Thank heavens for the white kids

Thank heavens the white kids in Nashville's public schools are doing so well academically. If they weren't, our schools would look much worse.

Of course, if you're the parent of a black, Hispanic or economically disadvantaged student, things aren't so good for you. If you're the parent of a student in the Asian/Pacific group, you should be very pleased -- your children are doing better than even the white kids.

Last night Dr. Connie Smith outlined to the Board of Education just what's happening in Nashville's schools. The details got scant attention in the press, so it's worth a few paragraphs here to talk about what's happening, especially for the non-white students. The Asian/Pacific kids are few in number and doing well, so for simplicity sake, we'll set those numbers aside for now.

The best news is in the elementary and middle schools. Over six years, the overall trend has been consistently upward. The white kids are scoring at 92 percent proficient in math and 93 percent proficient in language. only seven to eight percent of white students missed the goals. That works out to about 700 to 800 kids. That's above the federal targets.

African American kids, the largest racial segment in our schools, missed the targets with scores of 80 percent in math and 86 percent in language. Fourteen percent missed targets in language and 20 percent missed them in math. Because the group is larger than whites, that turns out to be quite a few students; 3,027 in math and 2,118 in language.

Among Hispanics, 16 percent, or 723, missed goals in math and 20 percent, or 900, missed them in language.

If you're economically disadvantaged, the numbers are even worse. Of the 20,000+ kids in that segment, 19 percent, or about 3,800 kids, missed targets in math and 16 percent, or about 3,195 kids, missed them in language.

Keep this in mind: Students can be counted in several groups. A learning disabled white child who is considered economically disadvantaged will be counted three times. The figures are complied this way because federal law requires it.

As scary as all this is, brace yourselves, it gets worse when we look at high school.

Here the white kids surpass targets with 88 percent proficiency in math and 94 percent in language. African Americans fall short with 75 percent proficiency in math and 88 percent in language. Hispanics score 82 percent proficiency in math and 87 percent in language.
Economically disadvantaged kids score at 78 percent proficient in math and 87 percent in language.

Overall, high school students are trending up in language, boosted by the scores of white and Asian students. Math scores are also trending up, but at a slower pace.

It's great that white kids are getting a good education. That's important, but it's also important that every child in the district gets a good education. It's should be considered vital because Nashville is growing more diverse. The Tennesseean tells us this morning that by 2024, minorities will outnumber whites in Davidson County.

So, if we can't figure out how to successfully educate minority students, we're going to be in deep, deep trouble. We're already in trouble when thousands of students aren't getting a basic education, even though they are in school.

Here's how we fix this:

1. We must recognize that Nashville's schools aren't a disaster. In fact, they're much better than people give them credit for. Test scores for everyone are improving, it's just that the gap between white and minority students is high. There should be no gap among the groups and that will require that we find ways to make education more relevant for minority and economically disadvantaged children. We also need to keep good teachers. The loss rate among new teachers is far too high.
2. Rezoning is not the solution. In fact, it might make the situation worse. Studies have proven that when economically disadvantaged students (and those are mostly minorities) are mixed with students from middle class and affluent families, that the poorer kids do better and test scores for the more affluent kids remain high. Creating schools with higher concentrations of minority and economically disadvantages kids just doesn't work.
3. A large portion of the problem lies outside of the school system. We need jobs, affordable housing, health care that isn't dependent upon the ability to pay, safe streets and other neighborhood improvements so children arrive at school ready to learn. When families are under economic or social stress, kids are distracted and can easily be led into making bad choices about their education and futures. Schools can't do it alone. Healthy neighborhoods are vital to successful schools and we need public officials who are responsible for that portion of our society to focus their efforts there rather than trying to tinker with classrooms.

Our schools are getting better, but for those students whose lives will be most impacted by a good education, we continue to fail. And that failure will come back to haunt us through crime, poverty and a general decline in our quality of life.

We cannot continue to throw children away. We must find ways to narrow the gap by moving underperforming groups up. Thousands of lives depend upon it.

    -- Jim Grinstead