Researcher Published by CQ Press, a division of Congressional Quarterly Inc. CQ www.cqresearcher.com Fixing Urban Schools Has No Child Left Behind helped minority students?

frican-American and Hispanic students — largely in urban schools — lag far behind white students, who mostly attend middle-class suburban schools. Critics argue that when Congress reauthorizes the 2002A No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), it must retarget the legisla- tion to help urban schools tackle tough problems, such as encour- aging the best teachers to enter and remain in high-poverty schools, rather than focusing on tests and sanctions. Some advo- cates propose busing students across district lines to create more Stephan Howell, 18, dropped out of his Indianapolis socioeconomically diverse student bodies. But conservative analysts high school after several suspensions for fighting. Approximately half of all African-American argue that busing wastes students’ time and that permitting charter high-school students fail to graduate. schools to compete with public schools will drive improvement. Meanwhile, liberal analysts point out that successful charter programs I N are too costly for most schools to emulate, and that no one has THIS REPORT S yet figured out how to spread success beyond a handful of THE ISSUES ...... 363 I schools, public or private. BACKGROUND ...... 370 D CHRONOLOGY ...... 371 E AT ISSUE ...... 377 CQ Researcher • April 27, 2007 • www.cqresearcher.com CURRENT SITUATION ...... 378 Volume 17, Number 16 • Pages 361-384 OUTLOOK ...... 379 RECIPIENT OF SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION SILVER GAVEL AWARD BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 382 THE NEXT STEP ...... 383 FIXING URBAN SCHOOLS CQ Researcher

April 27, 2007 THE ISSUES SIDEBARS AND GRAPHICS Volume 17, Number 16

• Has the No Child Left Minority Districts Often MANAGING EDITOR: Thomas J. Colin 363 Behind law helped urban 364 Get Less Funding ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR: Kathy Koch students? High-minority districts get • Should governments less revenue per student. ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Kenneth Jost make schools more racially STAFF WRITERS: Marcia Clemmitt, Peter Katel diverse? 365 All Racial/Ethnic Groups • Are teachers prepared Improved on Test CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Rachel S. Cox, Fourth-grader math test. Sarah Glazer, Alan Greenblatt, to teach successfully in Barbara Mantel, Patrick Marshall, urban classrooms? Tom Price, Jennifer Weeks 367 As Minority Enrollment BACKGROUND Rises, Teacher Quality Drops DESIGN/PRODUCTION EDITOR: Olu B. Davis In Illinois, minority schools ASSISTANT EDITOR: Darrell Dela Rosa 370 Educating the Poor have poor teacher quality. Equality in education has Blacks and Hispanics Attend been a contentious issue 368 High-Poverty Schools throughout history. Few white fourth-graders attend high-poverty schools. A Division of Two Tracks Congressional Quarterly Inc. 372 Many educators call for Chronology higher standards. 371 Key events since 1954. SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT/PUBLISHER: John A. Jenkins Minority Schools Dropouts’ Problems DIRECTOR, EDITORIAL OPERATIONS: 374 Urban schools have had 372 Often Begin Early Ann Davies rising minority enrollment Urban students are far less in recent years. likely to graduate. CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY INC. CHAIRMAN: Paul C. Tash Majority of Dropouts Are Poor in School 373 VICE CHAIRMAN: Andrew P. Corty 376 Rising urban poverty has Hispanic, Black increased the burden on They represent over 75 per- PRESIDENT/EDITOR IN CHIEF: Robert W. Merry cent of 20-year-old dropouts. urban schools. Copyright © 2007 CQ Press, a division of Congres- The ‘Behavior Gap’ sional Quarterly Inc. (CQ). CQ reserves all copyright 374 Many educators blame a and other rights herein, unless previously specified CURRENT SITUATION system that’s white-centered. in writing. No part of this publication may be re- produced electronically or otherwise, without prior Congress Divided At Issue written permission. Unauthorized reproduction or 378 transmission of CQ copyrighted material is a viola- Reauthorization of the 377 Would raising teacher pay No Child Left Behind Act help struggling schools? tion of federal law carrying civil fines of up to (NCLB) is not a certainty. $100,000. CQ Researcher (ISSN 1056-2036) is printed on acid- Retooling NCLB? FOR FURTHER RESEARCH free paper. Published weekly, except March 23, July 379 President Bush and the 6, July 13, Aug. 3, Aug. 10, Nov. 23, Dec. 21 and Democrats disagree on 381 For More Information Dec. 28, by CQ Press, a division of Congressional necessary changes. Organizations to contact. Quarterly Inc. Annual full-service subscriptions for institutions start at $667. For pricing, call 1-800-834- 382 Bibliography 9020, ext. 1906. To purchase a CQ Researcher re- OUTLOOK Selected sources used. port in print or electronic format (PDF), visit www.cqpress.com or call 866-427-7737. Single reports The Next Step start at $15. Bulk purchase discounts and electronic- Agreeing to Disagree 383 Additional current articles. 379 Educators disagree over rights licensing are also available. Periodicals post- age paid at Washington, D.C., and additional mailing how to raise standards. Citing CQ Researcher 383 offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to CQ Sample bibliography formats. Researcher, 1255 22nd St., N.W., Suite 400, Washing- ton, DC 20037. Cover: AP Photo/Michael Conroy

362 CQ Researcher Fixing Urban Schools BY MARCIA CLEMMITT

Kennedy and other congres- sional Democrats to enact the THE ISSUES No Child Left Behind Act didn’t go to school (NCLB) in 2002, a key aim much in elementary, was requiring states to report “I and they saw me as achievement scores for all a bad girl” who skipped class, student groups. That ensured says Jeanette, a Houston high- that lagging scores of low- school student who dropped income and minority students out several times but is strug- wouldn’t be masked by hav- gling to get a diploma. After ing only state or district over- her parents divorced when all average scores reported. 3 she was in grade school, she This year, Congress is ex- fell into a pattern typical of pected to provide funding to urban students, repeatedly keep the law in operation, “switching schools,” some- but there’s considerable dis- times living with her moth- agreement about where fed- er, sometimes her father and eral education law should go

sometimes with an aunt who AP Photo/Matt Rourke next, and lawmakers may wait “didn’t make us go to school” Philadelphia police officers guard West Philadelphia until next year to consider at all. 1 High School on March 12, 2007, where a teacher was revisions (see p. 379). In middle school, Jeanette attacked by three students three days earlier. Experts NCLB’s test-score reporting suggest that a “behavior gap” between black and white began taking drugs but later students parallels the academic achievement gap requirements “make it more got involved in sports, which between high- and low-performing students. possible to look at whether motivated her to try, some- schools are doing well just times successfully, to keep up her measured by eligibility for free and for more affluent students or for poor grades and stay off drugs. Some teach- reduced-price lunch,” according to the students” as well, and that’s valuable, ers have tried hard to help her, but Center for Civil Rights at the University says Jeffrey Henig, professor of political like many troubled urban kids, she of North Carolina. Only 5 percent of science and education at Columbia pulls back. “If I need help . . . I don’t white students attend such high-poverty University’s Teachers College. say anything. . . . They have to ask schools. 2 (See graph, p. 368.) But some supporters, including Pres- me.” Still, Jeanette is determined to These schools, mostly urban, aren’t ident Bush, say the NCLB has done avoid the fate of her parents, who making the grade, even in the context more than just improve data-gathering, dropped out of school when they had of lagging achievement in American arguing that the law itself has pushed her. At the time, her mother was only schools overall. achievement upward. “Fourth-graders 13. “I don’t want to live like them. I Although states show significant vari- are reading better. They’ve made more want to have a better life,” she says. ations, nationwide “71 percent of eighth- progress in five years than in the pre- Jeanette typifies the daunting chal- graders are not reading at grade level,” vious 28 years combined,” he said on lenge that urban schools face in pro- and the percentage shoots up to be- March 2. 4 moting academic achievement among tween 80 and 90 percent for students Many education analysts disagree children whose lives have been disor- of color, says former Gov. Bob Wise, with that rosy assessment. The small dered and impoverished. D-W.Va., now president of the Alliance improvement in fourth-grade reading Most middle-class families with chil- for Excellent Education, a broad-based and mathematics scores is part of a dren have moved to the suburbs, leav- coalition that advocates for academi- long-term trend, which began years ing urban schools today overwhelm- cally stronger high schools. before NCLB was even enacted, said ingly populated by low-income, Furthermore, of the approximately Harvard University Professor of Edu- African-American and Hispanic stu- 15,000 U.S. high schools, 2,000 — cation Daniel M. Koretz. “There’s not dents. “Nationally, about 50 percent of mostly in cities — account for half of any evidence that shows anything has all black and Latino students attend the nation’s school dropouts, says Wise. changed” since NCLB, he said. 5 schools in which 75 percent or more When President George W. Bush And for urban schools, the post- of the students are low-income, as joined Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. NCLB picture is especially grim.

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Of the non-achieving schools in Minority Districts Often Get Less Funding New York state, for example, 90 per- cent are in cities and 80 percent in In 28 states, school districts with high-minority enrollments received the state’s five biggest cities, says less per-pupil funding (shown as a negative number, top map) than David Hursh, an associate professor districts with low-minority levels. For example, in Illinois, the highest- of teaching and curriculum at the Uni- minority districts received an average of $1,223 less per student than versity of Rochester’s Margaret Warner the lowest-minority districts. In 21 states, the highest-minority districts Graduate School of Education. received more per pupil (shown as a positive number, bottom map), The gap between average reading than the districts with the lowest-minority enrollments. For example, scores of black and white fourth-graders in Georgia, the highest-poverty districts received $566 per student more narrowed by only one point on the than the lowest-poverty districts. 500-point National Assessment of Ed- ucational Progress test (NAEP) between Minority Funding Gaps by State, 2004 2002 and 2005, and the narrowing ap- pears to be part of a long-term trend, States where high-minority districts received since it narrowed by three points be- less funding than low-minority districts tween 1998 and 2005. Between 2002 and 2005, the reading-score gap be- Wash. Mont. N.D. N.H. Minn. Vt. tween white and black eighth-graders Wis. Maine actually widened, from 25 points to Ore. S.D. 6 Idaho Mich. 28 points. Wyo. N.Y. Mass. Iowa Neb. The continuing severe achievement Pa. R.I. Ill. Ind. Ohio Conn. gap, newly highlighted by NCLB’s data- Nev. Utah Colo. Kan. Mo. W.Va. N.J. reporting requirements, leaves law- Ky. Va. Calif. Del. makers and educators scratching their Okla. Tenn. N.C. Md. Ark. Ariz. N.M. D.C. heads about what to do next. Ala. S.C. Miss. Some analysts say lagging achieve- La. Ga. Texas -$2,000+ ment in urban schools demonstrates Fla. -$1,001 to -$2,000 Alaska that poor families in poor communi- -$500 to -$1,000 ties require much more intense inter- -$1 to -$500 ventions than middle-class students, including better teachers and longer States where high-minority districts received school days as well as improved more funding than low-minority districts health care, nutrition and parenting education. A public school enrolling mainly Wash. Mont. N.D. N.H. Minn. Vt. middle-class white students has a one- Wis. Maine Ore. Idaho S.D. in-four chance of producing good test Mich. Wyo. N.Y. Mass. Iowa scores, across years and in different Neb. Pa. R.I. subject matter, according to Douglas Ill. Ind. Ohio Conn. Nev. Utah Colo. N. Harris, assistant professor of edu- Kan. Mo. W.Va. N.J. Ky. Va. Calif. Del. cation policy at the University of Wis- Okla. Tenn. N.C. Md. consin, Madison. A school with a pre- N.M. Ark. Ariz. S.C. D.C. dominantly low-income minority Miss. Ala. Ga. La. $0 to $500 population has a 1-in-300 chance of Texas doing so. 7 Alaska Fla. $500 to $1,000 $1,001 to $2,000 Experts blame the poor outcome on the fact that urban schools, like all schools, $2,000+ are staffed and organized to provide sub- Note: Hawaii is not shown because data are not available. stantial extra help to only 15 percent of students and curriculum enrichment to Source: Funding Gaps 2006, The Education Trust, 2006 another 15, while “the students in the

