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Recently we have been learning more about all of the racial disparities that unfortunately exist in our state. From the criminal justice system to health care, Wisconsin has unacceptable gaps that divide almost solely on race. Today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting about racial disparities in education. A recently released report shows that Wisconsin leads the nation in its learning gap between black and white students. Starting any one group of students off with a disadvantage in education is a risky proposition that all-too-often sets them up for failure in other areas of life.
The testing results released yesterday by the U.S. Department of Education showed that although Wisconsin students as a whole did better than the national average, we also had the largest achievement gap in the nation. There was a 38 point gap between white and black students in fourth grade reading and a 39 point gap for eighth grade reading. These gaps were wider than any other state.
Today's story correctly reminds us of the uphill battle faced by all-too-many African American students in our state. Rising poverty, crime rates, disparities in health care and other issues surely have a negative impact on all areas of a student's life, including their education. As Elizabeth Burmaster said, "It's not just an achievement gap, it's an economic gap. It's a gap in health. It's a quality of life gap." Addressing these core issues would seem to be an obvious first step but it certainly should not be the only one.
Also cited in the story, were Education Trust findings that Wisconsin school districts with high minority enrollments have $1,000 less to spend per student than the whitest districts in the state. With that kind of dollar gap one can hardly be surprised at the test result gap. The federal government is surly not helping the situation for minority students in Wisconsin. Two weeks ago the Institute for One Wisconsin released data showing how Wisconsin is being shortchanged by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). One of the larger issues with NCLB is with Title 1 programs which are aimed at providing for academic achievement of disadvantaged students. The Institute found that Wisconsin schools have been under funded by a total of $600 million since 2002. How can we expect better results when we invest less in already disadvantaged students?
