Richard McDorman’s position on the use of African American English (AAE) in the public schools, publicly announced on December 6, 2010:
I believe that optimal learning outcomes can only be reached by explicitly acknowledging the distinctiveness and validity of both AAE and Standard English (SE). A primary goal of our schools should be the encouragement of full bidialectalism, which cannot be achieved unless the pedagogical framework includes a component that addresses AAE literature (both oral and written). To exclude such an important feature of the AAE linguaculture implies that AAE literature either does not exist or that it is of little value–neither of which is the case–and only risks perpetuating old stereotypes and myths about AAE.
