Parsing the Achievement Gap

My initial reaction to the California education report (Getting Down to Facts?, 3/18/07) was decidedly negative. The newspaper accounts emphasized the CA education performance (dismal) and the projected financial needs (astounding). Like the other scribes, I was dismayed. Over the last few days I took the opportunity to look more closely at the massive 1700 page report and now I’m really depressed.

The summary lays out the dismal statistics. The 2005 National Assessment of Education Progress ranked California 44th in eighth grade math, 48th in reading and 50th in science (ahead of only Mississippi) in comparison to the 49 other states and the District of Columbia. Some suggest that California’s position simply reflects the large minority populations in the state. However in math scores, for example, California ranked only 36th for both white students and for children of college graduates relative to their peers in other states. We are proud of the fact that Palos Verdes high school students rank in the top 3% in CA, but how well do they perform relative to districts with comparable demographics in New York or Wisconsin?

Some “Getting Down to Facts” conclusions: Solely directing more money into the current system will not dramatically improve student achievement. Simply introducing more new categorical programs will not produce the desired achievement gains. Our system is not making the most efficient use of its current resources. State policies do not let administrators make the best use of the pool of potential teachers nor adequately support current teachers. And something must be done about the excessive difficulty in dismissing weak teachers.

It takes 1700 pages to explain these obvious issues while making not one concrete proposal to fix the broken system. That will take another year and another million bucks. I have a suggestion: Just fix it! The teacher issues tread on the third rail of union contracts, but all it takes is political will, starting with the Gov and the legislature, to make the needed changes.

And make those changes before spending another extra dollar (or billion dollars) on the system. The relationship between spending and performance is so unclear that the various studies projected costs ranging from a few extra billion dollars to over a trillion dollars. For example, take a district that is spending $8000 per student and has an API of 750. Using the cost function estimates, a fifty-point increase in API (to 800) would require an increase of only $181 per pupil. Using the production function estimates, the same fifty-point increase in API would require an increase of $11,600 per pupil, that is, 64 times as much. And “total estimated costs from the California production function are $1.5 trillion.” Such disparate estimates resemble those coming from the global warming computer.

As a great counter-example, consider the liberal Kansas City judge who ordered that the failing local school district be given whatever amount of money was necessary to succeed. The spending per student skyrocketed to the neighborhood of $40,000. Everything was first class. The result: Grades dropped even lower and the drop-out rate increased.

The most discouraging thing is the realization that five years after “No Child Left Behind,” the major CA accomplishment is the establishment of world class standards and a system of assessment and accountability for schools and students. The problems that existed in 2000 have barely budged.

Parsing the Achievement Gap by Paul Barton synthesizes a large body of research that identifies those factors associated with educational attainment. The picture is daunting because it is clear that educational achievement is associated with home, school, and societal factors, almost all having their roots in socioeconomic forces affecting the country.

Parsing lists 14 correlates of elementary and secondary school achievement, six related to schools and eight related to families.

School correlates are (1) rigor of the curriculum, (2) teacher preparation, (3) teacher experience and attendance, (4) class size, (5) technology-assisted instruction and (6) school safety.

Family correlates are (7) weight at birth, (8) exposure to environmental hazards such as lead, (9) hunger and nutrition, (10) reading to young children, (11) the amount of TV watching, (12) parent availability, (13) student mobility (how frequently children change schools) and (14) parent participation.

Data show that whites (62% of the student population) take 66% of the AP classes while blacks (17%) take 4% of the AP courses. The percent of 8th grade math teachers lacking certification is 13% in non-poor schools but 22% in poor schools. The percent of teachers with class sizes above 24 kids is 22% in low-minority schools but 31% in high-minority schools. Low minority classrooms come 94% equipped with computers compared to 77% of high minority classrooms. The percent of students reporting gangs in school is 16% in predominantly white schools but 29% in black schools.

The teacher issues can be easily solved by assignment and extra pay. Only the unions stand in the way. The AP courses and gangs in schools are related to families.

The percent of babies born with low weights is white 7%, black 13% and Hispanic 7%. Lead poisoning is more likely in black homes (22% contain lead based paint) compared to white homes (6%). Only 2% of white children are regularly hungry compared to 7% of black children. The percent of third grade children who have already switched schools 3 times is 13% among whites but 27% among blacks. Over 75% of white children live with two parents compared to 38% of black children. The percent of children who are read to daily is 64% of white kids compared to 48% of black kids. On the other hand 42% of black kids watch 6 or more hours of TV daily compared to 13% of white kids.

The school system is nearly helpless in addressing these family issues. And these are the issues that drive achievement far more that the school issues. The family issues can only be solved by changing black and poor culture and that has to be done by those communities themselves. We definitely need more Bill Cosby’s.