COMMUNICATIONS ABOUT AFRICAN AMERICAN ACHIEVEMENT2r1 ZOO mm hO Communications about African American Achievement 1. Memorandum to selected staff from Bonnie Lesley, Aug. 18, 1998, setting up meeting to review Revised Desegregation and Education Plan and specifically to discuss need to open access and ensure success of African Americans in Advanced Placement courses 2. Memorandum to selected staff from Bonnie Lesley, Aug. 27, 1998, following up on the August 26 meeting with list of assignments and possible program strands to use in planning ^35 3. Memorandum to selected staff from Bonnie Lesley, Sept. 18, 1998, on K-12 Talent Development
added Horace Smith to committee on AP
attached several articles relating to minorities in AP courses A. B. C. The Canary in the Mine: The Achieivement Gap Between Black and White Students by Mano Singham from September 1998 Kappan The Philadelphia Partnership: Improving College Access and Retention Among Minority and Low-Income Students by Steven Ender, et al in the Summer 1998 issue of The College Board Review. Some articles about the Talent Development Middle School model researched by Mona Briggs. 4. Copy of an article from The American Prospect. September/October 1998 distributed to staff, The Black-White Test Score Gap, by Christopher Jencks and Meredith Phillips. 3^7 5. Copy of an article distributed to staff from Education Week. Sept. 9, 1998, Bridging the Remediation Gap: Why We Must (and How We Can) Align K-12 Standards with College Placement by Michael Kirst. 6. Memorandum from Bonnie Lesley to secondary principals, December 16, 1998, urging them to convene a staff committee to determine ways to enroll as many students as possible in the Pre-AP and AP courses
specific reference to the Revised Desegregation and Education Plan. 7. Memorandum to principals from Bonnie Lesley, Feb. 8, 1999, on high expectations with attached article from ERIC, Expectations for Students. 8. Memorandum to principals from Bormie Lesley, Feb. 12, 1999, on the importance of building relationships between teachers and students for improved student achievement
article attached, Working with Students and Adults from Poverty by Ruby Payne. 3^1 9. Memorandum to high school principals, counselors, and registrars from Bonnie Lesley, Aug. 27, 1999Administrative Directive: High School Curriculum
section on Equity, with specific references to section 2.6 of the Revised Desegregation and Education Plan and the importance of curriculum access. 10. Memorandum from Bonnie Lesley in September 1, 1999, Learning Links on Teaching ALL the Kids
attached article by Adela Solis, Extending Advanced Skills Instruction into the Education of Disadvantaged Students 11. Memorandum from Bonnie Lesley in September 22, 1999, Learning Links celebrating the big jump in numbers of students earning a 3 or above on the Advanced Placement examinations
attached tables. 12. Memorandum in October 13, 1999, Learning Links on Getting Smart and attaching an article, Making American Smarter: A Centurys Assumptions About Inate Ability Give Way to a Belief in the Power of Effort, by Lauren Resnick. 13. Memorandum to selected staff from Bonnie Lesley, November 10, 1999, reconvening the K-12 Talent Development Committee to work on a local adaptation of Project AVID, in collaboration with Dr. Terrence Roberts
specific references to the Revised Desegregation and Education Plan
summary of initiatives already implemented
etc. 14. Memorandum to princi,.'als from Bonnie Lesley in December 1, 1999, Learning Links recommending transition strategies from one level of schooling to another to improve academic achievement. A. Summer Programs Help Students Adjust to Key Transition Points B. When Standards Fails 15. Article in December 1, 1999, Learning Links: Teaching AP European History in a Multiethnic Setting for principals 16. Memorandum in January 26, 2000, Learning Links with attached article, Why Every Child in America Deserves a School Where She/He is Known and Valued by Davis Marshak. 17. E-mail from Bonnie Lesley to high school principals and other staff, Jan. 24, 2000, attaching an article on College Freshmen Bored by High School Senior Year. ^50 18. Memorandum from Bonnie Lesley in February 9, 2000, Learning Links on how to improve student achievement
attached article, Improving Chicagos Schools ! 19. E-mail from Bonnie Lesley to Division of Instruction and Cabinet, March 9, 2000, attaching an article by Anne Quindlen from Newsweek on The Best High Schools and the importance of challenging courses. 20. E-mail from Boimie Lesley to staff, March 16, 2000, relating to placing into the budget needed funds for the administration of the Pre-AP and AP programs. 21. Memorandum from Bonnie Lesley in March 22, 2000, Learning Links on the importance of students taking challenging courses
attached article from Southern Regional Education Board, Good News, Bad News and Actions for Helping Students Complete a Challenging Program of Study. tl 22. E-mail from Bonnie Lesley to selected staff, April 12, 2000, inviting us to hear Dr. Andrew Billingsley speak on The Black Family. 23. Memorandum from Bonnie Lesley to middle and high school staff in April 19, 2000, Learning Links on attendance at the Administrators AP Conference
reference to Revised Desegregation and Education Plan. 24. Memorandum from Bonnie Lesley in May 3, 2000, Learning Links encouraging participation in Dr. Terrence Roberts training on Learning to Cope with Differences and attaching a reading list that might be helpful. 25. Memorandum from Bonnie Lesley in May 3,2000, Learning Links related to Project AVID
attached article by Mary Catherine Swanson, Education for the New Millenium. 26. E-mail from Bonnie Lesley to various staff. May 4, 2000, with rationale for changes in the graduation requirements and the importance of high expectations for all students. 27. Memorandum from Bonnie Lesley in May 17, 2000, Learning Links on equity
attached article, We Should Not Kid Ourselves: Excellence Requires Equity, by Bradley Scott. 28. E-mail from Les Camine to staff, July 25, 2000, with attached article, Is the Test Score Gap Really Color Based? by William Bainbridge. ^^1- 29. E-mail from Bonnie Lesley to high school curriculum staff, Aug. 11, 2000, with attached article on Advanced Placement, Not Exclusion. 30. Memorandum to Associate Superintendents, September 11, 2000, from Bonnie Lesley on the role of counselors in enhancing academic achievement. 31. Memorandum to selected staff from Bonnie Lesley, October 2, 2000, with copy of a self-assessment instruction, Bridging the Gap: Self-Assessment Instrument developed by the Mackenzie Group, Washington, DC. 32. Memorandum to principals from Boimie Lesley, October 2, 2000, with attached report, Dispelling the Myth: High Poverty Schools Exceeding Expectations. 3^5 33. Memorandum to principals in November 1, 2000, Learning Links on stereotype research and attaching an article by Claude Steele, Stereotype Threat and the Test Performance of Academically Successful African Americans, from the book. The Black-White Test Score Gap by Christopher Jencks and Meredith Phillips
reference to Terrence Roberts. 34. E-mail from Bonnie Lesley to NSF team, Nov. 16, 2000, advising them of the purchase of the video-tapes from the Columbus meeting for NSF participants on Bridging the Gap. 35. E-mail from Bonnie Lesley to selected staff, Nov. 20, 2000, advising them of the importance of successful implementation of the IB programs at Cloverdale Middle and McClellan High if the magnet grant got funded. 36. E-mail from Bonnie Lesley to Les Gamine, Nov. 20, 2000, with rationale for building in incentives for African American students to take challenging courses
references the Revised Desegregation and Education Plan. 37. E-mail from Suzi Davis to a parent, Dec. 5, 2000, with an explanation of the criteria for placement of students in advanced courses and the differentiated curriculum for Pre-AP at the middle school level. 38. Memorandum from Bonnie Lesley to the Board of Education, Dec. 14, 2000, proposing changes in the graduation requirements, with rationale
references to equity and the Revised Desegregation and Education Plan. ^'7/ 1LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL DISTRICT INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCE CENTER 3001 S. PULASKI LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS 72206 August 18, 1998 TO: Mable Donaldson Mona Briggs Dennis Glasgow Marie McNeal Dr. Kathy Lease Vanessa Cleaver Gene Parker FROM: Dr. Bonnie Lesley/Ase>seociate Superintendent - Instruction SUBJECT: AP Courses and PSAT/ACT Preparation We need to meet! Please join me at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, August 26, in my small conference room. Lets plan to discuss the following: 1. Desegregation and Education Plan requirements
review process
status report 2. NSF grant requirements 3. Need for AP program coordination 4. Project AVID - option 5. Related issues Ill look forward to seeing you. BAL/adg 2INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURSE CENTER LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL DISTRICT 3001 PULASKI LITTLE ROCK, AR 72204 August 27, 1998 TO: Kathy Lease Marie McNeal Mable Donaldson Dennis Glasgow Gene Parker Vanessa Cleaver Mona Briggs FROM
Dr. Bonnie Lesley, Associate Superintendent - Instruction SUBJECT: AP Program Thank you very much for your attendance at and participation in our August 26 meeting, I am excited about the beginning of our plan. Below according to my notes, are the responsibilities we agreed to assume: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Kathy Lease - examine possibility of adding a non-verbal IQ test to our assessment plan - to be used as another indicator of academic potential. Kathy Lease - conduct a study by school and by grade level of the numbers and percentages of students performing in the top quartile of each sub-test of the SAT 9 Mable Donaldson - assume role of AP Coordinator Mable Donaldson - survey the AP teachers to see what training theyve had Vanessa Cleaver - review Project AVID
determine steps we need to take in order to implement Mona Briggs - find out about the John Hopkins Talent Development Middle Schools Dennis Glasgow - draft the proposed AP policy Marie McNeal - research potential parent education programs, especially there relating to AA males academic achievement Bonnie Lesley - outline proposed planning components2 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. Bonnie Lesley - research potential funding sources Bonnie Lesley - speak to cabinet about need to recruit quality teachers
desire of Instruction staff to be involved in recruitment and screening of teachers
need for more AA teachers in g/t, honors, and AP courses. Bonnie Lesley - raise issue of need for science labs with utilities at the junior high/middle schools Bonnie Lesley - ensure that School Improvement Plans address this targeted population Dennis Glasgow and Gene Parker - examine the College Boards Pacesetter courses for potential adoption at the high school level We agreed to meet again at 1:30 on Friday, September 25, to review our progress. Our agenda will include the following: 1. Refinement of proposed planning strands (see attached) 2. Reports from team members on assigned tasks 3. Planning next steps BAL/rcm Attachment3 PROPOSED PLANNING STRANDS FOR GT/HONORS/AR PROGRAM IMPROVEMENT I. CURRICULUM Vertical Teams (k-12 & higher Ed.) Talent Development focus at elementary and middle schools Use of AP course syllabi Review of GT/Honors/AP Curriculum documents II. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Counselors T e icher (Proj ect AVID?) Principals Tuition for teachers to earn endorsement Recruitment of Quality teachers III. STUDENT SUPPORT Instructional strategies One-on-one tutoring (Project AVID?) Parent education/involvement IV. RESOURCES Teaching materials Science labs at middle schools Funding for professional development3 LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL DISTRICT INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCE CENTER 3001 PULASKI STREET LITTLE ROCK, AR 72206 September 18, 1998 TO: Vanessa Cleaver Mable Donaldson Dennis Glasgow Marie McNeal Horce Smith (ODM) Kathy Lease Gene Parker Jo Evelyn Elston Mona Briggs FROM
Dr. Bonnie Lesley,'Associate Superintendent for Instruction SUBJECT: K-12 Talent Development Our work is coming along! Attached for your information is the material regarding project AVID that Vanessa, Mable, and I presented to the Board at their agenda meeting on September 10. We had earlier discussed it with Dr. Gamine and secured his blessing to go forward. The project is on the Boards consent agenda for the September 24 meeting. I have also had a discussion of our overall plan with the staff at ODM. Horace Smith is joining our committee, and we welcome his input. I am also inviting Jo Evelyn to join us. Are there others we should include? I am attaching three important pieces for you to read before our meeting at 1:30 in Gene Parkers office on Friday, September 25. (1) The Canary in the Mine: The Achievement Gap Between Black and White Students by Mano Singham from the September 1998 Kappan. Dont miss the references to Uri Treismans work. Hes the one I told you about. (2) The Philadelphia Partnership: Improving College Access and Retention Among Minority and Low-Income Students by Steven Ender, st al, in the Summer 1998 issue of The College Board Review. Be sure to look at the research findings. Interesting! And maybe it gets at that culture issue that Marie raised. (3) Some articles about the Talent Development Middle School that Mona Briggs researched for us. (I also am sending this on to the middle school principals.) Look at the model carefully to see if it will work in Little Rock. Our agenda for the meeting follows: 1. Discussion of readings Lessons learned Implication for our plan 2. Reports Status of AVID implementation Percent in Top Quartile Survey of AP Teachers AP Policy Draft Planning Components (see attached) (WeTl do the other reports at the next meeting.) Vanessa and Mable Kathy Mable Dennis Bonnie Lesley 3. Miscellaneous BAL/rcm Attachment cc: Les Gamine Brady Gadberry 1. IL III. IV. V. PROPOSED PLANNING STRANDS Teacher Involvement and Support Early imvolvement in plan CTA involvement CURRICULUM Vertical Teams (k-12 & higher Ed.) Talent Development focus at elementary and middle schools Use of AP course syllabi Use of Pacesetter courses (?) Review of GT/Honors/AP Curriculum documents PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Instruction staff Counselors Teacher Principals Tuition for teachers to earn endorsement Recruitment of Quality teachers STUDENT SUPPORT Instructional strategies One-on-one tutoring (Project AVID?) Study groups VIPs members University partners RESOURCES Teaching materials - AVID Science labs at middle schools Funding for professional developmentAdvancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) LRSD Strategic Plan Objectives No later than the year 2003, no fewer than 9 out of 10 students will meet or exceed LRSD standards of performance identified in the core curriculum. By 2003, the percentage of students in every identified sub-group of race and gender ... performing at the highest quartile in reading and mathematics on standardized tests shall be at least 30%. Revised Desegregation and Education Plan Three important sections of the LRSD Revised Desegregation and Education Plan follow: Section 2/5. 