364 CQ Researcher middle are supposed to take care of themselves,” says Robert Balfanz, asso- All Racial/Ethnic Groups Improved on Test ciate research scientist at the Johns Hop- Fourth-graders in all racial and ethnic groups began modestly kins University Center on the Social Or- improving in math on the National Assessment for Educational ganization of Schools and associate director of the Talent Development High Progress several years before passage of the No Child Left Behind Act. School program, a reform initiative in 33 schools nationwide. The formula for Average Fourth-Grade Scores in Math, 1996-2005 (by race, ethnicity) extra help fits most suburban schools, (Score) “but in urban schools 50 to 60 percent, 300 and sometimes up to 80 percent, of the Passage of No Child kids are “high-needs,” defined as Eng- Left Behind Act lish-as-a-second-language students, spe- 250 * cial-education students or students * below grade level or with severe atten- * 200 dance problems. “We’re not set up to respond when that many kids need one-on-one tutor- 150 ing, monitoring of their attendance on a 1996 2000 2003 2005 daily basis, [or] people calling up to say, ‘Glad you came today,’ ” Balfanz says. Asian/Pacific White American Indian/ Hispanic Black One of the biggest problems is the Islander Alaska Native kind of “student mobility” experienced by Jeanette, the Houston dropout. * Some data for 1996 and 2000 not available “Homelessness is much underreport- Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics ed,” says James F. Lytle, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and for- “Imagine the teacher’s dilemma in prove the education they provide or mer school superintendent in Trenton, a classroom where the population is else students . . . will go elsewhere,” N.J. “Statistics are based on who’s in different every day,” says Balfanz. said Greene. 10 shelters and on the streets. But 20 to But some conservative analysts argue But others argue that lessons from 30 percent of our kids were living in that a large proportion of high-needs successful urban schools, including ‘serial households’ on a day-to-day basis,” students is still no reason for schools charters, demonstrate that raising low- or moving about from parents to grand- to fail. income students’ achievement requires parents to relatives to friends — not liv- “Schools frequently cite social prob- resources and staff commitment that ing in the same house all the time. lems like poverty . . . and bad parent- may be tough for the nation to muster. Inner-city schools have a 40 to 50 ing as excuses for their own poor per- “Teachers in high-poverty urban percent student-mobility rate, which formance,” said Jay P. Greene, a senior schools are as much as 50 percent means up to half the students change fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a con- more likely to . . . leave than those schools at least once a year because servative think tank. “This argument that in low-poverty schools,” in part be- of parents losing or changing jobs, schools are helpless in the face of so- cause of the intensity of the work, ac- evictions and other factors, says Co- cial problems is not supported by hard cording to researchers at the University lumbia University’s Henig. That dis- evidence. . . . The truth is that certain of California, Santa Cruz. 11 rupts students’ ability to keep up with schools do a strikingly better job than A second-grade teacher fluent in work and build relationships with the others,” including public, private and Spanish who reported working 10 hours adults in a school. charter schools. 8 a day, six days a week said she’d In addition, city students miss school Some educators say one solution probably stop teaching when she had for a wide range of reasons, including for low-quality urban schools is es- children: “It’s too time-consuming and high asthma rates; lack of school buses, tablishing publicly funded “charter” energy-draining,” she said. 12 forcing kids to get to school on their schools and awarding vouchers for “None of the teachers in our sample own, often through unsafe neighbor- private-school tuition. 9 When choice could conceive of being a successful hoods; and family responsibilities, like is expanded, “urban public schools that urban teacher without an extraordi- caring for younger siblings. once had a captive clientele must im- nary — perhaps unsustainable —

Available online: www.cqresearcher.com April 27, 2007 365 FIXING URBAN SCHOOLS commitment to the work,” the re- Student achievement also has im- more of the things that professional searchers commented. 13 proved slightly under the law, some educators support,” Ratner says. Not just schools but communities advocates point out. “Is NCLB really NCLB’s requirement that every must help in the effort to improve stu- paying off? The answer is yes,” U.S. school “have very qualified teachers is dents’ performance. Chamber of Commerce Senior Vice good,” says Gary Orfield, a professor “There ought to be a parade through President Arthur J. Rothkopf told a of social policy at the Harvard Graduate the heart of town” every time a stu- joint House-Senate committee hearing School of Education and director of dent achieves an academic goal, says on March 13. While current testing The Civil Rights Project. Hugh B. Price, a fellow at the Brook- data is still “abysmal,” it nevertheless But critics argue that NCLB doesn’t ings Institution, a liberal think tank. “represents improvement from where put muscle behind the high-quality teacher “We need to wrap and cloak kids in this nation was” before the law. requirement and sets unrealistic goals this message of achievement.” That’s The law has benefited urban schools and timetables for school progress. how the military successfully trains sol- by raising reading scores for African- NCLB actually “incentivizes teachers to diers, Price says. “They will praise any- American and Hispanic fourth- and leave failing schools,” the last thing law- thing that’s good.” eighth-graders and math scores for makers intended, says Jennifer King-Rice, Schools and communities also have African-American and Hispanic fourth- an economist who is associate professor a role in helping parents better equip graders to “all-time highs.” Achieve- of education policy at the University of their children for school, says Mayor ment gaps in reading and math be- Maryland, College Park. “Teachers say, ‘I Douglas H Palmer of Trenton, N.J., tween white fourth-graders and can’t produce the AYP [average yearly president of the National Conference African-American and Hispanic fourth- progress] results’ ” the law calls for in of Democratic Mayors. “You don’t have graders also have diminished since low-performing schools with few resources to be rich to talk to your child, help NCLB, he noted. 14 and, frustrated, go elsewhere, she says. her build vocabulary and learn to rea- NCLB’s data-reporting requirements Nevertheless, it’s still unclear whether and son and negotiate,” as psychologists have “lifted the carpet” to reveal two how the government can enforce the recommend, he says. “We can help previously unrecognized facts about qualified-teacher rule. (See graphs, p. 367.) parents with these skills.” American education — “the continuing The law provides no additional fund- As educators and lawmakers debate under-performance of the whole sys- ing to help schools meet the teacher- the next steps to improving urban tem and the achievement gap” for low- quality goal, said Richard J. Murnane, schools, here are some of the ques- income and minority students, says professor of education and society at tions being asked: Daniel A. Domenech, senior vice pres- the Harvard Graduate School of Edu- ident and top urban-education adviser cation. “Teaching in these schools is Has the No Child Left Behind for publisher McGraw-Hill Education extremely difficult work,” and “very law helped urban students? and former superintendent of Virginia’s few school districts provide extra pay NCLB was intended to improve vast Fairfax County Public Schools. 15 or other inducements to attract talented overall academic achievement and And while some critics complain teachers to these schools. 16 raise achievement for minority and that NCLB gave the federal govern- “As a result, all too often these low-income students, in particular, ment too much say over education — schools are left with the teachers other mainly by requiring more student traditionally a state and local matter schools don’t want,” he continued. testing, getting schools to report test — “there needs to be a strong feder- “And the teachers who do have op- data separately for student groups in- al role for these kids” in low-income tions exercise seniority rights to leave cluding minorities and the poor and urban schools “because they have been . . . as soon as they can.” 17 requiring schools to employ better- left behind,” says Gary Ratner, a pub- The achievement targets set by NCLB qualified teachers. lic-interest lawyer who is founding ex- are panned by many. The main goal The law, scheduled for reautho- ecutive director of the advocacy group schools must meet is moving kids over rization this year, gets praise for fo- Citizens for Effective Schools. “States a standardized-testing threshold from cusing attention on the so-called and localities have not stepped up.” “basic” or “below basic” understanding achievement gap between minority and Now NCLB “has got the country’s of reading and math to a “proficient” low-income students and their middle- attention,” and when Congress reau- level or above. But focusing on that class counterparts. But critics say the thorizes the law, “the federal role can narrow goal as the key measure by legislation doesn’t do enough to as- be redirected to focus on Title I schools” which schools are judged created bad sure that low-performing urban schools — those serving a large proportion of incentives to game the system, many get the excellent teachers they need. disadvantaged students — “and do analysts say.

366 CQ Researcher Rather than concentrating on raising overall achievement or trying to give Minority Enrollment and Teacher Quality the most help to students who score In Illinois, 88 percent of the schools that were virtually 100 percent lowest, many schools concentrate “on students who are on the bubble” — minority ranked in the lowest quartile of the state’s Teacher Quality those who need to raise their scores Index (graph at left). By comparison, only 1 percent of the all-minority by only a few points to move into the schools ranked in the highest quartile (right). High-quality teachers “proficient” range — and “forget the have more experience, better educations and stronger academic others,” says Patrick McQuillan, an as- skills. Similar patterns are found in most other states. sociate professor of education at Boston College’s Lynch School of Education. Percentage of Illinois Schools Percentage of Illinois Schools Schools that succeed at pushing the in Lowest Quartile of Teacher in Highest Quartile of scores of “bubble” students up by a Quality Index, 2002-2003 Teacher Quality Index, few points are deemed successful, ac- cording to current NCLB standards, 2002-2003 even if they leave the neediest students Percentage of schools Percentage of schools even farther behind, he says. 100% 88% 100% The law’s pronouncement that 100 80 80 percent of U.S. students will test at 70% the “proficient” level is simply unreal- 60 60 istic, some critics say. 34% “We’ve never fully funded educa- 40 40 32% tion in the United States,” and achieve- 20 11% 20 13% ment continues to lag far below the 4% 1% “proficient” level, especially for low- 0 0 <50% 50-89% 90-98% 99-100% <50% 50-89% 90-98% 99-100% income students, says Domenech. So “let’s not kid around and say that by Minority Percentage in School Minority Percentage in School 2014” all students will be academically proficient, he says. “That’s like saying, Source: “Teaching Inequality: How Poor and Minority Students Are Shortchanged ‘I’m going to push you out the window, on Teacher Quality,” The Education Trust, June 2006 and I know you can fly.’ ” Furthermore, NCLB’s focus on a Should governments make schools should focus instead on improving handful of standardized tests as the more racially and economically achievement in urban schools. 18 sole measures of children’s progress diverse? “The effort to get the right racial bal- puts teachers in an ethical bind that Today, most African-American and ance is misguided” and represents a kind “definitely lowers their morale,” says Latino students attend urban schools of “liberal racism — a belief that black Marshalita Sims Peterson, an associate with a high concentration of low- children need to be in school with white professor of education at Atlanta’s Spel- income students and very few white children to learn,” says Stephan Thern- man College, an historically black classmates. strom, a history professor at Harvard school for women. Some advocates argue that the coun- University and a fellow at the conserv- Teachers in training are taught that try has backtracked to an era of sepa- ative Manhattan Institute. students are individuals with a wide va- rate but unequal schools and say gov- If integration “can be managed nat- riety of learning styles, and that no sin- ernment programs aimed at creating urally, that’s fine, but there is no clear gle assessment can define a student, says more racially and socioeconomically di- correlation that can be drawn from Peterson. The NCLB’s excessive focus verse schools are good tools for nar- data” showing it’s important for clos- on a single measurement of achieve- rowing the achievement gap. Oppo- ing the achievement gap, Thernstrom ment “leaves the teacher in an awful nents of government interference with says. He rejects as incomplete and position” she says. “You need to keep children’s attendance at neighborhood flawed studies that suggest integration the job, but when you are actually com- schools argue that with residential neigh- does make a big difference. Further- pleting that form” stating the single score borhoods increasingly segregated by more, “if you need a white majority “for a third-grader, you’re asking, ‘Is that race and income, school integration is to learn,” learning will soon be im- all there is to this child?’ ” unrealistic, and that governments possible in America, since Hispanic,

