ANN ARBOR PUBLIC Schools recently received a poor rating from the Michigan Department of Education on that district’s school reportcard. Local officials argued that the district’s “high diversity” makes it difficult to meet the state’s high standards. Dr. Jeanice Swift argued: “The more diverse a setting is, whether it’s an individual school or a district, the more at risk they are to not make the top level.”
Rather than spin, we believe Dr. Swift ought to have stepped up and directly addressed the fact that “diversity” is not to blame for her district’s pronounced and decades-old achievement gap: socio-economics, segregation and racism are the culprits. We are disappointed that Dr. Swift was not as frank with her own constituency as she has been with the Governor and state legislators concerning the need to increase funding for K-12 education.
The National Education Association cites these among the reasons for persistent achievement gaps: Low expectations for student achievement; Lack of rigor in the curriculum; Large class size; Culturally unfriendly environments; and Poor, or no, instructional leadership.
As a district, Ann Arbor’s K-8 enrollment is 73 percent white, 4.7 percent African American and 3.1 percent Asian. Grades 9-12 enrollment is 55 percent white, 17 percent African American and 12.5 percent Asian. However, there is a cluster of five elementary schools in Ann Arbor where 60-76 percent of the students are white. There is a cluster of elementary schools (Mitchell, Northside, Pattengill, and Carpenter) where between 20-22 percent of the students are black. In the second group, fewer than 10 percent of all students enrolled have scored Advanced in reading, science and mathematics on the MEAP since 2008.
Dr. Swift began her tenure with ideas to address student hunger in her district and with ideas to address some of the socio-economic challenges which impact learning. Ten percent of her students are estimated to be homeless. The AAPS must combat the socio-economic causes of low achievement, including hunger and homelessness. Students who receive poor grades should never offer up excuses and neither should Dr. Swift.
