Commentary
If white kids were on the other side of the achievement gap
by Daniel JettMost Minnesotans would agree that it's in the state's interest to operate integrated and equitable schools in which all students succeed. But we are largely failing to do so.
Look at the numbers: over the past five years, according to research by the Minnesota Minority Education Partnership, students of color and American Indian students were two to five times as likely to drop out of school as their white peers.
It's commendable that Minnesota's white students beat the national graduation rate average by 6 percentage points in 2005. But in that same year, students of color and American Indians in Minnesota finished 10 to 17 points below the national average.
More than half of the combined students of color in the state either fail to graduate from high school or don't graduate on time; only about 4 percent of white students encounter such difficulties. Readiness for college as reflected through ACT test scores shows similar racial disparities: While 59 percent of white students demonstrated college readiness on algebra test scores, only 38 percent of American Indian, 34 percent of Latinos and 16 percent of African-American students did so.
Forgive me, but I can't help wondering what might happen if those figures were reversed. If white students were at the bottom of the education achievement ladder, how might Minnesota and its state leaders react?
Would there be any debate about the need to move quickly? Because of the urgency of the problem, might there not be a special session of the Legislature to ensure that adequate resources were available to address it? Wouldn't the state link arms with the business community to form a protective shield around failing white students, bolstering economic investment to rescue a precious human resource?
But we're talking about African-American, Hispanic, Asian and American Indian children, and unfortunately the pace of education reform is slow for these students. While we await action by the state, yet another generation of these students is in danger of reaching the age of majority without a high school diploma, without a college degree, without the skills needed to work in Minnesota's celebrated high technology enterprises.
This is bad news for all Minnesotans. Without trained workers who are proficient in English, who love math and science and can function in a culturally diverse environment, the state's aging population will become increasingly dependent on young workers who earn less money, pay fewer taxes and are more likely to need government assistance.
To make matters worse, Minnesota is becoming re-segregated. Prof. Myron Orfield at the University of Minnesota's Institute on Race and Poverty points out in a new study: "As racial diversity expands in the metropolitan area, different communities of color are mixing with each other in nonwhite segregated schools and neighborhoods but not with whites."
Integration aims to ensure equity throughout our society, and education tries to foster academic excellence. If those two goals are combined, as many of us believe they should be in Minnesota's schools, the achievement gap can be narrowed considerably over time. But if the goal of having all children achieve at high levels is left to chance or largely unaddressed, the status quo is reinforced and the gap gets larger, not smaller.
How might the current system be changed? Perhaps we can answer that question by imagining, again, what might happen if the racial disparities were reversed. Wouldn't additional resources be allocated to ensure the success of white students? Wouldn't our educational structures be carefully examined to determine whether systemic patterns might be contributing to the achievement gap? Might regional integration districts or other entities be charged with providing services and support, such as advanced teacher training, to all school districts in the state?
Why is it in the state's interest to have successfully integrated and equitable schools where all students succeed? And why should we care? Because, when large numbers of children -- in this case, children of color and American Indian students -- fail in school, their lack of success comes back to haunt them and us: in increased taxes for homeowners, in the disruption of social cohesion and in the nagging sense that we simply haven't measured up to our own ideals for all students.
Daniel L. Jett is superintendent of the West Metro Education Program (WMEP), which operates FAIR School Crystal and FAIR School Downtown in Minneapolis, as well as The Choice is Yours Program.
Comments (11)
This premise is interesting, but false.
We can't legislate every problem and it's known amongst teachers that the largest problems with student achievement is their home life.
How do we make laws that will make people be involved parents?
thank you david d for saying it so eloquently. my thoughts were with sarcasm, and not enough reserve.
...legislate us! free us from our freedom! freedom to succeed or to fail. freedom from success or failure, as students OR parents.
By the time most students get to high school, their ability and desire to do well in school is largely predetermined. Pumping more money into high school education for minorities is probably not the right answer. Concentrated effort for early childhood and elementary Ed. may be more effective.
David,
Involved teachers and an active community can help compensate for a bad home life.
The answer to the achievement gap can not be to throw up our hands and say little can be done.
The quality of our workforce and strength of our whole economy are part of what is at stake.
