Proficiency Of Black Students Is Found To Be Far Lower Than Expected

New York Times:

An achievement gap separating black from white students has long been documented -- a social divide extremely vexing to policy makers and the target of one blast of school reform after another.

But a new report focusing on black males suggests that the picture is even bleaker than generally known.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[logic-a-go-go]

11:19 PM on 11/14/2010

If there is ANY question as to why this gap exists, please go to YouTube and watch Jane Elliott's famous Blue Eye/Brown Eye experiment. Watch specifically the part related to the phonics card exercise. That should explain it.

[Galtonian]

12:44 AM on 11/12/2010

It is interesting that the PC Boasians/Environmentalists are now postulating that ethnoracial group differences in cognitive abilities are becoming ingrained at a very early age so that by preschool, kindergarten and elementary school, it is already TOO LATE to equalize the racial group performance on cognitive tests. Harvard's Professor Ferguson is saying that things must be done to facilitate proper mental functioning when Blacks are only about one or two years old. Next thing you know the environmentalists will be saying that the important thing is to play Mozart music in the crib during the first few months (Oh yeah, that WAS one of their theories...).

But, maybe the ethnoracial group differences actual are present at the moment of conception, you know that old HEREDITY, DNA and GENETICS stuff that modern (non-Social Science) scientists often tend to believe in.

Left-wing sites such as HuffPost or NYTimes often censor comments which postulate that ethnoracial groups might indeed have INNATE differences in physical (e.g. running or jumping ability) or mental (e.g. cognitive ability or musical creativity) traits.

The non-PC Galtonians/hereditarians (Arthur Jensen, J. Philippe Rushton, Richard Lynn, Hans Eysenck, Richard Herrnstein, Charles Murray, Linda Gottfredson, et al.) have argued that ethnoracial group differences in general cognitive ability are probably due to genetics. More and more of us are starting to agree that genetic differences in IQ-type intelligence are probably the true cause for these stubbornly persistent racial test score gaps.

[everalone]

11:04 AM on 11/12/2010

No amount of evidence of the contrary will convince the Galtonians/hereditarians, because they are not really scientists, they just twist analysis and interpretation to fit their visions and confirm what they wish to believe.
Even though your comment obvisouly was not censored, I am always quite amused when I hear these galtonians drap (in their delusion) themselves with integrity, tough but wise and sad truth tellers,
They are in fact like vulgar conspiracists, whispering to the gullibles that they, from their high tower of intellectual power, lucidity and honesty, will tell you the truth that no one else dare admit, that you, poor honest man, are kept in the dark and being controlled, abused, deceived by those who want to shroud the truth from you.
In fact modern scientists (who believe in dna, genetics etc...) do not tend to be galtonian and do not believe what you wish they believed.

[Galtonian]

02:20 PM on 11/12/2010

The elegant and parsimonious Galtonian/hereditarian theory of ethnoracial group genetic diversity in mental ability is becoming the favored hypothesis with many serious scientists (see recent review "Human Evolution. Tracing evolution's recent fingerprints." in Science magazine which is the premier American science journal).

Boasian/environmentalist perspective:
Ethnoracial groups merely APPEAR to differ in intelligence because of a myriad of reasons which change every few years (...tests are unfair...ghetto schools are too rundown and teachers are bad...Black parents don't talk correctly to their children...Black parents don't read enough story books...Black students suffer from stereotype threat...Blacks tend to have lower socioeconomic status which somehow lowers their IQ...Blah Blah Blah) but in reality all ethnoracial groups actually do have the same innate underlying IQ, seriously you have to believe this is true because otherwise you must be an evil racist, OKAY? Case Closed!

Galtonian/hereditarian perspective:
IQ-type intelligence is a highly heritable mental trait (i.e. variation is mostly due to genetic differences). Ethnoracial groups have genetic differences in their known patterns of genomic variations (see modern HapMap project data for proof of this claim). Ethnoracial groups appear to differ in average IQ because they really do indeed have different average innate intelligence. These innate IQ differences are the main cause for widely observed academic achievement gaps and socioeconomic status gaps.

