Local schools promise to close achievement gap

Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools board members say they will rededicate themselves to closing the achievement gap between white and minority students.

The promise comes after heated response to the school board’s recent decision to add six honors classes to the curriculum.

It’s a promise that’s been made many times before.

“We’ve been working on it for years and years, but now we’re really going to put some focus on high schools,” said Jamezetta Bedford, vice chairwoman of the school board.

Board of Education chairman Mike Kelley said there’s no single solution to the complex issue, but tackling the gap has been and will continue to be a priority.

Several parents said they are unsatisfied, and most agreed that this goes far beyond a racial issue. They said the gap is a systemic problem with the administration not helping low-achieving students come to their potential.

What’s been done

Since the Blue Ribbon Task Force on the Education of African-American Students began meeting in 1992 to close the achievement gap, the school district has implemented several programs to help narrow it, but the problem remains.

-One of the most visible was the Triangle High Five Regional Partnership. Though it was not specifically dedicated to the achievement gap, it made several recommendations that attempted to address the problem.

The group of businesses began in 2003 to tackle the issue of high school dropouts through collaboration between districts in the area.

The partnership announced a $2.5 million, five-year commitment to assist high schools in 2004, which ended June 30. The partnership was continued as a new organization called Triangle High Five.

-Five years ago, high schools started using Professional Learning Communities — teams of teachers grouped by grade or subject. Focused on learning rather than teaching, the teams plan curricula and do regular assessments of students’ progress.

Professional Learning Communities meet as often as once a week.

“It is not a program; it’s something that creates a deep cultural shift in the school,” said Sam Oertwig, director of elementary programs for the district.

But the groups vary widely in impact, said Sherri Martin, director of high school programs.

“It’s probably one of the most effective tools that we have if implemented with fidelity,” she said.

-The Blue Ribbon Mentor-Advocate program, launched in 1995, has focused on improving achievement for blacks and Latinos. The program combines mentoring, tutoring, parental involvement, scholarships and exposure to colleges.

It’s a state-of-the-art program, but it needs more mentors in order to reach more students, said Michelle Cotton Laws, local NAACP president.

-A program began in 1996 called AVID, or Advancement Via Individual Determination. Started with the goal of preparing middle- performing students for college, the elective class has been very successful, with 99 percent of students who participated going to college, said program coordinator Jean Parrish.

About 350 students in grades 6 through 12 participate each year, and the district is thinking about using the class’ strategies of teaching note taking, time management, critical reading and college entrance test preparation school- wide, Parrish said.

Again, the program doesn’t reach everybody.

Measuring the overall impact of these programs is difficult. Although elementary and middle school test scores steadily improved from 1994 to 2005, Kelley said test scores were not a good indicator of success in high school.

“If your goal is that students leave the district prepared for the future after school, then there’s still more work to do.”

Still not satisfied

While the achievement gap concerns many community members, board members and administrators point out that almost every school district in the country has an achievement gap. Local demographics cause Chapel Hill-Carrboro’s gap to appear wider than other districts’, Kelley said.

“The whites and Asians who come here perform much better than in the rest of the state,” he said.

Some parents in the community expressed concern that the district is still not doing enough to help low-achieving students.

Although many blacks, Latinos and American Indians make up the low-achieving group, students with learning disabilities are also being overlooked, said Joanna Barnes, a parent of a Chapel Hill High School student.

“They’re not teaching the regular class teachers how to do interventions,” said Barnes, who is white. “They’re just being passed from grade to grade.”

Marty Brown, a black parent from Durham, said his son had full access to all opportunities. Brown’s wife teaches at Chapel Hill High, and the Browns send their son there because they feel it is a better district than Durham.

Other parents said they felt that the district should not invest in honors courses until achievement is raised at the bottom.

“Look at the end-of-grade scores for the middle schoolers,” Barnes said. “And look at the pass rates for the minorities, then ask yourself, which of those kids are going to be eligible for honors courses in ninth grade?”


Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.