Posted on 09/23/2013 4:25:56 PM PDT by Altura Ct.
Even if they come from affluent families or attend highly rated schools, black students in Ohio continue to lag far behind their white peers in school, according to a Dispatch analysis of data from state standardized exams.
On more than two dozen state tests given to students in kindergarten through high school last year, the average passage rate among black students was 64 percent. On average, 87 percent of white students passed.
Disparities between races have existed across the country since schools were physically divided by race, researchers say, but many now view those gaps largely as a product of high poverty among minorities.
In Ohio, though, wide race gaps persist even on a level economic field.
Average passing rates among affluent white students last year topped those of affluent black students by 16 percentage points. Poor, white students outperformed black students from poor and wealthy families.
Disparities between races had been narrowing until about five years ago, data show, but the numbers have changed little since then. Now, amid a renewed focus on the topic, schools face increasing pressure to close gaps.
New state report cards penalized schools this year if certain student groups, including racial minorities, didn’t improve enough over a year. Schools that have long earned high overall marks received D’s and F’s in that area.
At the same time, parents of black students have formed groups in their districts to advocate for minority children. Groups in Westerville, Dublin and Olentangy schools have gathered steam in recent years.
“There are clearly divisions along ethnic lines within the district,” said Vaughn Bell, a Westerville parent who revived a defunct group for black parents last year. “I do believe that schools are failing our African-American students.”
Racial disparities go beyond income, experts say, but wealth plays a role.
The poverty rate among blacks in the U.S. –– 25.8 percent, according to Census data –– is higher than any other race except Native Americans. Poor families, in turn, more often face lower-quality preschool options, researchers say.
“These gaps are traceable back to early-childhood education,” said Shaun Harper, the director of the University of Pennsylvania Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education. “If kids show up in kindergarten not having had high-quality instruction in preschool, they’re already starting behind.”
Coupled with teachers who lack the training to help, gaps remain, Harper said.
Beyond poverty, though, some say schools set the bar too low for minorities.
“We expect less of our low-income students and students of color,” said Natasha Ushomirsky, senior data and policy analyst for Education Trust, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit group that works to close achievement gaps.
Studies have found that black and Latino students are less likely to be placed in advanced courses, even if they show promise in a subject. Minority students are also more likely to be taught by less-experienced teachers.
“Our school system is set up in a way that makes these gaps worse rather than making them better,” Ushomirsky said.
Where students live is as important as family income in Ohio, said Damon Asbury, legislative director for the Ohio School Boards Association. Minorities are more likely to live in high concentrations of poverty, he said, while poor, white students might live in safer areas with more public resources.
“All people can learn,” Asbury said. “It’s not the individual; it’s the circumstances they often find themselves in.”
The consequences of achievement gaps can be crushing.
For example, 61 percent of black students in Ohio pass the third-grade reading test, compared with 87 percent of white students.
That’s important because one study found that students who don’t read proficiently by third grade are four times less likely to graduate by age 19. It’s 19 times less likely for poor students who don’t read well by third grade.
“There are huge personal ramifications to the students themselves,” Ushomirsky said. “Too many kids are either not graduating high school at all, or they’re graduating not prepared to do what they want to do next.”
Some of the widest gaps in Ohio are in urban schools, which have long struggled to improve scores among large minority populations.
In 2010, less than 5 percent of black students passed the Ohio third-grade reading exam at Lincoln Park Elementary, a majority black school at the time. More than 70 percent of white students at the Columbus school passed.
But even in suburban districts, including Dublin, Worthington and Westerville, there are schools where whites routinely outperform blacks by wide margins.
Some schools have added more minority teachers, which parents are lobbying for in Westerville.
“The overwhelming number of teachers are white; they connect better with white students than minority students,” said Bell, of the parent group.
McVay Elementary School in Westerville has had some of the widest gaps in third-grade reading proficiency between black and white students for the past five years. The smallest gap in that period was 20 percentage points.
“When you’re talking about a racial gap, it’s a pretty uncomfortable subject,” Principal Amy Miller said. “But you have to just say, ‘This is our data and it’s telling us something matters here, and we need to figure out what to do about it.’ ”
This year, teachers at McVay are working to pinpoint more quickly where individual students –– not groups –– need help. That approach helped at nearby Annehurst Elementary, which the state has honored for closing gaps.
McVay also added a reading specialist to help students, and the school is focusing on third-grade reading. Teachers, too, are having open discussions about race and breaking down preconceived notions. Miller believes that those changes will help.
Ultimately, though, there is no magic bullet.
Some experts such as Ushomirsky argue for school-level solutions, such as pairing top teachers with low-performing students. Harper says governments need to invest more in minority neighborhoods. Both agree that the stakes are clear.
“If we don’t do something about these inequities, the long-term consequences for our economy are enormous,” Harper said. “Inevitably we will see more poverty, more crime and so on.” cbinkley@dispatch.com
Culture.
Wow, race based school hiring.
Gee, what happened 5 years ago? Maybe we have more of an entitlement mentality.
But, it helps sop up the poorly educated liberals. They can teach pre-K level stuff.