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Their founders argue that “students Blacks, Hispanics Attend High-Poverty Schools who enter middle school significantly behind grade level don’t need the same Black and Hispanic students are more likely to be concentrated in good education that most American high-poverty schools than white students. Forty-seven percent of middle-class students receive; they need black and 51 percent of Hispanic fourth-graders were in the highest- a better education,” he said. 21 poverty schools in 2003 vs. 5 percent of white fourth-graders. By But many advocates argue that data contrast, only 6 percent of black and Hispanic fourth-graders were show a proven way to improve edu- in the lowest-poverty schools compared with 29 percent of the whites. cation for thousands of low-income students rather than for the handful Percentage of Fourth-graders in High-poverty Schools that attend the highly successful char- (Based on proportion eligible for free or reduced-price lunch) ter schools is integration of minority 60% and poor students with middle-class children. 50 School desegregation by race “has 40 clear academic benefits,” wrote R. 30 Scott Baker, an associate professor of education at Wake Forest University. 20 Data from Charlotte, N.C., show that 10 the longer both black and white stu- 0 dents spent in desegregated elemen- Total Black White Hispanic tary schools, the higher their stan- dardized test scores in middle and Poverty 10% or less 11-25% 26-50% 51-75% More than 75% high school. Research also suggests Level: that “where school desegregation Source: “The Condition of Education 2004 in Brief” National Center for Education, plans are fully and completely imple- June 2004 mented,” local housing also becomes more integrated. 22 Asian and African-American popula- And I have a very simple view of that. In the 1960s and ’70s some federal tions are growing faster than the cur- Stop moving the kids around and courts mandated programs to help urban rent white majority, he notes. teach them.” 20 minority families move to middle-class Racial concentration is not the same Meanwhile, some charter schools white suburbs. Long-term data from as segregation and doesn’t stand in — such as the Knowledge Is Power those cases show that children who the way of achievement, said his wife, Program (KIPP), begun in Houston — moved did better than those who Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Abigail are making great strides in reducing stayed behind, according to Howell S. Thernstrom. School districts are power- the urban achievement gap, and for Baum, a professor of urban studies and less to change housing demographics, the most part those schools are not planning at the University of Maryland. making it highly unlikely that racial racially integrated, wrote New York In St. Louis, 50 percent of the black concentration of students ever could Times Magazine features editor Paul students who moved to the suburbs be ended, she said. 19 Tough last year. graduated from high school, compared Some school districts are attempt- Most of the 70 schools that make to 26 percent of those who remained ing to integrate lower-income and high- up the three charter networks he ob- in the high-minority, low-income urban er-income students, rather than inte- served have “only one or two white schools. 23 grating schools based on race. But children enrolled, or none at all,” he Many policy analysts agree that seg- Abigail Thernstrom argued that giving noted. Leaders of the networks, all of regating low-income children in some children a longer commute to schools them white, actually intend to educate public schools “perpetuates failure,” wrote outside their neighborhoods, for any their students separately from middle- the Century Foundation’s Task Force on reason, simply wastes time better class students, according to Tough. the Common School. Nevertheless, spent in the classroom. “Busing doesn’t However, unlike those who’ve argued there is an “equally durable political raise the level of achievement,” she that schools can be “separate but equal,” consensus that nothing much can be told C-SPAN. “Now they’re going to the successful high-intensity charter done about it.” The panel argued that start busing on the basis of social class. schools aim for “separate but better.” this must change: “Eliminating the

368 CQ Researcher harmful effects of concentrated school said Thernstrom. “I went to the fifth- University, in Baltimore. “Teaching poverty is the single most important grade [classroom] next door [to Esquith’s] lower-class kids well is tougher than step that can be taken for improving one day,” and “it was perfectly clear teaching middle-class kids.” Further- education in the United States.” 24 nothing was going on.” When Thern- more, “it is surprising how little we “Dozens of studies” dating back to strom suggested the teacher might copy know about teaching practices that the 1960s “find that low-income chil- Esquith’s methods — which include be- cause students to succeed, particularly dren have . . . larger achievement gains ginning class as early as 6 a.m. and in high-poverty schools.” 29 over time when they attend middle- working with students at his home on “You have poverty in many dis- class schools,” said the panel. 25 weekends — he remarked that “it’s an tricts, but in urban schools you have “The tragedy right now is that enormous amount of work.” 27 a concentration of it” that makes teach- places that were once forced to [inte- Today, around the country, “we do ing successfully there much harder grate their schools] now aren’t allowed have shining examples” of schools than in middle-class suburbs, says to,” says Orfield of The Civil Rights that succeed at urban education, says Timothy Shanahan, professor of urban Project. “That will be seen as a cosmic Timothy Knowles, executive director education at the University of Illinois blunder” for white Americans as well, of the University of Chicago’s Center at Chicago and president of the In- he said. “We’re not preparing ourselves for Urban School Improvement and a ternational Reading Association. for the multiracial society and world” former deputy school superintendent Schools are traditionally set up to of the 21st century. in Boston. deal with 15 to 20 percent of a stu- Ratner, of Citizens for Effective dent body having very high needs, Are teachers prepared to teach Schools, agrees. “I spent time in an says Shanahan. But urban schools usu- successfully in urban classrooms? elementary school in Chicago a few ally have 50 percent or more of their Urban schools have high teacher years ago where all the teachers were students needing special attention of turnover, low test scores and many teaching reading,” even at the upper some kind, “and that’s a huge bur- reported discipline problems. Further- grades, equipping students with the den on the teachers,” he says. more, most of America’s teaching vocabulary and comprehension skills “Literally, we have 5-year-olds who force still consists of white, middle- needed for future academic work, he come into the Chicago school system class women, while urban school- says. “They had a good principal, and not knowing their own names,” he children are low-income minorities, they were showing that it can be done.” says. “I know local neighborhoods with creating a culture gap that may be But while successful urban schools gang problems, where the kids are up hard to bridge. and classrooms are out there, many all night. Their mothers are hiding them Consequently, some analysts argue education analysts say the know-how under the bed to protect them from that today’s teachers aren’t prepared and resources needed to spread that shootings in the street. Then teachers to teach successfully in urban class- success to millions of students are can’t keep them awake in class.” rooms for a variety of reasons, from sorely lacking. The nation’s rapidly growing His- discipline to second-language issues. Some individual schools are clos- panic population is heavily concen- Others, however, point to sterling ex- ing the achievement gap for needy trated in urban schools. That new phe- amples of teachers and schools that students, but “very few, if any” entire nomenon presents another tough do succeed and argue that the real school districts have had equivalent obstacle for the urban teaching force, problem is teachers not following success, says Knowles. because “older teachers know noth- good examples. Charter schools also haven’t seen ing about working with non-native Fifth-grade teacher Rafe Esquith, at their successes spread as widely as English speakers,” says McQuillan of the Hobart Elementary School in cen- many hoped. Boston College. tral Los Angeles, routinely coaches his Out of Ohio’s “300-plus charter Not just language but race compli- urban Korean and Central American- schools,” for example, “some . . . are cates urban-school teaching. As many immigrant students to top standardized- indeed excellent, but too many are as 81 percent of all teacher-education test scores. Furthermore, his classes appalling,” wrote analysts Terry Ryan students are white women. 30 produce Shakespearean plays so im- and Quentin Suffran of the conservative “Those most often entering teaching pressive they’ve been invited to per- Thomas B. Fordham Foundation in a continue to be white, monolingual, form with Britain’s Royal Shakespeare recent report. 28 middle-class women,” wrote Jocelyn A. Company, said Abigail Thernstrom. 26 There are reasons for that, said Glazier, assistant professor of education But despite Esquith’s success, “no- Mark Simon, director of the Center for at the University of North Carolina at body copies him,” even in his own school, Teacher Leadership at Johns Hopkins Chapel Hill. 31

Available online: www.cqresearcher.com April 27, 2007 369 FIXING URBAN SCHOOLS

Many teachers, especially white might be labeled as insensitive and But as all states began establishing women, shy away from making tough racist,” wrote Central Michigan Univer- public education systems — between demands on African-American students, sity graduate student in education Drey- the late 18th and the mid-19th century according to a survey of urban com- on Wynn and Associate Dean Dianne — questions over equality in educa- munity leaders by Wanda J. Blanchett, L. H. Mark. But white teachers’ delib- tion arose, first for black students and associate professor of urban special erate color-blindness ignores students later for immigrants. “When public education at the University of Wis- “unique culture, beliefs, perceptions, schools opened in Boston in the late consin, Milwaukee. “Especially with [and] values,” blocking both learning 18th century, black children were African-American males, you hear the and helpful student-teacher relationships, neither barred nor segregated,” wrote teachers say, ‘Oh, he is such a nice Mark and Wynn argue. 36 Derrick Bell, a visiting professor at the kid.’ But . . . this irks me when teach- New York University School of Law. ers baby their students to death in- “But by 1790, racial insults and mis- stead of pushing. . . . I get that a lot treatment had driven out all but three when you have white teachers who BACKGROUND or four black children.” 39 have never worked with black stu- Later, some black families joined with dents from the urban environment.” 32 white liberals to form black-only schools Many entering education students in Massachusetts and in other states. at Indiana University-Purdue Universi- Educating the Poor But complaints about poor conditions ty, in Indianapolis, balked at the school’s and poor teaching in those schools led fieldwork and student-teaching venues, others to sue for integrated education. which were in urban schools, wrote merican education has long strug- Even in the early 19th century, some Professor Christine H. Leland and Pro- A gled with providing equal edu- courts were bothered by race-based fessor Emeritus Jerome C. Harste. “They cation for the poor, racial minorities inequities in education, said Bell. A saw our program’s urban focus as an and non-English-speaking immigrants. federal court struck down a Kentucky obstacle to their career goals” of teach- Until recently, however, even people law directing that school taxes col- ing in schools like the suburban ones who never made it through high school lected from white people would most had attended. 33 could usually find a good job. A new, maintain white schools, and taxes from Some viewed urban students as an global, technical economy may be blacks would operate black schools. alien race they didn’t want to learn changing that. “Given the great disparities in taxable to know. “Students rarely felt the In the earliest years in the United resources” this would result in an in- need to interrogate their underlying States, schooling wasn’t widespread. A ferior education for black children, assumption that poor people deserve farm-based economy made extensive the court said. 40 the problems they have” or “spent any education unnecessary for most peo- Around the 1820s, waves of non- time talking or thinking about issues ple. In 1805, more than 90 percent of English immigration began, raising such as poverty or racism,” Leland Americans had completed a fifth-grade new controversies over educating and Harste wrote. After student teach- education or less, and education for poor children of sometimes-despised ing, however, some students changed richer people was often conducted by ethnicities. their plans and applied to become private tutors. 37 Before 1820, most U.S. immigrants urban teachers. 34 State legislatures were just beginning were English, and a few were Dutch. Race is a taboo subject in America, to debate whether to establish free tax- But between 1820 and 1840 Irish im- which some analysts say compounds funded schools for all children. 38 Nev- migrants became the first in a long urban teachers’ difficulties. Many ertheless, even in those early days, some parade of newcomers judged inferi- teacher-preparation programs center on religious and other charitable groups or by the predominantly English pop- an effort not to see or at least not to considered it a moral duty to educate ulation. A rising tide of immigration acknowledge race differences, accord- the poor. In New York City, for exam- in the late 19th and early 20th cen- ing to Glazier. But “by claiming not to ple, the Association of Women Friends turies included many non-English- notice [race], the teacher is saying that for the Relief of the Poor opened a speakers — Italians, Germans, Chinese, she is dismissing one of the most salient charity school in 1801. By 1823 the group Russians, Poles and many others — features of a child’s identity.” 35 was providing free elementary educa- who posed new challenges for schools “Many teachers believe that if they tion for 750 children, with some pub- and were looked down on by many recognize a student’s race or discuss is- lic assistance. Similar charity schools citizens. sues of ethnicity in their classroom, they sprang up in most other major cities. Continued on p. 372