Many Galtonian/hereditarian scientists are highly regarded, e.g. Cattell, Eysenck, Jensen, Herrnstein, Pinker, Harpending

[MG Metiva]

07:58 PM on 11/11/2010

It's a class issue as in that a certain population does not value education but rather sports and partying. It's a shame that some people don't care about their kids' education.

[logic-a-go-go]

11:20 PM on 11/14/2010

Classic blame the victim here.

[QueenNzinga]

07:38 PM on 11/10/2010

Many Parents from a lower economic background all have the same thing in common. They do not care about the education of their children. This really isn't a Black problem it is a class problem. However, there are higher percentages in the Black community because Blacks tend to be poorer for many reasons one of them being lack of education. It is a vicious cycle that we have to figure out how to break. Black students are no smarter or dumber than anyone else. There is a disconnect between ability and achievement. Bad teachers are 5% of the problem and the curriculum and parents round out the other 40 to 55 percent respectively.

[yourbuffers]

04:39 PM on 11/10/2010

this needs to be in the headlines! truths that are uncomfortable are the ones that need to be pormoted. the liberal "narratives" are the ones that have hurt black education advancement because it is based off of false premises.

the only way to increase scores comes from promoting and creating a culture that respects and values education and intellectualism. this has to start before age 5! no matter how right schools do things , they can't make up for values an culture taught at home and in the neighborhoods!!!!

[pc51]

07:05 PM on 11/13/2010

It's so ironic because the Libs think that by letting them off the hook all the time that they are "helping" them. Rather than encouraging them to learn how to fish, they have stuffed them so full of free 'get off the hook' fishies to the point of physical, mental and emotional obesity. Then we all get to pay for their astronomical healthcare costs.

[logic-a-go-go]

11:21 PM on 11/14/2010

Abusive. Get an education and perhaps you'll learn something.

[TheWorldBlowsUpTommorow]

11:44 AM on 11/10/2010

I'm black and this really isn't a surprise for me. The answer lies in earlier effective childhood education that begins at around 2 or 3 years old, rather than at around kindergarten. Studies have shown that these work to ameliorate the black condition and better prepare black students for kindergarten. Moreover, we should be looking into successful programs that have greatly improved poor black performance; these include the likes charter schools like KIPP and Harlem Children's Zone.

[Phoobie]

06:36 PM on 11/10/2010

Are you talking about parents working on educational activities with their own children beginning at age 2 or 3, or are you talking about people other than the parents teaching the children at that age?

[TheWorldBlowsUpTommorow]

09:44 PM on 11/10/2010

It doesn't matter how a child receives enriched preschool environments, but rather that they do receive it. I would prefer somebody else taking care of children 7 days a week, with parents taking parenting classes in the meantime. Look towards Baby College in HCZ for more details.

[QueenNzinga]

07:39 PM on 11/10/2010

The parents need to take a more active role in their children's education from a young age. Remedy that and that's more than half the problem.

[TheWorldBlowsUpTommorow]

09:43 PM on 11/10/2010

No. We're talking about enriched preschool environments from a VERY young age.

[George Hanshaw]

11:26 AM on 11/10/2010

Now this IS an inconvenient truth. I'll give you another one. I know a family whose parents came here in the 1970s, fleeing the Idi Amin government in Uganda. The father was a junior high school math teacher, the mother was an LPN. They had three children in this country. They raised their kids in the suburbs, going to public schools and they didn't really experience any particular racial animus. All three of their kids completed college - two of them are now married (both to whites) and the entire family is doing fine. The parents still go back to see their extended family in Uganda, the kids are much less interested in the 'old country,' this is and has always been home to them. They are successfully raising their own families and - despite the current economic downturn - or doing pretty well.

