Schools aim to close gap

In North Carolina the achievement gap among racial and socioeconomic groups in schools remains wide, but administrators continue to address the issue and are optimistic that their efforts will be rewarded.

Since Brown v. Board of Education, the relationship between race, social background and academic achievement in schools has been a topic of continuous discussion. In North Carolina this achievement gap remains wide, but administrators continue to address the issue and are optimistic that their efforts will be rewarded.

Locally, Durham Public Schools Superintendent Ann Denlinger has set 2007 as the date by which the test scores of Latino and black students are expected to reach the level of white and Asian students.

“Closing these gaps is paramount,” Denlinger wrote on the “Closing the Achievement Gap” section of the DPS website, “for our students and for the economic well-being of our families and community.... [This goal is] at the heart of everything we do.”

Shirley Staton, section chief of raising achievement and closing gaps for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, noted that 2010 is the mark for closing the gap in North Carolina. “The goal is to eventually close the gap [and] eliminate it altogether,” she said.

Although progress has been promising so far, some officials are skeptical as to whether this goal is ever attainable, let alone within the next three to six years.

“There have been great strides made in Durham and across the state,” said Eddie Davis, president of the North Carolina Association of Educators. “The statistics that have come out [show that there] continues to be an upward trend for minority students, but that the gap still persists.”

Indeed, the North Carolina State Testing Results published in August 2004 show that a large disparity remains between the percentage of white and minority students reaching an adequate academic level. In grades three through eight, for example, the percentage of students at and above level III (of four levels) in both reading and math ranged from 67.7 percent for African-American students and 71.7 percent for Hispanic students, to 88.6 percent for Asian students and 89.2 percent for white students.

Indeed, the results further demonstrate the need to close the gap so that more schools can pass federal regulations.

“There are many issues that impact the achievement gap,” Staton said, noting that one important factor is socioeconomic status. Davis also pointed to the relationship between economic background and academic achievement.

Staton described the issue of race in public education as “very controversial.” Programs working to close the gap now include training to make teachers and administrators aware of the diversity within schools and the impact this has on student achievement.

“Teachers might need to have professional development [training] that will allow them to deal with the many different cultures that we have in our schools,” Davis said. “We have to make sure that every teacher has a warm, caring and a welcoming disposition.”

Staton shared Davis’ opinion that teacher behavior plays a key role in student achievement. “We know that teacher behavior makes a difference,” she said, noting Teacher Expectations and Student Achievement as a program that has been particularly emphasized this year.

“[It is also] absolutely imperative that parents play a very key role,” Staton said. “We encourage parents to do as much as they can, [and we are trying to] make the partnership between the school and the parents more meaningful and more friendly.”

Davis noted that even though attention to the gap was important, “we [need to] continue to deal with high and rigorous standards for every child [so that we are] not guilty of closing the gap by lowering achievement of high-flying students.”