370 CQ Researcher Chronology

masking the failing scores of 1950s-1960s 1990s-2000s some groups. . . . U.S. Supreme Concerns grow over student Steady gains in African-American Court rules in favor of Ohio’s achievement and racially segre- students’ test scores over the school-voucher program, which gated schools. past two decades begin to taper allows public funding for tuition at off by decade’s end. . . . Poverty Cleveland parochial schools. . . . 1954 concentrates in cities. . . . Gov- State takes over Philadelphia’s Supreme Court rules in Brown v. ernors lead efforts to raise ed- bankrupt school system, allows Board of Education that separate ucation standards. private companies to run some schools are inherently unequal. schools. 1990 1965 New Jersey Supreme Court rules 2005 Title I of the new Elementary and in Abbott v. Burke the state must Hoping to halt isolation of the Secondary Education Act (ESEA) provide more funding for poor lowest-income students in inner- targets the largest pool of federal schools than for richer ones. city schools, Omaha, Neb., tries education assistance to help schools but fails to annex neighboring serving disadvantaged students. 1991 suburban districts. Minnesota enacts first charter-school 1966 law. 2006 Sociologist James S. Coleman’s Department of Education admits “Equality of Educational Opportu- 1994 that few students in failing city nity” report concludes that disad- In reauthorizing ESEA, Congress schools receive the free tutoring vantaged African-American students requires states receiving Title I NCLB promised and that no states do better in integrated classrooms. funding for disadvantaged students have met the 2006 deadline for to hold them to the same academic having qualified teachers in all 1969 standards as all students. classrooms. . . . Government Ac- National Assessment of Educational countability Office finds that nearly Progress (NAEP) tests launched but 1995 one-third of public schools, most report statewide average scores only, Knowledge Is Power Program char- in low-income and minority com- allowing states to mask lagging ter schools launched in Houston munities, need major repairs. achievement among poor and mi- and New York City. . . . Boston nority students. creates Pilot School program to 2007 research ideas for urban-school Gov. Deval L. Patrick, D-Mass., • improvement. puts up $6.5 million to help schools lengthen their hours. . . . 1999 Democratic Mayor Adrian Fenty, 1970s-1980s Florida establishes first statewide of Washington, D.C., is the latest of Latinos are becoming most seg- school-voucher program. several mayors to take control of regated minority in U.S. schools. schools. . . . New York City “Magnet schools” are established. 2000 Schools Chancellor Joel Klein says School integration efforts grad- Countywide, income-based school he will fire principals of schools ually end. integration launched in Raleigh, N.C. with lagging test scores. . . . Teachers’ unions slam report call- 1973 2002 ing for all high-school seniors to Supreme Court rules in San Anto- Cambridge, Mass., schools begin be proficient in reading and math nio Independent School District v. integration based on income. by 2014. . . . Houston school dis- Rodriguez the Constitution does trict calls for state to replace not guarantee equal education for 2002 NCLB-related standardized periodic all children. . . . In Keyes v. No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) testing on math and reading with School District No. 1, the court requires states to report student traditional end-of-course subject- bans city policies that segregate test scores “disaggregated” by matter exams. Denver schools. race, income and gender to avoid

Available online: www.cqresearcher.com April 27, 2007 371 FIXING URBAN SCHOOLS

Dropouts’ Problems Often Begin Early Clear warning signs appear, such as skipping class

ith the baby-boom generation on the verge of re- A high school with a majority of students who are racial or eth- tirement, sustaining the American workforce and nic minorities is five times more likely to promote only 50 per- economy depends on having a cadre of new young cent or fewer freshmen to senior status within four years than W 4 workers to replace them, says former Gov. Bob Wise, D-W.Va., a school with a white majority. now president of the Alliance for Excellent Education. But with Meanwhile, the earning power of dropouts has been dropping jobs in the fastest-growing economic sectors now requiring at for three decades. For example, the earnings of male dropouts least a high-school diploma and, often, two years or more of fell by 35 percent between 1971 and 2002, measured in 2002 post-high-school training, coming up with an adequately trained dollars. Three-quarters of state prison inmates and 59 percent new workforce won’t be easy, Wise says. of federal inmates are dropouts. In 2001, only 55 percent of The annual graduation rate has risen from a little over 50 young adult dropouts were employed. Even the death rate is percent per year in the late 1960s to 73.9 percent in 2003. If 2.5 times higher for people without a high-school education it’s to rise higher, however, the improvement must come among than for people with 13 years or more of schooling. 5 poor and minority students, mostly in urban schools, who are But if the consequences are known, the cures may be harder far less likely than others to earn diplomas. 1 to pinpoint. For example, while about two-thirds of all students who Many educators say dropping out starts early. “Disengage- enter ninth grade graduate four years later, on-time graduation ment doesn’t start in the ninth grade. It starts in fifth,” says rates for minority and low-income students, especially males, James F. Lytle, a University of Pennsylvania professor and for- are much lower. In 2001, for example, only about 50 percent mer superintendent of the Trenton, N.J., public schools. For of African-American students and 51 percent of Latino students on-track students in middle-class schools, “middle school has graduated on time, compared to 75 percent of white students the most interesting, exciting stuff in class” — science experi- and 77 percent of Asian and Pacific Islanders. 2 ments, readings about interesting people in history and stud- Students with family incomes in the lowest 20 percent dropped ies “of how the world works” — he says. out of school at six times the average rate of wealthier students. 3 But once students are judged to be reading behind grade In about a sixth of American high schools, the freshman class level, as happens with many urban fifth-graders, middle schools routinely shrinks by 40 percent or more by the time students turn to “dumbed-down remedial work” that’s below students’ reach senior year. For the most part, those schools serve low- real intellectual level and leaves them bored and dispirited, Lytle income and minority students. Nearly half of African-American says. It doesn’t have to be that way, he says. “But I wish that students, 40 percent of Latino students and 11 percent of white educational courseware was farther down the road” of provid- students attend high schools where graduation is not the norm. ing ways to combine skills teaching with subject matter that is

Continued from p. 370 so the failure of poor urban schools The school system that we have “was The new immigrants generally clus- to produce many graduates wasn’t seen never set up to educate all students to tered in cities, the economic engines of as a problem. the levels of proficiency now being the time, and overcrowded city schools In current debates over U.S. educa- asked for,” Ratner says. were charged with integrating them into tion, “people aren’t looking at education “I graduated exactly 40 years ago, American life. Critics charged that the historically” and therefore expect Amer- and then about half the kids — 52 urban schools used rigid instruction and ican schools to do things they were percent — were graduating,” says harsh discipline to control classrooms never designed to do, says Ratner of Wise of the Alliance for Excellent Ed- bursting with 60 or more children, Citizens for Effective Schools. ucation. “And the non-graduates could many of whom spoke no English. “We consciously decided to have a still get good jobs.” two-track system,” he says. In the early But today “the fastest-growing sec- 20th century, education experts gener- tors of the economy require two years Two Tracks ally agreed that “in the industrial age of post high-school training,” says Daniel there are lots of immigrants and poor J. Cardinali, president of Communities n the economy of the early 20th people, and most are going to work on In Schools, a dropout-prevention group I century, however, there remained the assembly line, so how about if we that helps school districts bring services little need for most students to learn create an academic track and a general/ like tutoring and health care to needy more than basic reading and writing, vocational track” mostly for the poor? students.

372 CQ Researcher Majority of Dropouts Are Hispanic, Black More than 50 percent of 20-year-old male high-school dropouts are Hispanic or African-American (graph at left). By comparison, 55 percent of the females are black or Hispanic (graph at right). at students’ actual age level. Lytle says cities could also “Kids disengage early,” says establish post-dropout acade- Percent of 20-Year-Olds Who Are High-School Dropouts, 2005 Lalitha Vasudevan, an assistant mies, like the Dropout Recov-

professor at Columbia Univer- Among 2.2 million 20-year-old males Among 1.9 million 20-year-old females ery High School he started in sity’s Teachers College who (by percentage) (by percentage) Trenton, which helped increase 60% 35% works in an education program 58% that city’s graduation numbers. 50 30 31% for young African-American 25 “Rather than defining the whole 40 24% males who’ve been diverted 20 problem as stopping dropouts, 30 from jail and are mostly 15 16% we can also reach out to those 20 25% 15% 23% 10 dropouts. “Often, early on, 16% 9% who already have,” he says. “There 10 5 9% they’ve had teachers say things 0 0 are a slew of people around” All White Black Hispanic Other All White Black Hispanic Other to them that they interpret as, males females who are out of school and would ‘You don’t really care that I’m like to go back, from teenage here,’ ” she says. Source: “The Costs and Benefits of an Excellent Education for All of mothers caring for their children Dropping out “is not a de- America’s Children,” Teachers College, Columbia University, to 60-year-olds, he says. “They cision that is made on a single January 2007 need a school that is built around morning,” says a report from their lives. I simply don’t under- the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In an extensive survey stand why urban districts haven’t been more imaginative” about this. of dropouts, researchers found that “there are clear warning signs for at least one-to-three years” before students drop out, 1 Nancy Martin and Samuel Halperin, Whatever It Takes: How Twelve Com- such as frequently missing school, skipping class, being held munities are Reconnecting Out-of-School Youth, American Youth Policy Forum, 6 www.aypf.org/publications/WhateverItTakes/WITfull.pdf. back a grade or frequently transferring among schools. 2 Ibid. Some key factors cited by the dropouts in the Gates study: 3 Ibid. Schools don’t respond actively when students skip class and 4 Robert Balfanz and Nettie Legters, “Locating the Dropout Crisis,” Center don’t provide an orderly and safe environment. “In middle for Social Organization of Schools, Johns Hopkins University, June 2004. school, you have to go to your next class or they are going 5 Martin and Halperin, op. cit. 6 to get you,” said a young male dropout from Philadelphia. “In John M. Bridgeland, John J. DiIulio, Jr. and Karen Burke Morison, The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts, Bill & Melinda Gates high school, if you don’t go to class, there isn’t anybody who Foundation, March 2006. 7 is going to get you. You just do your own thing.” 7 Quoted in ibid.

