City schools struggle with disparity
Share with others:
Members of the city's board of education met in a workshop Monday evening to address the school district's progress -- or lack of progress -- with the continuing struggles of African-American students.
The board members examined data, breaking down by race students' scores in mathematics and reading. They then targeted those results for improvement.
"A lot of people may jump to the conclusion that this is about poverty, and poverty does have an impact," said superintendent Linda Lane. "But it is really about race. The gaps between the races typically are larger than those based on salary."
Ms. Lane said the district's goal is not to improve high school graduation rates but to increase the number of students pursuing post-secondary education. One of the ways that will be achieved, she said, is to increase overall teacher effectiveness.
She also said the district has fared better at closing the gap between white and black students than some might believe.
"We have closed it some. It's not widening," she said. "There has been some closing, but it has not been of sufficient speed or magnitude to say that it can be closed in a reasonable amount of time."
The city's schools have long wrestled with the issue of race. In August 1992, the Advocates for African-American Students in the Pittsburgh Public Schools filed a complaint against the school board with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission.
In 2006, the commission entered a five-year agreement listing 94 issues of concern that the district would rectify. The volunteer Equity Advisory Panel was created to monitor compliance.
Wanda Henderson, a founding member of the advocates group and one of the original complainants, presented a report to the members that was critical of results so far.
"Persistent gaps remain," said Ms. Henderson of the East End. "African-American students are suspended and disciplined at a higher rate than white students, receive lower class grades than white students, attain lower scores on standardized tests than white students, and are disproportionately excluded from certain special programs and projects such as the gifted and/or scholars program.
"For the first four years, you haven't shown much progress at all. For some of us, this has been a 30-year struggle. When I got involved, my children were in elementary school. I now have grandkids. We cannot continue to walk in circles for generation after generation."
Jerri Lippert, chief academic advisor, gave an update of equity initiatives that have been provided and some successes that have been recorded.
Ms. Lane said those achievements -- and others in the works -- should bear fruit in the future.
"We have some things on the table, and we have some things moving forward, so I have a greater sense of optimism," Ms. Lane said. "I'd just like to express the district's commitment to making this last year [of the agreement] our best."
Correction/Clarification: (Published August 31, 2011) Jerri Lippert is chief academic adviser for Pittsburgh Public Schools. Her title was incorrect in a story Tuesday.
First Published August 30, 2011 12:00 am
