U of MN surveys whites regarding racial identity

White people consider their race to be an important part of who they are, and most are aware that being white gives them advantages in America, according to an unusual survey released last week by the University of Minnesota.

[snip]

The survey found that 74 percent of white Americans interviewed said their racial identity was important -- a number that surprised researchers, who believed that Caucasians simply took their race for granted.

Likewise, the white Americans said they understood they benefit from their race.

While more than 80 percent said access to schools and social connections were important in explaining "white advantage" over racial minorities, 62 percent said prejudice and discrimination against nonwhites also explained those advantages.

[snip]

• Fewer than 50 percent of whites thought US laws and institutions contributed to disadvantages for blacks. But 81 percent of minority groups believed they did.

Full text at
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/667886.html

I wonder what percentage of Minneapolis voters might share my opinion that whites generally have better access to education than blacks, and that differences in access to a quality public education is largely a consequence of institutionalized racial discrimination that should be addressed by the board and board candidates?

Laura Waterman Wittstock writes:

"...What we have here in Minneapolis are a lot of students who come to kindergarten not ready for school. They are behind and stay behind, sometimes tragically up into the first year of high school when it is too late to make up for the lost learning. The system, the community, the parents, and the State have to turn their attention to this at the same time and do much more investment in early childhood preparation for a lifetime of learning.

"The critical years are birth to three and then from three to five. All of that happens before public school entry. The sooner we get to work on that, the sooner we will see much better results in closing the achievement gap."

[Doug Mann responds]: I am also in favor of much more investment in early childhood education. Much of the "school readiness gap" among children entering kindergarten is undoubtedly related to differences in access to good early childhood educational experiences. Money buys access. And parents on the upper third of the household income ladder can more easily afford the more expensive preschool programs than those that qualify for free and reduced price lunches.

However, the students who start out behind are not necessarily less able or impaired-for-life learners. Children learn to speak simply by being exposed to a spoken language. The ability to learn a spoken language is hard-wired into the brain of most children before birth just as learning how to fly is hard-wired into the brains of most birds, something know as imprinting. On the other hand, the ability to read and write is generally not hard-wired into the brains of children. When it comes to learning to read and write, expert instruction and a coherent curriculum make a big difference.

MPS students who start behind usually stay behind, and in most cases also fall further and further behind the high performers every year. Of all students tested from one year to the next, a much smaller percentage of students of color achieve at least a year's growth in reading and math than white students.

The widening racial differences in test scores for MPS students may have something to do with high concentrations of low seniority teachers in schools where poor and nonwhite students are over-represented, and a high turnover rate for low seniority teachers, especially in most of the high-poverty, high-minority schools.

Another cause of the widening test score gap may be related to the district's ability grouping practices, such as assigning students to separate classrooms for reading and / or math instruction based on ability. The pace of learning is generally more accelerated, and the curriculum content more enriched in classes for the more able readers than it is for the students in the lower-level curriculum tracks. Students who learn the most advanced reading skills are better equipped to succeed in other subject areas (math, social studies, writing, spelling, foreign languages, etc.)

In the 1970s and early 1980s, differences in average reading test scores between black and white 13 year olds declined by about 50% on National Assessment of Educational Progress exams. In my estimate, the racial test score gap during that period was narrowing because more black students acquired access to higher quality K-12 programs.

By the 1970s, the education access gap was being closed due to pressure from the civil rights movement to upgrade educational facilities for black students, and a policy of "root and branch" desegregation enforced by the federal court system after the Supreme Court's ruling in Green v. Kent County Schools in 1968. The Green decision went way beyond merely requiring racial balance at a school site. Academic and after-school programs had to be integrated. Teachers in the black and white schools had to be integrated. In Minneapolis, black schools were shut down and the students and teachers in those schools were integrated into white schools. More progress toward closing the access gap might have been made had it not been for resistance from the school board, the political establishment to which it is hot-wired, and the school community's more privileged members.

Public education will not long survive in the face of an agenda of privatizing and charterizing the school system unless the school system is fixed so it works for everyone.

It is time to go back to work on closing the education access gap in the K-12 school system.


				*Doug Mann LPN, LNC* *U of MN surveys whites regarding racial identity*



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		No institutionalized racism in the Minneapolis public school system?