Calls in the 1990s for higher aca- skill gaps in fundamental arithmetic,” background vocabulary they need. demic standards by groups like The wrote Balfanz and Ruth Curran Neild, Science and history teachers are even Business Roundtable brought wide- research scientists at the Johns Hop- less prepared to help, Balfanz and spread attention to the problems of kins University Center on the Social Neild said. 41 low student achievement, especially Organization of Schools. Retooling the school system to sup- in low-income schools. But few resources exist to help kids port higher standards may seem Today few question the premise catch up, “nor are there many cur- daunting, but “a quick walk through that all students should attain higher riculum materials that specifically tar- history” shows that it wouldn’t be levels of literacy, mathematical problem- get the spotty skills of urban ninth- the first time the United States has solving and critical thinking. Many graders,” the Johns Hopkins researchers made heroic efforts on education, who work in schools argue that simply said. And when students reading be- says Wise. For example, “after World setting higher standards isn’t nearly hind grade level enter middle and War II, you had soldiers coming home enough, however, especially for urban high school, their “secondary-certified in need of better skills, and you had schools where most students already English teachers” — educated to teach the GI Bill” to help them continue are behind grade level. high-school-level literature and com- their educations. As standards rise, for example, “ninth- position — “are generally unprepared” Then “in the civil rights era we said, graders are increasingly placed in in- to diagnose reading problems or to ‘We believe that every child should be troductory algebra classes . . . despite teach the comprehension strategies and able to enter school,’ and that happened,”

Available online: www.cqresearcher.com April 27, 2007 373 FIXING URBAN SCHOOLS

The ‘Behavior Gap’ Between Black and White Students Many educators blame a system that’s middle-class and white-centered

ata from around the country indicate that black stu- haviors that are the norm for the middle class, and that this dents, especially males, are cited much more often lack of background accounts for much of the gap. D for disciplinary infractions than whites. The resulting “Americans of a certain background learn . . . early on “behavior gap” parallels the much-talked-about academic and employ . . . instinctively” techniques like sitting up achievement gap. straight, asking questions and tracking a speaker with their Many analysts blame the phenomenon in part on a “cul- eyes in order to take in information, said David Levin, a ture clash” between black students, many poor, and an edu- founder of the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) charter cation system that’s white-centered and middle-class. But there’s schools, which serve mainly black and Hispanic students in little agreement about exactly what the gap means and what several cities. 2 to do about it. When students in one Levin class were asked to “give us “You find the gap in all schools,” including wealthy ones, the normal school look,” they responded by staring off into says Clara G. Muschkin, a researcher at the Duke University space and slouching, recounted New York Times Magazine ed- Center for Child and Family Policy. Nevertheless, some evi- itor Paul Tough in an article last year on successful urban char- dence suggests there may also be a behavior gap between ter schools. “Middle-class Americans know intuitively that ‘good richer and poorer students, which accounts for just under a behavior’ is mostly a game with established rules; the KIPP third of the black-white gap, Muschkin says. students seemed to be experiencing the pleasure of being let In North Carolina schools, the racial gap “is persistent at all in on a joke,” Tough observed. 3 the grades” but is widest in seventh grade, says Muschkin. About Behavior like a proper in-school work ethic has to be taught 30 percent of black seventh-graders and 14 percent of whites “in the same way we have to teach adding fractions with un- have at least one disciplinary infraction reported during the like denominators,” said Dacia Toll, founder of the Amistad school year. Academy charter school in New Haven, Conn. “But once chil- African-American male students have the highest rates of sus- dren have got the work ethic and the commitment to others pensions and expulsions in most metropolitan areas around the and to education down, it’s actually pretty easy to teach them.” country, according to Denise L. Collier, a doctoral candidate in The academic gap that puts many black students in reme- education at California State University, Los Angeles. In New York, dial instruction as they move through school may worsen the for example, where African-American males are 18 percent of problem, says Robert Balfanz, associate research scientist at the the student population, they account for 39 percent of school Johns Hopkins University Center on the Social Organization of suspensions and 50 percent of expulsions. In Los Angeles, black Schools. “In traditional remedial instruction, I assume you know males make up 6 percent of the population but account for 18 nothing, so I teach the times table” and basic reading skills percent of suspensions and 15 percent of expulsions. 1 like letter sounds, he says. “But the majority of kids behind Some educators say that many urban African-American stu- can actually read at a basic level. What they’re missing is com- dents don’t learn at home the kinds of communication be- prehension skill, vocabulary. So they get bored and frustrated.”

Wise says. “Now we’re saying that every in closing the gap stalled, and be- “One thing that’s not fully under- child should graduate.” tween 1988 and 1994, average test stood is that, through a long histor- For a time, the civil rights era seemed scores for black students actually ical process, we’ve concentrated our to be accelerating growing academic began falling. 42 most needy students in a small sub- parity in learning, at least between set of schools and districts” in rural black and white students. Following and, mostly, urban areas, vastly in- World War II, standardized test scores Minority Schools creasing the burden those schools face for black students began moving closer in raising academic achievement, says to white students’ scores. The years .S. schools briefly became more Balfanz. from the 1960s to the ’80s saw fully Uintegrated after the civil rights bat- In its landmark 1954 Brown v. Board half of the black-white academic tles of the 1950s and ’60s, but shifting of Education ruling, the Supreme achievement gap eliminated, says The housing patterns have caused the con- Court declared it illegal to intention- Civil Rights Project’s Orfield. centration of poor, minority and non- ally segregate schools by race. 43 In In the late ’80s, however, the English-speaking students in urban 1964, Congress passed the Civil Rights progress of African-American students schools to rise for the past 25 years. Act, outlawing discrimination in any

374 CQ Researcher Middle-class education majors student-teaching in urban tion at Spelman College, a historically black school for women schools found that using books about topics their students in Atlanta. Teachers who succeed tend to be “warm deman- personally had encountered — including homelessness, racism ders,” those whom “students believed . . . did not lower their and poverty — decreased discipline problems, even though standards” but also “were willing to help them.” 7 the teachers initially resisted the books as inappropriate for “Sometimes I mean-talk them in varying degrees of severity,” children, according to Professor Christine H. Leland and Pro- one teacher told Ware. But “sometimes you have to go back and fessor Emeritus Jerome C. Harste of Indiana University-Purdue say, ‘What was really going on with you when I yelled at you? University, Indianapolis. Once the student teachers broached I’m just so sorry.’ ” 8 the tough subject matter, they began reporting “fewer disci- Often the adult is the provocateur in the behavior situation, pline problems . . . the children listened carefully and en- even if they don’t realize it, such as when a student finds the gaged in thoughtful discussions when they perceived that the nurse’s office door locked at 3:02 and starts pounding on it, issues being discussed were worth their attention.” 4 says James F. Lytle, a professor at the University of Pennsyl- Many African-American student discipline problems involve vania and former school superintendent in Trenton, N.J. “defiance” issues such as acting threatening or making exces- “A lot of it is just the way you talk to people — respect,” sive noise rather than activities like drug use or leaving the Lytle says. “Many are so accustomed to being denigrated. The classroom without permission, according to University of Virginia kids have so little that the protection of one’s ego is very im- Assistant Professor Anne Gregory. 5 portant.” Seventy-five percent of African-American disciplinary referrals were for “defiance” behaviors in a study Gregory cites, many 1 Denise L. Collier, “Sally Can Skip But Jerome Can’t Stomp: Perceptions, more than for other ethnic groups. That may suggest that teach- Practice, and School Punishment (Preliminary Results),” paper presented at the American Educational Research Association annual meeting, San Francisco, ers judge African-American students’ behavior more “subjec- Calif., April 2006. tively” than that of other students, Gregory says. Based on their 2 Quoted in Paul Tough, “What It Takes To Make a Student,” New York past feelings of being restricted and excluded, some African- Times Magazine, Nov. 26, 2006, p. 51. 3 American students may be more likely to act out when they Ibid. 4 Christine H. Leland and Jerome C. Harste, “Doing What We Want to Be- perceive that teachers are being unfair, Gregory suggests. come: Preparing New Urban Teachers,” Urban Education, January 2005, p. 67. “If I was this little Caucasian boy or this preppy girl, she 5 Anne Gregory, “Justice and Care: Teacher Practices To Narrow the Racial wouldn’t talk with me that way. I am like the opposite. I am this Discipline Gap,” paper presented at the American Educational Research little thug . . . I mean, she don’t know,” one student in Gregory’s Association annual conference, San Francisco, Calif., April 2006. 6 study said of a teacher perceived to be unfair. 6 Quoted in ibid. 7 Franita Ware, “Warm Demander Pedagogy: Culturally Responsive Teaching Avoiding excessive discipline battles in urban schools re- that Supports A Culture of Achievement for African-American Students,” quires a seemingly contradictory set of characteristics that not Urban Education, July 2006, p. 427. everyone can muster, said Franita Ware, a professor of educa- 8 Quoted in ibid. institution that received federal funds, The court ruled in Milliken v. Bradley court ruled that school districts could including schools. 44 As a result, more that the remedy to racial segregation be excused from court-ordered busing schools accommodated lower-income in Detroit could not include moving if they had made good-faith efforts to students along with middle-class stu- children to schools in the surround- integrate, even if they had not fully dents, white students and students from ing suburbs. 45 complied with court orders. 46 other ethnic groups. Then, in the 1980s, federal efforts At the same time, however, His- The civil rights era lasted a scant to desegregate schools effectively panic students were becoming a new 20 years, however, and housing pat- ended. During the presidency of Ronald minority that concentrated in schools terns and new waves of immigration Reagan (1981-1988), the U.S. Justice with bigger academic challenges than soon led to concentrations of poor Department backed off forcing states others, such as teaching English- and minority students in many urban to comply with desegregation man- language learners. school districts again. dates. Two Supreme Court decisions The segregation of Latino students As early as 1974, the Supreme in the early 1990s effectively declared soared during the civil rights era. In Court effectively set limits on how far the goal of black-white school inte- 1973, in Keyes v. School District No. 1, racial integration of students could go. gration had been addressed, as the the Supreme Court outlawed policies

Available online: www.cqresearcher.com April 27, 2007 375 FIXING URBAN SCHOOLS in Denver that had “The nation’s student the effect of segre- population is two-thirds gating Hispanic middle class (not eligi- and African-American ble for federally subsi- children into sepa- dized lunches), yet one- rate schools. In en- quarter of American suing years, however, schools have a majority this somewhat com- of students from low- plex ruling was only income households,” ac- spottily enforced, ac- cording to The Century cording to civil rights Foundation. 52 advocates. 47 Among the burdens Today Latinos urban schools bear are “are America’s most poverty-related learning segregated minority deficiencies children group,” said Orfield. bring to school with “The average Latino them, regulations and student goes to a economic barriers that school that is less than limit urban-school re-

