Minority Student Achievement Network: Closing the Achievement Gap

A Forum — November 22, 2002

Background

In 1999, superintendents from fifteen urban-suburban school districts across the country agreed to form a network to improve the academic achievement of students of color, particularly African American and Latino students. The Minority Student Achievement Network is now a national coalition of multiracial, relatively affluent suburban school districts working together to study the disparity in achievement between white students and students of color. The Network focuses on discovering, developing, and implementing the means to ensure the high academic achievement of ethnic minority students. To participate in the Network, school districts and superintendents agree to participate in joint meetings and activities to share what they are learning with one another. At this American Youth Policy Forum, three superintendents who have participated in the Network since its inception described their involvement with the Network, the progress their districts have made in narrowing the gap, and the approaches they have used to help bring about this progress.

Forum Summary

Allan Alson, Superintendent of Evanston Township High School District in Illinois, identified several of the beliefs framing the work in his district: a) the achievement gap is a social justice issue, one concerned with whether all people will share in the American democracy; b) it is essential to have frank conversations about the relationship between race and student achievement; c) we must avoid becoming entrapped in the standard educational dichotomies such as whole language vs. phonics; d) we must not be afraid to reveal the complexity of issues involved in school reform if we are to make improvements, and e) the achievement gap is not a monolithic problem with a monolithic solution, it involves different types of issues for different students. For example, the gap is not just about low-performing students of color. There are also many children of color performing at the middle level who could and should be performing at the highest levels.

Alson argued that stereotyping and residual racism within schools can generate a lack of resilience in students, in turn undermining student motivation and leading to disengagement from learning. Students from his district who participated in a national conference concluded that negative peer pressure beginning in elementary school and teacher expectations that were linked to student race, class, and prior achievement constrained the learning of students of color.

Rossi Ray-Taylor, Superintendent of Ann Arbor Public Schools, Michigan, described how her district has approached the problem of eliminating the achievement gap. A primary focus has been on discussing data about student performance and thereby defining the issues that must be addressed within the district. This conversation walks a fine line: it must avoid stereotyping groups of students while acknowledging that the achievement gap is a racial issue. Ray-Taylor argued that the conversations that take place must remain focused on the classroom and what teachers can do to build student success, not how factors outside the classroom and school limit student learning. She has found that if change is to take place, the reform efforts must be personal, local, immediate, and sustained. And while there are no magic bullets for eliminating the achievement gap, what has worked is to keep the focus on the classroom and provide the support that is needed to make change happen there.

It must be made clear that the responsibility for remedying the achievement gap belongs to everyone, not a single individual or office, said Ray-Taylor. People must have opportunities to come together to discuss shared problems, and to communicate to others what worked and what didn’t in addressing those problems. A two-way street between classroom teachers and researchers is also necessary, if the achievement gap is to be remedied: teachers should draw from data and research to improve their practice; researchers should draw from the questions, issues, and observations that arise in the classroom as they design new studies.

Robert Smith, Superintendent of Arlington Public Schools in Virginia, cautioned against creating new programs and assigning specific staff members to address the gap so that only some people in the district are responsible for addressing the gap; all members of the district must be held accountable. His district has developed some programs that serve both at-risk students and the general student population; they have also developed other programs targeted specifically to at-risk populations. He emphasized, however, that eliminating the achievement gap is not about adopting specific programs, rather, it is about adopting a general approach and general principles to educational improvement. The superintendent must make clear what the primary mission of the district is and must ensure that all members of the district remain focused on this mission. He identified four guiding principles for eliminating achievement gaps: acknowledge and report the gap publicly; believe that the gap can be eliminated; accept responsibility for making progress; and make elimination of the gap an important priority that is reflected in the plans of instructional leaders, schools, departments, and the school board.

Discussion

During the discussion period, Alson identified major components of strategies to eliminate the achievement gap: academic press (high teacher expectations and relational trust between and among adults and children) and support for students, including personalized instructional environments, tutoring and parental involvement. Panel members also agreed that while it is important to collect disaggregated data, the use of traditional ethnic categories may inadvertently reinforce traditional racial stereotypes, be overly rigid, and not sufficiently capture the variability, nuances, and complexities of student populations and student learning.

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