Cqr20070427 Fixing Urban Schools
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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 N 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