Searching for Opportunity: Examining Racial Gaps in Access to Quality Schools in California and a List of Spotlight Schools
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Searching for Opportunity: Examining Racial Gaps in Access to Quality Schools in California and a List of Spotlight Schools A May 2017 GreatSchools Searching for Opportunity Table of contents Foreword 3 Executive Summary 5 Introduction 7 Introducing new GreatSchools school profiles 7 About this report 8 Gaps in Academic Performance 11 Test score ratings reveal vast disparities by race 11 College readiness outcomes reflect similar gaps 12 Inequitable Access to Opportunity 15 Unequal access to advanced coursework 15 Disproportionate student discipline rates by race 16 Higher chronic absenteeism rates for African American students 18 Limited access to experienced teachers and counselors 19 Spotlight Schools 21 How to Use This Report 23 Appendices 25 Appendix 1: Data Sources 26 1 Appendix 2: GreatSchools Ratings 27 Appendix 3: Minimum/Maximum Percent Proficient for Test Score Rating 28 Appendix 4: Minimum/Maximum Performance Range for College Readiness Rating 29 Appendix 5: Advanced Course-Taking Rate by Ethnicity 30 Appendix 6: Suspension Rates by Ethnicity 31 Appendix 7: Chronic Absenteeism Rates by Ethnicity 32 Appendix 8: Spotlight Schools 33 GreatSchools Searching for Opportunity For media inquiries, please contact Carrie Goux at [email protected] Project Director: Samantha Brown Olivieri, VP, Growth and Strategy Lead Analyst: Adam Gorski, Senior Data Analyst Acknowledgements: We greatly appreciate the support and feedback provided by our many partners in the development of this report. We would like to thank Innovate Public Schools for their many contributions and partnership. In addition, we would like to thank the following people for generously providing feedback on early iterations of this project, including Molly Mauer, Sierra Jenkins, Jemiee Estrada, Samantha Batel, Laura Jimenez, Carrie Hahnel, and Emmile Brack. We also would like to thank our Board of Directors for their ongoing support and guidance as well as the Walton Family Foundation for their generous support of our work. Foreword This report stems from a deep belief that every child, There is reason for hope. We identified 156 Spotlight regardless of background, deserves the opportunity Schools that are providing African American and Hispanic to receive a quality education. For more than 18 years, students with quality learning opportunities and high rates parents have been relying on GreatSchools for accessible of academic success. We should recognize, celebrate, and information to help connect their children with quality learn from these schools and hold up these examples of schools. In recent years, we’ve worked to collect more in- excellence as inspiration for educators and communities depth school information in order to better answer the key across the state. questions parents have when evaluating schools. Armed with this rich dataset, we’ve developed a new version of Our aim with this report is to spark conversations from the GreatSchools school profiles, starting in California, that hallways of the state capitol to the hallways of local schools shed light on school quality from multiple angles, including about how our public education system is providing or access to opportunity for students based on race and failing to provide access to opportunity for all students. We socioeconomic status. hope this report will be the first of a series in which we explore different trends and look more deeply at access We prepared this report to share summary results from our to quality schools for different groups of students, such as analysis, with a focus on gaps in access to quality schools English learners and students with disabilities. for students based on race. The results paint a profoundly sobering picture of the challenges facing minority students Informed and empowered parents are a critical force for in accessing the resources that provide the foundation for driving improvement in our schools. In addition, we want 3 academic success. As a society we are falling far short of our data to be useful for advocates, community leaders, our promise to provide a level playing field for all kids. and policymakers working to expand educational access and success for all children. Matthew Nelson President, GreatSchools GreatSchools Searching for Opportunity Executive Summary Executive 4 Summary Searching for Opportunity GreatSchools Executive Summary At GreatSchools, our goal is to provide parents with the • Significant disparities exist in California students’ information they need to support every child’s right to access to advanced courses. For example, fewer than an education that provides access to a self-sufficient 1 in 4 California high school students is enrolled in an adulthood. Above all else, parents prioritize schools with advanced STEM course, but those rates are fewer than strong academics, which means access to experienced 1 in 7 for African American students, 1 in 6 for Hispanic and caring teachers, rigorous classes, and a positive and students, 1 in 3 for white