Copyright 1999 The Tribune Co. Publishes The Tampa Tribune
The Tampa Tribune
October 25, 1999, Monday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NATION/WORLD, Pg. 10
LENGTH: 535 words
HEADLINE:
The relentless minority education gap;
BODY:
A task force of prominent educators has found that the performance
gap between black, Hispanic and American Indian students and their white
and Asian counterparts persists across the socioeconomic spectrum, from
kindergarten through graduate school, according to a new report.
The
survey is just the latest in a large stack of reports on the national
achievement gap. What is needed is more accountability of future efforts
to close it.
The task force that did the study calls for a strategy of
"affirmative development" that would emphasize minority performance at all
levels rather than focusing on enrollment in colleges and universities.
Again, that sounds like a worthy goal, but a strategy to accomplish it is more
important.
ONE NOTABLE FEATURE of this latest report is that it
doesn't request more spending. While there may be a need for increased
outlays in some areas, money has not been the problem in trying to raise
achievement levels. One of the primary goals of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act, for instance, was to improve the
performance of disadvantaged children. Some $ 120 billion has been spent
to that end since its adoption in 1965. Yet many of the targeted children
continue to lag far behind other students.
Lack of accountability
is one of the major reasons. One University of Michigan professor told a
Senate committee: "It is disappointing that having spent more than $ 150
billion on those compensatory education services, we still do not know
which practices and programs are particularly effective. ... For Head
Start and Title I, these evaluations have not even attempted to ascertain
in a rigorous and systematic manner which components of their programs
have been successful."
One of the report's recommendations is for high
schools and elementary schools to share information on
programs that improve minority achievement, and it urges collaboration between
minority colleges and mainstream institutions, as well as between
community colleges and four-year schools. To facilitate this, the U.S.
Department of Education could act as a clearinghouse for proven teaching
methods.
The Clinton approach has been more micromanaging of states and
school districts, while Republicans in Congress advocate more local
autonomy. The GOP position makes sense when we consider Washington's track
record on education and, more important, the need for states to form their own
reform priorities (e.g., reduced class size, more charter schools,
improved teacher training or new textbooks and computers).
If we
are to close the achievement gap in education, there must be greater
accountability, higher standards and more choice in schools. This can be
accomplished if local administrators are allowed to incorporate their
states' federal aid into their innovative education agendas.
With Head
Start, Title I and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act,
we have spent billions of dollars over the years to try to provide the
best education for all children, regardless of their parents' income. If
we can at least agree to try something different and powerfully focused,
that will be a good start.
NOTES: EDITORIALS
LOAD-DATE: October 26, 1999 
