Right now students all across Florida are taking the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). This test determines whether 3rd graders will be promoted, whether seniors will graduate, how much funding a school will get and school grades. I have noticed that schools with the largest minority populations are often the ones that have the most trouble reaching that much desired “A” status. This inequality in schools is taking place all across the country. Why is that? And more importantly what can we do about it?
The Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, seems to think these sorts of unequal outcomes in schools is evidence of civil rights abuses. Duncan took part in a march at the legendary Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama this week. He and other leaders were commemorating the 45th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, when demonstrators were beaten down as they marched peacefully for the right to vote.
Duncan calls unequal education the “civil rights issue of our time.” After the march, he announced there will be a nationwide investigation of civil rights in public schools. Thirty-eight school districts will be reviewed to see if they are in compliance with the U.S. Constitution’s mandate for equal education for all students.
A good education is often a ticket out of poverty. If a child develops a love of learning and the confidence in his or her learning ability, he or she can get a good education, a good job and become a productive member of society. However, at some point in their schooling, many minority and low income students begin to lose hope in what the educational system can do for them. They look for other ways to get by. Often the other ways lead to the criminal justice system. This contributes to a cycle of criminality and poverty in our communities.
In the district where my child attends school (Seminole Co., FL), just like in many districts across the country, the schools that serve minority and low income populations get the most inexperienced teachers. Might this contribute to the reason these schools also end up with “C” ratings and below and students without faith in education? And in the schools with a majority white and higher economic populations, the minority students are often segregated within the schools and put into tracks. Sometimes those tracks don’t even get counted when determining the school grades. So many of the “A” schools are “A” schools minus the minority scores. So just sending your child to an “A” school doesn’t mean they will get an “A” teacher or an “A” education.
The Department of Education is investigating to see which districts are equal access districts. They will be looking at areas such as student access to college preparatory classes, discriminatory discipline and tracking. School districts that are found in violation of students’ civil rights could lose funding or be referred to the Justice Department. How would your district measure up?
