<p>I was too lazy, but here. Read this. </p>
<p>The</a> Significance of Race in the Racial Gap in Academic Achievement by Pedro A. Noguera and Antwi Akom / Education Rights / In Motion Magazine</p>
<p>Pedro A. Noguera is a Professor in the graduate School of Education at Harvard University. Antwi Akom is a doctoral student in Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania.</p>
<p>Explaining why poor children of color perform comparatively less well in school is generally a less complicated matter. Consistently, such children are educated in schools that, on most measures of quality and funding, are woefully inadequate. This is particularly true in economically depressed urban areas, where bad schools are just one of several obstacles with which poor people must contend. In inner-city schools throughout the United States it has frequently been the case that schools are unable to provide consistent and reliable evidence that the children they serve are learning and provided quality education. Parents often perceive the public schools available to their children as hopeless and unresponsive to their needs, prompting many who can to opt for private schools to withdraw. For those who can not escape, a growing number of parents have actively sought alternatives via vouchers and various privatization schemes. The proliferation of these kinds of educational alternatives in cities such as Milwaukee, Cleveland and Baltimore is yet another sign of the mounting pressure exerted by parents who are no longer willing to accept the status quo.</p>
<p>The stark inequities manifest in inner-city and some rural schools help to explain the low achievement rates of large numbers of poor children, a disproportionate number of whom are African American and Latino. Left unexplained is the lagging performance of middle class and poor African American and Latino children who have access to better schools. This is the question that has prompted fifteen racially integrated, affluent school districts to form a consortium known as the Minority Student Achievement Network. Comprised of districts located in communities such as White Plains, NY, Ann Arbor, Michigan and Berkeley, California, the network seeks to understand the causes of the racial achievement gap and to devise solutions for reversing it.</p>
<p>On the face of it, the potential for success in reducing the gap in these districts would seem to be high. All fifteen school districts in the network have a track record of sending large numbers of affluent White students to the best colleges and universities in the country. Additionally, unlike schools in high poverty areas, funding is largely not a major obstacle to reform. Each of the districts are located in affluent communities with highly educated populations known for their commitment to liberal political and social values. Yet, in all fifteen districts prospects for producing change are hampered by a deeply ingrained sense that even this ambitious, well intentioned effort will fail to alter student outcomes.</p>
<p>To a large degree, much of the pessimism in these districts and many others that have launched efforts to overcome the racial achievement gap can be attributed to the confusion surrounding the relationship between race and student achievement. Lack of clarity on these issues can be seen most clearly at the level of policy and practice. From a policy standpoint, most issues pertaining to race and education have historically centered on efforts to support racial integration in schools. For a variety of reasons, figuring out how to desegregate schools has taken precedence over the need to figure out how to serve the educational needs of a diverse student population. Policies born out of court orders have seldom been based on an understanding of sound educational practice. Moreover, even in the liberal districts in the Minority Student Achievement Network, (some of which were among the first in the nation to voluntarily de-segregate) the arrival of significant numbers of students of color in the late 60's and early 70's was met with considerable opposition. From the very beginning, the presence of African American children, especially those from low income families, was perceived as a "challenge" to which to respond because the children were typically perceived as disadvantaged and deficient in comparison to their white schoolmates. Framed as "problems" and "challenges" from the very start, it is hardly surprising that the education of students of color would continue to be treated as a problem requiring special interventions years later.</p>
<p>In addition to policy, educational practices often have the effect of favoring privileged students and hindering the educational opportunities of poorer students specifically, and African American and Latino students generally. This is particularly true with respect to the various strategies employed by schools to track and sort students on the basis of some measure of ability and acumen. A large body of research has shown that students of color are more likely to be excluded from classes for those deemed "gifted" in primary school, and from honors and advanced placement courses in high school. The Education Trust has shown, through its research on science and math education, that even students of color who meet the criteria for access to advanced courses are more likely to be restricted based on the recommendation of a counselor or teacher. They are also more likely to be placed in remedial and special education classes, and to be subject to varying forms of school discipline.</p>