Poor Whites are Smarter than Even Well-to-Do Blacks, So Columbus Dispatch “Reporter” Lies About It, in Order to Help Racist Black Hustlers Shake Down Whitey for Even More Billions of Dollars!

Re-posted by Nicholas Stix
 

Wide racial gap persists in education testing
By Collin Binkley
Sunday, September 22, 2013 8:05 A.M.
The Columbus Dispatch
• Comments: 18

Even if they come from affluent families or attend highly rated schools, black students in Ohio continue to lag far behind their white peers in school, according to a Dispatch analysis of data from state standardized exams.

On more than two dozen state tests given to students in kindergarten through high school last year, the average passage rate among black students was 64 percent. On average, 87 percent of white students passed.

Disparities between races have existed across the country since schools were physically divided by race, researchers say, but many now view those gaps largely as a product of high poverty among minorities.

In Ohio, though, wide race gaps persist even on a level economic field.

Average passing rates among affluent white students last year topped those of affluent black students by 16 percentage points. Poor, white students outperformed black students from poor and wealthy families.

Disparities between races had been narrowing until about five years ago, data show, but the numbers have changed little since then. Now, amid a renewed focus on the topic, schools face increasing pressure to close gaps.

New state report cards penalized schools this year if certain student groups, including racial minorities, didn’t improve enough over a year. Schools that have long earned high overall marks received D’s and F’s in that area.

At the same time, parents of black students have formed groups in their districts to advocate for minority children. Groups in Westerville, Dublin and Olentangy schools have gathered steam in recent years.

“There are clearly divisions along ethnic lines within the district,” said Vaughn Bell, a Westerville parent who revived a defunct group for black parents last year. “I do believe that schools are failing our African-American students.”
Racial disparities go beyond income, experts say, but wealth plays a role.

The poverty rate among blacks in the U.S. –– 25.8 percent, according to Census data –– is higher than any other race except Native Americans. Poor families, in turn, more often face lower-quality preschool options, researchers say.

“These gaps are traceable back to early-childhood education,” said Shaun Harper, the director of the University of Pennsylvania Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education. “If kids show up in kindergarten not having had high-quality instruction in preschool, they’re already starting behind.”

Coupled with teachers who lack the training to help, gaps remain, Harper said.

Beyond poverty, though, some say schools set the bar too low for minorities.

“We expect less of our low-income students and students of color,” said Natasha Ushomirsky, senior data and policy analyst for Education Trust, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit group that works to close achievement gaps.

Studies have found that black and Latino students are less likely to be placed in advanced courses, even if they show promise in a subject. Minority students are also more likely to be taught by less-experienced teachers.

“Our school system is set up in a way that makes these gaps worse rather than making them better,” Ushomirsky said.

Where students live is as important as family income in Ohio, said Damon Asbury, legislative director for the Ohio School Boards Association. Minorities are more likely to live in high concentrations of poverty, he said, while poor, white students might live in safer areas with more public resources.

“All people can learn,” Asbury said. “It’s not the individual; it’s the circumstances they often find themselves in.”
The consequences of achievement gaps can be crushing.

For example, 61 percent of black students in Ohio pass the third-grade reading test, compared with 87 percent of white students.

That’s important because one study found that students who don’t read proficiently by third grade are four times less likely to graduate by age 19. It’s 19 times less likely for poor students who don’t read well by third grade.

“There are huge personal ramifications to the students themselves,” Ushomirsky said. “Too many kids are either not graduating high school at all, or they’re graduating not prepared to do what they want to do next.”

Some of the widest gaps in Ohio are in urban schools, which have long struggled to improve scores among large minority populations.

In 2010, less than 5 percent of black students passed the Ohio third-grade reading exam at Lincoln Park Elementary, a majority black school at the time. More than 70 percent of white students at the Columbus school passed.

But even in suburban districts, including Dublin, Worthington and Westerville, there are schools where whites routinely outperform blacks by wide margins.

Some schools have added more minority teachers, which parents are lobbying for in Westerville.

“The overwhelming number of teachers are white; they connect better with white students than minority students,” said Bell, of the parent group.

McVay Elementary School in Westerville has had some of the widest gaps in third-grade reading proficiency between black and white students for the past five years. The smallest gap in that period was 20 percentage points.

“When you’re talking about a racial gap, it’s a pretty uncomfortable subject,” Principal Amy Miller said. “But you have to just say, ‘This is our data and it’s telling us something matters here, and we need to figure out what to do about it.’ ”

This year, teachers at McVay are working to pinpoint more quickly where individual students –– not groups –– need help. That approach helped at nearby Annehurst Elementary, which the state has honored for closing gaps.

