Black Parent Initiative Seeks To Close The Achievement Gap
BY APRIL BAER
Portland, OR February 26, 2009 5:53 a.m.
In Multnomah County, a new study is pointing the way to fixing inequity between black and white students. April Baer reports on the Black Parent Initiative’s new report on the achievement gap.
Multnomah County’s school districts are doing several things already to level the playing field.
Here at Faubion, a K-8 school in the Portland District, kids can stay late for after-school activities–some academic, some just fun–through a county-funded enrichment program.
These kids are learning to play chess, spilling supersized plastic pieces out onto felt chessboards. Down the hall another group’s getting help with homework.
But the report released Wednesday suggests that while programs like this are important, kids must be reached before first grade. The study accessed an unprecedented pile of test scores, tracking what Multnomah County kids know, but also how they performed over time.
John Tapogna is the researcher contracted to crunch the numbers. He says the big finding is that African-American students aren’t consistently losing ground over their school careers, compared to white classmates. But they are starting school less prepared.
Here is the full article.
Why not take the example of our current US president and take some of the points on the test scores away from the greedy, privilaged, over-achieving little white racists and “re-distribute” them to the disadvantaged victims of unrestrained capitalism.