Money and power clouds debate on education reform

The world of social media is buzzing with all sorts of activity in the overall debate on what constitutes true education reform.

And this fight (yes it is a fight) is full of the usual elements of any good fight. We have lots of name-calling, use and abuse of statistics, finger-pointing, and scapegoating.

But what else is new when the real fight has less to do with educating children, particularly poor (most often black) children and more to do with money and power.

The latest debate is being sparked, in part, by the movie Waiting for Superman. I have not seen the movie but I did study the article by Diane Ravitch titled "The Myth of Charter Schools."

Ms. Ravitch does a very thorough job of reviewing the movie before she launches her analysis and rebuttal.

Her article has been well received in the social media arena. It is all over Twitter and being celebrated as the knockout punch for the movie.

I have always admitted to not being an educator or policy expert. But, I am not intimidated by those who are either or both.

My overarching concern is focused primarily on the black community. I am trying to raise our level of appreciation for the real value of a good education and how that relates to the ability to make a living.

That's it. A good education is a tool that helps you protect and care for your family.

I am also in favor of a strong public school system. I am a product of public schools and most of the people I know are also like me.

However, I do not care to witness an endless debate over the merits of charters vs. non-charters. Frankly, I do not care what works, as long as it works.

And, works for me means that black kids are:

1) graduating from high school on time and on grade level,

2) performing on unbiased standardized tests as well as any other ethnic group,

3) attending and graduating from college or other post secondary training programs in numbers similar to any other ethnic group, and

4) prepared to compete for and win a fair share of the many rewarding career opportunities available in this wonderful country.

Now poor kids (remember mostly black) are being highlighted as the real problem. Well, let's frame it the way at least two recent presentations say it.

Mike Rose in a piece for the Washington Post blog, The Answer Sheet, says "There is a crisis in American education, and it involves mostly poor children, and thus it is a moral as well as educational outrage. But it is just not accurate to characterize public education itself as being in a 30 -year crisis."

Mr. Rose goes on to point out the well worn nexus between poverty and low achievement.

Diane Ravitch in her rebuttal to the movie makes the statement that "Guggenheim seems to believe that teachers alone can overcome the effects of student poverty, even though there are countless studies that demonstrate the link between income and test scores. He shows us footage of the pilot Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier, to the amazement of people who said it couldn't be done. Since Yeager broke the sound barrier, we should be prepared to believe that able teachers are all it takes to overcome the disadvantages of poverty, homelessness, joblessness, poor nutrition, absent parents, etc."


Well that's it folks. Poor kids are not generally getting a good education because of the impact of poverty, and they sure as hell are not going to break the cycle of poverty without a good education.

Sadly, too many are buying into this struggle over money and power and not staying tightly focused on the real issues.

Schools must be expected to educate the population they serve.

Educators and policy makers must be held accountable for devising the right combination of strategies to get the job done. The job is not to come up all the reasons the child is difficult to teach or reach.

Finally, I am also unforgiving when it comes to expecting parents to assume the ultimate responsibility for the health, safety and welfare of the children they have been blessed to have.

Parents can not delegate or abrogate that responsibility to anyone.

Now all stakeholders should begin to hold each other accountable for providing a high quality education to all this nations' children. Anything else is just plain criminal.

D.C. Chancellor Deserves Much Praise

My hat's off to chancellor Michelle A. Rhee for her untiring and focused work to improve the D.C school system. From most outside and objective observers, she made significant improvements and laid a solid foundation for the future.

With the recent election results that saw Mayor Fenty lose, it is perhaps only a matter of time before Ms. Rhee moves on. And of course Ms. Rhee will be just fine. Her career is only just beginning. The real victims here are the children of the D.C school system.

It is past time for parents and community leaders truly interested in education excellence to wise up. Rhee and Fenty were not in a popularity contest. Grownups should have known the educational ship was sinking and it needed strong and sometimes bitter corrective action.

Good luck and best wishes to Ms. Rhee and may you never compromise your principles where a child's education is concerned.

Black Male Graduation Rates

Our local Black newspaper, The Shreveport Sun, recently reported some results and conclusions published by The Schott Foundation for Public Education regarding graduation rates for Black males.

For example, it was reported that "...the overall 2007/8 graduation rate for Black males in the U.S. was only 47 percent." By any measure, it is unacceptable for only 47 Black boys out of 100 to graduate from high school.

However, some additional context for this statistic is needed, particularly as it may relate to local performance.

The 47% national rate for black males compares to a 78% national rate for white males for a 31% gap.

The black male rate in Louisiana is reported at 39% compared to white males at 59% for a 20% gap.

And, our own Caddo parish rate for black males is 38% compared to 57% rate for white males for a 19% gap.

Again, all unacceptable.

You may view the entire report on line at: http://www.blackboysreport.org.

We appreciate the Sun for bringing this matter to the attention of our community. Clearly we have significant work to do locally to aid our children, and especially black boys not only improve graduation rates, but also to gain an appreciation for high academic achievement.

SAT Bias Against Blacks

Independent researchers Maria Veronica Santelices and Mark Wilson recently assert that "...the SAT, a high-stakes test with significant consequences for the educational opportunities available to young people in the United States, favors one ethnic group over another. Neither the specifics of the method used to study differential item functioning nor the date of the test analyzed invalidate Freedle's claims that the SAT treats African American minorities unfairly."

In 2003, Roy O. Freedle, then a retired research psychologist, first made the nation aware of the bias. The irony of Freedle's assessment was that he was retired from the Educational Testing Service (ETS), owners of the SAT.

Apparently he was roundly criticized by his former bosses for his position on the SAT at the time.

With the independent research of Santelices and Wilson confirming his work with respect to African American students, perhaps now more research will be undertaken to identify and understand the causes for the bias.

Regarding cause, Santelices and Wilson state that "We do not know if Freedle's (2003) hypothesis about cultural and linguistic differences, which was based on the work of Diaz-Guerrero and Szalay (1991), is driving the result or whether the systematic relationship between DIF and item difficulty is explained by some other cause. Our methodology also does not allow us to explain why there is White/African American DIF and not White/Hispanic DIF."

The trailing question now is what should the black community do with these new findings?

Should some powerful organization institute litigation to stop critical educational decisions from being made based on the faulty test?

Or should we work harder than ever to instill a competitive instinct into black students. Should we teach our students the absolute requirement to read widely and learn to write with power and clarity. Should we stress also the advantages of speaking standard English and doing your very best in school no matter what biases are found in instruments that purport to measure knowledge and predict future achievement?

I suggest we do both.

A defective test should be corrected immediately and not used to further disadvantage those already behind the curve.

But, as a community, we should not rest one second from pursuing known techniques for achieving academic excellence. If we do not create a "culture" that values doing well in school and achieving at the highest levels, correcting a defective test will not put food on the table.