Time to talk about achievement gap
Friday, May 11. 2012
For at least three decades, politicians and education officials have been discussing and debating what to do about the “achievement gap.” It’s a difficult question. The fundamental issue is that minority students in the country — black and Hispanic — consistently underperform on standardized education tests. For some states, this isn’t a big issue. Wisconsin, for example, has a small black and Hispanic population of less than 13 percent. But for Georgia where blacks and Hispanics make up some 39 percent of the population, the lack of academic achievement by minorities is profoundly troubling. And because those students’ scores drag the entire state down statistically, it is an issue very much on the minds of policymakers in Georgia.
How wide is this gap?
On last year’s 8th Grade CRCT tests, 20 percent of Georgia’s black students and 16 percent of the state’s Hispanic students failed the Math section while only nine percent of white students failed. That difference was even more profound in Social Studies and Science where minorities failed at double the rate of white students.
And that doesn’t get better with age. At the high school level last year, over 50 percent of Georgia’s black students and over 40 percent of Hispanic students failed Math 1 and Math 2 End of Course Tests while less than 30 percent of white students failed.
In Barrow County, the story is much the same as the statewide results. In the 8th Grade, 28 percent of Barrow’s black students failed math on the CRCT last year compared to 12 percent of white students. Interestingly, Barrow’s Hispanic students did almost as well as white students with just a 13 percent failure rate. (Both white and black Barrow 8th Graders did worse than their respective peers in the state in math, however.)
At the high school level, it was much the same story. Local black students were particularly challenged as 62 percent failed the Math 1 test and 64 percent failed the Math 2 tests compared to 42 percent and 45 percent for local white high school students. Hispanic students also did poorly in their high school math results. (Black, Hispanic and white Barrow students all did worse than their peers across the state in math last year.)
But this just isn’t a math and science problem. Up through the 8th Grade, there isn’t as much of a gap evident between whites, Hispanics and blacks in reading or English & Language Arts on the CRCT. But once those students hit high school, major differences begin to show up.
Across the state, 26 percent of black students and 24 percent of Hispanic students failed the 9th Grade Literature EOCT compared to just 10 percent of Georgia’s white students. In Barrow County, the same pattern is evident; 27 percent of black students and 33 percent of Hispanic students failed the 9th Grade Literature EOCT compared to 16 percent of white students.
So it’s clear that an achievement gap does exist, but there is much disagreement as to why.
Some argue that the tests themselves are culturally biased and that minority students are discriminated against in subtle ways by lower expectations from teachers. Others suggest that the relative poverty rates are the main cause for the differences, especially the large number of back children born into households with no father.
Others argue that there are profound cultural differences within demographic groups and specifically, that the black and Hispanic cultures disdain education in general. Black students who show good academic skills are sometimes accused by their peers as “acting white.”
Whatever the cause, the lack of academic achievement by minority students has profound implications for the future. It affects the high school dropout rate and lowers the percentage of minority students who later go to college. All of that affects the poverty rate, the crime rate and the rate of unemployment.
It’s clear that if Georgia (and by extension Barrow County) is to achieve a higher level of academic achievement, it must improve that level of achievement within its minority population. The state’s overall academic averages will never move the needle upward so long as a high percentage of its minority population fails academically.
If there is any good news in this it’s that minority students in the state and locally are improving some on standardized tests. Nevertheless, a very high percentage of black and Hispanic students continue to vastly under perform their white and Asian peers. The gap is still there because white students are also doing better on those tests (and it’s not clear if perhaps the tests are being watered down to prevent such a high level of failure.)
This achievement gap is one of the biggest problems Georgia faces as it moves further into a century that will be dominated by technically demanding jobs that requires a more skilled workforce.
Unless our society finds a way to help minority students be more successful academically, there will be a growing economic and social segregation in the state and that will eventually erode our ability to compete for new jobs.
That isn’t just a school problem; it’s a community problem. And the first step toward fixing this problem is to acknowledge that it exists and to talk about it out in the open rather just in back rooms among academic leaders.
That’s difficult in a hypersensitive environment where many avoid public discussions of academic disparity within race and ethnic groups. Nobody wants to be labeled a “racist,” so those from both within the academic world and from the community at large tend to shy away from any kind of public discussion over the achievement gap.
But look at where non-discussion has gotten us.
Mike Buffington is co-publisher of the Barrow Journal. He can be reached at mike@mainstreetnews.com.
On last year’s 8th Grade CRCT tests, 20 percent of Georgia’s black students and 16 percent of the state’s Hispanic students failed the Math section while only nine percent of white students failed. That difference was even more profound in Social Studies and Science where minorities failed at double the rate of white students.
And that doesn’t get better with age. At the high school level last year, over 50 percent of Georgia’s black students and over 40 percent of Hispanic students failed Math 1 and Math 2 End of Course Tests while less than 30 percent of white students failed.
In Barrow County, the story is much the same as the statewide results. In the 8th Grade, 28 percent of Barrow’s black students failed math on the CRCT last year compared to 12 percent of white students. Interestingly, Barrow’s Hispanic students did almost as well as white students with just a 13 percent failure rate. (Both white and black Barrow 8th Graders did worse than their respective peers in the state in math, however.)