30 percent white, has AP Photo/Mike Derer sources, and a historical a majority of poor Edwin Bradley listens to his fifth-grade daughter Antoinette read at the role as job providers in South Street School library in Newark, N.J. One of the poorest in the children and an “in- state, the school district has been encouraged under a new inner cities. creasing concentra- program to support parental involvement in an A large body of re- tion” of students attempt to improve student performance. search shows that who don’t speak many low-income par- English. 48 Furthermore, minority children are ents interact with their children in more concentrated in urban areas ways that hinder them in school, than the general population, largely wrote Tough last year in The New Poor in School because white families with children York Times Magazine. For example, move to suburbs while childless professional parents speak to their whites are more likely to remain in young children about two-and-a-half ntil around the 1970s, children the city, said Baum. Nationally, in more times in an hour than poor U of all races and classes attended nearly all school districts with more parents do and encourage them ver- urban schools, and their average than 25,000 students, interracial con- bally about six times more often than achievement levels didn’t draw the tact has declined since 1986. 50 they discourage them; low-income same alarmed attention as today. Even more than ethnic minorities, parents discourage their children Urban sprawl and white flight from poor people have concentrated in cities, about three times as often as they cities over the past three decades says Balfanz. Over the past 20 years, encourage them, he said. have not only increased the num- even in periods when overall poverty Unlike poor parents, middle-class ber of urban schools with high mi- has dropped, “the cities have gotten parents also encourage their children nority populations but also in- poorer and the concentration of to question, challenge and negotiate. creased the concentration of urban poverty there deeper.” In short, “in countless ways, the man- poverty as well, increasing the bur- Between 1960 and 1987, the na- ner in which [poor children] are raised den on urban schools. tional poverty rate for people in puts them at a disadvantage” in a “Sprawl is a product of suburban central cities rose from 13.4 percent school culture, Tough noted. 53 pulls and urban pushes,” said the Uni- to 15.7 percent. At the same time, For a variety of reasons, urban versity of Maryland’s Baum. “Families the poverty rate for rural residents schools also have a much harder time move to the suburbs for good hous- fell by one-half and for suburban keeping good teachers. “Many thou- ing, open space. They leave cities to residents by one-third. By 1991, 43 sands — perhaps millions — of urban avoid bad schools, threats to safety percent of people with incomes students don’t have permanent, highly qual- . . . contact with other races and poor below the federal poverty line lived ified teachers, ones with the skill to public services.” 49 in central cities. 51 Continued on p. 378

376 CQ Researcher At Issue:

WouldYes raising teacher pay help struggling schools?

PATTY MYERS JAY P. GREENE TECHNOLOGY COORDINATOR, GREAT SENIOR FELLOW, MANHATTAN INSTITUTE FALLS (MONTANA) PUBLIC SCHOOLS POSTED ON THE WEB, 2006 FROM TESTIMONY ON BEHALF OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION BEFORE U.S. SENATE COMMITTEE ON FINANCE, MARCH 20, 2007 he common assertion that teachers are severely underpaid nsuring a highly qualified teacher in every classroom is is so omnipresent that many Americans simply accept it as critical to closing achievement gaps and maximizing stu- gospel. But the facts tell a different story. dent learning. No single factor will make a bigger differ- t e The average teacher’s salary does seem modest at first ence in helping students reach high academic standards. . . . glance: about $44,600 in 2002 for all teachers. But when Unfortunately, difficulty in attracting quality teachers and we compare it to what workers of similar skill levels in high turnover rates severely hamper the ability to maintain a similar professions are paid, we find that teachers are not high-quality learning environment. Approximately one-third of shortchanged. the nation’s new teachers leave the profession during their People often fail to account for the relatively low number first three years, and almost one-half leave during their first of hours that teachers work. Teachers work only about nine five years. And turnover in low-income schools is almost one- months per year. During the summer they can either work at third higher than the rate in all schools. other jobs or use the time off however else they wish. Either The teaching profession has an average national starting way, it’s as much a form of compensation as a paycheck. salary of $30,377. Meanwhile, computer programmers start at The most recent data indicate that teachers average 7.3 an average yesof $43,635, public accounting professionals at working hours perno day, and that they work 180 days per $44,668 and registered nurses at $45,570. year, or about 1,314 hours. Americans in normal 9-to-5 profes- Annual pay for teachers has fallen sharply over the past 60 sions who take two weeks of vacation and another 10 paid years in relation to the annual pay of other workers with col- holidays put in 1,928 hours. This means the average teacher’s lege degrees. The average earnings of workers with at least base salary is equivalent to a full-time salary of $65,440. four years of college are now over 50 percent higher than the In 2002, elementary-school teachers averaged $30.75 per average earnings of a teacher. Congress should reward states hour and high-school teachers $31.01 — about the same as that set a reasonable minimum starting salary for teachers and architects, civil engineers and computer-systems analysts. Even a living wage for support professionals working in school dis- demanding, education-intensive professions like dentistry and tricts. NEA recommends that all teachers in America enter the nuclear engineering didn’t make much more per hour. classroom earning at least $40,000 annually. Some argue that it’s unfair to calculate teacher pay on an NEA also supports advancing teacher quality at the highest- hourly basis because teachers perform a large amount of work poverty schools by providing $10,000 federal salary supplements at home — grading papers on the weekend, for instance. But to National Board Certified Teachers. Congress also should fund people in other professions also do off-site work. grants to help teachers in high-poverty schools pay the fees Many assume that teachers spend almost all of the school and access professional supports to become certified. day teaching. But in reality, the average subject-matter teacher Often schools with the greatest needs and, consequently, the taught fewer than 3.9 hours per day in 2000. This leaves most challenging working conditions have the most difficulty re- plenty of time for grading and planning lessons. taining talented teachers. . . . Many hard-to-staff schools are It is well documented that the people drawn into teaching high-poverty inner-city school or rural schools that, as a conse- these days tend to be those who have performed least well quence of their location in economically depressed or isolated in college. If teachers are paid about as well as employees in districts, offer comparatively low salaries and lack [the] amenities many other good professions, why aren’t more high performers with which other districts attract teachers. taking it up? NEA strongly supports federal legislation with financial in- One suspects that high-performing graduates tend to stay centives for teaching in high-poverty schools, such as the away because the rigid seniority-based structure doesn’t allow Teacher Tax Credit Act introduced in the 109th Congress. The them to rise faster and earn more money through better per- bill would provide a non-refundable tax credit to educators formance or by voluntarily putting in longer hours. In any who work at schools that are fully eligible for federal Title I case, it’s clear that the primary obstacle to attracting better funds for disadvantaged students and would help hard-to-staff teachers isn’t simply raising pay.

schoolsNo retain the quality teachers they need to succeed.

Available online: www.cqresearcher.com April 27, 2007 377 FIXING URBAN SCHOOLS

Continued from p. 376 eral years, a few districts, including communicate important stuff to kids,” Raleigh, N.C., and Cambridge, Mass., says Kitty Kelly-Epstein, a professor have experimented with integrating CURRENT of education at the Fielding Graduate students by socioeconomic status. In University in Santa Barbara, Calif. In 2000, for example, the school board SITUATION California, at least, state rules force in Wake County, N.C., which includes some urban school districts to rely on Raleigh and its suburbs, replaced its temporary teachers because not enough racial integration system with the goal applicants have required certifications, that no school should have 40 per- Congress Divided she says. “There never has been a cent of students eligible for free or time when low-income schools were reduced-price lunch. 56 he No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), fully staffed,” she says. Raleigh’s effort was simpler politi- T enacted in 2002, is intended to With joblessness high in cities, es- cally than most, because the school push American schools to raise achieve- pecially for minority applicants, it’s district contains both the area’s low- ment for all students, including low-in- also “not uncommon” for school dis- poverty and high-poverty schools. If come and minority children. As such, tricts to be the major job source in the higher-income suburbs had been it represents one more step down a the area, according to Johns Hopkins outside the district, political push-back road that Congress embarked on in its University Associate Professor of Edu- would have made the program a 1994 reauthorization of the Elementary cation Elaine M. Stotko and colleagues. tougher sell. and Secondary Education Act — exert- In a tradition that ing federal influence to en- dates back to pa- sure that all students meet tronage systems in higher academic standards. the early 20th cen- With NCLB up for reau- tury, urban politi- thorization, Congress is cians often interfere struggling to figure out its with schools’ hiring next steps, with little ap- the best managerial parent agreement on the and teaching candi- horizon. With the press of dates by pressuring other business, and strong them to hand out disagreements in Congress jobs “as political about the education law, favors.” 54 it’s not clear that it will be The Supreme reauthorized this year. The Court is due to rule new congressional Demo- by the end of June cratic majority has already in two race-based begun to hold hearings, Newsmakers/Getty Images/Chris Hondros integration cases. The Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) charter school in the Bronx, however. With a new con- N.Y., boasts the highest test scores in the area. Although most U.S. businesses have servative majority, KIPP schools are not racially integrated, they are reducing become increasingly in- the court is widely achievement gaps between black and white students. volved in education pol- expected to rule in icy, and many business favor of the white parents who are Some early Raleigh results look leaders are urging Congress to con- seeking to end race-based school in- promising. On the state’s 2005 High tinue and strengthen federal efforts to tegration in Seattle and Louisville, Ky. School End of Course exams, 63.8 raise academic standards and provide Decisions against the school districts percent of the low-income students incentives for states and localities to could end many similar programs passed, as did 64.3 percent of its extensively retool their school systems around the country, many of which African-American seniors, compared to improve student achievement. were court-ordered in the past. 55 to pass rates in the high-40 and low “Unless we transform the American But some school districts still worry 50-percent range for the state’s other high school, we will limit economic that schools with high concentra- urban districts. 57 opportunities for millions of Americans,” tions of minority and poor students declared Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates harm achievement. Over the past sev- at a Senate Health, Education, Labor