2.6 LRSD shall implement programs, policies, and/or procedures designed to promote participation and to ensure that there are no barriers to participation by qualified African-Americans in extracurricular activities, advanced placement courses, honors and enriched courses and the gifted and talented program. Section 2/5. 2.6.1 LRSD shall implement a training program during each of the next three years designed to assist teachers and counselors in identifying and encouraging Afncan-American students to participate in honors and enriched courses and advanced placement courses. Section 2/5. 2.6.2 LRSD shall implement programs to assist African-Americans in being successful in honors and enriched courses and advanced placement courses. National Science Foundation Cooperative Agreement One of the most important needs identified in the LRSD grant proposal to NSF was as follows: A need exists for students to begin preparation to enter high school Advanced Placement mathematics and science courses and other upper level mathematics and science courses while they are still in elementary and junior high school. Many students, even if they meet the course prerequisites for upper level courses, have not acquired the type of skills and content knowledge that is required to be confident about their ability to succeed in these courses. The pre-requisite skills and the confidence they engender are both critical elements in increasing the number of students in AP and other upper level mathematics and science courses. This is particularly true for some minorities who may not be well represented among upper classmen who are currently enrolled in these courses. District Responses The District has assembled the core of a team to be expanded as tasks become more clear to create a systemic plan to meet both the letter and spirit of the Revised Desegregation Plan, as well as the objectives of the NSF project. The plan, to be presented to the Board later in the school year will include the steps we believe to be necessary to create a K-12 talent development program both to improve student access to and success in the advanced placement, honors, and gifted/talented courses in all our schools. The centerpiece of the plan, we know already, will be, with the Boards approval, the implementation of Project AVID (see attachments for basic information). We suggest that the District phase in the implementation of the program over three years, as follows: 1998-99 1999-2000 2000-01 Planning year for implementation in the five high schools Implementation year for the five high schools Planning year for implementation in the eight middle schools Continuation/refmement of high school implementation Implementation year for the eight middle schools This phase-in approach is recommended in order for us to do the best possible job of implementation with the resources (human, time, and money) available to us. Also, we think that the changes for the middle schools that will be implemented in 1999-2000 are comprehensive enough that the staffs do not need yet another innovation during 1999- 2000. Upon the Boards approval, the staff will negotiate the Planning Year contract with AVID and will begin the planning activities, involving staff, students, and parents. What Factors Contribute to Program Effectiveness? (from Show Me the Evidence! By Robert Slavin and Olatokunbo Fashola, Corwin Press, 1998) 1. Effective programs have clear goals, emphasize methods and materials linked to those goals, and constantly assess students progress toward the goals. There is no magic in educational innovation. Programs that work invariably have a small set of very well-specified goals ..., a clear set of procedures and materials linked to those goals, and frequent assessments that indicate whether or not the students are reaching the goals. Effective programs leave little to chance. They incorporate many elements, such as research-based curricula, instructional methods, classroom management methods, assessments, and means of helping students who are struggling, ail of which are tied in a coordinated fashion to the instructional goals. Programs almost always have their strongest impacts on the objectives they emphasize. 2. Effective and replicable programs have well-specified components, materials, and professional development procedures. There is a belief in many quarters that each school staff must develop or codevelop their own reform model, that externally developed programs cannot be successfully replicated in schools that had no hand in developing them. ... In fact, over time evidence has mounted that reform models that ask teachers to develop their own materials and approaches are rarely implemented at all. Studies of alternative programs implemented under similar conditions find that the more highly structured and focused programs that provide specific materials and training are more likely to be implemented and effective than are less-well-specified models. ... Although there are examples of success in models lacking clear structure, the programs with the most consistent positive effects with at-risk students are those that have definite procedures and materials used in all participating schools. 3. Effective programs provide extensive professional development. A characteristic shared by almost all of the effective programs we identified is the provision of extensive professional development and follow-up technical assistance. Few, if any, provide the classic half-day, onetime workshops that constitute the great majority of inservice programs, especially those usually provided with textbook adoptions. On the contrary, most of the successful programs we identified provide many days of inservice followed by in-class technical assistance to give teachers detailed feedback on their program implementations. Typically, teachers work with each other and with peer or expert coaches to discuss, assess, and refine their implementations. The training provided is rarely on generic strategies from which teachers pick a few ideas to add to their bags of tricks. Instead, training focuses on comprehensive strategies that replace, not just supplement, teachers current strategies. 4. Effective programs are disseminated by organizations that focus on the quality of implementation. The programs identified in their review that have been associated with consistent positive effects in many settings tend to be ones that are developed and disseminated by active, well-structured organizations that concentrate efforts on ensuring the quality of program implementation in all schools. These organizations, often based in universities, provide training and materials and typically create support networks among program users. i The Canary In the Mine The Achievement Gap Between Black and ^hite Students na By Mano Singham The educational achievement gap is real and has serious ' 'al, economic, and political consequences, Mr. Singham tnts out. But the situation is by no means hopeless, if we start looking at the problem in new ways and avoid simplistic one-shot solutions. HAKER Heights is not your typical community. It is a small inner-ring bedroom suburb of Cleveland, covering an area of about five square miles and having a population of 30,000. It is a carefully planned city with tree-lined streets winding past well-maintained homes and manicured lawns, lakes, parks, and red-brick schools nestled in campus-like grounds. The city is about one-third African American and two-thirds white, with a sprinkling of other minorities. Although income levels in the city range from the poor (about 10% below the poverty level) to millionaires, the image of Shaker Heights is that of a primarily middle- and upper-middle-class community (median family income of $66,000) that is home to many of the academics, professionals, and corporate executives of all ethnic groups who work in the Cleveland area. It is also a highly educated mmunity, with more than 60% of all residents over the age of 25 holding at least a bachelors degree a figure three times the national average. MANO SINGHAM is assixiaie director of the University Center for Innovations in Teacitini
and Education and principal researcher in the Department ofPhvsics, Case Western Reserve University. Cleveland, Ohio. The academic achievement gap MAY REALLY BE TELLING US THAT THERE ARE FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS WITH THE WAY EDUCATION IS DELIVERED TO ALL STUDENTS. caused them to fall behind in the first place at the expense of the higher-level ones, thus compounding the problem instead of solving it. On the other hand, if students are given interesting and challenging problems to work on, things that pique their interest and are relevant to their lives, they are more likely to acquire the so-called basic skills as a means to solving the problems of interest. In his book Color-Blind Ellis Cose describes another success story of black education, this time at Xavier University, a historically black college in New Orleans?8 This university took to heart the message of psychometrician Arthur Whimbey, who argued in Intelligence Can Be Taught that students can be taught to perform better academically by a suitably planned program that stresses the importance of hjgh- Srievelthinking skills. When theschool adopted a Whimbey-inspired curriculum, incoming freshmen so improved their academic performance that Xavier is now the Single biggest supplier of black graduates to medical schools, despite its relatively small enrollment. Once again it must be emphasized thatwhat was stressed in thi.s program was the challenging nature of the acadernic program, thednve for excellence as opposed to remediation. IHAVE argued here that perceiving the academic performance of white students as the norm and that of blacks as a measure of the problem naturally leads to the proposing of solutions that have as their basis the attempt to persuade blacks to "act white or at least to adopt white values. But the implicit notion that black behavior and values are somehow inferior to whites makes these solutions offensive and unacceptable to many blacks. There is an even more serious objection to this strategy of trying to get everyone to adopt the white ethic as a means of reducing the educational achievement gap. It is that it might be masking the true nature of the problem by assuming that there is no real problem in the educational delivery system as such but only in the way that it is received by different groups: that is, black students dont respond to education in the proper manner. An alternative explanation is that the primary problem lies not in the way black children view education but in the way we teach all children, black, white, or other. The traditional model of education is one that largely requires children to work alone or to listen to an instructor. It is a passive model, based on the assumption that extrinsic rewards (such as credentials and jobs) are sufficient motivators for students to go to school and learn. Education is regarded as medicine
it is good for you but not necessarily pleasurable or worth doing for its own sake. Much emphasis is placed on teaching students facts that are unrelated to their interests or immediate experience but that they are told will be useful to them in the future. There is very little emphasis on exploiting the intrinsic curiosity that children have about the world around them or on using thlsas a springboard for challenging, self-motivated, and self-directed investigative sludies. Alternative, active learning methods of education (which have variants that come under the labels of "inquiry or discovery learning) have as their primary mo- Tivator intrinsic rewards, the satisfaction that students experience when they, by their owfrefforts, solve some complex and challenging problem. Anyone who has strug-gled to understand a complex issue he or she cared deeply about and has succeeded knows the feeling of exhilaration and confidence in ones abilities that ensues. TtTsTruTya highTUnfortunately, this hap-pens far too rarely in education. Instead, most students (irrespective of gender or ethnicity) see the classroom as a place where they are made to learn material and jump through assessment hoops that have no meaning for them, with the carrot being rewarding employment far into the future. Research indicates that active learning methods produce signihcant academic gains for students, with more on-task behavior in class. These methods also reduce the achievement gap but not, as it might be feared, by dumbing dowm the curriculum or depressing the performance of traditional high achievers. These students gain too, but the most dramatic gains tend to be for those who are not well served by the traditional passive model (i.e., involuntary minorities and women). This is because these students are the ones who lagged behind more in the traditional classroom and thus have more room to improve their perf I formance. 10 Such a deep-rooted criticism of the cur- -rent education system is hard for many people to accept, especially those who are already highly credentialed academically. After all, they reasonably point out, the system worked for me, and 1 became a success. In addition, the U.S. has become an economic, scientific, and technological superpower. So how could its education system be so bad? The issue is not whether any given education system is good or bad, and framing the question in this way is to go down a blind alley. The issue is what fraction of-K the student population you want to achieve . excellence. The fact is that there never was a majority of students just like us. What is true is that there has always been a relatively small fraction of students (possibly as high as 25%) from families that expect them to pursue a college education. For this fraction, the links between effort, credentials, and rewards are sufficiently realistic and compelling to act a.s an extrinsic motivator for academic effort. But i But Fordham found that young black people now, following Malcolm Xs lead, see things quite differently. What they have observed is that the success of the pioneers did not breed widespread success. A few more blacks made it into the professions but nowhere near the numbers necessary to lift up the whole community. Fordham reports that young black people see the strategy of using individual success to lead to community success as a fatally flawed one. They have replaced it with a largely unarticulated but nevertheless powerfully cohesive strategy that is based on the premise that the only way that the black community a.s a whole will advance is if all its members stick together and advance together. This way they can keep their ethnic identity intact (i.e., not have to act white). Hence the attempt by any individual black to achieve academic success is seen as a betrayal because it would involve eventually conforming to the norms of white behavior and attitudes. This view causes immense problems for those black students who have higher academic aspirations. Many are tom between wanting to achieve academic success because of their parents expectations and sacrifices on their behalf and the natural desire to stay in step with their peers and retain important adolescent friendships. Many of them adopt a middle road, keeping their grades just high enough to avoid trouble at home and preserve good relations with their teachers but no more. Fordham calls their strategy tacelessness behaving in what they see as a raceneutral manner so as not to draw attention to themselves. They also tend to study alone and in secret so that they cannot be accused of breaking ranks with their peers. argue, the best thing to do would be to accept thi.s situation and then determine how to minimize its adverse social consequences. The good news is that there is little evidence for the belief that black students are somehow genetically inferior to white.s and that this constitutes an insurmountable barrier to their ever achieving academic equality, The further good newsis that there are some very promising studies that indicate that the achievement gap in education can be narrowed dramatically and even eliminated. 