McVay also added a reading specialist to help students, and the school is focusing on third-grade reading. Teachers, too, are having open discussions about race and breaking down preconceived notions. Miller believes that those changes will help.

Ultimately, though, there is no magic bullet.

Some experts such as Ushomirsky argue for school-level solutions, such as pairing top teachers with low-performing students. Harper says governments need to invest more in minority neighborhoods. Both agree that the stakes are clear.

“If we don’t do something about these inequities, the long-term consequences for our economy are enormous,” Harper said. “Inevitably we will see more poverty, more crime and so on.” cbinkley@dispatch.com

@cbinkley
 

Chuck Schmitz (Wizzo)
How do Asian-Americans fit into the mix?
2013-09-22 11:59:07.0
 

michael straughter (mestraughter@gmail.com)
It's time for educators, the community, parents and perhaps, the individual student themselves to stop expecting and setting the bar too low. As with anything else in life, you get t what you expect as well as commit to. As the article referenced, the reasons are vary why such gaps exists. There is no single magic bullet solution. However, educationally, it's about providing access (and support) for "gap" students to AP, IBAC, PSEO, & dual-enrollment opportunities.
2013-09-22 13:30:25.0
 

Pat Giles (DrPat)
How does school attendance factor in?
2013-09-22 14:28:42.0
 

Reconcile Reconcile (Reconcile)
"These gaps are traceable back to early-childhood education," said Shaun Harper, the director of the University of Pennsylvania Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education...I'm getting tired of stating the obvious -- that investing in quality preschool education now is a lot cheaper and more effective than remediation/incarceration later on. We're just too darn cheap and short sighted in this country.
2013-09-22 16:49:37.0
 

Reconcile Reconcile (Reconcile)
Oh, and it would also help if these standardized, paper pencil tests actually measured understanding. We do have an achievement gap, but more serious is that we have a RELEVANCE GAP...most students find this rote, teach to the test event we now call school boring.
2013-09-22 16:51:12.0
 

Patricia Geoghegan (pageog)
My children's' "early childhood" education came from their parents. Just reading to a child early and often pays many benefits. We had high expectations and rules that were enforced. Parental support is NEEDED every minute of every day to produce successful and productive citizens of the world.
2013-09-22 18:11:03.0
 

Bob Loblaw (zeitgeist@columbus.rr.com)
I knew as soon as I saw the headline of the article that not one person interviewed would mention parental responsibility. Mr. Bell's borderline racist comment in regards to the inability of white teachers to connect well with black students is typical of the blame-shifting mentality so prevalent in today's society. As for children arriving unprepared for kindergarten, it's rather spurious to put the blame entirely on the quality of preschool education. Parents play, not just a vital role in preparing their children for school; they play the * key * role. Blaming teachers for their "inability to connect" solves nothing. Until we stop blaming the nebulous "society" for these shortcomings, there will be no solution.
2013-09-22 21:08:55.0
 

Reverend Bacon (ReverendBacon)
These statistics seem to correlate with the well-known, well-studied IQ gap in the races. Among random samples of American blacks and whites, a one-standard deviation gap exists; it has existed for decades, and it would explain the achievement gap as well. While some sociologists focus on the environmental component of this gap, while others focus on the genetic component, essentially all sociologists acknowledge that both components exist. Any article on a subject like this that fails to point out the IQ gap indicates an author that is either ignorant of his topic, or is willfully trying to incite angry cries of racism in his readers. Either way, it's shameful.
2013-09-23 00:47:17.0
 

reader reader (Reader)
Rev Bacon--the world responds differently to black and white children, no two ways around it. Of 8 comments here, four (yours inclusive) assumed blame for the black students themselves or for their families. That is a reality we live with. And teachers, whether black or white, are not immune. I haven't seen research on this, but I have noticed that wherever data includes a biracial category, they do better than the black category. This raises questions about whether black parents transmit to their children an internalized sense of inferiority, or possibly, if they--while intending them to protect them from societal racism teach them such survival skills as not drawing attention to themselves by asking questions or striving to excell. Further, using IQ data to support your points is highly suspect. IQ testing is based on comparing a child's knowledge to that "typical" of a child their age. In a society still as racially segregated as ours, what is "typical" is not identical for various groups. It is intended to measure the learning ability of the child--again, assuming all things equal, which they are not. There are other tests, less well known, that purport to measure learning ability by actually teaching a child and observing the acquisition of new knowledge.
2013-09-23 10:47:23.0
 

