The chairman of the Henrico County Board of Supervisors, Tyrone Nelson, has publicly implored Henrico Public Schools Superintendent Amy Cashwell and the Henrico School Board to put an end to the “same old story“ of huge achievement gaps between schools in western Henrico and those in eastern Henrico. The county is by no means alone. The achievement gap is both a Virginia and a national crisis.
The achievement gap between low-income students and their more affluent peers is, at its core, an equity issue. Because of ignorance and cynical misrepresentation about what equity actually means, talking about equity is controversial. But the lack of educational equity is the crucial factor driving the achievement gap.
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The major policy remedies to close achievement gaps over the past 25 years have been expanded: high-stakes standardized testing and charter schools. Neither has been particularly successful. It’s hard to understand how more testing increases achievement. Lambs aren’t nourished by just weighing them more often. While research on charter schools has shown recent improvement, they have yet to produce widespread, sustained academic gains for low-income students.
What does real educational equity look like relative to closing achievement gaps, whether in Henrico or elsewhere? My experience in public education has convinced me that genuine equity is tied to supplemental educational services for economically disadvantaged students from preschool through high school. These services would provide the learning enhancements that more well-off families and communities already provide for their children.
The most important of such supplemental programs is quality, universal preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds. These programs would emphasize pre-reading and phonics skills, numeracy, instruction for English language learners, nutrition and health, and the arts. These programs also focus on the social skills needed for school along with expanded learning experiences like field trips. Additionally, these programs help families learn how to foster their children’s success in school, a support that should continue through high school.
While preschool programs are critical, they aren’t enough by themselves. Research on preschool programs for low-income children has shown that the academic gains made by kindergarten are mostly lost in the primary grades without continued support.
In elementary school, this support would include after-school and summer programs that provide academic skills development, tutoring, and arts and enrichment activities. In middle school, these programs would be similar to elementary school, with added emphasis on career exploration. In high school, “soft” skills development, shadowing and internship experiences, SAT/ACT preparation and career and college counseling would be included with academics.
The goal of these programs would be to provide low-income students with the kinds of extended opportunities already available to students coming from more secure economic circumstances.
There is clearly an additional cost for these programs. Some funding could come from more targeted use of federal funds like Title I. (I’m not convinced that federal education funding is consistently spent as productively as it could be.) Restructuring of state and local dollars already allocated for at-risk students could be another funding source. Federal and corporate grants are another possible avenue. Partnerships with business and nonprofits might also address some costs. Additional resources and creative leveraging of existing resources are needed here.
As part of addressing equity, there will surely be advocacy for “school choice” through public funding of private school tuition.
I’ve had many conversations with school choice proponents. When I suggest that private schools benefiting from public funds be required to have open or lottery-based enrollment, provide free transportation and be subject to the same due process and transparent accountability mandates as public schools, I mostly hear rationalizing about “fit” and “autonomy.” It seems that choice proponents want public funding without the challenges and responsibilities shouldered by public schools.
School choice is not a viable answer to educational equity unless there is significantly expanded access to private schools for economically disadvantaged students.
The programs described here are an investment to avoid higher societal costs later. Proactive focus on education early on is far less costly than courts, prisons and reactive programs later. (To illustrate, Virginia spends more than $30,000 per prison inmate every year, and Virginia’s prisons are jammed full.) These programs would immediately help to reduce truancy, school suspensions, dropouts, youth crime, gang involvement, drug use and teen pregnancy. I have seen time and again that given real options, young people will usually gravitate to positive endeavors.
There is no silver bullet or quick fix. To close the achievement gap in Henrico, or anywhere, requires sustained effort and real collaboration involving families and school systems; postsecondary institutions; local, state and federal governments; and the business, faith and nonprofit communities. A formal mechanism to steer such collaboration is an essential starting point.
Legitimate educational equity is the key to closing the achievement gap.
Frank E. Morgan is a retired educator who worked for 43 years in public school districts in Virginia and South Carolina. He spend the first 11 years of his education career in Eastern Henrico schools. Contact him at drfrankemorgan@gmail.com.