1 he bad news is that it is not going to be easy to achieve this goal. The problem needs to be addressed on many fronts educationally, socially, and psychologically and there is no single magic bullet that is going to take care of it. The first thing to note is that there is one odd feature that characterizes the discus- n of any social problem that is an-al) ural state of society, and black statistics are used as a measure of the problem. If the problem is viewed in this way, then the solution lies in getting black people to act white, i.e., to adopt the values, behavior, attitudes, and mannerisms of white people, so that blacks will perform as well as whites. Much of the preaching of virtues to the black community about their social pathology (the sociopathological model) seems to have this belief as a basis. There are many problems with this approach. One is that black people are not it might hurt their chances of economic and educational succes.s in life. Researcher Signithia Fordham, in her studies of black high school students in Washington, D.C., found that there wa.s a marked difference in attitudes toward academic and career success between the generation of blacks that came of age during the civil rights struggle and their children.' For black parents, the success of any one black person in any new field was perceived also as a vicarious victory for the whole black community because that individual was opening doors that had hitherto been closed to blacks. Other blacks could then emulate the example of the pioneer and follow in his or her footsteps. Thus eventually the community as a whole could pull itself out of the miserable conditions that were the lega / of slavery. So the black community rejoiced when Thurgood Marshall became a Supreme Court justice, when Ralph Bunche became an undersecretary- general of the United Nations and a winner of the Nobel Prize, when Arthur Ashe became Wimbledon and U.S. Open tennis champion, and when others became lawyers, doctors, nurses, college professors, and other kinds of professionals and administrators. It seemed to be only a matter of time before all members of the black community would obtain their share of the American dream that had long been denied them. There was a price that was paid by these trailblazers, though. They recognized that all eyes were on them to see if they would measure up. Ever mindful of their responsibility not to jeopardize the chances of those who were to come after them, these black pioneers had to prove themselves as impressed with the virtues of whites as worthy in white eyes, and this was done whites are and see no need to emulate them, by acting white (at least in their work This pattern of isolated study leads to dis-on the basis of how different ethlie groups compare. Statistics for whites e usually taken as a measure of the natGiven the behavior of whites during the time environment), by adopting the values and astrous consequences when these same stu-of slavery, to ask blacks to regard whites behavior of the white-dominated estab- dents confront the more challenging colas role models for virtuousness seem.s pre- lishment they were trying to penetrate. In lege environment. sumptuous, to put it mildly. James Bald- his autobiography, Malcolm X speaks sar- By itself, Fordhams explanation of why win captured this difference in perception donically of what he calls these firsts, black students underperform may not be when he .said in The Fire Next Time, ^ite black people who were hailed as the first sufficiently compelling. But Claude Steele Americans find it as difficult as white peo- to occupy any position that had previous- of Stanford University (along with Joshua SO' or ple elsewhere do to divest themselve.s of ly been denied to blacks. He said that very Aronson) has done research that indicates the notion that they are in possession of often it wa.s these people, even more than that other complementary factors contrib-ntrinsic value that black people need whites, who would vociferously condemn ute to poor academic perfonnance by blacks, [Tlhere is certainly little enough other black.s like himself who did not buy Steeles research on college students at Stan-in the white man s public or private life into the notion of having to act white in ford and the University of Michigan indi-that one should desire to imitate.' order to advance them.selves and their com- cates that when students are placed in a t. Is I Bi It would also be presumptuous to as- munity. But by and large, such white be- situation in which a poor performance on sume that rejecting the white behavior mtxJ- havior was tolerated and excused by blacks a standardized test would support a stereo-el is an act designed merely to give per- as a temporary strategy for the long-term type of inferior abilities because of the I verse satisfaction to blacks, even though benefit of their community. student's ethnicity or gender, then the stu- 'i dents perfonnance suffers when compared ic performance are more complex.'' They a more pernicious effect still at work. He with those who do not labor under thi.s looked at studies of the performance of dif- finds that the value ot the reward lies preconception. For example, when black ferent ethnic minority groups in the same very much in the eye of the beholder, be- student.s and white ones were given test.s society (such as African Americans, His- cause this perception i.s strongly affected by that they were told measured their academ- panics, Asians, and Native Americans in the group with which one compares one- ic abilities, black students did worse than the U.S.) and of the same ethnic minority self. Ogbu argues that members of volun- whites. But when a control group of black group.s in different societie,s (such as Ko- tary minorities (i.e., the immigrant groups students and white ones were given the reans in Japan and the U.S.). Their results against whom blacks are routinely and ad- same test but were told that the test did not indicate that the performance of any giv- versely compared) judge their status and have any such significance but wa.s mere- en minority depend.s on a complex inter- rewards against those of their peers whom ly a laboratory tool, the difference in per- play of factors, such as whether the mi- they left behind inlheirnative country. So formance disappeared. He calls this phe- nority i.s a voluntary one (such a.s Asians even if they are working in lower-status I nomenon stereotype threat. now and earlier generations of Jews, Irish, jobs in the U.S. than those they left behind What is interesting about Steeles re- and Germans) oran involuntary one (such to come here, they tend to be earning more search results i.s that they do not apply on- a.s blacks due to enslavement, Native Amer- than their peers who stayed at home, and ly to black/white comparisons. The same leans due to conquest, and Hispanics due they also feel that their children (for whom phenomenon occurred with men and worn- to colonization), and the perceptions of they made the sacrifice to come to the U.S.) en.The womens performance deteriorat- the dominant community toward the mi- will have greater educational opportuni- ed when they were told that the standard- nority. For example, Koreans and the Bu- ties and chances for advancement than the ized mathematic.s test they were taking had raku (a tribe in Japan that is ethnically children of their peers back home. Hence shown gender differences, wheTea.s the male/ identical with other Japanese) do poorly they have a strong sense of achievement female difference disappeared in the con- in Japanese schools, where both groups are that makes them strive even harder and in- trolg:roup when the women were told that considered to be academically inferior. But still these values in their children. the identical test had not shown any gen- members of the same groups excel when But blacks (an involuntary minority) der differences. The white men, who were they come to the U.S., which tends to view have a different group as a basis for com- outperforming black and women students, any Koreans or Japanese (being Asian) as parison. They have no reference points to were themselves not immune to the stereo- academic high fliers. groups outside the U.S. They compare their type threat. When they were told that the Z Ogbu points out the importance to aca- achievement with that of white people same tests were being used to compare their ' demic performance of the perception of the (usually suburban, middle-class whites), abilities with Asians, their performance de-1 relationship between effort and reward, and they invariably suffer in the compari- teriorated. People are more likely to work harder if son. Ogbu says that in his interviews with Another interesting fact that Steele un- 1 they can see a benefit in return and have successful blacks (however one meas- covered is that the threat of stereotyp- a realistic expectation of receiving that ures that), it does not take long for the sen- ing that depresses performance does not / benefit. In the case of education, this link timent to be expressed that, of course, if have to be very obvious. Just being re-Z lies in the belief that educational effort they had been white, they would beeven quired to check off their gender or eth- leads to academic credentials, which in more successful, would have advanced more nicity on the answer sheet was sufficient! turn lead to gainful employment. to trigger the weaker performance by the in their careers, or would have made more This effort/reward scenario lies at the money. So for blacks, the perceived link students. Steele concludes that the fear that basis of the white work ethic and forms between effort and reward is far weaker a poor performance on a test will confirm an important component of the lectures than it is for whites and voluntary minori- a stereotype in the mind of an examiner delivered to blacks by those who adhere ties, and we should not be too surprised if imposes an anxiety on the test-taker that to the sociopathological view of under- the weakness of this link manifests itself is difficult to overcome. Given the wide- achievement. Ogbu points out that the ef- in a lower commitment to academic effort. ( 1 spread suspicion that blacks cannot cut it fort/reward relationship is not at all obvi- The causes of black underachievement in the academic world or that women are ous to blacks. For years blacks were de- identified by Fordham, Steele, and Ogbu not good in math, both these groups enter nied employment and education commen- cannot simply be swept away by legisla- any test-taking situation with a disadvan- surate with their efforts. It did not matter live or administrative action, by exhorta- tage compared with tho.se who do not have how much they valued education or strove tions, or by identifying people with racial this fear. Steele suggests that it i.s this fear to master it
higher levels of education and prejudice and weeding them out of public that causes these groups to disinvest in edu- employment were routinely denied them life. They lie in factors that are rooted deep- cation, to assert that it is not important and purely on the basis of their ethnicity. Hence ly in history and that will not go away by that they are not going to expend any ef- it is unreasonable to expect them to see themselves and may even worsen if not fort on mastering it. That way, a poor per- the work/credential/employment linkage addressed. The good news is that there are formance is only a measure of the indi- as applying to them, as most whites do. viduals lack of interest in the subject and specific educational strategies that pro- But it could be argued that this differ- vide hope for change. is not a sign of his or her inability to mas- ence in perception i.s something that will ter it. One study originated around 1974 at di.sappear with time (or, as some might con- the University of (Jalifomia, Berkeley, and Anthropologist John Ogbus and other tend, should have disappeared by now if was the result of an observation by a math- researchers studies of the effects of mi- not for blacks clinging to their victim ematics instructor named Uri Treisman. nority/dominant relationships on academ- status.) But Ogbu points out that there i.s He noticed (as had countless other college \ Z i iThe Chinese students, UNLIKE THE BLACKS, STUDIED TOGETHER, ROUTINELY ANALYZING LECTURES AND SHARING TIPS AND STRATEGIES. instructors) that black and Hispanic students were failing in the introductory mathematics course in far greater numbers than wer*- members of any other ethnic group ani e thus more likely to drop out of colferent performances, and what he found was interesting. He discovered that, while both blacks and Chinese socialized with other students in their group, the Chinese also rm Jig ^together, routinely analyzing lectures and instructors, sharing tips and ^planations and strategies for success. They had an enormously efficient information network for sharing what worked and wfiaTdidnt/lf someone made a mis-take, others quickly learned of it and did not repeat it. In cqntrast, the black students partied together, just like the Chinese, but then went their separate ways for studying, perhaps as a result of the high ^hool experience Fordham describes. This tendency resulted in a much slower pace of learning, as well as the suffering that comes with having to learn from mistakes. Black students typically had no idea where they stood with respect to the rest of the class, and they were usually surprised by lege. this occurred despite remedial cours-ks, interventions, and other efforts aimed * irectly at this at-risk group. Treisman inquired among his colleagues as to the possible reasons for this phenomenon and was given the usual list of suspect causes: black students tended to come from homes characterized by more poverty, less stability, and a lack of emphasis on education
