The achievement gap that ‘can’t be swept under the rug’

As a retired teacher, I have long worried about what the future would hold for the English learners who were my little first graders at Flowery Elementary School over a number of years. I know that the statistics are not promising for them. The highest percentage of dropouts is among Latinos, higher even than that for urban African-Americans.
It goes without saying that high school dropouts usually don’t have a promising future ahead of them. The political community in California has acknowledged lately that a state populated by lots of dropouts does not have a great future ahead of it either. So the governor and the California Department of Education planned a conference to discuss the issue. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell sent out the call to California educators, and in November we descended upon Sacramento in the proverbial droves. I was one of more than 4000, from 52 of our 58 counties, who attended the first – but I am sure not last – Achievement Gap Summit. The conference was rich in information and affirmation.
Since then, as I ponder the experience, I have been like a dog with a marrow bone, worrying the title of the conference in an attempt to get at the oxymoron lurking in its midpart. Sifting through much of what I heard there or brought back for study, I realize that I am not just indulging myself with an idle linguistic game. Just as there is surely a whiff of contradiction between “gap” and “summit,” there are in fact many contradictory impulses and tensions inherent in the issue as well as imbedded in the solutions. One of these contradictions relates to the genesis of the conference – the recognition that there are economic consequences to the huge high school dropout rates. In an interview in the Press Lounge on the second day of the conference, Superintendent O’Connell affirmed that in California the achievement gap “has been prolonged, persistent and pernicious . . . and can’t be swept under the rug.” While he acknowledged the ethnic character of this gap by dubbing it a “civil rights issue,” he also emphasized that removing the impediments to all students achieving their maximum is “not just a moral imperative but an economic imperative.”
Make no mistake. I welcome the economic concern that has spurred new interest in this long-standing but growing problem. Whatever makes people concerned about the issue is a good thing. We must be wary, however, of oversimplifying the problem and imposing solutions that are facile and external. Tomás Arcienega, former president of Cal State Bakersfield, identified thus one tension implicit in our consideration of the “achievement gap”: “Public education has pulled off the perfect crime … laying blame for low performance of (the disadvantaged) on the clients themselves.”
What are the facts? There is a problem, it is nationwide and the statistics are tied to ethnicity, even more strongly than to poverty. The United States ranks 16th out of 21 developed countries in percentage of high school graduates. In California, 2006 saw the lowest percentage of high school graduates ever. A current UCSB Dropout Research Project, part of the Language Minorities Institute, identifies 44 percent of California ninth-graders as at risk for not graduating. Most of these are English learners. The fact of an achievement gap for minorities is irrefutable.
What about in Sonoma Valley? There are many unknowns. As is true in many parts of the state, high school dropouts have not been tracked. But it is indisputable that the figure is high, and a huge percentage of the students who enter as freshman and drop out over the four years are Latino. The state accountability system focuses on test scores, and tens of thousands who are dropping out statewide are simply not counted. New State Senator Darrell Steinberg authored SB 219 (that goes into effect only in 2011) to address this, as well as to hold high schools of origin accountable for students transferred to alternative educational settings. Steinberg says, “It’s about doing the right thing for kids.”
But what really seems to be the right thing for kids may not be related to superimposed accountability. It seems rather to be the opposite – small measures, not large-scale ones. It comes in programs that depend on personal connection and adult involvement – whether parent, mentor or program leader. In October I participated in my first streaming presentation, again originating in the capital, in which a panel identified and honored a number of educational interventions from all over the state as “programs with promise.” The programs identified had in common that they were smaller and more personal programs.
Some of that “right thing for kids” is happening right here in Sonoma Valley. There are some programs that have “promise.” Among them is the dual immersion program, which supports equality of academic achievement for all students enrolled in it. Nationwide studies indicate higher success rates in high school for English learners who complete such a bilingual program. Another promising intervention on the elementary level is the After School Safety and Education program offered through the Boys and Girls Club for three of our elementary schools. Also, the long-established Stand by Me Mentoring Alliance meets the need for individual support through a long-term personal connection with a committed adult from the community.
At the high school level, there is AVID – Advancement Via Individual Determination – a four-year class offered at SVHS to support students in realizing their aim of college. Currently over 90 students are enrolled in it. The program offers tutorials in all the college prep courses, with tutoring provided by seniors from the Advanced Placement classes. Nuestra Voz sponsors Community Bridge to College, which brings Sonoma State students to mentor some of the AVID students. The Teen Center provides guidance for others.
Still, we need to meet the needs of many more. Sometimes something not academic – for example, sports or a vocational opportunity – encourages a young person to stay in school. There has been lots of interest in the series of community meetings held to address the challenges facing many young people in the Valley. Inequality of academic achievement is one such challenge.
Dropping out is an act of despair. We truly must explore new ways such as interventions and preventive programs, to bring hope to our youth.
Anna Pier is Director of Educational Programs for CommonBond Foundation