Of course, education has always been an essential part of their lives, and they speak better English than I do.

There is nothing genetic about this education gap. It's cultural. Until the US African-American community truly values education, they are condemned to poverty.

[LJ920]

01:35 PM on 11/12/2010

I COMPLETELY agree with your post except for this:

"Until the US African-American community truly values education, they are condemned to poverty."

Not all US African-Americans devalue education and not all are condemned to poverty. However there is a certain SEGMENT of US African-Americans, largely along the lines of class, specifically the underclass, that don't value education and are condemned to poverty. As a black woman, I sometimes cringe at all black Americans being thrown into the same pot when not all blacks think, believe or value the same things. There are black Americans that truly value education and societal norms, it's just the vast underclass of blacks, for all it's sensationalism, gets all the media attention.

[logic-a-go-go]

11:26 PM on 11/14/2010

You cannot use one anecdotal example, to offer explanation of why an entire group cannot do the same. That's just ridiculous.

[faybeee]

05:44 AM on 11/10/2010

Though the black middle class has increased fantastically, some things have not change in the last 50 years. The cause of the increase in the black middle class is stopping housing descrimination which allowed the children to go to better schools, plus the immensely successful head start program. But, the lousy schools in poor neighborhoods has not changed since I was in grade school, where it all starts. I was a white student in a grade school near the black projects (there where black projects and white projects then). The teachers hated their jobs and their students. When a teacher did poorly in a white school, they were banned to the black schools. Crumbling buildings, lack of text books. The teachers backed up their hatred by concentrating on the bad students. Meanwhile, there were so many students that truly wanted to learn who were just ignored.

[Splash]

04:40 AM on 11/10/2010

Must say I've been a member of Huff Post for a while, and tend to leave the blogging to others. However as a Black Man this is a tragedy that compels me to speak. Point is there will be NO improvement in the education of Black children, unless BLACKS want to change. 90% of the problem lies squarely at our front door, but we continue to mis-place the blame. I am NOT a teacher, but i've been in enough classrooms and impoverish neighborhoods (in NYC & DC) to know where the problem is. For some reason, Black parents have separated the notion of success and academics, promoting only success and demoting academics. Then wrapping success up in a glitzy package of material things and unreachable dreams (eg sports & entertainment). There is no math nor science in this field of dreams, only moonwalking through a fairytale paradise. Then they wake up and in the blink of an eye paradise is really a freaking nightmare - they have no knowledge, no skills, no job and no money.
Folks, wake the hell up, we live in an ultra-capitalistic, Darwinian Society. The power of materialism on the poor is worst than crack or porn. The desires to want, need and live an unfordable, bling lifestyle is the disease that parents are killing their kids with.

We must push to keep materialism away from children, let their imaginations flourish and minds be free. Only then will we see improvement in academic achievement Black People.

[GravitonX]

11:27 AM on 11/10/2010

Sure, and I'm sure this has been said about 50 billion times. However, your implied solution, starting with blame, is a non-starter. Blaming a fool for being a fool isn't going to transfer them into not being a fool. "Human beings learn from those who either have their act together or who are getting their act together." This is the entire basis of education, that we don't expect everyone to inately have the answers. That said, the change begins with intervention, whether it's throw all the teachers out and get new ones, send all the children to charter schools, or the one I support and that has already been tested, re-integration of the public school system - sharing the resources and expertise.