they went to poorer high schools and were thus not as well prepared
they lacked motivation
and so forth. Rather than accept this boilerplate diagnosis, Treisman actually investigated to see if it was true. Hefound that the black students at Berkeley came from families that placed an intense emphasis on education. Their parents took great pride in and were highly suppofliye of their going to college. Manvof these black students had gone to excellent high schools and were as well prepared as any other group. There was also a wide di-versity among them some came from integrated middle-class suburban neighborhoods
others, from inner-city segregated ones. Clearly the conventional wis-dc did not hold,ahd the cause of their ch..i.e..v..e..m...e..n..t. .l.a.-y elsewhere. What 1 reisman then did wa.s to narrow his investigation to just two groups biacksahig'fKeTugTi^hieving ethnic Chi- otten remeoiai neseTninbrity. HeTtudied ail aspects of suidents (not just those who happen^to course.s bore the students (turning thern^ff lEFfwtTgfoups live.s to see what factors chancFupon this effective strategy) the lo education even more) and tend to rei,n- . ' >- - force the low-level thinking skills that ing as methods of achieving academic suc-cess. One notable feature of this experiment was that the working groups were mixed ethnically and in terms of prior achievement. The second noteworthy feature was that the students were given very challenging problems to work on, much harder than the ones that they would normally have encountered in the regular courses. It is interesting that both these features, although they preceded Claude Steeles research, avoided triggering the stereotype threat identified by him. The ethnically mixed nature of the groups avoided the perception that this was a remedial program aimed at blacks, while the explicitly challenging nature of the problems posed to the students meant that there was no stigma attached to failing to solve them. Failure was simply due to the difficulty of the problems, not to membership in an ethnic group that was assumed to be incapable of achieving academic success. In addition, when students did succeed in solving a problem, they experienced a sense of exhilaration and power at having achieved mastery of something difficult, which, as anyone who has experienced it will testify, is the only real and lasting incentive fo high achievement. What Treis- 3^ man found was that, as a result of his / workshops, black students' performance improved by as much asone letter grade. Much research supports the effective-ness of Treismans strategy. Traditional remedial courses designed for underachieving students are largely based on the assumption that poor performance is due to lack of adequate preparation: that weaker students are handicapped by a lack of so-called basic skills. Hence these courses tend to have a strong emphasis on drilling the fact that they received poor grades de- students on the basics. But what such cours-spite doing exactly what they thoughtwas es ignore is that students fall behind aca-expected of them, such as going to class, demically for a variety of reasons, not the handing in all their assignments on time, least of which is that they have not mas-and studying for as many hours as other tered the hTgher-level reasoning and prob-sfudents.------------ ---- lem-solving skills that are the prerequi- Treisman addressed this problem by ere- sites tor success in real life. So even if you ating a workshop for his mathematics stu- drill students in the basics so that they reach dents. llTthese workshops, students weTe the same hypothetical starting line a.s oth-formed into groups and worked on math- ers, they start falling behind again as soon ematic.s problems together. Discussion and as they encounter new material because sharing of information were actively en- they do not know how to process the new couraged and rewarded. By this means, information efficienjly. Even worse, the Treisman sought to introduce to all his drilling methods often used in remedial i might be contributing to their hugely dif- value of group academic effort and shar-f Favored explanations for THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP SEEM TO DEPEND ON WHERE ONE STANDS ON THE IDEOLOGICAL SPECTRUM. Shaker Heights prides itself on the excellence of its school system, taxing itself voluntarily with one of the highest rates in the state of Ohio in order to maintain the wide range of academic and extracurricular programs that provide the students who take advantage of them with an education that would be the envy of any child in the nation. Hence the city tends to attract as residents relatively well-off people who seek both an integrated community and a high-quality education for their children. Every year, the school district sends off about 85% of its graduating seniors to four-year colleges, many of them prestigious, and boasts a remarkably high number of the National Merit Scholarship semi finalists, way out of proportion to the small size of its student enrollment (about 5,500). But all is not well, and the problem is immediately apparent when you walk into classrooms. Although the school population has equal numbers of black students and white ones, in the highest-achievement tracks (the Advanced Placement sections) you find only a handful of blacks (about 10%), while the lowest-achievement tracks (called general education") are populated almost exclusively by blacks (about 95%). When educational statistics are disaggregated by ethnicity, it is found that black Shaker Heights students on average do better than black students elsewhere, just as white Shaker Heights students do better than their counterparts in other school systems. The real puzzle has been why, although both communitie.s have equal access to all the school districts educational opportunities, the academic performance of black Shaker Heights students lags significantly behind that of their white peers. For example, the average black SAT score in 1996 was 956 (compared to a national black average of 856), while the average for white students was 1198 (compared to a national white average of 1049). This ethnic educational achievement gap is hardly news. It is a well-studied and well-established fact that, using almost any measure (the famous 15-point average LQ. gap between blacks and whites sensationalized by The Bell Curve, SAT scores, college and high school grade-point averages, graduation and dropout rates), black students nationwide do not perform as well as whites.' While the phenomenon itself is indisputable, there is no clear consensus on the causes, and favored explanations seem to depend on where one stands on the ideological spectrum. The so-called liberal interpretation is that this gap is the result of economic disparities between the two ethnic communities that can be traced back to the legacy of slavery and other forms of oppression that blacks have suffered. Support for this view (which I will call the socioeconomic model) comes from the fact that educational achievement correlates more strongly (although not perfectly) with economic status than with any other single variable. Proponents of this model argue that, since the black community lags badly behind the white in both income and wealth, the educational disparities are caused by the socioeconomic disparities. Once economic disparities disappear, proponent.s of this model say, educational (and other social) disparities will vanish along with them. Those at the so-called conservative end of the ideological spectrum are not convinced that economic factors are the primary cause of black educational underachievement. As evidence, they point to the fact that other minority groups such as Asians, some of whom are economically worse off than blacks, excel in school. They believe that, while the legacy of slavery and segregation was indeed harsh, the civil rights legislation of the Fifties and Sixties has removed all legal roadblocks to black advancement and we have now achieved a color-blind society. This view leads them to conclude that various social pathologies within the black community (lumped under the euphemism black culture) must be at fault. They point to unstable families
poor parenting skills
lack of drive and ambition
negative peer pressure and poor choice of role models
high levels of teenage pregnancies, drugs, and crime
and lack of parental involvement in their childrens education as the causes of a lack of interest in education among black students. Believers in this type of explanation (which I will call the sociopathological model) tend to lecture black communities constantly about the need for a wholesale spiritual awakening to traditional virtues and the work ethic. While they appreciate the hardships that blacks suffered in the past, their solution is to say, in effect, Get over it. The real victims and perpetrators of that unjust system are dead. Stop looking to the past and clairrung to be a victim. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps, and take advantage of what is now equally available to everyone. This group concedes that, while racial prejudice still exists, it is essentially a personal matter that should be dealt with on a personal level. A third view (which I will call the genetic model) is best represented by Charles Murray and Richard Hermstein, authors of The Bell Curve, who, after making the appropriate regretful noises to indicate their lack of racial prejudice, essentially conclude that the educational disparity is a fact of nature, the result of longterm evolutionary selection that has resulted in blacks simply not having the genetic smait.s to compete equally with whites. Instead of engaging in well-meaning, heroic, but ultimately futile efforts to solve an inherently insoluble problem, the authors I I even in these families, many students sense that school is not a very interesting or challenging place, and they simply go through the motions, hoping to escape with just enough success to avoid parental censure before they enter the real world and do someing meaningful with their lives. Once they do get into real jobs and are confronted with challenging problems, some of them soon develop the higher-level thinking skills required for success. But in those communities and families in which the perception of the link between effort and reward is weaker (as is the case with low-income families of all ethnicities and with involuntary minorities), these extrinsic rewards become even less compelling as motivators for academic effort and excellence, and the students' performance suffers. In fact, the effort/re-ward link may actually work against education since life on the streets may seem to provide a more realistic expectation of material reward. As long as society requires only a small fraction of educated le and does not care about gender or euuuc or socioeconomic equity issues, then the present system of education is quite adequate. What the academic achievement gap may really be telling us is that, while the symptoms of the education system's ills are more clearly visible in the black community than in the white, there are fundamental problems with the way education is delivered to all students. It used to be that coal miners took canaries into the mines as detectors of noxious gases. If the canary died, then the miners realized that they were in a region of danger and took the necessary precautions. The educational performance of the black community is like the canary, and the coal mine is the education system. The warning signals are apparent. But treating the problem by trying to make blacks like whites would be like replacing the canary in the coal mine with a bird that is more resistant to poisonous gases. It simply ignores the real problem. While we cannot change history, we should not try to dismiss it as irrelevant either. We must come to terms with its vw real and serious consequence.s for ives now if we are to go beyond shallow analyses of important problems such as the achievement gap in education. Such shallow analyses, in the long run, do more harm than good because they force even well-meaning people to choose between two unsavory options: either to adopt a race-neutral socioeconomic explanation that cla,she.5 with everyday experience (and is hence secretly rejected though lip service is paid to it) or to look for pathologies in the character or culture of the involuntary minority communities. Neither option reflects the reality. The educational achievement gap is not an artifact. It is real and has serious social, economic, and political consequences. Its roots lie in complex and historically rooted ethnic relationships and characteristics. But the situation is by no means hopeless. We can be encouraged by very promising experiments that have narrowed this gap. But we have to start looking at the problem in new and deep ways, and we must avoid the temptation to seek simplistic one-shot solutions if we are going to make any real headway. 1. Richard J. Hermstein and Charles Murray, The Bell Curve (New York: Free Press, 1994). 2. Mano Singham, Race and Intelligence: What Are the Issues?," Phi Delta Kappan, December 1995, pp. 271-78
Stephen Jay Gould, The Mismeasure of Man (New York: Norton, 1981)
and R. C. Lewon-ton, Steven Rose, and Leon J. Karnin, Not in Our Genes (New York
Pantheon, 1984). 3. James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time (New York: Dial Press, 1963), p. 108. 4. Signithia Fordham, Racelessness as a Factor in Black Students School Success," Harvard Educational Review, February 1988, pp. 54-84. 5. Claude M. Steele, "Race and the Schooling of [WHAT I SbllfW "One per person, of course," Black Americans," Atlantic, April 1992, pp. 68-78
Claude M. Steele and Joshua Aronson. Stereotype Threat and the Intellectual Test Performance of African Americans, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 69. 1995. pp. 797-811
and David J. Lewin, Subtle Clues Elicit Stereotypes Impact on Black Students," Journal of NIH Research, November 1995, pp. 24-26. 6. See, for example, John Ogbu, "Immigrant and Involuntary Minorities in Comparative Perspective"
Yongsook Lee, Koreans in Japan and the United States
and Nobuo K. Shimabara, Social Mobility and Education
Burakumin in Japan," in John Ogbu and Margaret Gibson, eds.. Minority Status and Schooling (New York: Garland, 1991). 7. P. Uri Treisman, Studying Students Studying Calculus," College Mathematics Journal, vol. 23,1992, pp. 362-72. 8. Ellis Cose, Color-Blind: Seeing Beyond Race in a Race-Obsessed World(New York: HarperCollins, 1997). 9. Arthur Whimbey with Linda Shaw Whimbey, Intelligence Can Be Taught (New York: Dutton, 1975). 10. David W. Johnson, Roger T. Johnson, and Karl A. Smith, Active Learning: Cooperation in the College Classroom (Edina, Minn.
