Health & Fitness
10 gap closing ideas from the 1990's
10 old ideas to close the achievement gaps for black students.
Recently, a reader of this blog said I was void of ideas—ideas that closed academic achievement gaps. That comment got me thinking—I’m I really void of ideas?
If we judged me on just me throwing ideas on the table—which I have been doing since the 1980’s, then heck no is the answer. It is probably difficult to find any single Montgomery County resident who has tossed more ideas in the public domain than me, especially when it concern African American students and the achievement gap.
Here are 10 ideas listed in chronological order—all 10 are from the 1990’s. I could have easily cited another 20 ideas from just the 2000’s. Most of the ideas
come from columns and essays written for The Montgomery Journal (a local newspaper that went out of business), The Washington Post, and Education Week.
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Idea #1 (December 20, 1988): provide black kids with better information
about college. “Establish a financial-aid clearinghouse to help black students find enough financial aid to handle the cost of college.”
Idea #2 (March 8, 1990): pay teachers more. I want the teachers who teach my children to feel good about their profession, and the best way to do that is by paying them a salary that’s high-end not low-end.
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Idea #3 (October 3, 1990): abolish academic tracking. “If our schools are serious about improving the academic performance of their black youngsters, then let’s do something real and stop tinkering. Abolishing tracking would send the message that we no longer will tolerate failure or mediocrity.”
Idea #4 (December 6, 1990): reduce class sizes. “If we’re willing to move away from the traditional school day, then why not move away from the traditional school year? And doing both could result in reduced-size classes.”
Idea #5 (February 2, 1991): use black fathers as a solution. “But we black fathers do have the power to shape and protect our sons. It’s a power only fathers have.”
Idea #6 (April 4, 1994): get mad and upset. “No one seems angry or visibly upset about the disparities (gaps). No one expresses passionate concern or outrage over the slow progress. But are these emotions important? Appropriate? Fair? Yes, they’re all these things and so much more. Without them, we’re doomed from the start, and when the year 2000 rolls in, the disparities (gaps) will still be staring us in our civil faces.”
Idea #7 (June 5, 1995): make every kid a gifted kid. “No current leader I know would give communities carte blanche authority to change their schools to insure that every kid through the door was challenged intellectually. Challenged the way we challenge very magnet kid, every gifted kid.”
Idea #8 (December 1, 1997): encourage poor students to improve school attendance. “On average, FARMS students across their elementary school years miss nearly 90 days of school (approximately a half year of schooling). More than any other group of students, these students can ill afford to be absent the most from school.”
Idea #9 (January 4, 1998): require black male students to step up their academic games. “It may seem too obvious to bear repeating, but students who plan to go to college must begin by taking college preparatory courses and then by applying to college. Sitting around complaining about racist white high school counselors doesn’t help.”
Idea #10 (July 26, 1998): take your SATs early and squeeze in a prep program. “Washington-area parents also will find tutorials sponsored by community organizations such as the NAACP, as well as school-based mentoring programs offering free prep courses to students interested in improving their SAT performance.”