This morning, a group brought together by Mayor Tim
Davlin’s Office of Education Liaison and the Springfield Urban League
will meet for the second time this summer to discuss barriers to
African-American student achievement and success in Springfield.
The group, which comprises community leaders and
District 186 staffers, students, and parents, will address the
disproportionately high dropout, truancy and discipline rates among
African-American students by considering best practices nationwide.
What has become known as the achievement gap
persisted for a long time in Springfield and in schools around the country
because schools were evaluated as a whole, according to local education
experts. Students who performed well on standardized tests propped up a
school’s aggregate score, masking the fact that many poor, disabled,
and non-English-speaking kids were falling behind.
The more urban an area, however, the greater the
possibility that such a chasm will open between whites and students of
color.
Springfield schools are almost two-fifths black.
Among District 186 eighth-graders who took the Illinois Standards
Achievement Test last year, 17 percent of African-Americans met or exceeded
minimum mathematics requirements, compared with 55 percent of white
students.
Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, schools
must now meet minimum requirements for various subgroups to meet adequate
yearly progress — or AYP —standards.
In Springfield, despite graduating 90 percent of its
high school students, the district failed to achieve AYP because students
with disabilities fell short in math and disabled and African-American
students didn’t meet NCLB reading standards.
Such complex issues require an unconventional
approach, leading to the formation of the study group, which has no rigid
operating guidelines.
Urban League president and CEO Nina Harris says that
organizers wanted community-driven approaches to address the problem
and “didn’t want to set any parameters based upon activities of
the past or any preconceived notions.”
The group will convene as needed, says Sheila
Stocks-Smith, the city’s education liaison. The meetings, she adds,
are not public, but she says that she is willing to speak with anyone who
is curious about the group’s progress.
This article appears in Aug 25-31, 2005.
