View from the trenches

Veteran educator Dr. Ebony Johnson on the state of Tulsa’s public schools

To complement this issue’s feature on incoming Tulsa Public Schools superintendent Dr. Deborah Gist, I went looking for a strong, clear voice to speak authentically on how we’re educating our kids in Tulsa. Teacher friends emphatically pointed me toward Central Junior High & High School Principal Dr. Ebony Johnson, so I made three trips to her school to track her down. In addition to being extremely busy, she’s extremely awesome, so she agreed to be interviewed at her daughter’s Saturday morning basketball game. As Johnson watched the game over my shoulder—periodically pausing to yell “D-up! D-up!” and other encouragements—she gave me the lowdown: it’s a Christian league, and the kids aren’t allowed to steal the ball. She herself can’t quite relate—Johnson played basketball from childhood on up and at one point was nicknamed Bam Bam. Coaches put her in when they needed to turn the ball around. She’d hustle for the turnover, and then they’d blow the whistle and sub her back out for a scorer. The parallels with her career as a powerful change agent and educator aren’t lost on her. Before Central, she led north Tulsa schools Academy Central Elementary and McLain High School and served in other teaching, consulting and administrative capacities in the district. 

The Tulsa Voice: You’ve made improvements everywhere you’ve worked. People hate change. How do you manage that? 

Ebony Johnson: It’s a very intense process. You have to know what the current weaknesses and strengths are of every building and figure out a way to operate within that. The bona fide challenge is trying to not negate the work that has been started by existing educators, but to draw from what has already been done and then figure out what second-order change can you put in place to take it to the next level. I mean going in and saying, “We’re going to do something completely different, because what we’ve been doing in the past has not rendered what we’re looking for,” but validating the educators who had believed that they were doing things right. You’re giving them a different frame to do things better.
Coupled with that is relationships. Until you understand the population you serve—especially if you’re talking about high-poverty, high-needs schools—they must have relationships built from the top all the way down. It’s kind of like Maslow’s hierarchy. If you’re not taking care of their social, emotional and physical needs and building off of that, the success that you’re looking for academically is very hard to attain. 

TTV: Can you give me an example? 

EJ: One of the things I incorporated in all my schools was something called the conflict resolution card, and that is just an acknowledgment that our students sometimes struggle with how to handle conflicts. So it allows students to ask this card of a teacher, and then once you get that card, you can go to someone you trust in the building and let them know what you are having a difficult time with. 

TTV: Kind of like, I need a minute—

EJ: I’m in brainstem. And so before I lash out at you—whether that’s a student or a teacher—before I continue to get upset with myself, I need a moment to step out. And that has drastically decreased our suspension and disciplinary problems in our building. So it’s just creating a culture that’s so all about kids.
Another component was progress monitoring. Every single week, I met with testing teachers—teachers who would be giving the actual tests to students, so they’re getting students prepared. I met with them weekly to ensure they were aligned to the Oklahoma state standards. We track data, looking at who’s proficient in what, what’s happening when they’re not proficient, what [they’re] doing to re-teach. Bringing in social workers to figure out, “Is it an attendance issue? What’s going on here?” Bringing in families, and then ultimately bringing in students to say, “What more can we do in order to support you?” And that’s at every level—elementary, high, middle—sign this contract that states that you’re going to give it your all, you’re going to do your best.

TTV: The kids sign a contract? 

EJ: Oh yeah. So, just drilling down through all levels of accountability, and then providing teachers with everything that they need. I structure a lot of things around providing support for my testing teachers, because they carry the weight. 

TTV: Schools are criticized a lot for “teaching to the test,” but what you’re describing sounds a little bit like that.

EJ: You’re not teaching to a test. What you’re doing is teaching the actual standards and curriculum that may show up on the test. The standards and curriculum are statewide; that’s not anything you can deviate from. What you couple with that are strategies for students who wouldn’t necessarily know how to be successful on a test. But the bulk of it is actually teaching the curriculum. 

TTV: Dr. Gist told the Voice that her first priority is to begin developing a new Strategic Plan for the district (the current plan expires this year). What are some things you’d like to see in the new plan?  

