion and priority is to ensure that we are ushering in how that new construct can work. We are creating a bridge for that so that our kids can get access to the American dream, ultimately.
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