Closing the persistent "achievement gap" between black and white students will require the coordinated commitment of schools and families.
Published May 23, 2004
The desegregation of our public schools was never envisioned to be an end in itself. Instead, school desegregation was seen as one necessary element of a broader effort to move beyond generations of racial discrimination and fulfill our nation's noblest democratic promise: that every child, regardless of race or background, would receive an equal opportunity to succeed in school, and in life.
Fifty years after Brown vs. Board of Education, that promise remains unmet in one crucial respect: The "achievement gap" - the disparity between the aggregate performances of white and African-American children on standardized measures of academic performance - persists.
Reading, Writing, Race - a four-part special report researched and written by members of the Times staff - examined the reasons for the achievement gap from all sides. More important, it also highlighted innovative efforts in local schools, and in others around the country, that have shown promise in closing the gap.
People, not numbers
The achievement gap is usually measured in test scores. For example, only 31 percent of Florida's black students are reading at or above grade level, according to FCAT results, compared with 63 percent of white students. (The gap is similarly large among school systems in the Tampa Bay area.) The magnitude and persistence of this gap should trouble every educator and parent.
The real impact of the achievement gap is measured in children's lives, not in dry test scores. Youngsters who fall off-track in early grades face a disadvantage that, if not addressed and reversed, will deepen for the remainder of their school years and beyond. For example, nearly 2,000 black students entered Pinellas County high schools in 1996. Four years later, only 240 of them graduated. At least 350 dropped out; the system lost track of 180 former students altogether. Each non-graduate represents not just a failure of the education system, but a shortcoming of society.
Of course, our schools do not deserve all of the blame for the achievement gap. Society asks our teachers and principals to fill the role many families and other community institutions fail to provide. Black students are more likely to live in poverty, in dysfunctional homes, in neighborhoods that provide no positive direction or realistic role models.
Many African-American students also must overcome the pernicious influence of peers who chide them for "acting white" when they excel in school. "Some black students don't want to appear smart," Joseph Brown, a student at Middleton High in Tampa told the Times. "They put themselves in a box and make themselves into a stereotype."
No excuses?
Still, none of that exempts our schools from the obligation to make the best possible effort to help every child reach his or her potential. The catalogue of our school systems' continued shortcomings is extensive. Our schools are overcrowded and underfunded, adding to the difficulty of giving underperforming students the individualized help they need. For that, our Tallahassee lawmakers deserve most of the blame. But our local school systems are falling short, too.
Despite perennial recruiting efforts, teachers and administrators in Tampa Bay school systems still are not as diverse as they should be. For example, only 8 percent of the teachers in Pinellas schools are black, while 19 percent of the students are. Efforts to bridge the cultural divide between white teachers and black students have had only limited success. That probably helps to explain why black students still are disproportionately likely to be disciplined for subjective reasons such as "defiance" and "insubordination."
Then there are the hurdles established by a bureaucratic culture in which innovation is often talked about, but seldom realized.
In 1998, Pinellas Superintendent Howard Hinesley announced a new plan for attacking the achievement gap and said there would be "no excuses" for failure. Six years later, with the gap in Pinellas schools undiminished despite the system's various efforts, Hinesley is among those making excuses. "The trouble here is . . . it's a moving car and you're trying to change the tire while it's moving," he said.
But some other school districts - and even some individual schools and classrooms within our local systems - are succeeding, even though they must cope with the same shortages of staff and resources that are blamed for most failures.
Keys to success
Times staff writer Monique Fields went to Norfolk, Va., where the public schools have had notable success in closing the achievement gap. Their secret? Nothing magic. Building after-school programs that require extra commitment from students and teachers. Making painful decisions, such as eliminating physical education classes and other electives, to focus on the basics. Giving principals and teachers the freedom to revise their curricula and instructional methods in ways that work. Above all, working to make a personal connection with every student.
School systems such as Hillsborough's and Pinellas' are much bigger than Norfolk's, but that is no excuse for allowing bureaucratic sclerosis to stifle innovation and limit personal attention. Each student is an unformed individual, not a byte of data, and the achievement gap must be closed one student at a time.
The schools cannot do it alone. They need the active support of students' families and neighbors.
Students from all economic and ethnic backgrounds need the same kinds of support. Parents and guardians: Turn off the TV until homework is finished every night. Read to your young children. Cultivate role models who have succeeded in the classroom, not just in sports or entertainment. Hold the children in your home to high standards - and set a positive influence for them by exhibiting discipline in your own lives.
And every student, teacher, parent and administrator should always remember this: Even under the cloud of the achievement gap, thousands of African-American students succeed in the classroom every day. The gap reflects only aggregate numbers; it does not doom any child to failure.
The great majority of our children, whatever their race or background, are capable of succeeding. Many just need a spark - the inspiration of a special teacher, the encouragement of a supportive parent, the positive example of a fellow student.
Many young people will find the spark within themselves, if only a hostile home environment or an insensitive school environment does not snuff it out before it can take hold. Only by keeping the spark alive in each child can our schools and our society finally bridge the gap between our discriminatory history and our democratic ideals.