		Whiteness Studies' researchers at U look at racial identity Jean Hopfensperger, Star Tribune White people consider their race to be an important part of who they are, and most are aware that being white gives them advantages in America, according to an unusual survey released last week by the University of Minnesota. [snip] The survey found that 74 percent of white Americans interviewed said their racial identity was important -- a number that surprised researchers, who believed that Caucasians simply took their race for granted. Likewise, the white Americans said they understood they benefit from their race. While more than 80 percent said access to schools and social connections were important in explaining "white advantage" over racial minorities, 62 percent said prejudice and discrimination against nonwhites also explained those advantages. [snip] • Fewer than 50 percent of whites thought US laws and institutions contributed to disadvantages for blacks. But 81 percent of minority groups believed they did. Full text at http://www.startribune.com/462/story/667886.html I wonder what percentage of Minneapolis voters might share my opinion that whites generally have better access to education than blacks, and that differences in access to a quality public education is largely a consequence of institutionalized racial discrimination that should be addressed by the board and board candidates? Re: U of MN servey of whites re: racial identity Message to the Minneapolis issues list Laura Waterman Wittstock writes: "...What we have here in Minneapolis are a lot of students who come to kindergarten not ready for school. They are behind and stay behind, sometimes tragically up into the first year of high school when it is too late to make up for the lost learning. The system, the community, the parents, and the State have to turn their attention to this at the same time and do much more investment in early childhood preparation for a lifetime of learning. "The critical years are birth to three and then from three to five. All of that happens before public school entry. The sooner we get to work on that, the sooner we will see much better results in closing the achievement gap." [Doug Mann responds]: I am also in favor of much more investment in early childhood education. Much of the "school readiness gap" among children entering kindergarten is undoubtedly related to differences in access to good early childhood educational experiences. Money buys access. And parents on the upper third of the household income ladder can more easily afford the more expensive preschool programs than those that qualify for free and reduced price lunches. However, the students who start out behind are not necessarily less able or impaired-for-life learners. Children learn to speak simply by being exposed to a spoken language. The ability to learn a spoken language is hard-wired into the brain of most children before birth just as learning how to fly is hard-wired into the brains of most birds, something know as imprinting. On the other hand, the ability to read and write is generally not hard-wired into the brains of children. When it comes to learning to read and write, expert instruction and a coherent curriculum make a big difference. MPS students who start behind usually stay behind, and in most cases also fall further and further behind the high performers every year. Of all students tested from one year to the next, a much smaller percentage of students of color achieve at least a year's growth in reading and math than white students. The widening racial differences in test scores for MPS students may have something to do with high concentrations of low seniority teachers in schools where poor and nonwhite students are over-represented, and a high turnover rate for low seniority teachers, especially in most of the high-poverty, high-minority schools. Another cause of the widening test score gap may be related to the district's ability grouping practices, such as assigning students to separate classrooms for reading and / or math instruction based on ability. The pace of learning is generally more accelerated, and the curriculum content more enriched in classes for the more able readers than it is for the students in the lower-level curriculum tracks. Students who learn the most advanced reading skills are better equipped to succeed in other subject areas (math, social studies, writing, spelling, foreign languages, etc.) In the 1970s and early 1980s, differences in average reading test scores between black and white 13 year olds declined by about 50% on National Assessment of Educational Progress exams. In my estimate, the racial test score gap during that period was narrowing because more black students acquired access to higher quality K-12 programs. By the 1970s, the education access gap was being closed due to pressure from the civil rights movement to upgrade educational facilities for black students, and a policy of "root and branch" desegregation enforced by the federal court system after the Supreme Court's ruling in Green v. Kent County Schools in 1968. The Green decision went way beyond merely requiring racial balance at a school site. Academic and after-school programs had to be integrated. Teachers in the black and white schools had to be integrated. In Minneapolis, black schools were shut down and the students and teachers in those schools were integrated into white schools. More progress toward closing the access gap might have been made had it not been for resistance from the school board, the political establishment to which it is hot-wired, and the school community's more privileged members. Public education will not long survive in the face of an agenda of privatizing and charterizing the school system unless the school system is fixed so it works for everyone. It is time to go back to work on closing the education access gap in the K-12 school system.



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