Re: CA State results shed new light on wealth vs. poverty debate.

[Ken <kpoppers@sbcglobal.net>]

Read the comments from readers that accompany the story.  Click on
http://www.sacbee.com/dyn/comments/standard/comments_separate.html? 
uri=http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/ 
328207.html&o=d&ud=u&avatar=n&tie_to=328207

On Aug 18, 2007, at 11:59 AM, Peter Farruggio wrote:

> Printed in the Sacramento Bee, official house organ for the  
> California corporate standardistas.
>
> They're spinning the test results to divert the focus away from  
> social class and poverty, which is clearly designed to avoid debate  
> on underfunding, especially the criminal underfunding of low income  
> urban schools, which are almost exclusively Black and Latino.   
> Heavens forbid we tax the rich and the lucrative corporations in CA  
> to raise the revenue to fully fund quality public ed!!!!  At the  
> ports of Long Beach and Oakland alone, huge profits are made from  
> the Pacific Rim trade.
>
> Some questions about the questionable data they use:
>
> Where are all these "poor" white kids in CA, and how many are  
> they?  To my observation, they're concentrated in rural areas,  
> certainly not in the devastated inner cities.  If their schools are  
> anything like those in poor rural South Texas, then there is no  
> comparison with the much worse dilapidated monstrosities of truly  
> poor neighborhoods in Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, East Palo  
> Alto, etc  Urban poverty in the US has become a multifaceted horror  
> for child development, much different from rural poverty.  I  
> haven't seen many white kids in the segregated working class urban  
> schools.
>
> Middle class vs poor:  not qualifying for free lunch does not mean  
> you're "middle class"  Research on the Black middle class has shown  
> that few who qualify by higher income are truly as middle class as  
> most upper income whites, as far as having non-job-related wealth  
> and "country club" connections.  I think the "middle class" Blacks  
> and Latinos they discuss in this propaganda piece are just working  
> class families with "too much" income to qualify for free/reduced  
> lunch.  For the most part, their kids attend urban schools (low or  
> medium income) that are crappy and doing test prep curricula.  The  
> real middle class is in mostly white, well funded public schools or  
> private schools
>
> Of course, the standardistas don't like to mention that most of  
> CA's Latino kids are English Learners who are being tested in their  
> second language.
>
> Pete Farruggio
>
> > ----------
> >
> >
> > Tests show racial achievement gap
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > State results shed new light on wealth vs. poverty debate.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > By Laurel Rosenhall - Bee Staff Writer
> > Published 12:00 am PDT Thursday, August 16, 2007
> >
> >
> >
> > Whether they are poor or rich, white students are scoring higher  
> > than their African American and Latino classmates on the state's  
> > standardized tests, results released Wednesday show. And in some  
> > cases, the poorest white students are doing better than Latino and  
> > black students who come from middle class or wealthy families.
> >
> > The so-called achievement gap -- the difference in performance  
> > between groups of students -- has long been chalked up to a  
> > difference in family income. It makes sense that -- regardless of  
> > race -- students whose parents have money and speak English would  
> > do better in school, on the whole, than students whose families  
> > struggle with employment, food and shelter.
> >
> > But this year's test scores show that the difference in academic  
> > achievement between ethnic groups is more than an issue of poverty  
> > vs. wealth.
> >
> > On the standardized math tests that public school students take  
> > every year from second to 11th grade, 38 percent of white students  
> > who qualify for subsidized lunch scored proficient or above,  
> > compared with 36 percent of Latino students and 30 percent of  
> > black students whose families made too much money to qualify for  
> > school meals. On standardized English tests, poor white students  
> > did about the same as non-poor Latino and African American students.
> >
> > "These are not just economic achievement gaps," state  
> > Superintendent Jack O'Connell said in announcing the test scores  
> > from an elementary school in Inglewood.
> >
> > "They are racial achievement gaps, and we cannot continue to  
> > excuse them."
> >
> > It's a new twist on what has become a common theme for O'Connell  
> > -- the danger the achievement gap poses for California's economic  
> > future. About 56 percent of the state's public school students are  
> > Latino or black, so their academic performance now will have a big  
> > influence on the work force of the future.
> >
> > "I've been pounding this drum and am going to continue to do so,  
> > not just for the moral imperative that we have, but for the  
> > economic imperative," O'Connell said.
> >