EJ: The existing plan has some great pieces in it—where we’re talking about being financially and fiscally responsible, ensuring that we have great teachers and quality instruction happening in every classroom, cultural competence—those are definitely pieces we can continue to work, just to be a lot more intentional about the population and the students that we serve. Specifically, how do we meet the needs of high-poverty children in 21st-century teaching and learning? … Leadership at every level [needs to be] collaborating and connecting around this idea that every student, no matter what, can actually make it.
[Gist] has a lot of background working with high-needs populations and coming up with strategic plans to work with all students. I think that’s going to be a good contribution to our district.

TTV: What do you mean by cultural competence? 

EJ: Our Hispanic population is the largest population of students in our district at this time. We need to be mindful to equip our teachers and our staff members to get the best out of all students, no matter what their race, no matter what their background. And then taking components of their culture and incorporating that. There’s research out there—there are schools that are incorporating culturally relevant pedagogy and culturally responsive teaching methodologies. And I think it’s time we move in that direction. 

TTV: Do you feel like the district is ready to do that?

EJ: We’ve done some of that work before. What would help us is to sustain that type of work and even dig deeper. … We probably just need to get some small groups of folks to start having and generating conversations about next steps. As a principal I see many, many times where teachers come in with great intentions—they truly want to see students do well and make it. And what they find is that they have not had the full preparation for some of the issues they encounter. 

TTV: Where do you see Oklahoma’s outstanding early childhood education programs playing a role in what you do? 

EJ: Our critical missing piece would be figuring out how to continue to encourage our families to support that work that’s been started. No matter what the educational background you have, there are certain things you can definitely do, like going over flash cards with your students at night or creating a word wall in their bedroom, so they’re constantly seeing the words and the expectations around that. As a city—stop, drop, turn off all electronics in your home to provide for quiet time—making that a full-blown movement.

TTV: Teaching is hard. I did a lot of substitute teaching after college, and I’ve been in more than a few classrooms where the kids pretty much just ate my lunch and very little learning went on. It was really discouraging to watch that chaos become a brick wall, even for the kids who very clearly wanted to learn.

EJ: That’s right. [It’s critical] that whoever steps into a school, they’re armed, so to speak, with how to communicate with students effectively [and] have processes and protocols in place so students can acclimate themselves. And when they choose to not assimilate to your structure, you know what next steps are, and you stay very consistent. Those are the things that will get all of our students to a point where they’re in a safe, healthy environment.
No matter what school, in any part of this city, the challenges vary. But we’re talking about young people here. So shame on us for not being prepared for the type of student that we’re going to serve. And then how about this, if in fact they do decide to use profanity, or they decide to walk out of class, shame on us for taking it personally. It’s so not about us. … Look at the fact that this is a hurting person who truly needs to have a consistent, structured, caring, academic and motivating set of people and structures around them so they can have a chance to make it. That’s families, that’s teachers, that’s principals, that’s everyone.
My background, of course, lends itself to me having to believe in that, because that is my story. I grew up in north Tulsa and went to McLain High School. I had to believe in the fact that no matter what the background is, and no matter what things seem like right now, there are opportunities and possibilities for me beyond. 

TTV: There seems to be a climate of fear surrounding Dr. Gist’s selection. What are you thinking about all that? 

EJ: I absolutely have no fear, because I’ve been in the district long enough to know that leadership changes. And then with Dr. Gist being the first female superintendent, I’m all like, “Girl power. Let’s rock this out.”

But I will say this: My hope would be that when we have community members come to the board meetings, and they’re very concerned about what’s happening in north Tulsa schools specifically, and [asking] what we can do to ensure that there’s equity and excellence in education—and consistent leadership and just more support—I hope that becomes a serious priority for her. Then we can know … that all schools are being taken care of, no matter where you are—Tulsa Public Schools has owned the responsibility of excellence in education for every single school in this district. 

Support public education.
(Even if you aren't an educator and don't have a kid in school, you can help.)

• Contact the Partners in Education about becoming a guest speaker at schools and inviting students to shadow you at your job. “Give them real world experiences,” Johnson said. “Because if they can’t see it, they can’t be it.”

• Donate school supplies.

• Vote YES on March 3 for the TPS bond.

• Sign on to mentor or read with a student at a local school. Commit to as little as one hour a week, and be consistent. Ask the student about their goals and interests, and what progress they’re making to stay on track.

Want more stories from Molly? Check out her cover stories on Dr. Deborah Gist and Oklahoma filmmaker Sterlin Harjo.