Jared Nelson (shawnmer)
@ Reader Reader: "I haven't seen research on this, but I have noticed that wherever data includes a biracial category, they do better than the black category. This raises questions about whether black parents transmit to their children an internalized sense of inferiority..." Oh, mercy. Let me fill you in. In interracial couples, the mixed-race offspring tend to have children that outperform the black parent but underperform the white parent. Will there ever be a sufficient amount of data or lapsed time when it will it dawn on you it might be the INTELLIGENCE GENES being "transmit(ted) to their children" that determine these outcomes?? You guys have essentially made the theory of blank slate group human equality an unfalsifiable. No amount of evidence ever disproves it, it is instead just supposed to be accepted as an obvious truism. (Because the alternative is just too odious and unthinkable!) Racial discrimination is said to be omnipresent, "institutionalized," and utterly unquantifiable. How it's supposed to be manifested isn't even DEFINED anymore. We're just supposed to accept that it's there. Religion doesn't ask as much blind faith devoid of evidence as those who deny the simple truth of racial differences.
2013-09-24 20:35:08.0
 

Jared Nelson (shawnmer)
Oh, and Reader Reader, IQ tests do not measure "knowledge," they measure aptitude. Which is what "intelligence" is. A dullard can be aware of something that a genius is not aware of, that doesn't make the dullard more "intelligent." Other than that, your comment was incredibly insightful.
2013-09-24 20:47:01.0
 

robert kelly (libertarian1234)
This raises the very obvious question: Why don't they show the gap between blacks and Hispanic? Blacks and Asians? Blacks and Indians? Blacks and Middle Easterners? These gaps between non-whites and blacks have existed for as long as the gap between white and black. Why is it NEVER discussed or pointed out? Why do they include blacks in with all non-whites? Asians are doing fine. Hispanics are pulling even further ahead of blacks then before, and all the various groups in the country outperform blacks in I. Q. tests. And there's an even bigger gap between blacks and Northeast Asians than there is between blacks and whites, but it's never mentioned. Why not. What are they afraid of? "If we don't do something about these inequities, the long-term consequences for our economy are enormous," Harper said. "Inevitably we will see more poverty, more crime and so on." Since they can't do anything about making people smarter, they just laid out what all of us have been saying for years now. The rainbow utopian empire has failed miserably.
2013-09-24 21:06:55.0
 

Michael Mason (awesomemm)
Every time I hear a conservative say that Detroit is in financial and physical ruin because of liberals and labor unions, I can't help but laugh. Brace yourself everybody, you're about to get told that santa claus isn't real. The reason for racial disparities is that there are innate differences in the IQs of varying racial groups. To assume that all groups are equally as intellectually gifted is to assume that we all somehow evolved in the same simultaneous ways despite being geographically separated for hundreds of thousands of years. This would be a very scientifically naive assumption. As the great Chinese philosopher Confucius once said, "the first step to solving a problem in the state is to call it for what it is."
2013-09-24 21:47:34.0
 

Vernon Miller (Vernon_Miller)
At some point we are going to have to consider that the evidence is beyond conclusive. Not every ethnic group of has the same mental ability.
2013-09-24 22:32:28.0
 

Dan Canto (Canto28)
This is just more good news for the academic racial gap industry. This is the perfect industry because it supports, with never ending grant$, efforts to solve a problem which - this is the best part - never can be solved (due to the racial IQ gap which can't be mentioned). Such a deal! So politicians, you just keep dishing out all those taxpayer billions to all those eager gap industry educationists, like those who work in centers for the Study of Race and Equity in Education , who, don't you know, are just about to turn the corner (as always) in solving this. Such a deal!
2013-09-25 11:30:12.0
 

Peter James (MrL)
The evidence is pretty clear, certain races have certain abilities. It's perfectly acceptable to say "White men can't jump" but not acceptable to say "Black men can't read". The truth is dangerous.
2013-09-25 12:21:27.0
 

Dan Canto (Canto28)
Practically every article one reads on the racial academic gap is dishonest and cowardly in that the persistent racial IQ gap and its correlation with academic achievement is never even mentioned. Instead hopeful, never proven statements are made suggesting that the elusive solution lies in better this or that - suggestions that have been made for decades. Education is just too political and the modus operandi seems to be to repeat the excuses and keep the funding going to the professional racial gap educationists. Politicians sure aren't going to mention IQ; much safer to just keep dishing out the tax money.
2013-09-27 09:39:37.0
 

Michael Sinegar (Msinegar)
What do you believe that blacks should do in your perfect scenario in which racial differences in I.Q. are made public knowledge? I mean, that's pretty demoralizing. Even high-achieving blacks would be doomed to never be respected as much as their white counterparts who could, in theory, be less qualified.
2013-09-29 13:23:08.0