The Problem that We All Live With

This American Life’s episode 562 discusses the topic of failing schools in largely Black and Hispanic communities. The journalist in this interview, Nikole Hanna Jones has been trying to find solutions to the lack of improvement in schools with large under-represented, minority populations. She states 

“And I would go to schools. And they would just always be trying these new things that actually sounded like they might work. They would do things like “well put a great magnet program here. Or we are going to focus on literacy…. They are always talking, really, about the same things. I mean you could take the conversations and go from district to district to district, and you will always hear the same things”

 The producer of the show Ira Glass then comments “what she noticed was that it never worked. I mean, like never” They begin to set for discussing why schools in underrepresented neighborhoods seem to always fail, and that the achievement gap between white students and black students was so disproportionate. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) the achievement gap occurs when one group of students (such as, students grouped by race/ethnicity, gender) outperforms another group and the difference in average scores for the two groups is statistically significant (that is, larger than the margin of error).  As of 2011 the NAEP which is a government funded testing organization that tests students in the nation to measure academic achievement in schools determined that in many ways the achievement gap was still existent. In their report "School Composition and the Black-White Achievement gap they determine white 8^th graders tested on average 31 points higher than Black 8^th graders in the US.This analysis gave reasons as to why it could be that Black students are testing lower than their white counterparts. All of the issues in this government funded study has reiterated the issues that Nikole Hanna Jones argued in her reporting. The theories on why the achievement gap exists can be found in the image below.

Segregation in schools

YES Schools are still segregated

In the report by Nikole Hanna-Jones the term “segregation of schools” is used very deliberately. It is mainstream knowledge that Brown vs Board of education made it unlawful for schools to be segregated. Schools by law can no longer be segregated. However what this report introduces is the new type of segregation that occurs in not so blatant ways as the days before Brown VS Board of education. Policies in American government, gentrification and “The Great White Flight” have all contributed to the re-segregation of schools in America. In a report done by PBS titled the return of school segregation in eight charts, the article gives some shocking statistics on the re-segregation of schools. It goes on to state that Since 1988 the rate of Black students at predominantly white schools in the south  was 43.7%   has gone down to  23.1% in 2012.

 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/the-return-of-school-segregation-in-eight-charts/

Why is integration Important?

Studies have shown that when schools are diverse and integrated students of color tend to do better in their classes. Students in predominantly white schools have access to better resources, more funding and more effective teachers. Compared to schools who have a high concentration of Black and Latino students, those schools typically have lower graduation rates, less funding, and employ less experienced teachers.  According to the report in the Saint Louis area, nearly 1 in 2 Black children attend schools in districts that performed so poorly, the state has stripped them of full accreditation. Only 1 in 25 white children are in a district like that. That statistic really emphasized everything mentioned in the report.

This report really saddened me and made me really think about the injustices in education in this country. The fact that schools are still funded by property tax, the graduation rates in neighboring districts. In my current job I get to see these gaps immensely. I will go to a high school that has brand new buildings, a 99 percent four year college acceptance rate. I will then travel to a neighboring district where the 4 year college acceptance rate is only 33 percent, the building look decrepit and the students don’t enjoy the luxury of even having up to date technology. I once visited a high school in New York in which the school stopped funding AP classes and couldn’t afford to hire any teachers to teach Geometry or Algebra II so the students had to take it a community college. Those two courses are required for admission at almost every 4 year college or university. I think a lot about the disadvantages of these students. It makes me think of opportunity and how precious it can be for those students, and how those students have little room for failure in a society that is not educating our children equally and fairly. It is even sadder to think that the basic right of a good education, is not a right that is given to everyone.