Malcolm X once said, “Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.” Unfortunately, in Plano, educational inequality remains glaringly evident — leaving minority and low-income students behind. In this article, we will outline where our schooling system as a whole has fallen short, before offering several possible solutions that would allow Plano ISD to remedy these issues.
The Achievement Gap
Put simply, the achievement gap describes the disparity in academic performance between students of different ethnic and financial backgrounds. In Plano, the numbers are troubling. African American students, on average, score almost two hundred points lower on the SAT than White students. Hispanic students, on average, score over one hundred points lower on the SAT than White students.
But what causes this divide? In reality, evidence suggests that the achievement gap is formed well before students begin kindergarten. Children from White, or even Asian families, are much more likely to attend pre-kindergarten than children from Hispanic or American Indian families. It all boils down to financial resources. When a child lives in a more affluent neighborhood, there is a higher probability of them receiving individualized instruction at a young age. Income-related disparities often arise when students find themselves in schools primarily constituted of disadvantaged students — essentially, a result of income-based segregation that is especially prevalent in Plano.
These disparities persist well into the future. Well-off families continue to provide educational advantages to their children by hiring tutors, purchasing resources for test preparation, and employing the services of college admission consultants — luxuries that more disadvantaged families cannot afford. As a result, in PISD, African American students are about half as likely to be considered “college ready” than their White counterparts.
It is becoming more and more evident that both class and race play an significant role in not only the quality of education, but the overall well-being of children in this country.
Unproportionate Disciplinary Actions
Let us be rather blunt. Plano ISD takes harsher measures of punishment against minority students. Consider this: an African American student is two hundred percent more likely to receive an in-school suspension than a White student. Moreover, 1 out of 11 African American students facing disciplinary action ultimately received an in-school suspension, while 1 out of 30 White students facing disciplinary action ultimately received an in-school suspension. And while it is certainly necessary to evaluate the individual circumstances in regards to each of these instances, this also represents a broader national trend — the over-policing of minority students in schools.
This has devastating impacts. A report from Vox sums up what happens when the worst of school disciplinary actions rear their head: “This has created what some critics refer to as the “school-to-prison pipeline.” Essentially, as school punishments become harsher — and especially as they increasingly involve police — a pathway is created for students to get involved in the criminal justice system fairly early on in their lives, which can heighten the risk of delinquent or criminal activity in the future. (For one, a criminal record means you can be subject to discrimiation when it comes to housing and employment, making it almost impossible for former offenders to get back on their feet.)”
What Can Be Done
We’ll be fair. Plano ISD has taken some respectable measures to address racial inequality in the last few years. We mentioned earlier how a lack of access to pre-kindergarten services can commence the achievement gap at a young age. Well, just recently, Plano ISD unveiled Universal Pre-K for all residents.
But there’s much more to be done. Here are a few things that Plano ISD needs to consider immediately.
We need to have a staff that proportionately represents the student body. In Plano ISD, while approximately thirty percent of students are White, over seventy percent of teachers are White. Twenty-five percent of students are Hispanic, but just about thirteen percent of teachers are Hispanic. Studies conclude that students learn better from teachers of their own race, as it fosters a meaningful connection that strengthens the student-teacher relationship.
End school policing. This practice creates a toxic school environment and fuels the school-to-prison pipeline. Studies show that African American students feel disincentivized to attend schools, and less safe when they do so.
Develop a curriculum that increases emphasis on culture and an accurate portrayal of history. For far too long, we have continued to use a curriculum that promotes a euro-centric viewpoint, and isolates the history of the many other global cultures. On a similar note, we need explicit lessons on race issues in our country — ones that confront the ugliest parts of American history in detail, rather than ignoring them.
Schools are places that are supposed to educate children and lead them to happy, productive lives. But the effects of de facto segregation — based on race and income, mean that some students end up disadvantaged from the start.
Written By: Christopher Lorde & Amit Konda
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