Interaction Book Co., 1991)
Mark Keegan, Psychological and Physiological Mechanisms by Which Discovery and Didactic Methods Work," School Science and Mathematics, vol. 95, 1995, pp. 3-10
Chet Meyers and Thomas B. Jones, Promoting Active Learning (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993)
Jane Butler Kahle, Systemic Reform: Challenges and Changes, Science Educator, Spring 1997, pp. 1-5
and Jane Butler Kahle and Aita Damnjanovic, The Effect of In-quiiy Activities on Elementary Students Enjoyment, Ease, and Confidence in Doing Science
An Analysis by Sex and Race," Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, vol. 1,1994, pp. 17-28. K C 1VJVC5 Al StcvcH ( . Emk!', Byrdii .1. ll i/ey, (.md Clkirks Pui^iiiu) I I With activities for parents and ^i..dents, this growing program is helping students graduate from high school and go on to college. The Philadelphia Partnership Improving College Access and Retention among Minority and Low-Income Students INCE the mid-1960s, equal educational opportunity regard- kss of race, sex, and socioeconomic status has been an important national goal. However, as Fenske, Geranios, Keller, and Moore reported, socioeconomic status continues to be the main determinant of who goes to college in all ability levels, and American Indians, African Americans, and Hispanics are underrepresented in attainment of high school diplomas and in participation in post-secondary education compared to whites and Asian Americans.' President Clinton has proposed legislation that would allocate additional federal funds to programs that encourage low-income children to attend college. This legislation would provide funding for colleges and universities to form partnerships with middle and high schools to offer counseling and tutoring services. Funding would be available to any district in which at least 50 percent of the families have incomes below the poverty line. In the proposed legislation, the criteria defining income and po vertv are extremely important. Kennedy, Jung, and Orland stated, It is clear that poverty and low achievement in school are related." It is a fact. Schools with large proportions of poor students were far more likely to exhibit lower average achievement scores than other schools.^ Since 1989, the Office of Social Equity of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education has sponsored a program in partnership with the Philadelphia School District's 22 comprehensive, neighborhood (nonmagnet) high schools to increase the number of low-income Sierei, C. Ender, prafessur. Indiana Unirer.diy of Pennsyirania, ix die xiie direetar for the xeeondphaxe oj ihe pariner.ddp program. He plays a eemra! rule in die de.rign and euordinaimn at die program ax irell a.x il.x replieaiion in other regions, and coiiduels ongoing research ami evaluation of the profirams re.\tifr.\. the Stale Sv Ui's (firet iar oj'social equity. Byran .1. . .................................y . IJI I t//i .1. H Iley f.\ifK'prumuycoiiiacdJ(Ha/Hyuvyi-am\villu'n the Officeo/thc Chaueeffor. ffecoorifinale.', Ilf eiiriiie.r i!h Ihe rresidcntsnfihe i<ai iieii,aiinx nnirersiiiex. appri.m ihe Haaid afdareinarx a! ihepragrain'.t.nain.rundie.riilh. andpre.reni.randdelend.x ihepmxiani shinlyei in llienninial appmpritilitinx piwvxx. CInirles Puxmio. axsi.xiani proiesxiir. IPext Cliexier I'nirersiiv of Pennsyirania. u i(.< a xile direclor lor die Jirxl phase ol ihe program from Iodo to IWd. He luniinwx h, .irrvc ax a kay family in Mirci v .afile ,nii,/r aihmiure seyiiimi afilw /ii ayralii. All llii m al the ail,rs hare h-m laralvclah ihe ilexiKii.,I,lire, , , and ,i:il,a ,e at iln.x jnaxiain Irani if, itiec/niia, in laxy. I I 1the /hildtK-lpIHii and minority students who. upon graduation from high school, attend college and graduate. The Philadelphia School District clearly meets the criteria in the proposed legislation. The district was recently described by a regional newspaper in the following manner: "The fifth- largest urban school district in the nation, it sees half of its ninth graders fail to graduate from high school in four years. . . . Fewer than 6 percent of high schoolers are proficient in reading. . . . Three-quarters of its students are black or Hispanic, and most of them are poor.'' Overview of the Partnership Program One hundred sophomore students are selected annually to participate in a three-phase college preparation program concluding with high school graduation / ( Rising seniors panicipaie in a three-week residential program at Indiana University of Pennsylvania which closely approximates the academic demands of JB an average course load. and enrollment in college. The program is organized around three summer sessions and offers several other educational activities for students and parents during each academic year. The emphasis is on orientation, motivation, and preparation, and all costs are paid by the Office of Social Equity. Nomination Criteria. The program attempts to maximize student success by focusing on those cognitive and noncognitive variables that positively influence the likelihood that students from poor school districts will graduate from high school and go on to college. Students are nominated by high school counselors on the basis of a number of criteria, including: / the student is scheduled to graduate with his or her class
the student has a high school average of C+ or higher and is enrolled in an academic rather than a vocational program
I the student has completed Algebra I with at least a grade of C
U the student is reading at or near grade level
1 I- ' 4.. f^l - V I J 1} the student will need financial assistance to attend college
and the student has demonstrated personal responsibility through involvement in school, community, work, or home activities. Several of these criteria have been shown to predict graduation from high school and enrollment in and success in college. The mathematics criterion is nonnego-tiable. According to Horn and Carroll, Among at-risk students who aspired to a college degree and were academically prepared, about two-thirds (64 percent) .if those enrolled in a four-year college completed at least one advanced math course (such as calculus), compared with about one-third who enrolled in other postsecondary education (36 percent) or who did not enroll at all (31 cent)
ns Demonstrating personal responsibility through participation in extracurricular activities is also important. Horn and Carroll stated, The rate at which students participated in two or more extracurricular activities distinguished students who enrolled in a four-year college (48 percent) and those who had never enrolled in postsecondary education (34 percent)
6 A deliberate decision was made to recruit above-average and average students (with B to C averages) rather than superior (.4) students. We reasoned that superior students would be encouraged to apply to college by counselors and would see college as a possibility. W'e hoped to offer college opportunities to those students who thought college was outside of their grasp. Also, we intentionally targeted students from low-income families. Most students from poor and welfare backgrounds believe col- ,, lege is out of reach financially and have little idea of the many financial aid resources that are available. Selection Criteria and the Selection Process. The application for the program focuses on several noncognitive predictors of college suc-ces^ for low-income and minority students. These pTedictors were developed by Sedlacek and Brooks and include having a positive self-con-cept, making a realisticjefEiippraisal, having the " ability lo^il withjacism, partici- I
paljng^in comniunity service, having a preference for long-range goals rather than concentrating only on shdrt-term or immediate needs, having a strong support person to turn to in times of crisis, and exhibiting evidence of successful leadership experience.' While the application questions do not tap into each of these characteristics, the questions gather information about the nominees strengths in these categories. Each of the 250 applications is read and ranked by two independent raters. The selection process is difficult and each year scores of students who meet the basic selection criteria must be rejected because of budget limitations. Phase One: The Rising Junior Program. The first summer session in the program is offered following the students sophomore year in high school at West Chester University of Pennsylvania and is a combination of outward- bound and upward-bound experiences, adapting many of the themes found in adventure-based programming. Phase One lays the foundation for the development of the academic and behavioral skills and styles that will enhance students preparation for college. Many physically challenging activities are introduced to demonstrate the importance of human interdependence and personal adaptation. Students begin to realize that reaching out to others in times of need is of critical importance and that the ability to adapt to changing environments is a life skill essential to success in college. The program uses the metaphor of the dinosaur, those that do not adapt, do not survive! Other summer program activities include an environmental science laboratory experience
a camping trip for which the students do most of the preparation, cook, set up tents, and practice new outdoor living skills
and an on-campus volunteer service activity. Students are required to keep a journal and to reflect on each experience and its personal significance for them. Formal assessment instruments in mathematics and reading are administered, establishing baselines against which students can monitor their progress over the next two years. In September, students and their parents or guardians receive a report evaluating their performance in the first year of the program, including the results of the Nelson-Denny Reading Test
the results of the Early Mathematics Placement Test (EMPT).* which assesses a students readiness for college algebra
an evaluation (grade) for the environmental science laboratory experience
and faculty feedback on the student's journal. The report also addresses such things a.s attention to detail, goal setting, the ability to concentrate and focus, problem- solving skills, and effort, commitment, and partici- 11 8 ( f I I1 , I i i I 1 I T The /'liUtidclphia Piirtncrship I I I I pation. The report concludes with recommendations for the junior year, including specific activities to improve students reading and math skills. Phase Two: The Rising Senior Progrant. Following the junior year, students participate in the rising senior summer session of the program. This is a three-week residential session held on the campus of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, closely simulating the first three weeks of college. Many hi^-risk students find themselves hope-lesslyTjehind after a few short weeks in college. They have no idea of the academic demands of college and attempt to use the same approaches in college that worked with a fair degree of success in high school. The simulation demonstrates the stark reality of college academic life. Each student is enrolled in six minicourses-math. laboratory science, social science, fine arts, English composition, and a study skills/higher education orientation sem'inar. This schedule approximates a normal 16 ^edit-houF college load. The format, pace, and content of courses mirror as closely as possible that of regular college courses. The schedule includes attending classes, writing research papers, ancTtaking exams, as welTas considerable free time, which participants are expected to manage effectively. Students are retested using the same reading comprehension and math tests administered during Phase One. Peer advisers live in the residence hall and provide guidance on how to tackle the new curriculum, course schedule, and abundance of free time. These topics are also stressed in the study skills seminar, which emphasizes strategies for success in the college environment. Students and their families receive a report on their performance in September. Professors award grades for each minicourse along with written feedback regarding students performance. Peer advisers write comments on how students handled the considerable freedom and the associated responsibilities of the simulated college experience. The report includes results on the standardized reading and mathematics tests and recommendations for the senior year. Students are also given a global score on their performance in the program ranging from superior to below average. This score is based on the grade-point average earned in the minicourses. In addition to the summer sessions and fall meetings at which evaluations are given, the program offers several other ongoing activities. Summer program faculty visit participating students in their schools twice a year. This I provides an opportunity for faculty to meet with students
on their own turf and to continue the mentoring activities initiated during the summer sessions. Faculty consult with I counselors and discuss grades, SAT dates, and financial aid I and admission deadlines with students. A meeting is held for the parents of each new group of students at which the special responsibilities of parents of partnership students are discussed. Phase Three: College Matriculation. Students who successfully complete the first two summer phases of the program and choose to enroll at one of the 14 universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education matriculate during the surhmer following high school graduation. This strategy is intentional on our part. Many students are accepted in special summer developmental or bridge programs. Others matriculate as regular college freshmen and earn up to six or seven college credits in summer school. Still others take a combination of developmental and college courses. Summer school offers students a good opportunity to get to know the campus, its resources and personnel, and to develop general coping and problem-solving strategies before beginning the frenzied fall term as new freshmen. The program pays for the entire cost of the summer session. The program also awards students who maintain a C or better grade-point average a grant of S250 a semester for eight semesters of study. All costs are paid through funds administered by the Office of Social Equity. Program Outcomes To determine the effectiveness of the program, a research and evaluation study was initiated in 1989. To date, 452 students have completed the summer sessions65 percent of the students who were selected for and started Phase One. Of these 452 students, 402 (89 percent) graduated from high school on time and 401 enrolled in some form of postsecondary education. Of those who entered college, 307(77 percent) enrolled at one of the 14 universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. Of those 307 students, 192 (63 percent) have either graduated or are still enrolled. Of those eligible to graduate in six years, 55 percent have done so. Of the remaining student's, 33 (11 percent) left college prior to graduation in good academic standing and 82 (27 percent) were dismissed for academic reasons or left with below-average grades. Correlation studies were conducted to investigate the relationships between program variables and students performance during their first year of college. We looked for relationships between first-year college grade-point averages and scores on the Nelson-Denny Reading Test, the EM PT, and performance in the Phase Two college //. ... 