"Shocking" results of a new study

Article:

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2011/06/the_us_department_of_education_2.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CampaignK-12+%28Education+Week+Blog%3A+Politics+K-12%29

For those of us who spent the last year (or longer) working with students in Baltimore City, we are all too aware of the disparities that are taking place in the public schools system. Apparently, to some people, this is news. According to the article “New Federal Data Tool Reveals Widespread Disparities” a new recent study, done by the U.S Department of Education, found new data to support what many of us already know; “Students across the country do not have equal access to a rigorous education”.

The U.S Department of Education collected data from some 72,000 schools, making sure to include all districts in the country. The department’s office of civil rights (which I did not know existed) desired to get a clear idea of how schools compare with each other across states. Their conclusions were pretty grim.

Perhaps the most shocking part of this article was the idea that there are still people out there who are unaware of how drastically unequal education is in America. The article listed many “shocking” statistics, yet none of them surprised me in the least. According to the article, schools that consisted primarily of African American students, have teachers that are twice as likely to have two years or less teaching experience. Again, that main criticism many have for Teach for America, (put the least experienced teachers in the most at risk schools), echo’s loudly here.

The article also said that this was the first year the U.S Department of Education asked about Advanced Placement courses, students with disabilities, participation in algebra, and if the school was public, charter, magnet, or an alternative school. The goal of the study was to “better enforce civil rights in schools”, interesting as this is, we often forget that the fight for equality in our schools is also a fight for our students civil rights. There was as usual not a lot of discussion on what the next step was, but there is more data to come in the next few months. This new data is said to include how many students are promoted per year, teacher retention, school funding, and teacher absenteeism. I am sure we will continue to be “shocked” by the results.