ESSA Gives Black Parents Tools to Hold Schools Accountable
By Lynette Monroe (Program Assistant, NNPA/ESSA Public Awareness Campaign)
Popular opinion, suggest that caregivers, educators, and students have an equal role to play in the academic achievement of students.
However, according to an annual survey of “Black and Latino Parents and Families on Education and Their Children’s Future” facilitated by the Leadership Conference Fund, Black and Latino parents do not feel that educators, or more specifically the system in which these educators operate within, are upholding their portion of responsibility to their children.
Everyone needs to be concerned about accountability and school performance, specifically for Black and Hispanic students.
In 2014, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) projected that public school enrollment would decrease for White students in the United States; the decline in enrollment has resulted in a majority-minority public school system.
That means that national education laws must be culturally competent, taking into account the changing demographics of the public school system. Furthermore, although minorities account for the majority of students enrolled in public schools, our nation’s schools remain extremely segregated. In March 2016, “The Atlantic” reported that “in 90 of the largest 95 U.S. cities, more students of color than Whites attend school with mostly poor or low-income peers.”
Researchers at the Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis found that the single-most powerful predictor of racial gaps in educational achievement is the extent to which students attend schools surrounded by other low-income students.
We have an obligation to advocate for accountability standards and to monitor school performance in a majority-minority public school system, where Black and Hispanic students disproportionately attend schools with low-income classmates.
One of the best ways parents, education advocates and community stakeholders can hold school officials accountable is by reviewing the “report card” in their local school district.
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires that data for each student subgroup is reported, a requirement ESSA Gives Black Parents Tools to Hold Schools Accountable | BlackPressUSA:
