RAISING ACHIEVEMENT AND CLOSING GAPS BETWEEN GROUPS: Where are we? What next?

1. RAISING ACHIEVEMENT AND CLOSING GAPS BETWEEN GROUPS: Where are we? What next? CREATE Conference Washington, DC October, 2012

2. America: Two Enduring Stories

3. 1. Land of Opportunity: Work hard, and you can become anything you want to be.

4. 2. Generational Advancement: Through hard work, each generation of parents can assure a better life — and better education — for their children.

5. Powerful narratives. No longer true.

6. Within the U.S., income inequality has been rising.

7. Earnings among the lowest income families have declined, even amid big increases at the top. Source: The College Board, “Trends in College Pricing 2011” (New York: College Board, 2010), Figure 16A.

8. Instead of being the most equal, the U.S. has the third highest income inequality among OECD nations. United States Note: Gini coefficient ranges from 0 to 1, where 0 indicates total income equality and 1 indicates total income inequality. Source: United Nations, U.N. data, http://data.un.org/DocumentData.aspx?q=gini&id=271: 2011

9. For people of color, the past five years have brought an economic Tsunami.

10. Change in Median Wealth, 2005-2009

11. Median Wealth of White Families 20 X that of African Americans 18 X that of Latinos

12. Not just wages and wealth, but mobility as well.

13. U.S. intergenerational mobility was increasing until 1980, but has sharply declined since. Source: Daniel Aaronson and BhashkarMazumder. Intergenerational Economic Mobility in the U.S.,1940 to 2000. Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago WP 2005-12: Dec. 2005.

14. Now, instead of being the “land of opportunity,” the U.S. has one of lowest rates of intergenerational mobility. Source: Tom Hertz, “Understanding Mobility in America” (Washington, D.C.: Center for American Progress, 2006).

15. At macro level, better and more equal education is not the only answer. But at the individual level, it really is.

16. What schools do, in other words, is hugely important to our economy, our democracy, and our society.

17. So, how are we doing?

18. First, some good news. After more than a decade of fairly flat achievement and stagnant or growing gaps in K-12, we appear to be turning the corner with our elementary students.

19. Fourth-Grade Reading:Record performance with gap narrowing *Denotes previous assessment format NAEP 2008 Trends in Academic Progress, NCES

20. Fourth-Grade Math:Record performance with gap narrowing *Denotes previous assessment format Source: NAEP 2008 Trends in Academic Progress, NCES

21. Eighth-Grade Reading: Recent gap narrowing for blacks, less for Latinos *Denotes previous assessment format NAEP 2008 Trends in Academic Progress, NCES

22. Eighth-Grade Math: Progress for all groups, but gaps remain *Denotes previous assessment format NAEP 2008 Trends in Academic Progress, NCES

23. Bottom Line: When we really focus on something, we make progress!

24. Clearly, much more remains to be done in elementary and middle school Too many youngsters still enter high school way behind.

25. But at least we have some traction on elementary and middle school problems. The same is NOT true of our high schools.

26. Achievement Flat in Reading NAEP Long-Term Trends, NCES (2004)

27. Math achievement flat over time * Denotes previous assessment format National Center for Education Statistics, NAEP 2008 Trends in Academic Progress

28. Gaps between groups are mostly wider today than in late eighties, early nineties

29. 12th Grade Reading: No Progress, Gaps Wider than 1988 *Denotes previous assessment format NAEP 2008 Trends in Academic Progress, NCES

30. 12 Grade Math: Results Mostly FlatGaps Same or Widening *Denotes previous assessment format NAEP 2008 Trends in Academic Progress, NCES

31. Moreover, no matter how you cut the data, our students aren’t doing well compared with their peers in other countries.

32. Higher than U.S. average Not measurably different from U.S. average Lower than U.S. average Of 34 OECD countries, the U.S. ranks 12th in reading literacy. U.S.A. OECD “Highlights from PISA 2009,” NCES, 2010

33. Higher than U.S. average Not measurably different from U.S. average Lower than U.S. average Of 34 OECD countries, the U.S. ranks 17th in science. U.S.A. “Highlights from PISA 2009,” NCES, 2010

34. Higher than U.S. average Not measurably different from U.S. average Lower than U.S. average Of 34 OECD countries, the U.S. ranks 25th in math. U.S.A. “Highlights from PISA 2009,” NCES, 2010

35. We used to make up for at least some of this by sending more of our students on to college.

36. We’re relatively strong in educational attainment. Note: Adults with a postsecondary degree include those who have completed either a tertiary-type B program (programs that last for at least two years, are skill-based, and prepare students for direct entry into the labor market) or a tertiary-type A program (programs that last at least three, but usually four, years, are largely theory-based, and provide qualifications for entry into highly skilled professions or advanced research programs). Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Education at a Glance 2011 (2011)

37. Our world standing drops to 15thfor younger workers. United States OECD Average Note: Adults with a postsecondary degree include those who have completed either a tertiary-type B program (programs that last for at least two years, are skill-based, and prepare students for direct entry into the labor market) or a tertiary-type A program (programs that last at least three, but usually four, years, are largely theory-based, and provide qualifications for entry into highly-skilled professions or advanced research programs). Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Education at a Glance 2011 (2011)

38. We’re near the bottom in intergenerational progress. OECD Average United States Note: Adults with a postsecondary degree include those who have completed either a tertiary-type B program (programs that last for at least two years, are skill-based, and prepare students for direct entry into the labor market) or a tertiary-type A program (programs that last at least three, but usually four, years, are largely theory-based, and provide qualifications for entry into highly-skilled professions or advanced research programs). Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Education at a Glance 2011 (2011)

39. Only place we rank high? Inequality.

40. Among OECD Countries, U.S.A. has the 4th Largest Gap Between High-SES and Low-SES Students U.S.A. PISA 2006 Results, OECD, table 4.8b

41. Among OECD Countries, U.S.A. has the 5th Largest Gap Between High-SES and Low-SES Students U.S.A. OECD PISA 2009 Results, OECD, Table II.3.1

42. Gaps in achievement begin before children arrive at the schoolhouse door. But, rather than organizing our educational system to ameliorate this problem, we organize it to exacerbate the problem.

43. How? By giving students who arrive with less, less in school, too.

44. Some of these “lesses” are a result of choices that policymakers make.

45. Funding Gaps Between States

46. Funding Gaps Within States: National inequities in state and local revenue per student Source: Education Trust analyses of U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Census Bureau data for the 2005-06 school year.

47. In truth, though, some of the most devastating “lesses” are a function of choices that educators make.

48. Choices we make about what to expect of whom.....

49. Students in poor schools receive As for work that would earn Cs in affluent schools. Source: Prospects (ABT Associates, 1993), in “Prospects: Final Report on Student Outcomes”, PES, DOE, 1997.

50. African Americans are most likely to be suspended. Source: U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, Civil Rights Data Collection