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April 28, 2005
Payzant aims to reduce Hub achievement gap
Jeremy Schwab
On May 2, Boston Public Schools Superintendent Thomas Payzant
will visit the Dudley Branch Library to discuss with the public
his campaign to reduce the achievement gap between black and Latino
students and the district’s white and Asian students.
Blacks and Latinos, on average, score lower on the Massachusetts
Comprehensive Assessment System test, which tests math and English
proficiency, than do their white and Asian counterparts.
Interviewed by the Banner last week, Payzant said his plan includes
phasing in full-day pre-school for all four-year-olds, stepping
up teachers’ training to work with English language learners,
providing additional tutoring to students in grades three, six
and nine — particularly challenging years when the curriculum
becomes more complex — and breaking up schools into smaller
learning communities.
Payzant announced near the start of the current school year a
campaign to reduce the achievement gap. He has focused on maintaining
existing programs that are effective and proposing new initiatives,
such as the push for full-day pre-school for four-year-olds.
Payzant’s initiatives are aimed both at reducing the achievement
gap and bringing all students to the so-called “proficiency”
level on the MCAS test, a higher standard than simply passing,
by 2014.
The initiatives would impact students of all races, with none
specifically targeting blacks or Latinos. However, some are aimed
at barriers to achievement that hold back many blacks and Latinos,
who make up the majority of students in the district.
Increasing teachers’ understanding of the needs of English
language learners, for instance, could help Latino immigrants
struggling to learn English.
Providing pre-school to all four-year-olds, Payzant’s goal
over the next four or five years, could help lower-income children
in particular.
“There is strong research to support this kind of investment
as one of the best strategies for giving children a chance to
start school and be successful in the early childhood years,”
said Payzant. “Too many children, particularly those from
low socio-economic backgrounds, start school behind students who
come to school with much larger vocabularies, more exposure to
books and a readiness to begin reading, which is the gateway to
education.”
To reduce the achievement gap, the school district needs to do
more to increase the performance of special education students,
many of whom are students of color, say education activists. Activists
say the district needs to hire more special education councilors,
listen more to parents’ concerns about their special needs
children and better inform parents about their children’s
academic success plans.
The dearth of special education councilors is due
to difficulty finding qualified candidates, not lack of money
in the budget, according to Payzant.
Parental involvement is widely seen as a key component in the
effort to close the achievement gap. A local expert on community
organization for education confirmed the importance of parental
involvement.
“There must be a partnership between schools and the community,”
said Massachusetts Advocates for Children Senior Project Director
John Mudd. “Both sides have very deep responsibilities,
and the school system needs to recognize that only a partnership
can succeed. I think that too often the culture in the Boston
Public Schools is a culture of the professional who thinks they
have all the answers and can tell people what they need to do.
Teachers need to communicate a respect for parents for their cultures,
insights and knowledge of their kids.”
Payzant acknowledged the importance of reaching out more to parents.
“Part of the overall strategy is to give parents support
so they know what will make a difference in terms of how to help
their students, like do home reading programs,” he said.
“What we’re trying to figure out is the best way at
the school level to reach out to parents and have them feel more
positive about accessibility to schools and the importance of
partnership between home and school.”
In the proposed budget for the next fiscal year, $895,000 would
go to adding staff to reach out to parents at particular schools.
School department administrators are still deciding whether the
positions should be part-time or full-time, which would affect
how many new positions could be created.
While activists from a range of community-based groups are pressing
the school department to hire parent outreach coordinators in
all schools, school department administrators say they do not
have the money to hire even part-time outreach coordinators in
every school.
Payzant said he hopes to eventually hire outreach coordinators
in all schools “depending on the availability of resources.”
Budgetary constraints, including an $85 million total cut over
fiscal years 2003 and 2004, hamper the school department’s
ability to tackle the achievement gap. The proposals of education
activists have been hindered by the budget crunch.
“Like many urban districts, there are challenges students
are facing, specifically challenges that are due to a lack of
adequate resources for our schools,” said Caprice Taylor-Mendez,
director of the Boston Parent Organizing Project.
In addition, Payzant has reached out to principals across the
district to let them know the importance of reducing the gap.
He said the school department would provide additional training
on the achievement gap to assistant principals, literacy and math
coaches and teachers this spring and summer.
In his May 2 meeting at the Dudley Branch Library, which will
take place from 6 to 8:30 p.m., Payzant will meet with parents
and members of the public to discuss his work to reduce the achievement
gap and his plans in that vein for next year. A panel of teachers,
parents and students will give their views on the issue. The forum
is being sponsored by the Work for Quality, Fight for Equity group,
which advocates around a range of education issues.
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