The Columbus Dispatch

11/26/2006

Reports that black and Latino students still perform much more poorly than whites on standardized tests is a reminder of why something like the No Child Left Behind education law was needed.

Those reports also can be seen as a cautionary note that closing the gaps significantly will take more time and work than anyone expected.

While the innate abilities of human beings never can be made equal, many other factors that aren’t innate contribute to the gap in school performance. For example:

• Children whose parents are poorly educated are less likely to receive the intellectual stimulation that contributes to academic success.

• Poor children have less access to books and other enriching materials and activities.

• Inner-city school districts often have fewer resources and a harder time attracting the best teachers.

Any of these can dim a child’s academic prospects. No Child Left Behind was intended to attack those problems by forcing attention on achievement gaps between demographic groups of students.

Along with setting standards for improvement by schools, the law demands that each of several racial, ethnic and economic subgroups sees improvement in test scores from year to year. Individual schools and school districts where subgroups fail to make such progress are penalized, regardless of how high students’ overall performance is.

Although The Dispatch has been critical of some of the rigidity in Ohio’s interpretation of the law, the goal of not allowing otherwise successful schools to ignore the problems of their struggling students is important.

Some of Columbus’ most-disadvantaged students will have a wonderful opportunity in 2008, when the first schools in Ohio to be operated by the Knowledge is Power Program, known as KIPP, open in Columbus.

Thanks to a concerted effort by civic and business leaders to persuade the Houston-based company to consider Columbus for its next expansion, the company will open two KIPP middle schools, to be followed later by two elementary schools. They’ll be charter schools, sponsored by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation education-reform institute.

A group of local business leaders has pledged $550,000 to help fund the project.

KIPP’s outstanding track record with poor and minority students - 80 percent of KIPP alumni are accepted to college - stems from its disciplined approach and highly dedicated teachers.

School days extend from about 7:30 a.m. to 5 or 5:30 p.m. and include every other Saturday and the month of July.

The extra time helps students absorb material and gives them more exposure to the healthy, constructive atmosphere of the school.

Typically, students enter KIPP schools well below their grade level in reading and math and make giant strides each year.

If Columbus’ KIPP schools enjoy the same success and if the approach can influence teaching in conventional public schools, central Ohio might see these persistent achievement gaps finally begin to narrow.

Copyright © 2007, The Columbus Dispatch