378 CQ Researcher and Pensions Committee hearing on munities in Schools. “The [current] law cused reporting requirement, many March 7. 58 is too fixated on academics,” he says. analysts say. Meanwhile, a group of conservative After 30 years of experience helping “Replace the overreliance on stan- congressional Republicans has introduced students get additional services they dardized testing with multiple mea- legislation that would replace most of need like tutoring and health care, “we’ve sures,” such as attendance figures and the NCLB achievement and reporting learned that student services are a crit- accurate dropout rates, says the Uni- requirements that determine funding with ical component,” he says. versity of Rochester’s Hursh. block-grant funding that states could get “The brutal truth is that there is only The federal government should also whether they met NCLB standards or one institution in America where you support strong, unbiased research on not. The measure would restore states can get to kids in a thoughtful way — what improves instruction, especially and localities to their traditional role as the school,” he says. “Let’s make that in the middle- and high-school years, prime overseers of schools, said Rep. the center” where parents and children which are federally funded at a tiny Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., who sponsored can get needs met that are critical for fraction of the level of elementary the legislation. “President Bush and I learning readiness. “Are we trying to schools and colleges, says Wise of the just see education fundamentally differ- make public education something it’s Alliance for Excellent Education. “No ently,” he said. “The president believes not? No. It’s a holistic view” of what state or local district has the money in empowering bureaucrats in Wash- it takes to educate a child. for this,” he says. ington, and I don’t.” 59 One gap the University of Chicago’s But many congressional Democrats Knowles would like to see rectified: In argue that a strengthened federal hand NCLB’s reporting requirements “the unit in education is warranted, partly be- of analysis is the kid, the school and the OUTLOOK cause NCLB data now clearly reveals district, and there’s a stunning absence that the state-run systems of old have there if we really believe that instruction left so many poor and minority chil- is at the heart of learning.” Research in- dren disastrously behind. dicates, he says, that individual classroom Agreeing to Disagree Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., and teachers may be the strongest in-school Sen. Kennedy, key supporters of NCLB influence on student achievement. and chairs of the House and Senate However, “Democrats’ strong ties to here’s growing agreement that committees that govern it, have both labor” helped keep teacher account- T schools should be educating all held pre-authorization hearings this ability out of the bill, he says. students to a higher standard. How- year. Both say they’re committed to In addition, “higher ed has been given ever, there’s still disagreement about increasing resources for struggling pretty much a free pass,” Knowles says. how much and what kind of help schools in a new bill, especially by A future bill should focus attention on schools would need to do it. supporting the hiring and training of which education schools are producing An ideal outcome would be for in- more and better teachers. the best-quality teachers. stitutions that are the most lasting pres- “We know the law has flaws, but Low-achieving schools shouldn’t be ence in cities, such as business groups we also know that with common- punished, but given the tools to do like the Chamber of Commerce, local sense changes and adequate resources, better, says Knowles. Supports like hospitals and colleges to take owner- we can improve it by building on what teacher development and well-integrated ship of urban education to drive we’ve learned,” said Kennedy in a extra services like social worker, close- change, says Balfanz of Johns Hopkins. statement. ly targeted on high-need schools, are A movement in that direction may be a “precondition” for improvement, beginning, he says. “For awhile, there he says. were mainly rhetorical reports,” but today Another key: additional flexibility groups like the Chamber of Commerce Retooling NCLB? for leaders of low-achieving schools are producing more potentially useful to hire and fire and set policy and policy work, he says. ducation analysts have no short- schedules. Principals say, “Yeah, you “The climate is shifting” toward the E age of changes to suggest. give me the hiring and firing of teach- conclusion that everyone needs a President Bush is looking at “tin- ers and I’ll give you the better results,” diploma, says Balfanz. “You can’t kering” with NCLB in a reauthorization, and they’re correct, says Knowles. even find an employer who says, ‘I’ll but Democrats are “interested in some- Reporting data for accountability isn’t hire people who aren’t high-school thing broader,” says Cardinali of Com- the problem. It’s the very narrowly fo- graduates.’ ” So when students drop

Available online: www.cqresearcher.com April 27, 2007 379 FIXING URBAN SCHOOLS

out, “it just feeds the next generation measures helps, so let’s let American 8 Jay P. Greene, “Education Myths,” The of poverty,” he says. ingenuity work. Where does that leave American Enterprise Online, American En- There’s currently an opportunity to urban kids? Out of luck,” Lytle says. terprise Institute, August 2006. revise NCLB in a way that helps low- “You’ve got to be pretty sophisticated 9 For background, see Charles S. Clark, achieving schools, says the University to make market forces work for you.” “Charter Schools,” CQ Researcher, Dec. 20, of Chicago’s Knowles. Nevertheless, But “there’s been progress in the 2002, pp. 1033-1056; Kenneth Jost, “School Vouchers Showdown,” CQ Researcher, Feb. 15, “people have already formed hard opin- last decade with whole-school reform,” 2002, pp. 121-144. ions,” and debate could turn solely says Balfanz. “The big question now 10 Greene, op. cit. partisan, he says. is how we [change] whole school dis- 11 Brad Olsen and Lauren Anderson, “Courses Lawmakers must aim for a delicate tricts. “It’s a big job but within human of Action: A Qualitative Investigation Into Urban balance on federal initiatives, says Co- capacity,” he says. Teacher Retention and Career Development,” lumbia’s Henig. Federal interventions Urban Education, January 2007, p. 5. must aim at “making local processes 12 Quoted in ibid., p. 14. work,” since local on-the-ground ac- Notes 13 Ibid. tions are ultimately what make or break 14 Arthur J. Rothkopf, “Elementary and Sec- schools, he says. 1 Quoted in Judy Radigan, “Reframing ondary Education Act Reauthorization: Im- The University of Pennsylvania’s Dropouts: The Complexity of Urban Life In- proving NCLB To Close the Achievement Gap,” testimony before the Senate Committee Lytle fears that privatization may be tersects with Current School Policy,” paper presented at the Texas Dropout Conference, on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and on the verge of overwhelming edu- the House Committee on Education and Labor, cation, with potentially disastrous con- Houston, Oct. 6, 2006. 2 “The Socioeconomic Composition of the Pub- March 13, 2007. sequences for low-income families. 15 lic Schools: A Crucial Consideration in Student For background, see Kenneth Jost, “Testing “I think the K-12 education business Assignment Policy,” University of North Car- in Schools,” CQ Researcher, April 20, 2001, is in the process of deconstructing,” he olina Center for Civil Rights, Jan. 7, 2005, pp. 321-344. 16 says. “The middle class is looking out- www.law.unc.edu/PDFs/charlottereport.pdf. Richard J. Murnane, “Improving the Edu- side the schools” to private tutoring 3 For background, see Barbara Mantel, “No cation of Children Living in Poverty,” un- companies and Internet learning for Child Left Behind,” CQ Researcher, May 7, published paper, Jan. 25, 2007. 17 academics. “More and more, for them, 2005, pp. 469-492. Ibid. 18 schools are amounting to expensive 4 Quoted in David J. Hoff and Kathleen For background, see Kenneth Jost, “School Desegregation,” CQ Researcher, April 23, 2004, child care.” Some states are aggres- Kennedy Manzo, “Bush Claims About NCLB Questioned,” Education Week, March 9, 2007, pp. 345-372. sively pioneering “virtual” online char- 19 Quoted in “Center on Race and Social ter schools and charters granted to www.edweek.org. 5 Problems Commemorates Brown v. Board of home-schoolers, he says. Quoted in ibid. 6 “The Nation’s Report Card: Reading 2005,” Education,” University of Pittsburgh School “The cost side and the efficacy side U.S. Department of Education Institute of Ed- of Social Work, May 7, 2004. 20 of education are on a collision course, ucation Sciences, www.nationsreportcard.gov. Quoted in Brian Lamb, “No Excuses: Clos- and I think Congress will end up en- 7 Douglas N. Harris, “Ending the Blame Game ing the Racial Gap in Learning,” transcript, dorsing fairly radical experimentation” on Educational Inequity: A Study of ‘High- “Booknotes,” C-SPAN, Feb. 1, 2004. 21 with vouchers, for example, Lytle says. Flying’ Schools and NCLB,” Education Policy Paul Tough, “What It Takes To Make a “They’ll say, ‘There’s no evidence that Studies Laboratory, Arizona State University, Student,” The New York Times Magazine, reducing class size or other expensive March 2006. Nov. 26, 2006, p. 70. 22 R. Scott Baker, “School Resegregation: Must the South Turn Back?” Journal of Southern About the Author History, November 2006, p. 993. 23 Howell S. Baum, “Smart Growth and School Staff writer Marcia Clemmitt is a veteran social-policy Reform: What If We Talked About Race and reporter who previously served as editor in chief of Medi- Took Community Seriously?” Journal of the cine & Health and staff writer for The Scientist. She has American Planning Association, winter 2004, also been a high-school math and physics teacher. She p. 14. 24 holds a liberal arts and sciences degree from St. John’s “Divided We Fail: Coming Together Through Public School Choice,” Task Force on the College, Annapolis, and a master’s degree in English from Common School, The Century Foundation Georgetown University. Her recent reports include “Cli- Press, 2002, p. 3. mate Change,” “Health Care Costs,” “Cyber Socializing” 25 Ibid., p. 13. and “Prison Health Care.” 26 Quoted in Lamb, op. cit. 27 Ibid.

380 CQ Researcher 28 Terry Ryan and Quentin Suffren, “Charter School Lessons from Ohio,” The Education Gadfly, Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, FOR MORE INFORMATION March 15, 2007, www.edexcellence.net. 29 Achieve, Inc., 1775 I St., N.W., Suite 410, Washington, DC 20006; (202) 419-1540; Mark Simon, “What Teachers Know,” www.achieve.org. An independent bipartisan group formed by governors and Poverty & Race, September/October 2004, business leaders to promote higher academic standards. www.prrac.org. 30 Dreyon Wynn and Dianne L. H. Mark, Alliance for Excellent Education, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Suite 901, Wash- “Book Review: Educating Teachers for Di- ington, DC 20036; (202) 828-0828; www.all4ed.org. A nonprofit research and ad- versity: Seeing With a Cultural Eye,” Urban vocacy group seeking policies to help at-risk high-school students. Education, May 2005, p. 350. 31 Jocelyn A. Glazier, “Moving Closer to Speak- The Center for Education Reform, 1001 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Suite. 204, ing the Unspeakable: White Teachers Talking Washington, DC 20036; (202) 822-9000; www.edreform.com. A nonprofit advocacy About Race,” Teacher Education Quarterly, group that promotes school choice in cities. winter 2003. 32 Wanda J. Blanchett, “Urban School Failure The Century Foundation, 41 E. 70th St., New York, NY 10021; (212) 535-4441; and Disproportionality in a Post-Brown Era,” www.tcf.org. Supports research on income inequality and urban policy. Remedial and Special Education, April 2005, p. 70. Citizens for Effective Schools, 8209 Hamilton Spring Ct., Bethesda, MD 20817; 33 Christine H. Leland and Jerome C. Harste, (301) 469-8000; www.citizenseffectiveschools.org. An advocacy group that seeks policy “Doing What We Want to Become: Preparing changes to minimize the achievement gap for low-income and minority students. New Urban Teachers,” Urban Education, January 2005, p. 60. Council of the Great City Schools, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 702, 34 Ibid., p. 62. Washington, DC 20004; (202) 393-2427; www.cgcs.org. A coalition of 67 urban 35 Glazier, op. cit. school systems dedicated to improving urban schools. 36 Wynn and Mark, op. cit. 37 For background, see Wayne J. Urban and Education Next, Hoover Institution, Stanford University; www.educationnext.org. Jennings L. Wagoner, American Education: A quarterly journal on education reform published by a conservative think tank. A History (2003); Stanley William Rothstein, Schooling the Poor: A Social Inquiry Into the The Education Trust, 1250 H St., N.W., Suite 700, Washington, DC 20005; (202) American Educational Experience (1994). 293-1217; www2.edtrust.org. Dedicated to closing the achievement gap in learning 38 For background, see Kathy Koch, “Re- and college preparation for low-income and minority students. forming School Funding,” CQ Researcher, Dec. 10, 1999, pp. 1041-1064. National Center for Education Statistics, 1990 K St., N.W., Washington, DC 20006; 39 Derrick Bell, Silent Covenants: Brown v. (202) 502-7300; http://nces.ed.gov. A Department of Education agency that provides Board of Education and the Unfulfilled Hopes statistics and analysis on U.S. schools, student attendance and achievement. for Racial Reform (2004), p. 88. 40 Ibid., p. 91. 46 Ipka, op. cit. The cases are Board of Ed- Teachers,” Urban Education, January 2007, 41 Ruth Curran Neild and Robert Balfanz, “An ucation of Oklahoma City v. Dowell, 498 p. 36. Extreme Degree of Difficulty: The Educational U.S. 237 (1991) and Freeman v. Pitts, 498 U.S. 55 Patrick Mattimore, “Will Court Put Inte- Demographics of Urban Neighborhood High 1081 (1992). gration on Hold?” San Francisco Examiner, Schools,” Journal of Education for Students 47 Gary Orfield and Chungmei Lee, “Racial Dec. 8, 2006, www.exaaminer.com. The cases Placed at Risk, spring 2006, p. 135. Transformation and the Changing Nature of — argued on Dec. 4, 2006 — are Meredith v. 42 V. W. Ipka, “At Risk Children in Resegre- Segregation,” The Civil Rights Project, Harvard Jefferson County Board of Education, 05-915; gated Schools; An Analysis of the Achievement University, January 2006, www.civilrightspro- and Parents Involved in Community Schools Gap,” Journal of Instructional Psychology,De- ject.harvard.edu.; Keyes v. School District No. 1, v. Seattle School District No. 1, 05-908. cember 2003, p. 294. Denver, Colorado, 413 U.S. 189 (1973). 56 Richard Kahlenberg, “Helping Children 43 The case is Brown v. Board of Education 48 Gary Orfield and Susan E. Eaton, “Back to Move from Bad Schools to Good Ones,” The of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954). Segregation,” The Nation, March 3, 2003, p. 5. Century Foundation, 2006, www.tcf.org/list. 44 For background, see Jost, “School Deseg- 49 Baum, op. cit. asp?type=PB&pubid=565. regation,” op. cit.; Gary Orfield and John T. 50 Ibid. 57 Ibid. Yun, “Resegregation in American Schools,” 51 Neild and Balfanz, op. cit., p. 126. 58 Quoted in Michael Sandler, “Minding Their The Civil Rights Project, Harvard University, 52 “Divided We Fail,” op. cit., p. 17. Business,” CQ Weekly, April 2, 2007, p. 952. June 1999, www.civilrightsproject.harvard.edu/ 53 Tough, op. cit. 59 Quoted in Jonathan Weisman and Amit R. research/deseg/reseg_schools99.php. 54 Elaine M. Stotko, Rochelle Ingram and Paley, “Dozens in GOP Turn Against Bush’s 45 The case is Milliken v. Bradley, 418 U.S. Mary Ellen Beaty-O’Ferrall, “Promising Strategies Prized ‘No Child’ Act,” The Washington Post, 717 (1974). for Attracting and Retaining Successful Urban March 15, 2007, p. A1.