> > "We're going to focus on (the achievement gap) like a heat-seeking  
> > missile during my last three years here as the state superintendent."
> > In general, test scores were flat compared with last year, but up  
> > from five years ago. Forty-one percent of students were proficient  
> > in math this year, while 43 percent were proficient in English.  
> > Even though students are doing better than five years ago -- when  
> > 35 percent were proficient in math and English -- the achievement  
> > gap between racial groups has remained a constant, with white and  
> > Asian American students scoring higher than their Latino and  
> > African American peers.
> >
> > O'Connell said little Wednesday to explain why the achievement gap  
> > persists.
> >
> > "That is the $50 billion question," said Francisco Estrada, public  
> > policy director for the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, one  
> > of several Latino and African American activists who lauded  
> > O'Connell for drawing attention to the issue, even while they  
> > criticized the state government for not doing enough to improve  
> > education for students of color.
> >
> > "Superintendent O'Connell should be commended for not just simply  
> > saying, 'We're doing great and let's keep doing what we're doing,'  
> > which is what we've heard in other years," Estrada said.
> >
> > Russlynn Ali, director of Education Trust West, said state  
> > policymakers are responsible for the achievement gap that has kept  
> > black and Latino students behind because they've done little to  
> > put experienced, well-trained teachers and rigorous high-level  
> > courses in schools that predominantly serve those groups.
> >
> > "Our system takes poor kids and kids of color -- not just the  
> > students of color who are poor -- and provides them less of  
> > everything research says makes a difference," she said.
> >
> > "That is the underlying cause of the achievement gap."
> >
> > While Ali blamed the government for distributing resources  
> > inequitably, others said the gap is due to teachers' expectations.
> >
> > "The expectations are not as high for African American students as  
> > they are for other students," said Anita Royston, an education  
> > consultant who used to work for the Sacramento City Unified School  
> > District.
> >
> > That district's school board president once found the same to be  
> > true in his Latino family. In 1989, Manny Hernandez said, his son  
> > was forbidden from taking college-prep classes in high school.
> >
> > "That kind of tracking took place, not because people were bad or  
> > racist, but because that was the expectation," Hernandez said.
> > When he became a school board member some years later, Hernandez  
> > wanted to change the district's expectations about who goes to  
> > college. The Sacramento City Unified school board increased  
> > graduation requirements, so that more students will graduate with  
> > more of the courses necessary to enter college.
> >
> > Sharroky Hollie sees the achievement gap yet another way. He is a  
> > professor of teacher education at California State University,  
> > Dominguez Hills, who focuses on strategies that help Latino and  
> > African American students learn. Hollie says the achievement gap  
> > reflects a biased education system that doesn't accept behaviors  
> > and learning styles common in African American and Latino  
> > communities.
> >
> > For example, he said, an African American student who is talkative  
> > and frequently gets out of his seat will be seen as disruptive and  
> > defiant in most schools. Instead, Hollie said, teachers should  
> > develop teaching strategies that work with the student's social  
> > and kinesthetic nature, a trait that could be attributed to his  
> > cultural background.
> >
> > "The first thing we want schools to do is to change their mind-set  
> > in seeing these behaviors as cultural and not negative," he said.  
> > "The rest of it is: How can the instruction be reshaped to  
> > validate and affirm the cultural behaviors as a segue to standards- 
> > based learning?"
> >
> > Testing experts said too many factors affect test scores to  
> > attribute the racial differences to any one thing. Jamal Abedi of  
> > the UC Davis School of Education said the test questions use  
> > complex language that may throw students off, particularly those  
> > who are not native English speakers or who speak in the vernacular  
> > at home.
> >
> > "Those terms prevent students from understanding the assessment  
> > questions," he said. "Therefore, they may not be able to respond."
> > Wednesday's release shows how students did on the California  
> > Standards Tests they took in the spring. Their scores are divided  
> > into five categories -- advanced, proficient, basic, below basic  
> > and far below basic. The goal is for all students to reach  
> > proficient or advanced. Later this month, the state Department of  
> > Education will use these scores to calculate an Academic  
> > Performance Index number for each school and to determine whether  
> > schools are meeting the requirements set by No Child Left Behind.