Question 1:
Age: 49
Occupation: Public Affairs Director, DC Vote
Education: BA, Business Administration, The University of the District of Columbia
Qualifications for office sought: A native Washingtonian, Eugene Dewitt Kinlow resides in the Bellevue neighborhood of Ward 8. He attended Patterson and Leckie Elementary Schools, Hart Jr. High School and Ballou Senior High School ('79), and is a graduate of the University of the District of Columbia where he earned a degree in Business Administration.
Kinlow has been involved in education and community affairs for more than 20 years. He currently works for DC Vote, where he serves as the Public Affairs Director.
Kinlow is a board member of the University of DC Foundation and the Anacostia Coordinating Council. He is the advisory board chair of the DC Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services and board member for College Bound. He is a trustee of the Historic Society of Washington, and a past board member of Cultural Tourism. Kinlow is board member and Vice Chairperson of the Washington East Foundation, a board member of the Workers Rights Board and a member of the Poplar Point Development Taskforce. Mr. Kinlow is also a past chair of the Political Action Committee of the DC NAACP.
In 2008, Kinlow was a Democratic Convention delegate for Barack Obama.
Kinlow previously served as a trustee of the University of DC, where he served as Secretary and Chair of the Facilities Committee. While there he worked to create a DC's first Community College. As chair of the Facilities Committee, he worked to secure space and anchors for the Community College downtown, in Ward 5 (Backus) and in Ward 8 (Pat Roberts Harris). He is former president of the Bellevue Civic Association and a past president of the Ward 8 Democrats.
Kinlow is married to former At-large School Board member, Tonya Kinlow. They have two children, Tiye, a graduate of the School Without Walls High School (SWW), and Eugene, who will graduate from SWW in June 2011.
Question 2 - What State Board of Education policies would you advocate? As a State Board of Education member, I would advocate for policies that make our Ward 8 schools safer, that deliver equitable resources to raise overall academic standards in our schools and promote policies to encourage job-skill development and success. I would also vigorously pursue policies that govern the particular needs of special education and vocational education students. Further, I would advocate for those proposals that engage and support parental involvement, facilitate teacher performance and accountability, and create supports to effect quality education.
I would advocate for policies that seek to address the societal and cultural challenges in our communities. While much is spent on the infrastructure to house and educate our youth, the issues of truancy, (at whose base poverty, dysfunction and generational road blocks are the culprits), lead to ever-higher numbers of school drop outs. We must consider more wholly the well-being of our children and find ways to insure that our youth take full advantage of the in-school experience and couple this with an aggressive and comprehensive anti-truancy enforcement strategy. Our schools must become safe harbors, so that real learning can take place.
We must promote standards that associate teacher quality with quality public education. We must insist on teacher development opportunities that include training, certifications and other value added supports. Our teachers must be held accountable to standards that are reflective of student achievement and accomplishment.
Question 3 - What are the major challengers to implementing the common core standards of learning? Even though every child is created equal, their circumstances are not⏤and our schools are not. The greatest challenge to meeting Common Core Standards are those standards that neither adequately anticipate or adjust for gaps in student performance, nor magically re-write the resource driven equation that is often the source for variances in how our youth perform. These standards sometimes penalize students and schools, recipients of historically failing systems, who have to travel a tremendous distance to reach the golden standard.
A source of the tension in implementing core standards are produced by a disconnect between content and context. Some believe that all minds operate at the same speed in the same way, and that all environments are conducive to learning. I believe that drafters of the standards rely too much on content rather than exploring concepts and ideals to uncover true understanding and learning. Teachers must be familiar with all tools, materials and resources at their disposal to effect comprehensive understanding of the curricula.
Does learning rely on content or does context launch our youth toward real subject mastery? I believe that sharing cooperative content with an emphasis on discovery and novel approaches will allow students to make more meaningful connections with the content and thus promote meaningful understanding.
Another challenge is implementation of stated goals. In order to implement the full range of standards, the DCPS will need to infuse the current educational system with Common Core standards.
Questions 4 - Should high school students be required to have a semester of DC history and government? I support teaching DC history and government for a number of reasons. As a long time advocate for local history (Cultural Tourism and the Historical Society of Washington), I know that living in or near this great city leaves an indelible mark upon each of us.
Washington DC is an interesting nexus of local, regional, national and international history. In DC, history is made each and every day. Proximity to such news and history-making cannot be understated in their impact on those who live in the city; it provides for greater reflection on one's role in the world.
History can also be used to shape and guide students into future leaders and model citizens. This importance of teaching DC history can be examined in greater detail by looking at how history is being "treated" in Texas textbooks, a presumed model for other states. The adage "history is written by the victor" is currently being upended by the revisionist, formerly Confederate state. In Texas textbooks it is argued, the Civil War was not largely about slavery, but rather about economics and property rights. By this example (and a similar textbook in Virginia) local and national history is being re-written and re-told in a way to reinforce the leanings of many in the state. Truth and fact take a back seat to personal or regional bias. We are confident that objective historians and history teachers will share DC's unique status as a non-state, non-territory and explore its unique relationship with the rest of the union and the world.
Questions 5 - Is there a role for the State Board of Education in making charter schools accountable? An important aspect of the State Board's role is to ensure that there are rigorous learning standards in place by which all public and public charter schools are held accountable. The Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) has authority over DC charters and is responsible for state and federal compliance. It is their responsibility to keep schools accountable through specified targets. OSSE has the power reconstitute or close failing schools and also publishes an annual performance report Oversight of charter schools are found in the "No Child Left Behind Act" and other federal compliance mandates, The greater Charter authority resides in the Public Charter School Board, which has the authority to approve charter applications and to revoke charters, which provides the DC State Board of Education almost no authority in enforcing accountability.
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