'c -7s e-i, p 1 rhe Philadelphia Partnership Program has experienced considerable success. Students benefit from the guidance of faculty as well as the support of a college-bound peer group. simulation program as measured by the global scores. A statistically significant and rather large correlation (r = The majority of the students in the program are staying in college and graduating. Comparing the over 50 percent success rate of partnership students to the national college graduation rate of students from these demographic groups, partnership student performance is truly impressive. Partnership students come from high schools within the Philadelphia School District in which 76 percent of the families are classified as low-income and 41 percent of the families are on welfare. Only 43 percent of the students from these high schools take the SAT (their mean average score is 726). A sampling of partnership students SAT scores revealed an average of727. The racial composition of the school district was 64 percent African-American, 20 percent white, 11 percent Latino, and 5 percent Asian. The students in the program were 62 percent African-American, 21 percent white, 6 percent Latino, and 11 percent Asian. .496, p .000) was observed between the global scores and the first-year college grade-point averages. The better students performed in the college simulation, the better they performed in college. Also, a modest though statistically significant correlation (r = .244, p < .001) between the EMPT scores and the first-year college grade-point averages was observed. No statistically significant correlation was found between the Nelson-Denny Reading Test scores and first-year college performance. The retention and graduation rates of students participating in the partnership program are extremely encouraging and provide evidence of success. The lack of, or presence of only modest, statistically significant correlations between formal measurements of cognitive ability (math and reading) and college performance did not surprise us. We did not expect to find a relationship between reading level (measured by the Nelson-Denny Reading Test) and first-year college grades. These students are slow readers and the Nelson-Denny is a timed test. We were pleased to observe the relationship, although modest, between the mathemat- ~s exam andlTfst-Vear college grades.~The EMPT math test iiTeasures readiness fofcollege algebra, and Algebra I was one of tliFn6nneg6fiaBle~seTeeiroh criteria. It is clear from our researdTlTjalsuccess in college for these students is best prtxlicted by their success ^ die college simulation experi-ence offered in Phase Two of the program. A comparison of national graduation data for similar student cohort groups is another indication of the success of this program. Recent data published in Postsecondary Education Opportunity'' indicated that students with backgrounds similar to partnership students experience lower graduation rates. For example, approximately 31.2 percent of the African-American population, 56.6 percent of the Asian-American population, 38.3 percent of the Mexican- American population, 35.5 percent of students with SAT scores of 700 to 840. and 42.6 percent with parents income between $20,000 and $24,999 graduate within six years of matriculation. The program is making a difference. Parents and sghool counselors continually tell us of the change they observe in these students as they participate in the summer program activities. They say that the students demonstrate a stronger commitment to their high school studiedenroll in more demanding courses, and assume greater personal responsibility for their lives. One explanation for the positive results may be the comprehensivenessoftheprogram interventions. Through participation in the program, students become part of a college-bound group. Horn and Carroll stated, "the num-ber of students' triends with plans lo attend a foTir-year coHege was strongly a^ociafed with enroThnent outcomes
studenis^ho enrolled in a~four-year college were muchTndfe"likelyTd~reporlThat all or most of their (Continued on pope 32) I I fAlui iiliim hu iIk' Ihiih Si liimf (iiuibiules. lb. I able X
17. [able 1 ?. MPR As>octules. Ine., of Berkelev. California. de\eloped a four-year ?ge qualifieation index f(r NCIS based on high school GPA, senior s rank. Nl.l.S 1992 aplilude lest. SA T and ACT scores, and academic course vs ork. The inde.x is used in .-It'cc.v.s lo PusiM-i iimkiiy Educalioufur ihe fli^h Sduml Graduale.s. 14. U.S. Department of Education. Access lo Puslsccundary Educaliou for ihc 1992 Hii^h Sclioid Graduates. 2S. Table 14. 15. Content Standards. Graduation. Teacher Licensure. Time and Attendance: A 50-Siale Report (Washington, D.C.: Council of Chief Slate School Officers. 1996). 16. Arthur Levine and Jana Nidiffer. Bcaiinf' the Odds. How the Poor Get IO CoHege (San Francisco
Jossey-Bass. 1996), 143. 17. Levine and Nidiffer, 65,139, 18. See Robert H. Fenske, Christine A. Geranios, Jonathan E. Keller, and David E. Moore, Early Intervention Program.'!: Opening the Door to Higher Education (Washington, D.C.: George Washington University, 1997)
Watson S. Swail. The Development of a Conceptual Framework to Increase Student Retention in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Programs at Minority Institutions of Higher Education (ERIC, ED 396 921)
Levine and Nidiffer, Beating the Odds: How the Poor Get to College. 19. Samuel M. Kipp IH, Demographic Trends and Their Impact on the Future of the Pell Grant Program." in Memory. Reason, and Imagination: A Quarter Century of Pell Grants (New York: College Entrance Examination Board, forthcoming). 20. Programs such as the University of North Carolinas MSEN program (grades 6-12), Californias MESA program (grades 4-12). and Xavier Universitys ChemSiar, BioStar, and MathStar programs (high school) have had excellent success in motivating and preparing underrepresented students for college. College-^community partnerships such as these work. 21. Quoted in Lawrence E. Gladieux, A Diverse Student Body: The Challenge of Equalizing College Opportunities, Journal of College Admission 152/153 (1996): 8. 22. Some prominent examples include the Emerging Scholars Program ') based at the University of Texas at Austin, which utilizes peer aps and interaction to form strong, cohesive study groups that encourage academic excellence and problem solving
the Supplemental Instruction program developed at the University of Missouri: Kansas City and now in place at over 1,100 campuses across the country, which provides tutoring-like experiences for students on campus: and the University of South Carolinas Freshman Seminar Program, originally developed to help retain African-American students through their freshman year. 23. Quoted in Lawrence E. Gladieux and Thomas R. Wolanin, Congress and the Colleges (Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books, 1976), 28. Philadelphia Partnership (Continuedfrom page 21) friends planned to attend.'- Strong friendships develop during the summer sessions, and some students even make plans to enroll at the same college. The partnership program is not only making a difference, it is doing so at a very reasonable cost. The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education spends approximately S6,800 to sponsor a student for the two summer sessions, summer school matriculation, and the S250 grant for each of eight semesters of college study. In comparison, the federally funded Upward Bound program, which has very similar goals lo those of the partnership program, spent roughly $3,825 in 1994-95 for each sndent." Given these figures, an Upward Bound student jld cost the government approximately 512,000 for three years of high school, compared with the 56,800 the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education isinvest-ing in partnership students from the tenth grade through four years of college. Exp t In a recent statement regarding his proposal to provide additional funding to programs that encourage children from low-income families to attend college, President Clinton , said, In every community in the country, there are children fc with enormous ability who just need a little spark to go on to great things.''* The president is correct in his observation. We have seen underprepared low-income students reach new heights of educational and personal attainment that many critics would have said were not possible. The partnership program has experienced considerable success, so much so that the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education replicated the partnership model in the Pittsburgh School District and expanded it to both the Harrisburg and Erie Area School Districts this summer. As in Philadelphia, ethnic minority and low-income students are predominant in these districts. These students traditionally drop out of high school in alarmingly high numbers and those who do graduate do not enroll in college. In the summer of 1998, 250 tenth graders representing four geographic areas of the state began participation in Phase One of the partnership program at four different state universities in Pennsylvania. With such encouraging numbers, the Philadelphia partnership and similar programs can serve as models for additional outreach programs that make a difference in students lives. 9 References I. R. H. Fenske, C.A. Geranios, J,E. Keller, D.E. Moore, Early Intervention Programs: Opening the Door to Higher Education, ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report, Vol. 25, No. 6 (Washington, D.C.: Graduate School of Education and Human Development, George Washington University, 1997): 1. 2. Clintons Budget Request to Include College Early Intervention Program, Higher Education and National Affairs, Vol. 47, No. 2 (February 2. 1998). 3. M. M. Kennedy, R.K. Jung, and M.E. Orland, Poverty. Achievement, and the Distribution of Compensatory Education Services. Interim Report, ED 71 546 (Washington, D.C.
U.S. Department of Education. 1986)
3- 4, cited in Fenske et al. 4. M. Carpenter, David Hornbeck: A Reformer Struggles in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh Post Gazette (May 13, 1997): A7. 5. L. J. Horn and C. D. Carroll, Confronting the Odds: Students at Risk and the Pipeline to Higher Education. Statistical Analysis Report. Data Series NELS 88/94 (Washington. D.C.: U.S. Department of Education. Office of Educational Research and Improvement, 1997)
iv. 6. Horn and Carroll, v. 7. W. E. Sedlacek and B. C. Brooks. Racism in American Education: A Model for Change (Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1976). 8. M. A. Gass. Adventure TherapyTherapeutic Applicationsof Adventure Programming Iowa
Kendall-Hunt, 1993). 9. J. I. Brown, V. V. Fishco, and G. Hanna, Nelson-Denny Reading Test (Itasca, 111.: Riverside, 1993). 10. Ohio Board of Regents. The Ohio Early College Mathematics Placement Testing Program (Columbus, Ohio, 1989). 11. T. G. Mortenson. "Institutional Graduation Rales by Pre-College Characteristics of Students." Postsecondary Education Opportunity (Oskaloosa. Iowa
The Mortenson Research Seminar on Public Policy Analysis of Opportunity for Posisecondary Education. March 1997). 12, Horn and Carroll. 11, 13. Fenske et al. 14. Chris Mondics, "Plan Would Urge Low-Income Students lo Consider (ollege, Phihidciphia //n/m/tT (February 5, 1998): A4. t hf ( iiHi '.'.e Hmiiil l\i\ it \i Sumin, P LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL DISTRICT INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCE CENTER 3001 PULASKI STREET LITTLE ROCK, AR 72206 September 18,1998 TO: Vanessa Cleaver Mable Donaldson Dennis Glasgow Marie McNeal Horce Smith (ODM) Kathy Lease Gene Parker Jo Evelyn Elston Mona Briggs FROM: Dr. Bonnie Lesley .^Associate Superintendent for Instruction SUBJECT: K-12 Talent Development Our work is coming along! Attached for your information is the material regarding project AVID that Vanessa, Mable, and I presented to the Board at their agenda meeting on September 10. We had earlier discussed it with Dr. Camine and secured his blessing to go forward. The project is on the Boards consent agenda for the September 24 meeting. I have also had a discussion of our overall plan with the staff at ODM. Horace Smith is joining our committee, and we welcome his input. I am also inviting Jo Evelyn to join us. Are there others we should include? I am attaching three important pieces for you to read before our meeting at 1:30 in Gene Parkers office on Friday, September 25. (1) The Canary in the Mine: The Achievement Gap Between Black and White Students by Mano Singham from the September 1998 Kappan. Dont miss the references to Uri Treismans work. Hes the one I told you about. (2) The Philadelphia Partnership: Improving College Access and Retention Among Minority and Low-Income Students by Steven Ender, et al, in the Summer 1998 issue of The College Board Review. Be sure to look at the research findings. Interesting! And maybe it gets at that culture issue that Marie raised. I (3) Some articles about the Talent Development Middle School that Mona Briggs researched for us. (I also am sending this on to the middle school principals.) Look at the model carefully to see if it will work in Little Rock. To appear in the January 1998 issue of Principal Magazine. Talent Development: A Philosophy and Blueprint for Middle School Reform By Stephen B. Plank (Associate Research Scientist) and Douglas J. Mac Iver (Research Scientist and Associate Director) Center for the Social Organization of Schools, Johns Hopkins University Two hundred and fifty eighth graders were piling onto the yellow buses that would take them back to Philadelphia. Many of these children had never been on a college campus before. They had, however, spent one period each week for the past two years exploring careers, and talking about the importance of taking middle school and high school seriously, and of making plans for college. In addition, they had completed a demanding core curriculum in middle school including a hands-on science curriculum, an English cur- iculum emphasizing great literature and a challenging math curriculum culminating with a year-long Algebra I course. Now they had spent the day visiting classrooms, dormitories, a library, gymnasium, and cafeteria at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. They had gotten the chance to ask some tough questions: "What kind of grades does it take to get into Hopkins? How much does it cost? Is financial aid available? What do 'people study here? Do you have many bilingual or minority I students here?" ' / It is a challenge to get students from public middle schools in impoverished urban neighborhoods to attain success in a demanding college-preparatory curriculum. It may be even more difficult to get them to see college as a real and attainable goal. Had these things happened for these students? Had the rigorous core curriculum, the multiple-year sequence of career exploration lessons, and this days visit changed their views and futures? Time will be the ultimate test, but a first and encouraging clue came when one boy leaned from the bus. Pointing to one of the day's organizers, he called, "Hey, lady! See you in four years!" The Talent Development Middle School Model Since 1994, the Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed At Risk (CRESPAR) has been working to develop and evaluate the Talent Development Middle School model. CRESPAR researchers (including ourselves), curriculum witers, and instructional To appear in the January 1998 issue of Principal Magazine facilitators at Johns Hopkins and Howard Universities are working with public middle schools in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., to implement and refine the model. Plans are being made to expand to other schools and other cities. The goal of the Talent Development (T.D.) model is to establish the sorts of curriculum, instruction, school organization, and professional development needed in order for all students to learn