Going on 14 years of Measuring "The Gap"
On January 8, 2016 we will reach the fourteenth anniversary of the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act known as No Child Left Behind or NCLB. We have quantified the "achievement gap" now for almost as long as my oldest nephew has been alive. He is a high school sophomore who has always been tested to measure his academic achievement through the TAAS that became the TAKS and is now the STAAR in the state of Texas. In his words, "we aren't taught to learn, we are taught to pass the STAAR." Insert sad, crying emoji here.
The National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) recently released the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) which is the "report card" for academic achievement across the nation. Not surprisingly, the NAEP has, yet again, identified an achievement gap between White students and their Black and Hispanic counterparts. The gap between White students and Hispanic students is significant enough to warrant the NCES to generate a report addressing this particular gap in detail with data going as far back as 1990. In particular, the following quote in the Executive Summary caught my attention:
As these data reflect, the proportion of the U.S. population that is Hispanic is increasing over time. Additionally, data collected in 2009 by the U.S. Department of Education indicate that a substantial proportion of Hispanic students in grades 4 (37 percent) and 8 (21 percent) are English language learners. These two facts—the growing size of the Hispanic population in the United States and the percentage of fourth- and eighth-grade Hispanic students that are English language learners—underlie the achievement gap between Hispanic and White fourth- and eighth-graders. Closing the Hispanic-White achievement gap remains a challenge. While Hispanic students’ average scores have increased across the assessment years, White students had higher scores, on average, on all assessments.
Basically, school districts across this nation are still struggling to positively impact educational outcomes of Hispanic students, particularly English Language Learners. I believe the Council of the Great City Schools stated it well in their 2011 report entitled Today's Promise, Tomorrow's Future: The Social and Educational Factors Contributing to the Outcomes of Hispanics in Urban Schools:
We realize that the future of our cities largely depends on how well we succeed in educating this burgeoning demographic group. the initiatives, policies and programs implemented over the past few decades have been for the most part, reactive, fragmented and without strategic direction. It is imperative that Hispanic youth participate in rigorous instructional programs and have greater access to educational opportunities resulting in successful educational outcomes.
In 1999 Dr. Angela Valenzuela published her book Subtractive Schooling in which she provides a framework for understanding the patterns of Hispanic immigrant achievement and U.S.-born Hispanics' underachievement. Dr. Valenzuela argues that schools subtract resources from youth in two major ways: firstly by dismissing their definition of education and secondly, through assimilationist policies and practices that minimize their culture and language (Amazon book summary). This book was seminal in my own doctoral research into factors contributing to Hispanic students' achievement. Dr. Jason G. Irizarry has also written a book about Hispanic students experiences in U.S. schools, The Latinization of U.S. Schools. In his book Dr. Irizarry gives students voice and offers empirically based recommendations to improve educational practice with Latino youth. These are but two resources that can be used to address Hispanic student achievement and yet we continue to generate the same outcomes year after year.
Below are my recommendations, grounded in a body of research, as to how we can begin to change educational outcomes for Hispanic students:
Stop Erasing Students' Language
When students enter educational systems speaking a language other than English, that is not a deficit or a problem. The system's monolingualism and overemphasis on English is the problem. We now live in a global society that requires us to speak more than one language. To remain monolingual is to curtail our ability to be competitive. To expect others to speak English when they do business with us in their country is arrogant and narrow minded.
While we cannot offer bilingual programs in every language represented in a school, we can and we should find ways to develop programs/services in the languages that are most represented. In the school I lead that meant Spanish, Vietnamese and Somali. If I accomplished this in predominantly White Portland, OR then it can be done in other, more ethnically and culturally diverse urban cores.
Ensure Students See Themselves in the Curriculum
The reality is that the majority of adoptions aren't going to be very culturally inclusive. I do give credit to the large publishing companies for their efforts but there is a message when the chapter is about Lewis & Clark, two White men, while Sacagawea is mentioned in a little sidebar to the right. While Hispanics and Blacks are marginalized in curriculum, Indigenous students are invisible. The message, subliminal and covert though it may be, is that people of my ethnic group didn't contribute to history. Or, if they are mentioned the contribution is minimized or criminalized. That narrative won't match the narrative that we receive from our elders which are often rich in language, culture, storytelling and the lessons learned. Watch this video for an example.
Get to Know Your Students, I Mean REALLY Know Them
What is the saying? Kids don't care what you know until they know you care. It may be wrongly worded but I think the gist of the message is captured. The toughest students I ever worked with became my biggest allies once I proved to them that I was listening, that I was invested in them, that I had their backs and that I was all of that authentically. To this day I have deep mentoring relationships with several students because I got to know them as whole people rather than a student number.
It is why Karla's mom called me when she ran away. Her mom knew that I could get Karla to come home and I did. It is also why Leslie's mom called me when she didn't know how to handle her deep depression or why Gabe's dad is grateful that I helped him get through a scary bout with alcohol. I built relationships but I also had boundaries. Students and their families knew I cared but it was always clear to them and to me that I was the administrator of the school they attended. Lines were never crossed.
Don't Lower Expectations, Don't Water Down Curriculum
Recently Twitter Engineering Manager, Leslie Miley, left the company because of how Twitter is addressing diversity and inclusion. Miley shared:
A particular low moment for Miley, he wrote, happened when he asked a question at Twitter’s engineering leadership meeting about what specific steps Twitter engineering was taking to increase diversity. Twitter’s senior VP of Engineering responded, “diversity is important, but we won’t lower the bar.”
That quote speaks directly to this point. Why is it that when students of color are included into IB or AP or advanced classes it is seen as "lowering the bar"? What is so threatening to the status quo about a student of color achieving as well as, or even better than, their White counterpart? There is real fear there. However, not creating these high levels of achievement place our nation at great economic risk. In 2009 McKinsey & Company published a report on The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap on America's Schools. The most poignant quote of that report being:
These educational gaps impose on the United States the economic equivalent of a permanent national recession.
In the report, McKinsey & Company analyze how closing the achievement gap would have increased our GDP between 9 to 16 points, the equivalent of between $1.3-$2.3 trillion dollars.
I have much to say about this topic but a post should only be so long. These conversations are vital to the economic future of our nation. Please join us this coming Sunday for a Twitter virtual town hall to discuss issues important to improving educational systems.
Dr. Verenice Gutierrez is an educational consultant, race educator and educational leader. With her trispectives partners she consults with companies and educational systems to help them achieve their goals by becoming more inclusive. She is also a writer and public speaker. Over the last 20 years, Dr. Gutierrez has served rural, suburban and urban school systems as a principal, graduate school professor and teacher, working in the entire PK-16 and beyond continuum. Follow her on Twitter @bilmasteac or on Facebook.