[Splash]

05:32 PM on 11/10/2010

I think you pay more attention to your post than what you're actually saying. You have some valid points interspersed with an invalid assumption. You see I spend more time doing than talking. Meaning the blaming 50billion times is the problem. Stop the blaming an actually start hitting folks where it matters most - in their comfortable lifestyles. Begin significantly increasing the responsibilities of parents who get social handouts to make sure their kids perform better in schools:
If their Son/Daughter does poorly, reduce financial assistance or ban further benefits (restructure programs so that the kids are fed in community centers, after school programs, etc), enforce school uniforms in all public schools, prohibit boys wearing earrings and from showing the crack of the you know what schools. If students continuously under-perform, have parents names posted in the media and furthermore make students who drop-out of school eligible for to be drafted in to the Military. They want to jump out of the draft, then jump their behinds back in school and do well, VERY well or it's back to Paris Island.
Let's face it there is direct correlation between academic failure and crime. Pick your poison. Everything I said requires tons of political courage, which is in short supply today. So I won't hold my breath, but your response shows that there is way too little substantive conversation on blogs - just way too many blow-hards.

Peace out!

I yield the balance of my time -

[Phoobie]

06:59 PM on 11/10/2010

Let me get this straight: You're putting everything on the schools and nothing on the parents? Do you really think that parents are so useless/unimportant to their child's education that schools don't/shouldn't need them to do anything other than put them on the bus in the morning?

[defiance777]

12:15 PM on 11/14/2010

This is awesome! This article puts everything on the schools to perform, as if to devalue the home environment! Schools are for educating children not raising them!

[kinger50]

11:55 PM on 11/09/2010

This is another case of the tail trying to wag the dog. The issue is not the gap, it is to understand what makes a good student. What do good students do all day? What do their parents do? How do they spend their time and with whom, doing what activites? How do great students behave? The behavior of good students is very telling. No matter how good the teacher, the wrong behavior will lead to low student achievement. Do black students want to be like their same aged white peers or do they reject being measured using the white yardstick? While economics are a factor, understanding the exceptions to these stereotypes will help the most. The fact that some black students succeed in the same schools where others fail is far more interesting than the gap. Schools are one factor in a student's success. Conversely, some whites fail no matter how priviledged.These exceptions hold the key understanding what students want and don't want from school.

[GravitonX]

11:38 AM on 11/10/2010

I fear you have touch on the enormity of the problem. It's not just local to the school. It's a complicating symptom of a much broader issue. Discrimination in housing, employment, access to capital, a Draconian criminal justice system, all of which are designed to converge to crush a community and a people, and producing fresh young victims in it's wake.

Yes, anyone can be a victim and it has nothing to do with that mental candy people call "not thinking that you've been victimized." In fact, knowing that you've been a victim gives one the anger to seek a better situation and go after those that caused it. They know that. That's why make every effort in diverting your attention from your victimization.

[logic-a-go-go]

11:30 PM on 11/14/2010

Finally! Excellent post that gets to the very heart of this complex problem in a no-nonsense way. You are faved and fanned and it is most deserving.

[freducate]

10:15 PM on 11/10/2010

"The behavior of good students is very telling. No matter how good the teacher, the wrong behavior will lead to low student achievement."

You certainly hit the nail on the head here. For all the debate about the most important factor in education, the most primary factor seems to elude many: it's the student. It's essentiall to teach students how to consistently succeed, improving their readiness. Obviously, other factors are crucial, but without the student's active engagement, even if the other factors are fully in place, achievement will not rise nearly as much as it would if the student is actively engaged. It is absolutely possible to teach students how to be more actively engaged, and you will find concrete help here: http://bit.ly/cRC3Ml. It's all there and it's all free.

[MacManLB]

05:01 PM on 11/09/2010

"When you control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his "proper place" and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary."

Dr. Carter Goodwin Woodson

[WhatchaTalkinBoutWillis]

11:59 PM on 11/09/2010

"The Miseducation of the Negro". Was 'required' reading in undergrad. Love that book!

[StormWarrior]

03:52 PM on 11/09/2010

A CONVERSATION ABOUT RACE with Black children:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWPhlO6Uv2E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybDa0gSuAcg

20/20 ABC News: Children & The Psychology of White Supremacy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTYn1WRCuoU

[pasko]

03:33 PM on 11/09/2010

For God's sake, how bad does it have to get before liberals start supporting charter schools and voucher programs?

