(Name-mce) ListServ Education Quality for Minorities Faulted

[Villanueva Anselmo]

For more information and to download the complete report referenced in
the article below, go to:

 

http://www2.edtrust.org/edtrust/

 

Anselmo

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Education Quality for Minorities Faulted

By BEN FELLER, AP Education Writer

Thursday, August 10, 2006

 

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(08-10) 18:22 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) - 

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/08/10/national/w18
2208D96.DTL

Most states have shirked the law by failing to ensure that poor and
minority students get their fair share of qualified teachers, a new
analysis contends.

The No Child Left Behind law says underprivileged and minority kids
should not have a larger share of teachers who are unqualified,
inexperienced or teaching unfamiliar topics.

It puts the responsibility on states to figure out how to do that.

States are falling far short on the promise, according to a study
released Thursday by The Education Trust, a group that advocates for
poor and minority kids. It is based on a review of new plans from every
state and the District of Columbia.

"What we found gives cause for grave concern," said Heather Peske, one
of the authors.

The report contends that states handed in vastly incomplete data, weak
strategies for fixing inequities across schools, and goals so vague they
can't even be measured.

All of it undermines the national effort to improve achievement, the
report suggests.

The Education Department took heat, too. The report blames the agency
for giving poor guidance to the states and for essentially ignoring the
teacher-equity issue for four years.

"We cannot close achievement gaps if we don't close gaps in teacher
quality," said Ross Wiener, policy director of The Education Trust.

A representative for state school leaders said the report misses some
key points.

"This is something that states care deeply about and have been working
on," said Scott Palmer, a consultant for the Council of Chief State
School Officers. As examples, he said states are improving data
collection and paying incentives to teachers in needy schools.

More broadly, he said, the report does not "acknowledge what an
unbelievable challenge this is." Distributing teachers fairly among all
students, he said, is a long-term mission.

The Education Department will release its own review of the state plans
next week. Spokeswoman Katherine McLane said the agency shares the view
that "much more needs to be done to ensure every child, regardless of
income, is taught by a highly qualified teacher."

The promise of a fair distribution of teachers has been overshadowed by
a related goal of the law. By the end of the 2005-06 school year, states
were supposed to make sure that every core academic class was taught by
a highly qualified teacher.

No state made the deadline. So Education Secretary Margaret Spellings
ordered states to submit new plans on how they will comply. They were
made public in late July.

Education Trust researchers reviewed those plans and found:

_ 40 states did not analyze whether minority students were being
shortchanged.

_ 18 states did not report whether poor kids get an unfair share of
unqualified teachers.

_ Virtually no state reported on whether poor or minority students had
larger shares of "inexperienced" teachers. The law uses that term but
leaves it open as to how to define it.

_ Only three states reported complete data on the quality of teachers
assigned to poor and minority kids. They are Ohio, Nevada and Tennessee.
The report commends those states for steps they take to get quality,
experienced teachers into at-risk schools.

The report recommends that the Education Department reject the majority
of the state plans, issue clearer guidance and order the states to start
over.

No Child Left Behind, approved by Congress in 2001, is at the heart of
President Bush's domestic agenda.