If the numbers were reversed we would be calling in the National Guard to read to our children. Let's not kids ourselves here, folks. Look at the numbers, the demographics, the school funding, and then point fingers.
I find the previous readers' premise that minority students are all suffering from a negative home life unsubstantiated and insulting. Communities with larger minority populations are more likely to be economically poor. Poverty does not always equal a poor home environment, but it does mean lower property value and lower property taxes. Funding schools with community-based property taxes and then expecting schools with a lower resource pool to measure up to schools with a larger resource pool is ridiculous. It is unfortunate that this affects students of color disproportionately. It is not easy or practical to 'redistribute' wealth, but it would be practical and beneficial for all students to rethink public school funding.
It is disheartening to read such a poorly reasoned argument from a professional educator and to see the same old guilt-mongering and imputed racism trundled out to support the same tired conclusion that "more public money for my profession will solve the problem." Obviously if the children of the majority ethnic group (European-descended, not "white") were failing, the majority would pay more attention to the problem. The reasons for differential performance among ethnic groups lie in a complex of psychological, historical and cultural factors (are all "students of color", including Chinese- and Indian-descended students failing?) and the way forward, I believe, lies in patiently addressing these complexities. Engaging in simplistic ethnic categorization and finger pointing only serves to further alienate those among the electorate who are justifiably fed up with the kind of reflexive characterisations and (forgive me) self-interested solutions Mr. Jett is peddling.
I am one of that 4 percent of poor white trash that is included in the stats of with other minorities. It is the home life and it is the culture. More money will not fix the problem because you do not understand the problem. I was one of those students who was just pushed through the system. My high school dipoloma was nothing more than a gift that I accepted because of an obligation to my fathers last words to me. I did go on after High School and graduated with a 3.5 avg. from what is now known as South Central College and Ridgewater College. I was a little smarter than everyone thought including myself. The one thing that was obvious to me in both Colleges was my lack of understanding in Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic.
There is a well known pattern in which higher IQ ethnic groups (e.g. whites to a lesser degree , and Jews, high-caste Asian-Indians and East Asians to a greater degree) demonstrate higher academic achievement (because of course smarter students tend to do better in school) and so then they achieve higher socioeconomic positions. These smarter more prosperous people tend to marry each other and then they tend to have smarter children since IQ is a strongly heritable mental trait (proven by many cognitive scienitists including Minnesota's own Professor Thomas Bouchard). Conversely ethnic groups with lower average IQs (e.g. blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, Hmong etc.) tend to have lower academic achievement, and then lower socioeconomic position etc.
So the premise of Daniel Jett's surmise is all goofed-up and incomplete. If whites really were the ethnic group who had lower academic achievement then they would also be the group with lower IQs and lower socioeconomic status--therefore the whites would not be the group that would have the most power and influence. Instead the blacks, Native Americans and Hispanics would be holding the positions of power and then these higher IQ groups would presumably be worrying about trying to accomplish the impossible task of raising the academic achievement level of the lower IQ white group.
I disagree with the studies of congnitive scientists that I.Q. is inheritable. Historically our greastest achievers and mental giants would seem to lean the other direction giving credence to adversity being the mother of invention. Ben Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Barrack Obama, and Malcom X came from humble beginnings. These four have something in common, they made themselves. On the other hand Socio-economic status has also been shown to be a great influence on success. This was my point on my previous comment. I had an above avg. I.Q. but due to my enviroment it was never fully developed. I.Q. is nothing more than ones ability to learn, it is used to gain knowledge and with that experience creates wisdom. The evidence I have that enviroment is the most important is the special education programs for retarded children and the results of this special attention. Prior to the 1960's the mentally retarded were burdens to society and their families, unable to take care of themselves. I have witnessed transformations that could have been viewed as miracles.
How to close the achievement gap:
1. Stop packing students in classrooms like sardines. Mandate a ratio that is research based, based on the curriculum and necessary EA assistance to the teacher.
2. Mandate parent involvement in schools that are parents choice. There are districts in other states that do this.
3. Provide mentor programs for new teachers and pointed professional development for teachers.
4. Update technology in every building and classroom (promethian boards, ELMO's, projectors, wireless labs.)
5. Always have the highest standards set for every child, parent, teacher and administrator with necessary and sustainable accountability--not watchdogs.
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