[M Pearle]

03:49 PM on 11/09/2010

***how bad does it have to get before liberals start supporting charter schools and voucher programs?***

I think the Coleman report found that underachievement was more linked to families and peer environments, rather than the schools per se.

http://badstudentsnotbadschools.com/

[JuanCarlosysofia]

10:19 PM on 11/09/2010

vouchers are for tbaggers and catholic schools.we had this catfight in the 70s.give me voucher so my kid can go to an all white school.

[boozhoo1]

04:00 PM on 11/09/2010

how about the federal and state government FULLY fund public schools from funds NOT tied to property tax.

THEN let voucher programs take funding from property taxes and let voucher schools continue to waive testing requirements.

or ... let public schools pick the students they want to educate. then order parochial and private schools 'of academic excellency' take responsibility for educating the 8-15% of children that public schools reject (fully funded of course) but charge those schools with educating the difficult with no 'special' funding and demand for education even following an expulsion.

[pasko]

04:19 PM on 11/09/2010

I'm all for choices - whatever gives kids and parents the most choices so they have more control over their own education is far better than leaving it up to bureaucrats.

[Dave Pinsen]

05:29 PM on 11/09/2010

I'm curious what "FULLY" fund means to you. Are you aware that we already spend more per student on education than Japan does? We spend about 7% of our GDP on education (taking into account local, state and federal expenditures), compared to about 4% on Defense.

One of the biggest problems with these discussions is that few realize that many proposed reforms have already been tried in the past somewhere. The "money is no object" approach was tried in the Kansas City school district, with lackluster results. New Jersey has for years taken tax money from wealthy towns and poured it into poor, predominantly black school systems without significantly narrowing academic achievement gaps.

[Cayita]

02:52 PM on 11/09/2010

I worked with Hispanic families at an Even Start program (early childhood literacy and parenting). This was a very specific group: migrants from rural Mexico and Central America with a third grade education). My job was to help them help their children. These were good people (they attended the program because they wanted to be better parents) but they lacked common sense parenting skills (things that even I, who didnt have children at the time, knew where obvious). They simply needed someone to guide them.

Example: The teacher tell the parent that the child need to practice addition because he is not doing well. So, when the child comes home from school, the parent would tell him: Go to your room and practice. By HIMSELF. I had to explain the parents that it doesnt work like that. "If I give you a paper in Chinese and tell you, go study it, no matter how much time you send looking at that paper, you wont understand it". It is the same for children. Also, I saw many children doing their homework on their beds in front of the TV and it never occured to the parents to tell them to go to kitchen table.

I personally dont know any black parents of school-age children but I guess that the problems their children have in school are not due to race but to parenting (and that statement is valid regarless of your race).

[Cayita]

02:29 PM on 11/09/2010

I would like a study that tries to pinpoint a cause (or several causes) for this racial gap. Let's get the statistics of black children's school performance depending on other variables:

1) Age of the parents
2) State of the household (single parent or both parents present)
3) Number or siblings
4) Parent's level of education
5) Urban or rural setting

My guess is that children with single young mothers (whether white, black, hispanic or whatever) and multiple siblings are less likely to do well in school.

AA women have more children than white women (2.9 against 1.9 if I am not mistaken) and are way more likely to have children out of wedlock. I dont know whether they have children at an earlier age but all this factors work against a child. I am not saying that children who grow up in that emviroment don't have a chance (regardless of their race) but it is certainly more difficult for them.

[pasko]

03:34 PM on 11/09/2010

Absolutely - the disappearance of fathers from the home has been the greatest crime perpetrated against America's youth.

[GravitonX]

06:48 PM on 11/09/2010

True. The problem is that they didn't just simply disappear. The laws were changed to criminalize and excessively punish "illegal" behavior patterns. Then, the destruction just built on itself.

Part of the fix will involve the criminal justice system.

[WhatchaTalkinBoutWillis]

12:02 AM on 11/10/2010

Valid points!