- Recently I stood before the School Board of Miami-Dade County and Superintendent Alberto Carvalho to address concerns regarding the provision of school choice options in Miami’s urban core. During my two-minute comments, I also shared that there were “A” schools in the district in which only 18 out of 100 ninth grade students could read at grade level based on the 2014 FCAT Reading Performance data.
- To some, my words were taken as blasphemy – a statement of untruth regarding the educational outcomes in the urban core of the nation’s 4th largest school district, a district through whose ranks I rose a teacher, principal, and district administrator before becoming a superintendent. To others, it was the speaking of “truth to power” as it related to the educational proficiency rates of the district’s most fragile student populations. On either side, I received countless phone calls, e-mails, and text messages regarding what I had uttered in my brief, two-minute comments. I spoke only what too many knew to be true and risked joining those who are criticized for clearly and succinctly pointing out how present accountability systems are concealing the failures of schools and school districts in addressing the ever widening achievement gap.
- An analysis of 8 senior high schools in Miami-Dade County that have been rated as “A” or “B” revealed that the number of students who can read at grade level is only 30 out of 100. In 5 of the 8 schools, the 2014 FCAT Reading scores for ninth grade show that no more than 24 out of 100 are proficient in reading. This unspoken truth about the lack of reading proficiency among students in the urban core is an issue that is perplexing school districts and accountability systems across the nation.
- A recent report released by the Education Trust on school ratings used by Florida, Kentucky, and Minnesota further illuminated this issue and elevated the national discussion around how systems such as Florida’s that use the A-to-F grading approach conceal the failures of schools and school districts in addressing the achievement gap. Consequently, such systems embrace, celebrate, and promote the achievement of letter grades—there are countless “My School is an “A” banners that grace schools across the state—while failing to fully inform stakeholders on how well students and schools are doing in the areas of reading and math proficiency. These systems and their formulas, which are usually complex, further obscure assessment and understanding of school and student performance for many parents, especially those from underserved communities with large populations of Black, Hispanic, and poor children.
- In fact, researchers with the Education Trust found that the proficiency rates for Black students in Florida’s “A” rated schools are, on average, four percentage points lower than for white peers in “C” rated schools. Simply put, their research suggests that in the area of student reading proficiency, an “A” in the urban core is less than a “C” in the suburbs. A review of 2013 FCAT Reading performance data did in fact reveal such discrepancies in two “A” rated senior high schools in Miami-Dade County: The school in the suburbs had a reading proficiency rate of 88 percent while the school in the urban core had a reading proficiency rate of 30 percent. The same held true for math in which the school located in suburbia had a rate of 91 percent while the school located in the heart of the urban core was 53 percent. Both were “A” schools.
- Although there has been an increase in the number of schools earning A’s and B’s in Miami’s urban core, the question still looms: what has been done to close the achievement gaps for some of the county’s most fragile student populations? What percentages of students are proficient in reading and mathematics in schools across the district? Are the proficiency rates the similar or the same in “A” schools across the district?
- This may create some discomfort for those charged with addressing these issues and even some debate around the politics and motives around raising such an issue. Professional discomfort and political debate should not be our focus.
- What should matter most to all of us in Miami-Dade County and throughout the state of Florida is the potential life-time of discomfort that will be felt by the 82 out of 100 students who cannot read no matter what letter grade their school receives.
- The link to the published analysis by the the Education Trust can be viewed here: http://bit.ly/ZA9pSK