Available online: www.cqresearcher.com April 27, 2007 381 Bibliography Selected Sources

Books Tough, Paul, “What It Takes To Make a Student,” The New York Times Magazine, Nov. 26, 2006, p. 44. Kozol, Jonathan, The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration A handful of charter schools are making strides against the of Apartheid Schooling in America, Three Rivers Press, 2006. achievement gap. But largely because low-income and minority A longtime education writer and activist reports on his students arrive at school with smaller vocabularies and far five-year journey to closely observe 60 schools in 11 states. less knowledge about how to communicate with adults and He describes almost entirely resegregated urban schools behave in a learning situation, the work requires extra-long with dilapidated buildings, dirty classrooms and a dearth school hours and intense teacher commitment. of up-to-date textbooks. Reports and Studies Rothstein, Richard, Class and Schools: Using Social, Eco- nomic, and Education Reform to Close the Black-White Beating the Odds: An Analysis of Student Performance and Achievement Gap, Economic Policy Institute, 2004. Achievement Gaps on State Assessments: Results from the A research associate at a think tank concerned with low- 2005-2006 School Year, Council of the Great City Schools, and middle-income workers and families argues that raising April 2007. the achievement of urban students requires public policies A group representing 67 of the country’s largest urban that address students’ multiple social and economic needs. school districts examines in detail the recent performance of urban students on state tests. Thernstrom, Abigail, and Stephan Thernstrom, No Ex- cuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning, Simon & Divided We Fail: Coming Together Through Public School Schuster, 2004. Choice, Task Force on the Common School, The Century A husband and wife who are senior fellows at the con- Foundation, 2002. servative Manhattan Institute for Public Policy Research argue Basing its discussion on the idea that race- and class-segregated that charter schools and the No Child Left Behind Act’s focus schools have proven a failure, a nonpartisan think tank explores on holding schools accountable for poor student achievement the possibility of encouraging cross-district integration of low- can close the achievement gap for urban students. income and middle-income students by methods like establish- ing high-quality magnet schools in cities. Articles Engaging Schools: Fostering High School Students’ Boo, Katherine, “Expectations,” The New Yorker, Jan. 15, Motivation to Learn, Committee on Increasing High 2007, p. 44. School Students’ Engagement and Motivation to Learn, A reform-minded superintendent closes Denver’s lowest- National Research Council, 2003. achieving high school, hoping its students will accept the A national expert panel examines methods for re-engaging offer to enroll in any other city school, including some with urban high-school students who have lost their motivation mainly online classes. Mostly Latinos from the city’s poorest to learn, a problem they say is widespread but solvable. families, the displaced students struggle with losing their old school, which has provided many with a sense of community, Bridgeland, John M., John J. DiIulio, Jr., and Karen Burke and with new choices that confront them, as well as the Morison, The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School ever-present choice of dropping out. Dropouts, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, March 2006. Nearly half of high-school dropouts say they left school Moore, Martha T., “More Mayors Are Moving To Take partly because they were bored. A third of the students left Over School System,” USA Today, March 21, 2007, p. A1. because they needed to work, and more than a fifth said Albuquerque’s mayor is among those who believe they they left to care for a family member. could run schools better than their local school boards. Levin, Henry, Clive Belfield, Peter Muennig and Cecilia Saulny, Susan, “Few Students Seek Free Tutoring or Rouse, “The Costs and Benefits of an Excellent Education Transfers From Failing Schools,” The New York Times, for All of America’s Children,” Teachers College, Columbia April 6, 2006, p. 20. University, January 2007; www.cbcse.org/media/down- The No Child Left Behind Act promises free tutoring for load_gallery/Leeds_Report_Final_Jan2007.pdf. many students in low-achieving schools, but few of those A team of economists concludes that measures to cut the students’ families know about the option or have been able number of school dropouts would pay for themselves with to enroll their children in good-quality tutoring programs. higher tax revenues and lower government spending.

382 CQ Researcher The Next Step: Additional Articles from Current Periodicals

Dropouts and Graduation Rates Rivera, Carla, “Learning to Diversify,” Los Angeles Times, Dec. 11, 2006, p. A1. “The Graduation Rate Crisis,” St. Petersburg Times, An increasing number of private schools in the Los Angeles June 20, 2005, p. 6A. area are reaching out to minorities and poorer students. Black males are half as likely to graduate in four years as white high school students in Florida, and only 38 percent Will, George F., “Clueless in Seattle,” The Washington of black males actually finish in that time. Post, Dec. 3, 2006, p. B7. The Seattle School District has decided to strike a racial Mendell, David, “City Dropouts Target of Grant,” Chicago balance in its better-performing high schools, which are chosen Tribune, April 18, 2006, p. B1. by more students than can be accommodated. With many Chicago high-school students dropping out due to feeling unchallenged in the classroom, the Gates Foundation Urban Teachers has donated $21 million to the city’s public school system to establish a more rigorous curriculum. Coates, Ta-Nehisi Paul, “Looking Abroad for a Few Good Teachers,” Time, Nov. 28, 2005, p. 64. Rubin, Joel, “Mayor Cites Dropout Data to Push Plan,” Many school districts have begun looking abroad for educators Los Angeles Times, June 21, 2006, p. B9. capable of working in urban schools. In an attempt to take control of Los Angeles public schools, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told state lawmakers that only Feller, Ben, “Union Rules Force City Schools to Hire Un- 44 percent of district students graduate on time. wanted Teachers, Study Says,” The Associated Press, Nov. 16, 2005. Toppo, Greg, “Big-City Schools Struggle,” USA Today, As many as 40 percent of teachers in urban school systems June 21, 2006, p. 1A. are hired with little or no choice on the part of principals, Students in large urban school districts have a less than according to a new study. 50 percent chance of graduating from high school with their peers, a new study finds. Greene, Jay P., “Try Altering Incentives for Teachers,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 4, 2006, p. A19. No Child Left Behind Philadelphia could improve upon its miserable graduation rate by rethinking the rewards and consequences for good Herszenhorn, David M., “City’s Schools Cut Racial Gap and bad teaching. in Test Scores,” The New York Times, Dec. 2, 2005, p. A1. New York City has narrowed the gap in test scores between Nather, David, “A Good Teacher: No Substitute,” CQ Hispanic and black students and their white counterparts, out- Weekly, April 2, 2007, p. 956. pacing 10 other large urban school districts. Matching good teachers with struggling students will help achieve the No Child Lef Behind law’s underlying goals. Weiss Green, Elizabeth, “Local Success, Federal Failure,” U.S. News & World Report, March 5, 2007. CITING CQ RESEARCHER Critics of No Child Left Behind say that states have varying Sample formats for citing these reports in a bibliography educational standards for students, and few standards match national ideas about what children should learn. include the ones listed below. Preferred styles and formats vary, so please check with your instructor or professor. Zuckerbrod, Nancy, “Urban Students Do Worse than Nation in Science,” The Associated Press, Nov. 15, 2006. MLA STYLE New data released by the government indicate that children Jost, Kenneth. “Rethinking the Death Penalty.” CQ Researcher in major cities perform worse than other students on science 16 Nov. 2001: 945-68. tests given in elementary and middle school. APA STYLE School Diversity Jost, K. (2001, November 16). Rethinking the death penalty. Biskupic, Joan, “Diversity Programs May Face Ax,” USA CQ Researcher, 11, 945-968. Today, Dec. 5, 2006, p. 3A. CHICAGO STYLE The Supreme Court appears ready to abolish public school diversity programs that use ethnicity as a factor in deciding Jost, Kenneth. “Rethinking the Death Penalty.” CQ Researcher, where students receive their education. November 16, 2001, 945-968.

Available online: www.cqresearcher.com April 27, 2007 383 In-depth Reports on Issues in the News

Are you writing a paper? Need backup for a debate? Want to become an expert on an issue? For 80 years, students have turned to CQ Researcher? for in-depth reporting on issues in the news. Reports on a full range of political and social issues are now available. Following is a selection of recent reports:

Civil Liberties Education Health/Safety Social Trends Prison Reform, 4/07 Presidential Libraries, 3/07 Universal Coverage, 3/07 Consumer Debt, 3/07 Voting Controversies, 9/06 Academic Freedom, 10/05 Combating Addiction, 2/07 Television’s Future, 2/07 Right to Die, 5/05 Intelligent Design, 7/05 Rising Health Costs, 4/06 Philanthropy in America, 12/06 Immigration Reform, 4/05 No Child Left Behind, 5/05 Pension Crisis, 2/06 Video Games, 11/06 Crime/Law Environment International Affairs/Politics Terrorism/Defense Patent Disputes, 12/06 Factory Farms, 1/07 Electing the President, 4/07 New Strategy in Iraq, 2/07 Sex Offenders, 9/06 The New Environmentalism, 12/06 Rethinking Foreign Policy, 2/07 Port Security, 4/06 Treatment of Detainees, 8/06 Biofuels Boom, 9/06 Future of the Catholic Church, 1/07 Youth War on Drugs, 6/06 Nuclear Energy, 3/06 Understanding Islam, 11/06 Domestic Violence, 1/06 Climate Change, 1/06 Change in Latin America, 7/06 Drinking on Campus, 8/06 Teen Spending, 5/06 Upcoming Reports National ID Cards, 5/4/07 Megachurches, 5/18/07 “Shock Jocks,” 6/1/07 HPV Vaccine, 5/11/07 Gun Control, 5/25/07 Democrats in Congress, 6/8/07

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