Educating Harlem
A Century of Schooling and Resistance in a Black Community

Chapter 10 Resources

Materials accompanying "'Harlem Sophistication': Community-based Paraprofessional Educators in Central Harlem and East Harlem" by Nick Juravich

“Community in the Classroom: Parent-Teacher Teams in Harlem”

Select “Community in the Classroom” from the Harlem Education History Project exhibit page. This digital exhibit by chapter 10 author Nick Juravich explores the Parent-Teacher Team paraprofessional program through oral histories and digitized materials.

“Teachers College Week” (1969)

The Parent-Teacher Team program was developed jointly by HARYOU-ACT, Local District 5, and Teachers College, Columbia University. This newsletter from Teachers College describes its role in the training of paraprofessional educators.

“District Preliminary Proposal ESEA Title 1 Project” (1968)

This proposal from district 5 outlines the parent-teacher teams project for the Board of Education. It describes the target population, the most important goals, the training program, the requirements and responsibilities of the staff as well as technical information such as budget, costs and schools involved.

Oral Histories of Laura Pires-Hester, Hope Leichter, and Mary Dowery [link coming soon]

These three oral history interviews are with women who created and ran paraprofessional programs in Harlem and New York City as social workers or professors working at HARYOU-ACT, Teachers College, and Mobilization for Youth on the Lower East Side.

Image of Hope Leichter

Professor Hope Leichter (second from left) talks with parent participants in the Parent-Teacher Teams program at Teachers College in 1969. Credit: TC Week, February 1969.

“Reconnection for Learning: A Community School System for New York City Schools,” pages i-iv (1967)

This report edited by McGeorge Bundy proposed a plan for a community system in New York City that led to the city’s experiment with decentralization in three districts in 1967. This came after years of activism pushing for community control of New York City public schools. As discussed in chapter 10, the Bundy report recommended that hiring be put under local control. Pages i-iv contain the preface and a summary of the report’s recommendations (please refer to the page numbers on the bottom right of each page, as some pages are scanned out of order).

The Women’s Talent Corps Proposal (1965) and WNBC Video (4:06-8:57) (1968)

The Women’s Talent Corps was a job-training institute for women started by Audrey Cohen and funded by the Office of Economic Opportunity. Members of the corps led a successful campaign for the Board of Education to hire paraprofessionals in schools, and they became the first 75 paraprofessional educators hired. This proposal for the program outlines Audrey Cohen’s vision, including a partnership with schools. The video, of a feature on the Women’s Talent Corps, includes footage following a paraprofessional at her school and at home.

Eyes on the Prize: Power! (1966–1968) (1990)

The PBS documentary Eyes on the Prize explores the civil rights movement, with a focus on community control of the schools and the Ocean Hill-Brownsville teacher strike at 36:12.

“Ocean Hill-Brownsville Parents Speak, 1968” (excerpts)

In this video from during the 1968 Ocean Hill-Brownsville teachers strike, parents from Ocean Hill-Brownsville explained their goals for community control. They mentioned personnel as one of the main aspects of schooling that they wanted to have power to shape.

School Colors Podcast Episodes 2 and 3 (2019)

The School Colors podcast from Brooklyn Deep explores “how race, class, and power shape American cities and schools.” It focuses on Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, combining a historical investigation of education in Bed-Stuy with reporting on current impacts of charter schools and gentrification. Episodes 2 and 3 discuss the 1968 Ocean Hill-Brownsville Teacher strike.

“Organizing Paraprofessionals” (1977) and Discussion Questions

In 1969, paraprofessional educators in New York City voted to join the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), despite having crossed picket lines to teach during the UFT’s strike in 1968. They hoped their affiliation would help to professionalize their jobs and bring more Black and Latinx leadership to the union, though there was tension in the power differential between teachers and paraprofessionals. This pamphlet from the American Federation of Teachers (with which UFT is affiliated) describes the AFT’s philosophy on organizing paraprofessionals and how they fit into the structure of the union. See the “related document” section at the bottom for a set of discussion questions.

Discussion Questions

  1. Chapter 10 highlights one example of how parents have been involved in facilitating their children’s education. Why do you think it was important for parents to serve as paraprofessionals? Considering this narrative alongside other chapters in Educating Harlem (for example, chapters 2, 6, 8, and 12), how have parents contributed to schooling in Harlem? What obstacles have they faced in having these contributions recognized?

  2. Read these two articles from 1970 reflecting on the paraprofessional program. Cleo Silvers, a former paraprofessional educator and a member of the Harlem branch of the Black Panther Party and the Young Lords, and Bayard Rustin, a civil rights and labor leader writing in the Amsterdam News, present very different pictures of the role. Why do you think they differ in their understanding of the opportunities the work provided?