The debates in Washington continue over matters big and small. Education reform is one of the big issues that is drawing support from the unlikely team of Al Sharpton and Newt Gingrinch as they tour the country together and engage the media, explaining the urgency of reforming a system that has failed so many for so long. New solutions are being devised and will be funded by The new Race To The Top Initiative which is a $4.35 billion incentive program designed by the United States Department of Education to spur progressive reforms in state and local district K-12 education. But the relationship between governmental spending on education and results needs to be explored before good money is wasted on failing systems. This is the capital conundrum, embodied in the DC school system.
On most any measure the public schools of the District of Columbia are at the bottom of so many lists except one. When you look at spending per student across the country, DC ranks at least third and given some new data that has been made available it may be first. In 2006 it is reported that , DC spent $14,324 per student slightly behind New Jersey ($15,691) and New York ($15,981). Yet with this spending we have a school community that is a poster child for the need for fundamental reform that may require much more than new investment in failing schools. Once again the data provides some insight.
In 2009, the 32,375 DC students in grade 3 – 10 sat for their Math standardized test. 55% of those students received scores that indicated that they were not performing at their respective grade level. 20% were at a level that is called “Below Basic.” On the NAEP standardized math test which provides a national measurement allowing state by state comparisons, DC was at the bottom with all other states outperforming their scores.
The DC public school population is predominantly Black (83%) with a small white population (5%). The Hispanic student population is 10% and the Asian student population is 1%. In a September 2009 presentation authored by Cathie Carothers, Assistant Superintendent of Elementary and Secondary Education, two highlights out of three discussed the progress made in test scores and the fact that progress is being made closing the “achievement gap” when compared to white students in the DC schools. A closer review of the report and the public data shows that progress IS being made when compared to scores from 2006 where only 35% of students were proficient in reading and 27% were proficient in math. But once again we hear discussion about this so-called “achievement gap.” In this instance the benchmark for achievement is 5% of students across the DC system.
The numbers, although inconvenient, are there for all to see, analyze and discuss. These 5% white students in the DC systems have an 85% math proficiency rate, while Black students have a 40% math proficiency rate and Hispanics a 53% math proficiency rate. Cutting the data another way provides more insight. No school that has a math proficiency rate less than 50%, 81 out of 134 schools in total, has a white population large enough to be counted in the state’s reporting. The benchmark that is being used in this so-called “Achievement Gap” measure is not only a small minority of students (5%) but they primarily attend only 12 of the 134 districts schools.
Many of these 12 schools have math proficiency rates that are in the 80% range. But they are not reflective of the rest of the public schools in the DC area. Most have a very small lower income population in the single digits compared to the aggregate of 70% lower income student population or more across all schools in DC. . In essence these 12 schools are most likely havens in the DC public school system where the “Achievement Culture”, discussed in prior blog entries, can exist in some form.
The DC aggregate school budget, with estimates of $20K per student, funds both the dysfunctional schools as well as the few havens which have managed to create a culture that differs from the majority of the schools in the district. Money alone will not create an achievement culture. And as we can see in so many examples, it is this achievement culture that must be fostered, nurtured and developed. Schools are only one link in the chain of success.
The capital conundrum is that the easiest and most politically expedient weapon in the government’s arsenal is the funneling of tax payer dollars to an issue of interest. But the school district which shamefully exists in the backyard of our nation’s home is a reflection of the failure of government to recognize the complexity and the unfortunate reality of the social issues that have plagued us and may weaken us beyond the point of recovery.