At the high school level, it was much the same story. Local black students were particularly challenged as 62 percent failed the Math 1 test and 64 percent failed the Math 2 tests compared to 42 percent and 45 percent for local white high school students. Hispanic students also did poorly in their high school math results. (Black, Hispanic and white Barrow students all did worse than their peers across the state in math last year.)
But this just isn’t a math and science problem. Up through the 8th Grade, there isn’t as much of a gap evident between whites, Hispanics and blacks in reading or English & Language Arts on the CRCT. But once those students hit high school, major differences begin to show up.
Across the state, 26 percent of black students and 24 percent of Hispanic students failed the 9th Grade Literature EOCT compared to just 10 percent of Georgia’s white students. In Barrow County, the same pattern is evident; 27 percent of black students and 33 percent of Hispanic students failed the 9th Grade Literature EOCT compared to 16 percent of white students.
So it’s clear that an achievement gap does exist, but there is much disagreement as to why.
Some argue that the tests themselves are culturally biased and that minority students are discriminated against in subtle ways by lower expectations from teachers. Others suggest that the relative poverty rates are the main cause for the differences, especially the large number of back children born into households with no father.
Others argue that there are profound cultural differences within demographic groups and specifically, that the black and Hispanic cultures disdain education in general. Black students who show good academic skills are sometimes accused by their peers as “acting white.”
Whatever the cause, the lack of academic achievement by minority students has profound implications for the future. It affects the high school dropout rate and lowers the percentage of minority students who later go to college. All of that affects the poverty rate, the crime rate and the rate of unemployment.
It’s clear that if Georgia (and by extension Barrow County) is to achieve a higher level of academic achievement, it must improve that level of achievement within its minority population. The state’s overall academic averages will never move the needle upward so long as a high percentage of its minority population fails academically.
If there is any good news in this it’s that minority students in the state and locally are improving some on standardized tests. Nevertheless, a very high percentage of black and Hispanic students continue to vastly under perform their white and Asian peers. The gap is still there because white students are also doing better on those tests (and it’s not clear if perhaps the tests are being watered down to prevent such a high level of failure.)
This achievement gap is one of the biggest problems Georgia faces as it moves further into a century that will be dominated by technically demanding jobs that requires a more skilled workforce.
Unless our society finds a way to help minority students be more successful academically, there will be a growing economic and social segregation in the state and that will eventually erode our ability to compete for new jobs.
That isn’t just a school problem; it’s a community problem. And the first step toward fixing this problem is to acknowledge that it exists and to talk about it out in the open rather just in back rooms among academic leaders.
That’s difficult in a hypersensitive environment where many avoid public discussions of academic disparity within race and ethnic groups. Nobody wants to be labeled a “racist,” so those from both within the academic world and from the community at large tend to shy away from any kind of public discussion over the achievement gap.
But look at where non-discussion has gotten us.
Mike Buffington is co-publisher of the Barrow Journal. He can be reached at mike@mainstreetnews.com.
I'd like to see the social/economic impact (students at or below poverty, Students in single parent or unstable homes, etc...). It was stated in an earlier article that some 57% of the county's student population is on lunch assistance.
Given a majority of the students are coming from subsistence living, I'll bet the race difference becomes much less when you look at the environment the children come from vs just the color of their skin.
Maybe the problem isn't the student, but the system that thinks everyone must follow the college track or drop off / out as failures.
Maybe if the focus was changed from the 3 R's to developing students to acquire green dollar skills (be it trades or college), the motivation for going to school will be the tangible skill that will move the student out of the projects and off assistance.
Give a man a fish and he won't be hungry today...
Teach a man to fish and he won't go hungry again...
Maybe the system needs to look at WHY its product is failing vs finding ways excuse it's failures
This is an issue with many faces, and it won't be solved until enough people see the whole picture.
I have seen good students not be able to afford college without taking on loans while minority and "economically disadvantaged" students recieve grants and qualify for more funding to go to college. It literally pays to be a minority or not to have middle class income in today's times.
It is up to each person in life to work hard and to push themselves to achieve more. To blame race, income and other factors in ones lack of performance is crutch for their lack of motivation. If you want them to succeed, cut off their govn't benefits and then they will understand to graduate high school, take loans to go to school or work to survive like most Americans
The importance placed on education as a family far out weighs whatever instruction is given in schools. A teacher has a class of students that is learning through different abilities. Those abilities are shaped through the family culture that is created from or before birth. The real winners are the ones who beat the system and out perform their prior family members. They should be praised because of what they completed not because they are Black or Hispanic.
In this county, the problem stems from the culture, not the color. You want to close the gap, I would suggest raising the lower end not lowering the high end! Dependency never teaches a lesson. Independence does.
It's easy to tell them to be better parents. It's hard to tell them how.
As the saying goes, "Anybody can have a child, but it takes someone to raise a child". If you want to see culture, go to Walmart, see what is creeping around there, then look at their children.
It is a repetitive cycle and until parents want their children to be more successful than they are and get off the "entitlement" mentality, all the money in the county will not bring up any "gap".
Go Barrow!
Even though it is kind of sad talking about the gap when even the top half of Georgia students is failing by more than 50%!