Doris H. Sperling

Doris Louise Hyman Sperling died peacefully just shy of turning 89 years old on May 13, 2020 in the Ann Arbor, Michigan area where she had gone to college, worked, and raised her family for almost 70 years. Doris was born in Mount Vernon, New York but grew up in Miami Beach, Florida where her family moved when she was a young child during the Great Depression. She met the love of her life, Lawrence Sperling as they both traveled by train to start their freshman year at the University of Michigan in the fall of 1949. They married on their graduation day, June 13, 1953. They were married for over 65 years, until his passing on August 3, 2018. She would tell her children that the strength of their remarkable marriage lied not in them having the exact same hobbies and interests, but in their deep and never-ending respect and support for the passions and pursuits of each other. They sought to hold each other every night even when they were at odds due to a squabble to remind themselves daily of how much they cherished each other. Her husband’s admiration for her commitment to ensuring all children – regardless of income or race – had the same chance to achieve, thrive and think creatively was overwhelming. She was deeply committed to racial and economic justice – a commitment that grew out of her disgust as a child at seeing the daily degradation of segregation in Florida in the late1930s and 1940s. She instilled that commitment in her children from their earliest years, in what was discussed at the dinner table, shared from her work, and in the multitudes of activities she encouraged.

Doris Sperling was an extraordinary innovator and educator in the Ann Arbor public schools for over 40 years. She was literally decades ahead of her time in her ideas, commitment and work to address the racial achievement gap, promote individualized learning, education and the arts, and classroom assessment that was ongoing and collaborative between and teachers, parents and students.

Doris was a main driver of the creation of the Ann Arbor’s Open School and one of the first teachers in the school. She believed a teacher could bring all her children into a common, high-expectations and supportive classroom that still allowed each student an individualized educational path that would best excite their passion for learning and reaching their potential. For Doris, high expectations and rigor went hand-in-hand with creativity and helping young people find their passions for learning. She never liked coloring books or anything else that encouraged children to draw within the pre-set lines because she wanted every young artist to draw on their own vision and creativity. She demanded out of-the-box thinking of her students, her children and herself. In Doris Sperling’s public school classrooms, her students created and ran their own governments, went on field trips to Montreal, overnight camping trips to learn geology, and dressed up and made presentations as historical figures – and these were elementary school classrooms! If a reluctant learner was so inspired by a science or history project that they wanted to throw themselves at it for days -- she thought it was a crime to tell them to stop. She would work closely to help that student reach new personal heights of excellence in their passion, while helping them devise an individual plan to catch up on the daily work they might have missed. If that meant she had to spend more hours helping each student succeed – well that was her passion.

It was a common sight in the Sperling kitchen to see tears and more tears streaming down her face as she read yet another letter from a parent telling her that before their child had been in her classroom they had hated school, but because of her, they now loved learning and were now on their way to college. For Doris, this was worth more than any award or recognition. This was everything to her.

As a pioneer in what she called “collaborative assessment” in the classroom, Doris would say that focusing on traditional educational testing was often like teaching doctors to tell whether their patient had lived or died – instead of how to assess where one is and how they can to do better. She believed that if teachers made goals clear, students could all be empowered to participate in the ongoing assessment of their own learning and growth in the classroom – and it would be easier for parents to participate as well. Doris was the first educator in the nation hired to a full-time executive position to encourage this type of classroom assessment for an entire school district. In later years, she trained hundreds of teachers in such effective assessment and published several articles in key education journals.

In addition to her dedication to the classroom, Doris Sperling was an amazingly successful ‘social entrepreneur’ in education – before that term was even coined. She a major founder of three organizations that still thrive today: the Ann Arbor Open School, the Ann Arbor Young People’s Theatre and the Family Learning Institute (FLI). Her founding of the Ann Arbor Young People’s Theatre was no doubt the inspiration for the nationally recognized Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit that was founded and run for 27 years by her son Rick. (And, of course, in Mosaic’s early years, Doris often painted sets, made costumes and housed performers). On August 29, 2019, fifty students from the Ann Arbor Young Peoples Theatre did a special performance for her in her honor. (See picture below)

Doris not only co-founded FLI but was the visionary force behind the creation and implementation of its vision for enhancing educational performance and self-confidence in all young people. The FLI model she created was designed to ensure that young people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds who fell behind two grades or more in their reading, could get the individualized tutoring they needed – in a safe and supportive place, off-campus, and with privacy to ensure they felt no shame or stigma. She insisted that every student also participate in “the writing table” – so that from the start each young person at FLI connected the ability to read with the power to write. The results have been amazing. Almost 90% of the children who have gone through FLI have gained back up to two years of reading in a single year – which led FLI to be recognized by the Carnegie Foundation as one of the nation’s top youth organization. Her work for FLI led her to be chosen as one of Ann Arbors Citizens of the Year. In September of 2019, the Family Learning Institute named their center the Doris H. Sperling Family Learning Center. (See picture below)

Her husband Larry would often say that he never saw anything more exhausting that Doris Sperling in “retirement.” She not only co-founded and set up FLI in her retirement years, but she went back to be its Executive Director at the age of 77 to rescue it and set it on a sounder course. She never stopped tutoring and mentoring several young people every year and often volunteered overnight in homeless shelters. She was an excellent painter who studied art in college (with a major in Art History), sold many of her paintings at the Ann Arbor Art Fair – and continued to paint until near the end of her life. Doris also loved horses and considered horseback riding with her daughter Anne as one of her greatest sources of joy. While she would have preferred a little less yelling at referees through the TV, she was at every Michigan football game cheering loudly for over six decades with her husband, children and occasionally, grandchildren. Her out-of-the box creativity was seen by her grandchildren every summer, as she would host all of them at “Camp Sperling” – in which she would put together a dazzling list of new and creative activities for a week– creating memories that each grandchild treasures still today.

In her final days, she was comforted on a daily basis by her children, 15 grandchildren and 4 greatgrandchildren who drew loving responses from her as they spoke to her, sang to her and told her how much they loved her and how much she had inspired them and shaped their lives for the better. Doris is survived by her children, Mike Sperling and wife Peggy Kirkeeng, Gene Sperling and wife, Allison Abner, Anne Sperling and husband Ethan Israelsohn; Rick Sperling and partner Marian Short and by JoAnn and Steven Spencer. She is also survived by 15 grandchildren, Ezra Israelsohn, Noemi Israelsohn, Ana Duperron-Sperling, Cecelia Sperling, Erik Sperling (Crystal), Jackie Sperling-Hosseini (Evan), Rachel Sperling Leonard (Jonathan), Natalie Sperling (Marco), Sloane Spencer, Jamal Spencer (Rhonda), Andaiye Spencer, Miles French, Nina Sperling, Derick Chapman (Madeline), and Samantha Chapman. Lastly, she was survived by her great-grandchildren, Juliana Hosseini, Zoe Hosseini, Maxwelle Leonard, and Sofia Lopez. Doris was deeply devoted to her siblings who have all also passed away as well as her nieces and nephews: her twin brother, Tom, her older sister Rita (Lee, Ellen, Gary) and her older brother Ted (Wesley, Hayes, Glenn, Alyson).

The Sperling family is grateful beyond words to so many caregivers who were by her side over the last few years and cherished, honored and deeply cared for her. Those wishing to honor Doris Sperling, can contribute to the Doris H. Sperling Family Learning Center at the Family Learning Institute http://familylearninginstitute.org as they strive – as she would have wanted – to ensure that even this pandemic does not keep the children she dedicated her life to from reaching their potential and dreams.

For information about an upcoming digital memorial service, please email [email protected]