challenging academic materials and prepare for successful futures. Eight key components of the T.D. model are the following: O A demanding core curriculum for all. In T.D. schools, every student completes a core curriculum in the major subject areas that focuses on higher order competencies. This course of study is facilitated by cooperative learning and active learning methods in which peer tutoring - and hands-on discovery are embedded in the daily routine of classroom life. Reading, English, and language arts classes read award-winning novels, plays, and autobiographies. This great literature serves as a springboard for vocabulary and reading comprehension exercises and literature-based writing, all of which are pursued via peer-assisted learning techniques. The math curriculum is based on the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project It includes the goal of having all eighth graders master algebra. The science curriculum uses NSF-approved commercial hands-on programs that align with Project 2061's benchmarks (e.g.. Science and Technology for Children, Science Education for Public Understanding, FACETS, and INSIGHTS.) We are just beginning to develop the T.D. social studies program, based on the recommendations of the National Center for History in the Schools, the National Council for Social Studies and others. G Detracking of instruction. For too long middle and high schools have been driven by a sorting paradigm in which some students receive high-expectations instruction while others are relegated to lower quality education and lower quality futures. Consistent with the demanding core curriculum for all, the T.D. model asserts that all children are capable of succe^^jjg in demanding college-preparatory courses when given the right types of support.To appear in the January 1998 issue of Irincipal Mafiizine. Extra help. If a school is going to dismantle tracking and expose all students to the same demanding core curriculum, some students will need frequent extra help in order to succeed at the challenging learning tasks they face. In T.D. schools, students needing extra help in mathematics or reading receive an accelerated learning class (in addition to their regular math or reading class) that replaces an elective course for ten weeks each year to provide a substantial extra dose of intensive learning experiences with smaller learning groups and daily use of computers and cooperative learning methods. 9 Communal organization. The T.D. reform model recognizes that dramatic improvements in student performance depend not only on curricular and instructional reforms but also upon increasing students academic effort and deepening their commitment to take full advantage of their learning opportunities. The model recognizes that student effort and commitment can be greatly increased by implementing innovative approaches to school organization and staffing that allow teachers, students, and families to establish strong bonds and close caring relationships. It is for this reason that a communal 0 lizafion of the school is established that inchates leaRBOg I commumties which serve 200 to 300 students, occupy their own parts of the building, and endure / for two or three years. Also, teachers are encouraged to remain with the same students for two or three years (shadowing) and to teach at least two subjects (semi-departmentalizationjj^ch allows them to establish stronger relationships with a smaller number of students. Finally, teachers are organized into two- or three-person interdisciplinary teams so that they can confer with each other and respond to the students whom they share. 9 Career and education exploration. Middle school is the right time for students to learn about different career paths, form high aspirations, and make decisions about middle school, high school, and even postsecondary schooling. In T.D. schools, students complete a three-year course that meets weekly. The course comprises activities that encourage them to formulate educational and career aspirations, inform them of the requirements to gain entry into selective high schools and colleges, and provide ongoing career exploration and goal-setting.To appear in the January 1998 issue of Principal Muiazine. O Cultural literacy. Every racial, ethnic, and cultural group can offer proud and worthy traditions and role models. When students are made aware of these, it can boost interest and achievement in their academic endeavors. In T.D. schools, students gain an appreciation for their own and other cultures through the books they read, lessons and career fairs in the career exploration course, and various lessons in math, science, social studies, and expressive arts. Expanded opportunities for academic recognition. The reward systems of most schools deliver a majority of their benefits to those students who have already reached high levels of achievement. The students who need to increase their effort the most in order to meet high standards have the least incentive to do so.T To encourage all students to give their best regardless of their current level of proficiency and to recognize individual improvement and progress toward high standards, growth-oriented evaluation practices are used. In addition, students are given realistic, unambiguoos feedback concerning how their performance compares to nati<Mad norms and perftMmmce i^jteadards. School-family-community partnerships. We have been inspired by our colleague Joyce ' I Epstein to hink about ways school-famiiy-community partnerships can boost student success.2 T.D. schools try to recruit an action team of faculty, parents, students, and community members which establishes a comprehensive program of cooperation. As a part of the program, community members and local businesspeople from a broad spectrum of occupations are recruited to assist with career exploration activities. Findings After Two Years The first school to adopt the T.D. model was Central East Middle School in Philadelphia. Since then other schools in Philadelphia and Washington have begun adoption. With all of these I T.M. Tomlinson and C.T. Cross, Student Effort: The Key to Higher Standards, Educational Leadership. 69-73, September 1991. 2 J. L. Epstein, School/Family/Community Partnerships: Caring for the Children We Share, Phi Delta Kappan, 701- 712, May 1995.To appear in the January 1998 issue of Principal Magazine. schools, our strategy has been to give full attention to some subject areas and stnne of the model's components in the first year and to move to full implementation over the course of two or three years. So, for example, efforts during the 1995-96 school year at Central East were focused on Reading, English, and Language Arts (RELA) staff development, curriculum, and instruction, as well as the career exploration curriculum and some of the whole-school organizational reforms. During the second year, these efforts were continued or augmented and math and science initiatives were begun. During the 1997-98 school year, much attention will be given to math and science efforts, and initial forays into social studies and expressive arts reforms will be made. Our evaluations of motivation, achievement, and other outcomes in T.D. schools involve comparisons with other closely matched comparison sites. To date we have found that, during the 1995-96 school year, a classroom's greater use of the Student Team Reading program was positively and significantly related to students' perceptions of 1) peer support for achievement, 2) teacher's caring for students, 3) working to meet adults' standards, 4) the value of RELA classes for the future, 5) effort, 6) self-concept of ability, aid 7) giving ones best.3 Also, we have examined student achievement on the Stanford 9 reading comprehension test, administered in April 1996.4 The analyses show that the typical Central East student ~ when matched with a student with the same prior achievement (on the CTBS in 1995) and grade level from the comparison school ~ outperformed his or her counterpart at the comparison school by almost twelve scale score points. The difference between a typical seventh grader and a typical eighth grader in these schools on this test is only six points, so this is truly encouraging news for Central East and the T.D. model. Another important finding is that top achievers (students with the highest prior achievement scores on the CTBS) particularly benefited from the new curriculum and pedagogy 3 D. J. Mac Iver and S. B. Plank, Report No. 4: The Talent Development Middle School: Implementation and Effects of Student Team Reading. Baltimore
Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed At Risk, 1996. 4 D. J. Mac Iver, S. B. Plank and R. Balfanz, Report No. 15. iTorking Together to Become Proficient Readers: Early Impact of the Talent Development Middle School's Student Team Literature Program. Baltimore: Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk, 1997.To appear in the January 1998 issue of Principal Magazine. in RELA. Top achievers al Central East - students whose prior achievement was one standard deviation above the mean on the CTBS in 1995 -- outperformed top achievers at the comparison school by seventeen scale score points on the Stanford 9's reading comprehension test. Opponents of the Talent Development approach often argue that top-achieving kids will suffer in schools that use the model because of the emphasis on providing a demanding curriculum to all students in heterogeneous classrooms. The evidence suggests just the opposite
it suggests that a school's top achievers are the ones who take the greatest advantage of the challenging curriculum and state-of-the-art pedagogy that characterizes the Talent Development approach. Regarding the impact of the career exploration and educational decision-making lessons, analyses have shown large and significant effects on students' self-reported career understanding an.
belief in the importance of making educational and career plans during middle school.5 Also, significant effects are seen on seventh graders' educational attainment goals, in analyses that account for their prior goals as sixth graders. As we continue our research, we hope that the career exploration and educational decision-making activities will also facilitate 1) high levels of accurate knowledge about adult work and education, 2) successful transitions to high school, 3) persistence in high school, and 4) successful transitions to college and work. Conclusions Talent Development is a philosophy about the excellent things schools and students can achieve. Talent Development is also a blueprint for how these things can be achieved. Not all of the components have been created from scratch. Many draw upon the best practices that have emerged during the past decade of middle school reform. What we feel is most innovative and promising about the Talent Development effort is the way the components fit together as a whole, to support and facilitate one another as a model for whole-school reform. Initial research findings are encouraging. Development of the model continues. Both the successes and struggles we have witnessed in the first Talent Development sites have taught us important 5 D. J. Mac Iver and S. B. Plank, From "At-Risk " to "On-TargelEffects of Puriicipaiion in Career Exploration Activities on Urban Middle School Students. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, 1997.To appear in the January 1998 issue of Principal Magazine. lessons. We hope that this knowledge will allow an increasingly large network of middle schools to transform the educational opportunities and pathways of their talented students. For Further Information The Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed At Risk (CRESPAR) is a partnership of Johns Hopkins University and Howard University, in collaboration with researchers at the University of California at Santa Barbara, University of California at Los Angeles, University of Chicago, Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation, WestEd Regional Laboratory, University of Memphis, and University of Houston-Clear Lake. It is supported as a research and development center by funds from the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education (R-117-D40005). The Talent Development Middle School program also gratefully acknowledges funds from Carnegie Corporation of New York (B 6643). The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of OERI or the Carnegie Corporation, and no endorsement should be inferred. For additional information on CRESPAR and its programs, write to C.S.O.S., Publications Department, Attn: Diane Diggs, 3505 North Charles St, Baltimore, MD 21218. For additional information on the Talent Development Middle School program, contact the authors at the same address given above.lAK, lAl,!.-! I Jl.V L-CUl'MCiN 1 iVllUUbO ..i,| CRESPAR Home Page CSOS Home Page CREATING TALENT DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS IN WHICH ALL STUDENTS SUCCEED CRESPAR Models Built with Collaborating Schools Are Making A Difference at Elementary, Middle, and High School Levels The Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed At Risk (CRESPAR), co-directed by Robert E. Slavin at Johns Hopkins University and A. Wade Boykin at Howard University, has a straightforward mission ~ to conduct the research, development, evaluation, and dissemination needed to transform schooling for students placed at risk. What does it mean to A "transform" schooling? To CRESPAR, it means schools need to change from places that sort and classify children to places that help all children succeed in demanding curricula. This can be accomplished in Talent Development schools schools that hold all students to high standards but provide multiple pathways and research-based practices that ensure their success. The research, development, evaluation, and national dissemination of Talent Development Schools at a 1 levels - elementary, middle, and high school -- is a major CRESPAR commitment. THE TALENT DEVELOPMENT HIGH SCHOOL Program Directors James M. McPartland, Johns Hopkins University Velma LaPoint, Howard University \ THE TALENT DEVELOPMENT MffiPLE SCHOOL Program Directors Serge Madhere, Howard University Douglas J. Mac Iver, Johns Hopkins University CRESPAR Home Page CSOS Home Page I 8/28/98 9:00 AM4^pehnayorl Not Tough Chat on TV Japans Anorexia I A I THE I AMERICAN Migiwit Sports SEPTEMBER-OCfOBER 1998' $4.95 USA/S5.95 CAN ! 779(ib 0 9 > PROSPECT M. A JOURNAL FOR THE LIBERAL IMAGINATION A I THE BLACK-WHITE TEST SCORE GAP iyhy t ifpherjettcks^ Mui Mereditfv PkUUps THE RISE AND FALL OF RACIALIZED LIBERALISM by Sean VtHlentz .