students, and 3 in 5 for Asian safe learning environment. However, our analysis shows students. wide variation in parents’ access to high-quality schools when looking at all these factors, with massive gaps based • Schools with a majority of African-American on race. Taking a deep dive into our data for California students have a lower ratio of students per teacher, schools, we identified a number of troubling trends. but the teachers are less experienced and paid a lower salary. Students that attend majority African • African American and Hispanic students are 11 American schools are three times more likely to have times less likely than white and Asian students to an inexperienced teacher than students in majority attend a school with strong results for their student white schools and the average teacher salary is $9,000 group.1 Only 2% of African American students and 6% less than in majority white schools, $10,000 less than of Hispanic students attend a high performing and high in majority Hispanic schools, and $15,000 less per year opportunity school2 for their student group, compared than in majority Asian schools. with 59% of white and 73% of Asian students. • Student discipline by race is highly disproportionate. • There is a deep chasm between the achievement Over 50% of African American students attend a school of white and Asian students and African-American where at least 1 in 10 African American students are and Hispanic students. The report shows 83% of white suspended, compared to only 8% of white students students and 92% of Asian students attend a school attend a school with similar suspension rates. where their test scores are above the 60th percentile,3 compared to only 9% of African American students and Despite these trends, schools across the state are defying 14% of Hispanic students. these statistics, demonstrating that all children can achieve at high levels regardless of where they start in life. Our • High schools are not preparing all students for Spotlight Schools list includes 156 schools statewide that are 5 eligibility at in-state public colleges. Statewide, only providing strong results for African American students and 41% of students attend a school where the majority Hispanic students, 77 of which are also serving a low-income of graduates are eligible for UC/CSU enrollment. Only population greater than the state average. These schools 22% of African American and 19% of Hispanic students deserve to be recognized, studied, and shared across the attend a school where the majority of graduates in their state. Our hope is that advocates, policymakers, school racial group are UC/CSU eligible, compared to 58% of leaders, and parents use our report and the accompanying white and 91% of Asian students. school profiles onGreatSchools.org to evaluate how schools in their community are serving all students, and push for greater equity in access to educational opportunity. GreatSchools Searching for Opportunity Introduction Introduction 6 Searching for Opportunity GreatSchools Introduction Access to educational opportunity should be a right of every The new profiles also include explanatory text that helps American child, not a privilege to which they are born. But parents understand and interpret the data. For example, too often we see that children are being denied access to next to a data display of college readiness rates, you might opportunity, either through a lack of high-quality schools see an explanation such as: in their neighborhood or by not finding the support within their own schools to help them achieve their full potential. Very concerning: At this school, fewer low-income students are graduating eligible for state college or For the past 18 years, GreatSchools has published school university compared to the state average for low- information and ratings, along with how-to articles and income students. videos, to help parents find schools where their child will thrive. We’ve amassed the largest national school- You would also see a suggestion about what parents can level database, including data on student outcomes and do with the information, such as: access to resources, disaggregated by different groups of students. At the individual school level, these data allow Parent tip: Graduation rates can be misleading. Find parents to learn about their local schools, but in the out if your child is taking the right classes to be eligible aggregate, we can use them to hold up a mirror to our for state universities. overall system and reflect on how we are collectively living up to the fundamental promise of public education — We designed and launched these profiles in California, and providing opportunity to all. we are expanding them to all states on a rolling basis. We believe the new GreatSchools profiles offer an important Introducing the new complement to publicly provided school data resources, such as the newly released school dashboard published GreatSchools school profiles by the California Department of Education. The new state dashboard has made important strides by making more Thanks to recent improvements to state and federal data information on schools publicly accessible.