Madison’s K-12 public schools do some things very well. As befitting the public school system in what Men’s Health magazine dubbed the most educated city in the nation, Madison schools produce 20 times the average number of National Merit finalists and offer considerable AP and IB opportunities.
School administrators and other public officials are rightly proud of these accomplishments. Yet there are other facts concerning Madison’s public schools that are as troubling as the above examples are impressive.
According to the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exam, a test given to 3rd-8th grade and 10th grade students, 90 percent of white students in Madison schools read proficiently, compared to around 60 percent of black or Hispanic students. In Language Arts, 80 percent of white students scored as proficient, compared to less than 50 percent of their black or Hispanic classmates.
Graduation rates tell a similarly depressing story. While 87 percent of white students and 82 percent of Asian students in Madison schools graduated from high school in 2009-’10, the year of the most recent data, rates were nowhere near as good for their classmates: Native Americans graduated at a rate of 58 percent, Hispanics at a rate of 56 percent, and black students graduated at a rate of just 48 percent.
To be sure, standardized test scores and graduation rates are not perfect measures of achievement, but such numbers still ought to raise concerns. A city such as Madison, home to a fantastic public university and a diverse, progressive population, should view the achievement gap as one of the foremost issues facing the city, rather than an embarrassment to be swept under the rug.
It was encouraging then to see Madison Schools Superintendent Daniel Nerad lay out his plan to combat the achievement gap at a meeting in February. Nerad’s plan contains a whole host of ideas, among them the development of an “Early Warning System” to spot students who may be falling behind, adding an extra hour per day of instruction for students in schools most at risk, ACT preparation for all students, a plan to recruit and retain a more diverse workforce, including the creation of a Chief Diversity Officer, and an expansion of the Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID) program, which focuses on college readiness. Nerad’s plan is not perfect—few, if any, plans ever are—yet the proposals it contains offer the possibility of making a real difference in closing the achievement gap.
Just when it looked like real progress might finally be made, this prospect was thrown back into doubt with the retirement announcement of Superintendent Nerad late in March. Nerad plans to serve until June of 2013, but it is not yet clear what will happen after that.
Maybe, like some suggest, Nerad’s “lame duck” status may actually increase momentum for the plan, as political considerations that would have come with a decision on the renewal of Nerad’s contract are now removed. For his part, Nerad still seems ready to move forward, saying he hopes to add value to the conversation in his remaining time with the district. School Board President James Howard likewise sounds undeterred by Nerad’s announcement, saying he and his fellow board members were “looking forward to completing” what Nerad had started.
As a community, Madison has a responsibility to keep the pressure on to make sure that these statements and those like it turn out to be more than empty promises. In winning their races for school board this spring, Mary Burke and Arlene Silveira both made a commitment to focusing on and reducing the achievement gap; the onus is now on the public to hold them to that commitment. Even though Superintendent Nerad is moving on, concerns about the achievement gap cannot be swept back under the rug.
A school system in which students of some race or class achieve while students of other races or classes are dramatically left behind should be abhorrent to any school district, least of all one as committed to progressive ideals and fairness as the Madison Metropolitan School District. The achievement gap affects us all, and it is up to all of us to do something about it.
Ryan Johansen is a junior and a member of Students for Education Reform. Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