Wow, talk about not trusting your family. Also, congratulations on your successes. What are your books on and what were your businesses?
If you want to make certain your kids are solid conservatives and morally straight keep them out of government school until at least 5th grade. By that time kids have internalized their culture and rarely reject it.
No, it is not. Given similar family situations, white kids will do just as poorly in school as minority kids.
I believe the single most important thing, from birth, up to middle school, is a parent or family member who will READ to a child. In this day and age, where every school has a library, and every town has a public library, there is no reason for a child not to have some book or another to read, or which can be read to him.
When a child is a good reader, the world opens up, and anyone can be self-taught, if the culture around him values intelligence and education, and not necessarily that which occurs within a school building.
They actually did well. Remember South Africa?
Working Americans are delaying their childbearing because they are heavily taxed to subsidize the careless. Maybe that is the evolutionary strategy that is favored (shudder) under the current circumstances.
Since there are no genes for social problems, evolution has nothing to do with it.
But evolution is a handy word, isn't it? Evolution can be inserted into a sentence just about anywhere. "evolution favors basketball fans over cricket fans in America, that's why have more of them, blah blah". If you replaced the word "evolution" with "magic" or "aliens" it would sound just as convincing.
I have never lived around blacks so don’t pretend to know why they don’t excel at school as a group.
The other group with issues according to this article is Native Americans, which I grew up with and went through school with. The biggest issue I saw with NAs when it came to school was the parents did not put any emphasis on school so the children had no support at home. I think parental support is critical, children need to be told over and over that learning is important and parents need to make sure they have supplies they need, help with homework- whatever it takes. Children also need the praise of parents when they do well at school and help when they are struggling. If parents and other adults in a child’s life do not act as though school is important then the child does not see it that way either. I have rarely seen books in homes of NAs, books of any type- usually no magazines, no adult books, no children’s books, nothing to read. I did notice if there were books in a NAs home, their children did do well at school. In contrast when I go to homes of poor whites there usually are books, a few children’s books, maybe comic books, some adult reading- at least tabloids, some type of woman’s magazines- something to read.
We have an issue here with children of illegal aliens struggling with school (most due to language issues in the beginning of course but even after learning English) and most illegals could care less how their children do at school so they have no parental support either. There was one girl with IA parents that did have a burning desire to learn and her parents did support education and in fact told her every day that the way to live better was to get an education. That girl excelled at school, teachers helped her because they saw that burning desire to learn, she did very well, graduated at the top of her class, earned scholarships to college and is doing well now.
I have to wonder if the issues with black children struggling at school does not have more to do with what is going on at home than what is going on at school. I have yet to see a teacher ignore a student that comes to school enthused about learning, and has a real desire to do well, and has parental support to help them succeed- no matter what race that child is.
It is not about income. It is not about location. It is about attitude.
I’m sure the average freeper and the average citizen never went to preschool....
not that there aren't really smart black people because there's a ton, a lot smarter than me for sure...
The truth is, black teachers spend more time with black students because they connect with them. White teachers spend more time with the black students to prove they're not raciest. The white children have to rely on their parents and one another for help.
The novels:
My first business manufactured jewelry and was called Gryphon Cottage Inc. It ran for seven years.
The second was Technical Service Associates and I leased employees to military contractors. (Don’t deal with the government!)
Somehow ... way back when ... I developed a love of reading.
Reading was an escape and an education and just damned interesting.
I can't put my finger on one person or event or anything that "did" that to me, but .. I've always loved to read.
People reading to kids are just a live TV.
If this is the case then we don't need political forums like Free Republic. Biology predestines us to be either sensible conservatives or liberal moonbats. No point arguing about it.
Anything is possible, but that would be depressing. It would be the end of what's left of US civilization if Jeopardy were rigged.
“Given similar family situations, white kids will do just as poorly in school as minority kids.”
At the very least, this appears to be an unproven assertion.
From the article: "Poor, white students outperformed black students from poor and wealthy families."
Charles Murray's recent book shows that “family situations” for poor whites are in a state of advanced deterioration (lack of marriage, high illegitimacy, low final educational achievement, poor work histories, etc.). Thus, it's unlikely that these poor whites are outperforming blacks because of overall better "family situations."
sitetest
The argument is as old as the ancient Greeks; i.e. nature versus nurture. I come down on the nature side. Those who study intelligence feel it is about 80% genetic. However, I feel it gets worse for the blacks as another curse in their demographic is poor impulse control, another biologically based trait.(Thomas Carlyle noticed this in the 1840’s; “a race singularily deficient in self governance.”) The trillions we have spent trying to improve the lot in life for blacks has obviously been wasted. Some say they are worse off today than say 50 years ago. The solution to the problem will be biological. There are already some medicines that seem to increase intelligence. That ultimately will be the solution. For those who point out Condi Rice; that is no argument as intelligence is a normal curve implying some blacks will be at the upper end. However, the black normal curve is shifted lower on the average.
Another story is of course the ongoing cultural collapse of Western Culture which is increasing anarchy. However, as stated that is another story.
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