LV Schools find racial disparity (surprise! surprise!)

[Michelle <5alive31@HOME.COM>]

Monday, September 24, 2001
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Diversity committee hopes to see schools act

District has report, to work on prioritizing recommendations
By LISA KIM BACH 
REVIEW-JOURNAL 



The Clark County School District's effort to close the rift in achievement
between white students and minorities renewed itself last year, when
Superintendent Carlos Garcia formed a committee to study diversity issues.

In August, the group released its report to the School Board, detailing the
disproportionate number of minorities who are classified as learning
disabled, score below average on standardized tests and leave school without
diplomas. 

Now that the information is in hand, the committee members who volunteered
their time hope to see the district act on recommendations and work toward
closing the achievement gap, which is a barrier not only in Clark County
schools but in schools across the nation.

"This was an important first step, but we need to keep revisiting the
issue," said Gary Peck, Nevada director of the American Civil Liberties
Union. "There certainly is room for some significant improvement."

School Board member Shirley Barber said the next move is for trustees to
discuss the findings of the report and identify which recommendations should
become priorities. The diversity committee will meet again in December, she
said, and a board meeting on the topic should be scheduled before that.

"This is a problem that's been around since I was a little kid," said
Barber, the district's only black board member. "The only thing we can do is
keep bringing it up until we come up with some solutions."

Among the statistics summarized in committee reports:

? As early as fourth grade, black and Hispanic students perform far below
expectations when compared with other district students and national
samples. While 25 percent of students are expected to score in the bottom
quartile of norm-referenced tests such as the TerraNova, the percentages in
Clark County are much higher.

Forty percent of black fourth-graders and 38 percent of fourth-grade
Hispanic students scored in the bottom quartile of the TerraNova reading
test. Only 18 percent of white fourth-graders and 16 percent of Asian
students scored in the bottom quartile of the same test. The disparities,
according to the report, exist in all subject areas at all grade levels.

? Black and Hispanic students are overrepresented among high-school dropouts
and the district's credit-deficient students. The report found 51 percent of
black students and 55 percent of Hispanic students are credit-deficient by
the end of their freshman year. In comparison, 30 percent of white students
and 27 percent of Asian students are credit-deficient at the close of their
first year in high school.

? Although black and Hispanic students comprised 43 percent of the general
enrollment in 2000-01, they accounted for 48 percent of students categorized
as learning disabled.

? White students account for about 70 percent of the enrollment in
elementary school gifted and talented programs. The trend continues in high
school. Of the 1,239 honors diplomas given out in 2000, 76 percent were
earned by white students, 12 percent by Asians, 4 percent by blacks and 7
percent by Hispanics.

"The findings portray a district divided," committee members said in the
report. "It is successful in providing what is needed for a substantial
number of students, primarily white and Asian, to achieve at high levels,
but is falling short in addressing the reading and math deficiencies of many
others." 

The committee forwarded a long list of recommendations to board members and
the superintendent. Some, such as seeking out additional resources for
disadvantaged schools, the district now pursues. Others, such as more
emphasis on literacy and math skills, are part of the superintendent's
master plan. 

Recommendations such as smaller class sizes, mandatory kindergarten and
early education, and teacher pay incentives for increased student
achievement are costly propositions.

"One thing that came out of all of this is that the district is woefully,
shamefully, embarrassingly underfunded," Peck said. Nevada's per pupil
funding is now $3,701. That figure was reached in the last legislative
session, when state lawmakers approved a $101 increase. Clark County School
District officials had pushed for a $600 increase, to bring Nevada up to the
national average. 

"We had all sorts of questions about how our limited resources are utilized,
and there certainly is room for improvement. But the question is one of
equity. We need to see that those who are in the greatest need are properly
supported," Peck said.

In this year's session of the Legislature, Garcia launched a campaign to
raise student funding in Nevada to the national average. It's a goal he
plans to continue pursuing, with the blessing of the diversity committee.

"I think the people on the committee were shocked to see how underfunded we
are," Garcia said. "We are economically strapped."

The committee included representatives from the community, religious
organizations and the district.