July 20. 2011
®lft Fortiani» (fìbserurr
Page 7
O pinion
Giving Boys a Strong Start
Acting with
urgency on the
achievement gap
bv
M arian W right E delman
| ♦
W hen Shawn Dove was in sixth
grade, the students at his New
York City school were asked to decide
which academ ic track they w anted to
follow for the next two years. He decided
to choose “m ajor gym ,” ju st like the rest
ot his friends. But when he brought the
form home to his single mother and said
“Hey. M om — can you sign this for me?”
his m other said, “No— you're not going to
m ajor in gym! T here’s no future in gym.
Y ou're taking science and m ath.”
Shawn spent the next two years mad at
his m other every day as he could hear the
noise and laughter com ing from the gym
while he went 30 yards down the hall for
math and science classes. But then when
Shawn finished eighth grade, he under­
stood. He and the other young people who
had majored in science and math had the
chance to move on to good high schools
like Bronx Science, but Shawn realized
those who had taken mostly gym w eren’t
m oving on to much o f anything.
Today Shawn leads the Cam paign for
Black Male A chievem ent for the Open
Society Foundations. He shared this story
at an achievem ent gap at a re­
cent sym posium to confront
the crisis facing the 3.5 million
Black boys from birth to age
nine and to highlight program s
that are making a difference.
The need to increase and sup­
port parent involvem ent was a
key them e throughout the conference.
Scholars noted that the high percentages
of black boys growing up in poverty and
in single-m other households has had a
devastating effect on black bo y s’ out­
comes. But as Shawn pointed out in his
story, although being a single m other to
black boys is full o f challenges, his m other
made the right choices that opened doors
for him. All parents need to be encouraged
and educated to make the same kinds o f
ch o ic es th ro u g h o u t th eir s o n s ’— and
d aughters'— developm ent.
M any le s so n s c am e o u t o f the
sy m p o siu m 's sessions, but above all,
speaker after speaker reinforced how criti­
cal it is to intervene early.
Dr. Iheom a Iruka, a researcher at the
University o f North Carolina-Chapel Hill,
warned us, “we c an 't wait for the gap to
show up”— because by the time we m ea­
sure achievem ent gaps in school, many
Black boys are already behind. She ex­
plained that “the social and family dispari­
ties exist at birth and continue throughout.
W hen you start at that low level you stay
at that low level and the disparity contin­
ues.”
Many o f the leaders attending the sym ­
posium believe that by looking at the early
years and providing a high quality con­
tinuum ot care and high expectations for
every child, we can impact and change the
odds for young black boys right now.
Focusing on an evidence-based approach
to education and early childhood develop­
ment can change the trajectory for young
black boys and all underserved children.
By identifying best practices, policies
and strategies that work it will be possible
to rewrite the story for young black boys
and replace the cradle to prison pipeline
with a pipeline to college, work, and a
productive life.
Research-based solutions and effective
program s show that negative outcom es
can be averted with local investm ent in
local program s, com m unity involvement,
nutrition, and, at every stage, parental
involvem ent. These kinds o f proven re­
sults provide a guide for policy changes at
the state and national level for we d o n ’t
have a m oment or a child to waste.
President Obam a has called education
the civil rights issue o f our time. Now is
the time for the next transform ing free­
dom moment and m ovem ent— to set our
children free from illiteracy, low expecta­
tions, and jobless, hopeless futures, pre­
paring them to thrive and succeed in the
lives God provided them.
Children have only one childhood, and
for them tom orrow is today. We need to
act with urgency to narrow the achieve­
ment gap, stop the erosion o f the hard-
earned progress o f the past 50 years, and
move our nation towards true educational
equality and excellence for all children.
But this will not happen unless adults in all
walks of our child ren 's lives step up and
pick up our responsibilities to nurture and
protect the next generation.
As the sym posium was docum enting
exam ples o f what works to save children
and money in the long haul, the very kinds
o f critical program s and supports we
know can close achievem ent gaps are on
the chopping block in statehouses around
the country and in our nation’s capital.
Providing all children a healthy start,
quality early childhood experiences, first
rate schools with first rate teachers, and
stim ulating high quality out o f school time
program s must be the first order o f na­
tional business in this quick fix, quarterly
profit driven culture. O ur most dangerous
deficit is not the budget deficit— it’s our
values deficit.
M ahan W right Edelm an is P resident o f
the Children's D efense Fund.
»
Accountability and Support for Teachers
light on high-
stakes tests
by
J udge G reg M athis
Since the 2002 passage of
the No Child Left Behind
Act, signed into law by then
President George W. Bush,
w e’ve heard numerous critics complain
that the law stifles real learning and puts
undue pressures on feachers and schools.
No Child Left Behind, which originally
received support from both Democrats and
Republicans, set high standards for educa­
tion and put goals into place that teachers
and schools had to reach or they’d face stiff
penalties.
Those who supported the law believed
that it was necessary to ensure improved
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student performance.
pointed
ing standardized scores as proof that the
law’s provisions had its place.
Now w e’re learning that the improved
student test scores of recent years may be
the result of systemic cheating, not by
students but by their teachers.
In Atlanta, as many as 178 teachers
and principals from 44 public schools are
"À suspected of having erased and changed
some ot the answers on student tests to
improve scores for their schools. Eight-
two of the teachers involved have already
confessed to over a decade of cheating.
Those involved blame the high-stakes
pressure of the law, saying they had to do
something to raise scores or risk losing their
jobs. Their accusers maintain they acted in
self-interest, cheating in order to earn a
financial bonus.
W hatever the reasons for cheating, one
thing is clear: these educators have failed
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their ph students.
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where it should be and that is the real
crime here.
The National Education Association, the
country’s largest teacher’s union, has long
fought against certain types o f teacher ac-
countability. Now, for the first time, mem
bers voted recently to approve a policy that
will hold teachers accountable for what
students learn.
However, the union is - and always has
been - strongly against the use of standard-
ized, high-stakes tests. They have main-
tained from the beginning that these types of
test put stress on educators, forcing them to
abandon the basic principles of education
and causing them to ‘teach to the test’.
This is all very confusing, even for adults.
Can you imagine how our children must
feel?
« «• educa-
It’s no secret that the U.S. public
tion system is broken. As legislators sit
down and think through the next phase of
change - and, hopefully, improvement, for
public education, there has to be serious
thought given to the use o f standardized
tests.
How will they be developed? What will be
used to supplement them? We want to - and
must - create a system that encourages our
students to think critically while giving them
the basic building blocks o f an education.
Our education system needs to be one
that holds teachers accountable without
_____ o ......
...... ___
creating
an environment
that forces them to
behave dishonestly,
We are not even close to where we need
to be and our students are the ones suffer-
ing.
Judge Greg M athis is a fo rm er Michigan
D isthct Court judge and current syndicated
television show judge.
...... »
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