(posted Monday, Sept 10, 2007)

Speaker will emphasize need to make sure Latino and African-American students make the grade

The former chief policy officer of the NAACP will speak on the Indiana University campus this week about what he sees as a potential problem for the U.S. economy—failing to properly prepare some of the fastest-growing segments of the population. Dr. John Jackson, President and CEO of the Schott Foundation for Public Education will present "¬¬Leaving Our Children Behind: the Cost to Our Nation," on Thursday (September 13) at 1:30 p.m., in the Frangipani Room of the Indiana Memorial Union. The appearance opens the fall Policy Chat series by the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy in the Indiana University School of Education.

Jackson said African-American and Latino males are falling behind just as their numbers increase. “There seems to be a sentiment that educating African-American and Latino students is optional,” Jackson said. “It’s not optional; it’s a necessity if this country wants to remain competitive in a global market.”

The former senior policy advisor to the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Education took over the Schott Foundation in July. The foundation is focused on issues of educational inequity.

The failure to properly educate those two groups is costly to not just the students, but the nation as a whole, Jackson said. “Economists have said that we’re losing about $45 billion in revenue if we just take the dropout rate of Latinos and African American students alone,” he said. To address the problem, Jackson said the federal government must play a more active role. He said while court cases have mandated that states are responsible for providing adequate education, states haven’t solved the problem. “Over the course of a number of years, there have been 45 state educational equity cases filed,” Jackson said. “So clearly across the country this is an issue.” Jackson added that only in a few cases have state governors or legislators acted to address the inequity.

More emphasis should be placed on making sure Latino and African-American students are getting highly-qualified teachers, as mandated by the Federal “No Child Left Behind” law, and receiving the best types of instruction. Much of the debate about best teaching methods, Jackson said, has missed the point of ensuring those methods reach all students. And while federal law forces educators to focus on standardized test results, Jackson said there should be more focus on the instruction students receive before those tests. “We should not be able to identify by race or gender how that distribution (of test scores) will occur,” he said.

The CEEP Policy chat is free and open to the public. For more information about the Center for Evaluation & Education Policy visit CEEP’s web site at http://ceep.indiana.edu.

Media Outlets: the following comments are available as mp3 files on the IU School of Education Website at http://education.indiana.edu/news/tabid/5663/Default.aspx. Look for the story headline under “Podcasts.”

Jackson explains the problem of failing to educate some parts of the U.S. population:
“Beyond just the education lingo of ‘No Child Left Behind,’ essentially what’s happened in America is leaving 2 of the three fastest growing populations in our nation behind there’s an economic cost to our nation. Economists have said that we’re losing about $45 billion in revenue if we just take the dropout rate of Latinos and African American students alone. When we consider the brain drain that’s occurring in many of these stem areas, science, technology, engineering and mathematics and the need to have individuals to fill positions in those areas. Again, there’s an economic cost in losing many corporations who are able to recruit that are from other countries, both the high-skilled worker and the low wage worker.”

Jackson says the outcome of tests can only be altered by looking at the input of education:
“I don’t think the tests should be the only measure we use to determine success, but I do believe that all students can perform well on these tests. If we’re going to use these tests as a metric among others we should ensure that all of the necessary inputs are provided so that the students can perform. Naturally there will be a natural variance and distribution, but we should not be able to identify by race or gender how that distribution will occur. So if we have a particular test and the test is a metric among other metrics, but a metric then a part of the natural distribution will say that some have a proficient level and some will not, but it’s not a natural distribution when you’re able to identify by race and gender the groups will actually not perform at the proficient level and which will not.”

Jackson says more must be done to assure all students have access to a quality education:
“It’s a matter of guaranteeing it, but the federal government has to play more of a role, because it’s reaching such a national crisis that the federal government has to play more of a role in providing equity in education. You may remember in 1973 there was a case, San Antonio vs. Rodriguez where the Supreme Court essentially said ‘It’s up to the states to provide equity.’ Well we have 45, over the course of a number of years, there have been 45 state educational equity cases filed, so clearly across the country this is an issue.”

For More Information, Contact:
Chuck Carney
Director of Communications and Media Relations
Office: (812) 856-8027
ccarney@indiana.edu