Activists push to close gap in test scores for minorities

Charlotte Observer ^ | January 16, 2004 | Ann Doss Helms

[southernnorthcarolina]

This article pertains to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg (NC) public schools, but it is applicable to many other public school systems. A great deal of attention is being given to "the gap," but less to overall achievement. I wonder why...

A coalition of activists gathered at the Marshall Park statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Thursday and urged Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to close longstanding test-score gaps between minority and white students.

The recent release of CMS's first-ever results on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, often known as the nation's report card, highlighted that gap: White students were three to five times as likely to earn "proficient" scores as black and Hispanic students. The tests, called NAEP, were in reading and math.

Speakers from the Black Political Caucus, Swann Fellowship, Nubian Rootz Cultural Center, Hispanic Democrats of Mecklenburg County and League of Women Voters cast their case in the context of historic civil rights struggles: 2004 is the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down "separate but equal" schools.

And the news conference was held shortly after a wreath-laying ceremony to mark King's 75th birthday.

"Here we are now, in 2004, battling some of the same challenges that existed back in the 1800s, 1900s," said Ahmad Daniels of the caucus. "This is not a black issue. It's not a white issue. It's an American issue."

Speakers called on everyone from employers to elected officials to work together to end achievement gaps, racial and economic isolation in schools, and even poverty.

In 33 of 133 Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools, at least three-quarters of the students are poor enough to qualify for lunch subsidies. At 12 schools, the poverty level is 90 percent or higher.

"Research shows that high-poverty schools tax teachers to the breaking point," said Steve Johnston, executive director of the Swann Fellowship, named for the family that sued to desegregate CMS. "They create immense barriers for students. They raise educational costs."

The solution, Johnston said, lies not in "shipping poor children where they are not welcome," but in rallying employers to pay wages that lift workers out of poverty.

Germán De Castro of the Hispanic Democrats and Beth Springston of the League of Women Voters said elected officials must make sure all schools get money to provide the best possible education.

"We cannot afford to create second-class citizens in this country," De Castro said.

When Superintendent James Pughsley has spoken about the national test scores, he has acknowledged the score gaps and said they're linked to gaps in parent involvement and teacher qualifications. He says the district plans to focus on both, by reaching out to families and trying to get more highly trained and experienced teachers into high-poverty schools.

Richard McElrath, a retired CMS teacher who spoke at Thursday's news conference, said the score gaps can't be pinned on minority students and families, but on a system that has shortchanged them for decades. He urged CMS to get more black students into advanced classes.

"You can't solve the problem with money," McElrath said. "It's got to do with the will of the Board of Education to be fair and equitable."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Test Scores

Percentages of CMS students who scored "proficient" or better on the National Assessment of Educational Progress in 2003:

GRADE 4 READING

White: 52%

Black: 14%

Hispanic: 15%

GRADE 4 MATH

White: 66%

Black: 20%

Hispanic: 26%

GRADE 8 READING

White: 49%

Black: 14%

Hispanic: 14%

GRADE 8 MATH

White: 55%

Black: 11%

Hispanic: 18%

[southernnorthcarolina]

I suppose we could adopt the California model, and dumb down the tests. Voila (or, since I'm boycotting French words, I suppose I should say "Walla!") -- every group scores over 90%, and like Lake Woebegone, all of our children are above average!

[southernnorthcarolina]

Of course, I flunk 4th grade reading comprehension by my inability to correctly copy the word "minority" in the headline...

[cynicom]

In local school (NC) they graduate students that cannot read or write above elementary level. No kids left behind, graduate them all.

[Blue Screen of Death]

Arn't Asians a minority? Or, do we ignore the fact that there are minorities that not only do well, but usually outperform those nasty old white people.

[chachacha]

The minorities have been surrounded by those who've programmed them to believe the world has treated them unjustly and, they don't stand a chance short of civil unrest. In this subject they have become experts in and out of the classroom. They turned off the very system that is trying to help them.

Hats off to the NAACP, Jacksons, Simpsons, Sharptons, Farakans, McKinneys, Waters, black Preachers and pastors, muslims, gangster rap, Black Caucus and even their own mean spirited racist families.

No pity here.

[southernnorthcarolina]

Damn, I hate to make a typo in a headline. Those I make in the text are bad enough, but this looks awful. Any way you can change "monorities" to "minorities"?

[per loin]

Shhh! IQ is illegal.

[southernnorthcarolina]

[MediaMole]

All parents in this "school district" should be up in arms. These scores are all pathetic. This isn't what percentage of kids get A's, but what percentage can READ.

Any school that has less than half their students reading proficiently by 8th grade is a total failure.

These activists have to get over their racial monomania and do something to improve the schools overall.

[Dionysius]

They don't care if they actually do better, only that their test scores imply as much. It is the fault of the test, not the testee. Just as their leaders once sold them into slavery, their leaders now are dooming them to permanent underclassdom.

[Pat Shuff]

Here is a link to a fellow from an
iconoclastic viewpoint of test score
gaps. It has been said that in any
academic debate an ounce of algebra
is worth a ton of verbal argument.


http://www.lagriffedulion.f2s.com/gap.htm

[Charles Henrickson]

Activists push to close gap in test scores for minorities

Well, good! So they must be pushing for things like:

* Minority-American men and women waiting until marriage to have children, so those children can be raised in a stable two-parent family

* Minority-American parents (especially fathers) spending time with their children, reading with them, instilling proper moral values in them, etc.

* Minority-American parents (especially fathers) making their kids turn off the television and hit the books.

* The Minority-American community attaching shame and stigma to crime, illegitimacy, drug use, etc. No more excusing those destructive forces, or fixing blaming elsewhere.

* The Minority-American community turning off and denouncing gangstaz, playuhz, and violence-spouting, women-debasing rappers and hip-hop artists.

Those things would make an impact.

But wait! There must be some mistake! I didn't read about any of those things in this article. Hmmm...

[17th Miss Regt]

Also, change a culture that derides studying and hard work as 'white' and 'sellout'.

[sarasmom]

Exactly.

I guess the only people Martin L.King,Jr. convinced with his argument that people should be judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin, were stupid to dream an impossible dream.

Odd that the media continues to highlight the loud leftist opinions of radical black racists, as if all black people held an official secret "black only" election, and voted for their race based spokepersons.

Similar to how the "female" point of view is supposed to be represented by the insane comments of the NOW.

Hmmmm

[OldFriend]

The powers that be have already added 100 pts. to the SAT

What next!

[Huber]

Want to raise minority test scores in Charlotte? Implement a voucher program in NC!

[sgtbono2002]

School systems all over the country have been trying to close this gap for years now and they are getting closer because now even white kids cant read when they leave Middle school.

[Coleus]

`

[neutrino]

A coalition of activists gathered at the Marshall Park statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Thursday and urged Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to close longstanding test-score gaps between minority and white students.

Great idea! And as soon as they come up with some concrete proposals on how to accomplish so worthy an end, they should implement their ideas. If the ideas work, their fortunes will surely be made!

[truthandjustice1]

"but in rallying employers to pay wages that lift workers out of poverty"

It appears that the smarter the society, the more it loses out to Government mandated programs that promote dummy up smart down policies.