-*Americas Next Achievement Test Closing the Black-White Test Score Gap by Christopher Jencks and IvIeredith Phillips frican Americans currently score lower than European Americans on I i vocabulary, reading, and math tests, as well as on tests that claim to measure scholastic aptitude and intelligence. This gap appears before children enter kindergarten, and it persists into adulthood. It has narrowed smce I 1970, but the median American black still scores below 75 percent of American whites on most standardized tests. On some tests the typical American black scores I i 1 below more than 85 percent of whites. The black-white test score gap does not appear to be an inevitable fact of nature, t is true that the gap shrinks only a little when black and white children attend the same schools. It is also true that the gap shrinks only a little when black and white families have the same amount of schooling, the same income, and the same wealth. But despite endless speculation, no one has found genetic evidence indicating that blacks have less innate intellectual ability than whites. Thus while it is clear that eliminating the test score gap would require enormous effort by both blacks and whites and would probably take more than one generation, we believe it can be done. This convictionsupported at greater length in the new collection of studies we have edite , The Black-White Test Score Gap, soon to be published by the Brookings Institution rests mainly on three facts: IQ and achievement scores are sensitive to environmental change. Scores on nonverbal IQ tests have risen dramatically throughout the world since the 1930s. The average white scored higher on the Stanford-Binet test in 1978 than 82 percent of whites who I took the test in 1932. academic achievement have also narrowed throughout Black-white differences in a---------------------- the twentieth century. The best trend data come from the National Assessment o Educational Progress (NAEP), which has been testing seventeen-year-olds since 1971 and has repeated many of the same items year after year. From 1971 to 1996, t e black-white reading gap shrank by almost half an d the math gap by a third. [See The Diminished Gap in Readin o and Math Scores, page 45.] According to a study ..... sociologists, Min-Hsiung Huang and Robert Hauser, the black-white vocabu lary gap also shrank by half among adults born between 1909 and 1969. by two 44 t II I M I k l< A \ P K * > S I* 1 ' I si I' I I '.1 h I u 1 u h 1 .1< I s 1 i I When black or mixed-race children are raised in tehi/c rather than black homes, thetr prc-adolescent test scores rise dramatically. Black adoptees scores seem lo fall in adolescence, but this is what we would expect if, as seems likely, their social and cultuial resemble that of other black adolescents and becomes less like environment comes to that of the average white adolescent. Why Test Scores Matter In a country as racially polarized as the United States, no single change taken in isolation could possibly eliminate the entire legacy of slavery and Jim Crow or usher in an era of full racial equality. But if racial equality is Americas goal, reducing the black-white test score gap would probably do more to promote this goal than any other strategy that could command broad political support. Reducing the test score gap is probably both necessary and sufficient for substantially reducing racial inequality in educational attainment and earnings. Changes in education and earnings would in turn help reduce racial differences in crime, health, and family structure, although we do not know how large these effects would be. This judgment contradicts the conclusion of Inequality, a study published in 1972 by one of us (Christopher Jencks), which argued that reducing cognitive inequality would not do much to reduce economic inequality. The reason for The Diminished Gap in Reading and Math Scores Black and White 17-Year-Olds the contradiction is simple
the world has changed. In 1972, the best evidence about what happened to black workers with high test scores I i 1 Q (A o c (B c 0.4 . . 0.2
s C.o s g -0.2 O) ? -0.4 c 0) -0.6 o 4) XJ -1-0 O -1.2 c 3 a -1.4 1971 White Reading White Math Black Reading Black Math 1976 Source: National Assessment of E(3ucatiOfl Progress. Tests in ail years are tn a common metric and have been rescaled so that the 1996 population mean is xero and the 1996 standard deviation is 1.00. 1981 1986 1991 1996 came trom a study oy rniuips v.uirigiiL, wnu uau analyzed the 1964 earnings of men in their thirties who had taken the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) between 1949 and 1953. Overall, employed black men earned 57.5 percent of what whites earned. Among men with AFQT scores above the national average, black men earned 64.5 percent of what whites earned. In such a world, eliminating racial differences in test performance did not seem likely to reduce the earnings gap very much. Todays world is different. The best recent data on test scores and earnings^ come from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), which from a study by Phillips Cutright, who had gave the Armed X I .M h I H - II A M r K 1 c A s N i: X T ACHI I- V I. M I'. N I I' I' S I 45 1 4 1 it- If 4, h I I ! I i 1 I ! i I.1 Scrx'iccs Vocational Aptitude Battery to a national saatniplc ol young people in 19S(). Among employed men who were 31 to 36 years old in blacks earned 67.5 percent ol what white
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i li' modest but significant improvement over the situation in 1964. The big change occurred among blacks with test scores near or above the white average. Among men who scored between the thirtieth and forty-ninth percentiles nationally, black earnings rose from 62 to 84 percent of the white average. Among men who scored above the fiftieth percentile, black earnings rose from 65 to 96 percent of the white average. [See More-Equal Scores Now Bring More-Equal Earnings, below.] In this new world, raising black workers test scores looks far more important than it did in the 1960s. ground is thcrelore false. Furthermore, test score dit-lerences between siblings raised in the same famih have sizable effects on their educational attainment and earnings. Thus while it is true that eliminating the black-white test score gap would not eliminate the black-white earnings gap, the effect would surely be substantial. Reducing the black-white test score gap would reduce racii disparities in educational attainment well as earnings. The nationwide High School and Beyond suney tested tvrelfth graders in 1982 and followed them up in 1992, when they were in their as late twenties. At the time of the follow-up only 13.3 percent of the blacks had earned a bachelors degree, comipared to 30 percent of the non-Hispanic whites. Many observers blame this disparity on black parents' i: 1 I J I t I More-Equal Scores Now Bring More-Equal Earnings Ratio of Black to White Annual Earnings in 1964 and 1993 for Employed Men in Their Early Thirties, by Percentile Score on a Military Test Taken Between the Ages of 18 and 23 100 o = 90 $ BO o1 u o 60 co CD M O) 50 40 30 ------ a UI JC fg m 20-------- 10 0-------- da Cutright 1964 3^ NLSY 1993 inability to pay college bills, black students lack of motivation, or the hostility that black students encounter on predominantly white college campuses. All these factors probably play some role. Nonetheless, when I"? 0-9 10-29 30-49 A s 50-99 Sources: Cutn^l and auffiofs' tabuiabons Irom Uie NatkmaJ Lor'gitixSnal Survey 0< Vouth (NLSY) Cutn<^i versjoo ol the AFOT KxSuded vocabulary, anthmelic, and spaaai relations. Our NLSY approxitnabon ol Cutnghrs AFOT included word knowledge, numencal operalions, ar*d mechanical reasoning See our inlfoducbon to The While Tesi Score C/ip kx deUHs on the samples and standard errors Some skeptics have argued that scores on tests of this kind are really just proxies for family background. Family background docs affect test performance. If wc compare random pairs of children, their IQ scores differ by an average of 17 points. Among pairs of children who have been adopted into the same family, the difference averages about 15 points. Even if we compare pairs of biological siblings reared in the same family, their IQ scores still tliffer by an average of 12 or 13 points. The claim ihai lest scores are only a proxy for laniily back- -4G I II I A .\1 I K I \ \ I' B o I' I k I we compare blacks and whites with the same rv'elfth-grade test scores, blacks are more likely than whites to complete college. Once we equalize test scores. High School and Beyond blacks 16.7-point disadvantage in college graduation rates turns into a 5.9-point advantage. Eliminating racial differences in test performance would also allow colleges, professional schools, and employers to phase out the racial preferences that have caused so much political trouble over the past generation. If selective colleges based their admission decisions solely on applicants predicted college grades, their undergraduate enrollment would currently be 96 or 97 percent white and Asian. To avoid this, almost all selective colleges and professional schools admit African Americans and Hispanics whom they would not admit if they were white. It selective colleges could achieve racial diversity without making race an explicit laclor in their admission decisions, blacks would do belter in college and whiles nurse fewer political grudges. s 1. 1' 1 1 M B I H < H would I B I i< t ' J I Ailvocatcs ol racial equality inighi be mtirc w illing accept (Hir argumeni ihai naiTowing the test S'
ore :( J s J J r 5 1 gap is crucial to achieving their goals if they believed that narrowing the gap was really feasible. But pessimism on this Iront has become almost universal. In the 1960s, racial egalitarians routinely blamed the test score gap on the combined effects ol black poverty, racial segregation, and inadequate 1 unding lor black schools. That analysis implied obvious solutions
raise black childrens family income, desegregate their schools, and equalize spending on schools that remain racially segregated. All these steps still look useful, but none has made as much difference as optimists expected in the early 1960s. The number of affluent black parents has grown substantially since the 1960s, but their childrens test scores still lag far behind those of white children from equally affluent families. Income inequality between blacks and whites appears to play some role in the test score gap, but it is quite small. Most southern schools desegregated in the early 1970s, and southern black nine-year-olds reading scores seem to have risen as a result. Even today, black third graders in predominantly white schools read better than initially similar blacks who have attended predominantly black schools. But large racial differences in reading skills persist even in desegregated schools, and a school's racial mix has little effect on reading scores I or all ihesc reasons, the number ol people who ihink ihev know how to eliminate racial dillerences in lest performance has shrunk steadily since the mid-1->60s. While many people still think the traditional liberal remedies would help, few now believe they would suffice. cmoralization among liberals has given new legitimacy to conservative explanations for the test score gap. From an empirical viewpoint, however, the traditional conservative explanations are no more appealing than their liberal counterparts. These explanations fall into three overlapping categories: the culture of poverty, the scarcity of two-parent black families, and genes. In the 1960s and 1970s many conservatives blamed blacks problems on a culture of poverty I^educing the black-white test score gap would probably do more to promote racial equality than any other strategy that commands broad pohtical support. after sixth grade or on math scores at any age. Despite glaring economic inequalities between a few rich suburbs and nearby central cities, the average black child and the average white child now live in school districts that spend almost exactly the same amount per pupil. Black and white schools also have the same average number ot teachers per pupil, the same pay scales, and teachers with almost the same amount ot formal education and teaching experience. The most important resource difference between black and white schools seems to be that both black and white teachers in black schools have lower test scores than their counterparts in white schools. that rejected school achievement, the work ethic, and the two-parent family in favor of instant gratification and episodic violence. In the 1980s conservatives (as well as some liberals) characterized the black underclass in similar terms. But this description fits only a tiny fraction of the black population. It certainly cannot explain why children from affluent black families have much lower test scores than their white counterpans. Conservatives invoke the decline of the family to explain social problems almost as frequently as liberals invoke poverty. But once we control for a mothers family background, test scores, and years of schooling, whether she is married has even less effect on her childrens test scores than whether she is poor. Scientists have not yet identified many of the genes that affect test performance, so we have no genetic evidence regarding innate cognitive differences between blacks and whites. But we have accumulated a fair amount of indirect evidence since 1970. Most of it suggests that whether children live in a black" or white environment has far more impact on their test performance than the number of Africans or Europeans in their family tree [see The Heredity-Environment Controversy, page 48], NUM B I. B 4 (1 A M I -: K I <. A S N i
X T ACHI I . V I M i : N T T i : T 47 I I 1 .1 1 I I iJ 11 1 t It ii Culture and Schooling Taken as a whole, then, what we have charac- grouped under two overlapping headin school- I icrizcd as the traditional explanations lor the 3 I: II 1 I I I I I i i ! I I i black-white test score gap do not take us very lar. This has led some people to dismiss the gap as unimportant, arguing that the tests are culturally biased and do not measure skills that matter in the real world. Few scholars who spend time looking at quantitative data like that in the figure on page 46 accept either of these arguments, so they have had to look for new explanations of the gap. These new explanations can mostly be The Heredity- Environment Controversy "W-W J^hen the U.S. Army launched Amer- / icas first large-scale mental testing program in 1917, whites scored substantially higher than blacks. Biological deter- minists immediately cited these findings as evidence that whites had more innate ability than blacks, but cultural determinists quickly challenged this interpretation. Neither side had a convincing way of separating the effects of heredity from the effects of culture, so the debate was an empirical standoff. After 1945, the horrors of the Holocaust made all genetic explanations of human differences politically suspect. Once the U.S. Supreme Court declared de jure racial segregation unconstitutional in 1954, genetic explanations of racial differences became doubly suspect, because they were identified with southern resistance to desegregation. As a result, environmental explanations remained dominant throughout the 1960s. Then in 1969 Arthur Jensen published an article in the Harvard Educa- lional Review arguing that educational programs for disadvantaged children initiated as part of the War on Poverty had failed, and that the black- white test score gap probably had a substantial genetic component. Jensens argument went roughly as follows: (1) Most of the variation in white IQ scores is genetic
(2) no one has advanced a plausi- 4K till \ \t I P I A \ 1' K ( s ! 1 f I ing and culture. .Social scientists thinking about school ellects" has changed substantially since the late 1960s. The 1966 Coleman Report and subsequent studies convinced most economists and quantitative sociologists (including Jencks) that school resources had little impact on achievement. Since 1990. however, new statistical methods, new data, and a handful of genuine experiments have suggested that additional resources may in fact have sizable effects on student achievement. The notion that resources mat- ble environmental explanation for the black-white gap
therefore, (3) it is more reasonable to assume that part of the black-white gap is genetic than to assume it is entirely environmental. Jensens article created such a furor that psychologists once again began looking for evidence that bore directly on the question of whether racial differences in test performance were partly innate. (Richard Nisbett reviews these studies in The Black-White Test Score Gap} Two small studies have tried to compare genetically similar children raised in black and white families. Elsie Moor
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