State must address minority children's achievement gap

The recent release by the Ohio Department of Education of the ethnicity of proficiency test takers makes it perfectly clear that the methods and strategies used in Ohio to teach minority children are clearly not working. When thousands of black, Hispanic and Native American children are scoring 35 percentage points or more below their white counterparts, those responsible for education in this state have two choices: They can continue trying to address the problems with solutions that do not work, or they can accept their obligation to all of the state's children and take action in a new direction.
To those who would argue that the problems are related to poverty, we would argue that experience with testing in other states has shown that even when poverty is factored out, middle class white students still score significantly higher than middle class black students. Obviously, poor children of any race have educational difficulties, but as we have said before, the fact that poor children do not do well on proficiency tests does not mean they cannot do well. It means that they need special attention to help them realize their full potential.
Unlearning underachievement: As Dr. Donna Ford, a researcher and professor at Ohio State University, told 900 North Carolina educators at their summer leadership conference last year, & quot;Underachievement is learned and it can be unlearned. & quot;
But while the state of North Carolina has put legislation, resources and commitment toward raising achievement and closing the education gap between white and minority students, Ohio leaders spend their time trying to wriggle out of school funding mandates, make the state's science standards a national laughing stock and push higher education further and further out of many students' reach.
The very goal that Gov. Bob Taft is currently articulating -- to make Ohio a welcoming place for high-tech economic development -- has already happened in North Carolina. But legislation there demands that all children read at grade level by the first grade, not the fourth grade as in Ohio. What part of "educated work force" don't Republican leaders understand?
Because states like North Carolina have already done the hard work to determine the factors that result in minority student underachievement and have initiated programs to close that gap, Ohio doesn't need to waste any more time with study groups and task forces.
But every part of the state's system of education is going to have to change its attitude, its goals and its committment.