Achievement Gap or Culture Gap
The large gap in high school graduation rates from Lawrence’s paltry 36% to Andover’s admirable 95% high school completion is too stark to be dismissed. Money does not appear to be the issue if we compare the amount spent per student. However, it can be reasonably argued that Lawrence’s social challenges of low income, lack of language proficiency and large urban population require a greater per pupil expenditure. But incrementing budgets alone do not deliver motivated teachers, prepared students or engaged parents, all of which are part of the success of Andover’s community
Labeling the disparity between these two bordering Massachusetts school districts merely an “achievement gap” masks the complexity of the situation. Further examination of the performance data show how very drastic the differences are. In 2008, the Lawrence school district had a proficiency rate for the science MCAS of only 6%. How many would find it incredulous that 94% of students taking the science MCAS in Lawrence needed improvement (47%) or failed (47%)? How can we believe that we are delivering equal education when district’s proficiency rate in the critical subject area of science is 6% for one group of students and 79% for another.
It is my fundamental belief that America’s future is in jeopardy if we continue to blindly create, nurture or ignore the development of an impoverished and growing underclass. We would assume that Andover High School will produce doctors, lawyers and business leaders. However, If America is to regain its position as the hub of global innovation, we must realize that many of our future leaders will come not just from the Andovers, but from towns like Lawrence across the country. Too many lower income communities have been forced to accept a standard of education that fails many and worst of all will not bring out the best from those that actually have the talent needed to succeed and lead.
How many kids throughout the country are stuck in school districts where the institutional norm is low expectations, based upon the social realities of the communities or the cultural gap between educators and those in need of education?
As I listen to the education reform debate, I can see many of the challenges that lower income communities face. The challenges for educators are many as well. However, there is a generation of undiscovered leaders, necessary for this country’s future, which must be found, nurtured, encouraged and educated. It is time for us to realize that the so-called “achievement gap” actually measures the wrong things. There is a devastating cultural gap that has developed between the providers of education and those that are its recipients. This cultural gap will swallow rather than nurture the best and the brightest from these immigrant and culturally diverse communities. This cultural gap is just one of the many contributors to what seems to be so neatly and conveniently called the achievement gap.
