Disparity in Education

Last week, the Washington Post shed some light on the T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria.

By several standards, T.C. Williams seems like a well-off American high school, an institution successful at pumping out college attendees. Not only does the school offer over twenty Advanced Placement courses and free laptops to every student, but 80% of its graduates go on to college.

Why then, given these reputable results, has then has the school been placed on a federal list of schools in most need of reform? Alexandria’s superintendent Morton Sherman questions the placement, even writing to Obama to convince the President to reconsider the decision.

However, even Sherman acknowledges that T.C. Williams is far from perfect. The fact remains that 80% of the school’s graduating students proceed to college. What of those students that do not last through the four high school years? Though T.C.’s college-bound students perform well academically, minorities and students with disabilities consistently get lower test scores and are less able to graduate. Standardized reading and math tests are causing particular trouble. Last year, only half of special education students passed standardized math tests. Minority students had lower pass rates than white students, 10 percentage points lower in reading and 20 points lower in math. Only 75% of black students and 66% of Hispanic students graduate on time.

This article brings up a critical point. T.C. Williams has fallen into the trap in which it appears to be performing well, with its record of sending kids to college. However, only a small subset of the students is succeeding academically; the majority of the students face a very different reality. Commonly seen in schools with socioeconomically diverse students, the small proportion of high-achieving students masks the larger failings of the school; the problems faced by minority and special education students never get addressed. Though T.C. Williams appears to be a decently-performing school, its placement on the federal list is needed. The placement brings the disparities in performance to light and begins conversations on how such gaps can be closed.

Over the coming summer, T.C. teachers and other faculty members will continue discussions on how to reform the school. There is talk of implementing programs which encourage community-building and try to make people of all cultures feel welcome. Additionally, T.C. will have new math and writing centers in the fall, as well as an initiative to encourage special education students to join mainstream classes. With the placement on the federal list comes $6 million in funding for these new projects.

The assessment of high schools must be based on more than the percentage of graduates that go to college. Such assessments have to take into account the percentage of students from the original class that actually graduate. Digging even deeper, it’s important to consider the percentage of students that graduate on time. Schools cannot continue to ignore major shortfalls in performance; they cannot use the success of a few to shield fundamental problems. Once these problems are recognized, the schools can begin to make reforms where they are most needed.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 11th, 2010 at 1:30 pm. It is filed under Education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.