Children of color being left behind

[Peter Farruggio <pfarr@cal.berkeley.edu>]

Children of color being left behind



State test results show persistent achievement gaps

<mailto:nasimov@sfchronicle.com>Nanette Asimov, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, August 16, 2007
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/16/MNQIRII2L.DTL

A frustrating and persistent achievement gap between black and Latino 
students and their white and Asian American peers shows no sign of 
abating in the latest state test results for nearly 5 million 
students across California.

Overall, students of all backgrounds made minimal progress in English 
during the past year and no progress in math.

State schools chief Jack O'Connell said he was not surprised by the 
leveling off of improvement across the state, noting similar trends 
across the country that have followed growth spurts, as California had.

But it was the difference in achievement among ethnic groups that 
O'Connell said was most evident - and most disturbing - about the new 
test results.

"We cannot afford to accept this, morally, economically or socially," 
O'Connell said.

The results of the 2007 California Standards Test - taken by 4.8 
million students in grades 2 through 11 last spring - are not scores 
but are percentages of students in every school and district who 
scored at or above grade level in each subject. Results were released 
Wednesday.

In English, 43 percent of students scored at grade level, up from 42 
percent in 2006.

In math, 41 percent of students scored at grade level in both 2006 and 2007.

In the Bay Area, students are improving more in English than in math.

Among more than 170 Bay Area districts, 95 increased the percentage 
of students proficient in English since last year, compared with 55 
improving that rate in math.

Statewide, more black and Latino students have scored at grade level 
in the core subjects in recent years, but they still lag far behind 
other ethnic groups.

O'Connell said the skill gap can't be explained by differences in 
family income. He noted that black and Latino students who weren't 
enrolled in the federal free- and reduced-price lunch program - the 
poverty indicator used by the state Department of Education - scored 
only about as well as white students who are enrolled in the lunch program.

Slightly more than 40 percent of middle-income black and Latino 
students scored at grade level in English- about the same as 
low-income white students. About 67 percent of middle-income white 
students did as well.

In math, 30 percent of middle-income black students scored at grade 
level, as did 36 percent of middle-income Latinos. About 38 percent 
of low-income white students scored at grade level.

The disparity raises serious questions about who might be failing 
these students of color and what can be done about it.

"For decades, our education system has provided kids of color less of 
everything that research says makes a difference in public education 
- even to middle-income kids of color," said Russlynn Ali, executive 
director of Education Trust West, an Oakland think tank. "Whose fault 
is that? Everyone who makes up the system."

O'Connell said he will invite experts to Sacramento on Nov. 13 and 14 
to figure out what to do about the problem.

"We'll focus on that like a heat-seeking missile," he said.

On the brighter side, progress over the past five years has been 
steady among all groups.

In English, the percent of students scoring at grade level is eight 
points higher than it was in 2003, from 35 to 43 percent. That 
translates to about 442,000 additional students doing well.

The percent of low-income students scoring at grade level in English 
improved even faster since 2003, rising by nine points, from 20 to 29 percent.

In math, the percent of students scoring at grade level rose six 
points since 2003- from 35 to 41 percent. In higher-level math, 
skills declined by two points each in geometry and algebra 2, 
remaining under 30 percent.

But that slide could be explained by an increase in the number of 
students enrolled in the tougher math courses, O'Connell said. 
Geometry enrollment rose by 99,560 students, and algebra 2 added 
68,209 more students to its rolls last year.

California's top-scoring school in English was a tiny high school 
with just 34 students in Nevada County called Ghidotti High. Every 
one of them scored at grade level or above.

The state's best in elementary math was Faria Elementary in the 
Cupertino Union District, Santa Clara County, a perennial winner. All 
but a couple of students scored at grade level.

In the Bay Area, the top-scoring district in English was Hillsborough 
City Elementary in San Mateo County, which came in second in math. 
The Bay Area's first-place district in math was Lakeside Joint School 
District in Santa Clara County, which placed 20th in English.

No student in either district was enrolled in the federal lunch 
program, and most had parents who were college graduates.

But the results also revealed some Bay Area schools doing 
unexpectedly well, given their students' challenges.

At San Francisco's Bret Harte Elementary - where 71 percent of 
students were in the federal lunch program and nearly two-thirds of 
students were black or Latino - more than half of the pupils were 
proficient in English.

They had also progressed by a stellar 12 points, so 53 percent of 
students were at grade level in English, up from 41 percent last 
year.Bret Harte fared less well in math, with 48 percent proficient - 
about the same as last year.

Vidrale Antoinette Franklin, who became principal four years ago 
after years as a Bret Harte teacher, credits not only her school's 
attention to academic skills - kids take diagnostic tests every six 
weeks - but her staff's attention to individual children.

"Expectations are high for students," Franklin said. "Teachers have 
to believe that students can learn."

For example, it would be easy to impose a zero-tolerance policy for 
acting up in class. But Bret Harte teachers have learned that it's 
more effective to figure out what's bothering children than to punish them.

"Most of the time, we give them something to eat, and they're back in 
class," Franklin said.

In Oakland, Think College Now Elementary also belied state trends and 
strongly raised its scores, though three-quarters of students are 
Latino and poor.

In math, 60 percent of students scored at grade level, up from 52 
percent last year. And 49 percent did as well in English, up from 31 percent.

Principal David Silver credited his school's unique culture with 
raising students' scores.

Consider "Data Night." While other urban schools have trouble drawing 
parents to school even with a grand pasta feed, Silver said all he 
has to do is to promise a rousing evening looking at test scores.

"There's a philosophy," he said. "We set a big goal, set high 
expectations, and work hard to get the strongest teachers, strongest 
support staff. And we do whatever we can to support them."

Silver said he isn't allowed to choose his own teachers. But he said 
he recruits heavily and then works with the district to let him to 
hire the staff his team wants.

In addition, Silver said the school does not teach students the 
curriculum favored by the Oakland district, which has not performed 
as well as Think College Now, overall. Instead, the school teaches 
the subjects endorsed by the state - which are tested on the 
California Standards Test.

"Oakland is going more in that direction, too," he said.

Given that Think College Now is apparently doing a good job closing 
the achievement gap, would Silver consider sharing his secrets with 
the experts who will attend state Superintendent O'Connell's 
achievement gap summit in November?

"Sure," Silver said. "If I'm invited."

E-mail Nanette Asimov at 
<mailto:nasimov@sfchronicle.com>nasimov@sfchronicle.com.


This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle