<div class="block">
<h1> 'Alarming' new test-score gap discovered in Seattle schools</h1>
<p class="summary">For the first time, Seattle Public Schools
officials have broken down test scores by specific home language. The
recently announced results revealed a surprising trend that may have
implications for policy around the district.</p>
<p class="byline">By <a href="http://search.nwsource.com/search?searchtype=cq&sort=date&from=ST&byline=Brian%20M%2E%20Rosenthal">Brian M. Rosenthal</a></p>
<p class="source">Seattle Times education reporter</p>
</div>
<div id="PhotoContainer" class="st_image_carousel">
<div class="carouseltabs">
</div>
<div style id="ImageBox" class="ImageBox">
<div style="display:block" class="ImageDiv" id="image_2017046661">
<p><a target="popup_enlarge" class="popup_enlarge" href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/zoom/html/2017046661.html"><img src="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2011/12/09/2016980155.gif" alt=" " title=" " class="art" height="376" width="296"></a></p>
<a target="popup_enlarge" class="popup_enlarge" href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/zoom/html/2017046661.html"><img src="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/art/ui/zoom_photo.gif" alt="Enlarge this photo" class="ui" height="11" width="48" align="left"></a><p class="credit">
</p>
<p class="caption"> </p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="infobox">
<p class="title">Student test scores by language spoken at home</p></div><div class="body">
<p>African-American students whose primary language is English
perform significantly worse in math and reading than black students who
speak another language at home — typically immigrants or refugees —
according to new numbers released by Seattle Public Schools.</p>
<p>District officials, who presented the finding at a recent community
meeting at Rainier Beach High School, noted the results come with
caveats, but called the potential trend troubling and pledged to study
what might be causing it.</p>
<p>Michael Tolley, an executive director overseeing Southeast Seattle
schools, said at the meeting that the data exposed a new achievement gap
that is "extremely, extremely alarming."</p>
<p>The administration has for years analyzed test scores by race. It has
never before broken down student-achievement data by specific home
language or country of origin — it is rare for school districts to
examine test scores at that level — but it is unlikely that the
phenomenon the data suggest is actually new.</p>
<p>In fact, some national experts said the trend represented by the
Seattle data is not surprising. They pointed to some studies about
college attendance and achievement indicating that immigrant families
from all backgrounds tend to put a larger emphasis on education than
those families that have been in the country longer.</p>
<p>Traditional factors in low performance, such as poverty and
single-parent homes, are generally shared by black immigrants and
nonimmigrants alike.</p>
<p>The new finding may help Seattle educators more accurately pinpoint
students who are struggling and figure out how to help them, School
Board members said.</p>
<p>However, district officials said they need to study the new data
further before speculating about the reasons for it or making policy
changes in response.</p>
<p>Some community members said the administration doesn't appear to be taking the results seriously enough.</p>
<p>"I saw that and I was shocked," Rainier Beach PTSA President Carlina
Brown said about the presentation. "I was shocked, and we're not getting
a sense of urgency from the district. We need a timeline. Not another
committee. We need to know what they're doing and when."</p>
<p><strong>Fresh look at data</strong></p>
<p>Mark Teoh, the district's data manager, said he has been wanting to break down student-achievement data this way for years.</p>
<p>His team finally started the project two months ago. First, the
number-crunchers got all of last year's state test scores in reading and
math. Then they compared the scores against information provided by
students each year about the languages they speak at home.</p>
<p>The results, although preliminary, were eye-opening:</p>
<p>• Only 36 percent of black students who speak English at home passed
their grade's math test, while 47 percent of Somali-speaking students
passed. Other black ethnic groups did even better, although still lower
than the district average of 70 percent.</p>
<p>• In reading, 56 percent of black students who speak English passed,
while 67 percent of Somali-speaking students passed. Again, other black
ethnic groups did better, though still lower than the district average
of 78 percent.</p>
<p>The numbers do have significant limitations, Teoh said. That's
because they are based on home-language information that is entirely
self-reported, and the data exclude English Language Learners — an
optional program for students who score poorly on an English proficiency
test.</p>
<p>Most of all, Teoh said, because the English-speaking category
includes students of many black ethnic groups, it's impossible to
compare specific ethnic groups.</p>
<p>At the recent community meeting, much of that distinction was lost on the parents in the audience.</p>
<p>"It's very alarming that students that were born right here are at
the bottom of the barrel," said Vallerie Fisher, whose daughter is a
senior at Rainier Beach. "How is that possible?"</p>
<p><strong>Immigrant experience</strong></p>
<p>The answer to that question may lie in the culture of immigrant families, national education experts said.</p>
<p>Many of those families, who often were relatively wealthy and
well-educated in their home countries, have strong social-support
systems that emphasize education, said Mike Petrilli, the executive vice
president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative education
think tank based in Washington, D.C.</p>
<p>Pamela Bennett, a sociologist at Johns Hopkins University, agreed.
She conducted a study in 2009 that found that immigrant black
high-school graduates attend college at a much higher rate than black or
white students born in the U.S. The reason was that the immigrants had a
higher socioeconomic background, she said.</p>
<p>But that explanation may falter when Seattle's Somali population is considered.</p>
<p>Many of the Somalis, after all, did not follow a normal pattern of
immigration. Their families came to the U.S. to escape their war-torn
country, many by way of refugee camps. But they still did better than
English-speaking African Americans on the tests.</p>
<p>Veronica Gallardo, the director of international programs for Seattle
Public Schools, speculated that the trauma experienced by Somali
families causes them to value the opportunity education provides. In
addition, Somali community groups tend to prioritize education, said
Alexandra Blum, who works with the Somali Community Services Coalition, a
nonprofit that works to empower families in King County.</p>
<p>Seattle School Board member Betty Patu, who has worked for decades
with community groups serving students of color, said she has noticed
that all immigrant families, regardless of socioeconomic status, place
high value on education.</p>
<p>"Their motivation is different," she said. "When you leave your
country, you come here to do something. You don't come here just to sit
around and do nothing."</p>
<p>But fellow board member Harium Martin-Morris cautioned against
drawing conclusions, based on such limited results, about the value
specific communities place on education.</p>
<p>"I would be careful of over-interpreting what this data is actually
saying," he said. "It is interesting, but I hope people don't draw the
wrong conclusions."</p>
<p><strong>Racial expectations?</strong></p>
<p>Another board member, Marty McLaren, has a different theory.</p>
<p>McLaren, a former teacher, believes that black students whose
families have been in the U.S. for generations often perform poorly
because schools and general societal structures have imposed a culture
of low expectations on them dating back to the days of slavery.</p>
<p>"It's heartbreaking," she said of the trend, which she classified as
institutionalized racism. "I've had many of those students. They're
bright and they're wonderful. And they're discouraged."</p>
<p>Rita Green, vice president of the Rainier Beach PTSA, said teachers don't push black students as hard as immigrant students.</p>
<p>Several studies have shown that teachers' feelings about how students will perform impact how the students actually perform.</p>
<p>School Board Vice President Kay Smith-Blum said the newly identified
gap should serve as an argument for the importance of motivating all
children, but also teaching in different ways to reach different
students.</p>
<p>"It goes back to, how do we create a set of materials and tool kits
for our teachers that will allow them to be successful with any person
in any student population?" she said.</p>
<p><em>Brian M. Rosenthal: 206-464-3195 or <a href="mailto:brosenthal@seattletimes.com">brosenthal@seattletimes.com</a>. On Twitter @brianmrosenthal.</em></p>
</div><a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2017046660_newgap19m.html?prmid=head_main">http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2017046660_newgap19m.html?prmid=head_main</a><br><br>-- <br>**************************************<br>
N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br>
<br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************<br>
<br>