Still unequal: Socioeconomics fuel gaps in county's schools

Mel Meléndez
The Arizona Republic
May. 16, 2004 12:00 AM

Fifty years after the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision requiring an equal education for all American schoolchildren, the promise has remained unfulfilled for many poor minority families in Maricopa County.
An analysis by The Arizona Republic shows that 85 percent of Maricopa County's public schools labeled "underperforming" this school year are in high-poverty neighborhoods that have high percentages of minority students.

Using U.S. Census figures and Arizona Department of Education data, the analysis shows that 95 percent of the schools ranked "excelling" are in higher-income neighborhoods with generally low percentages of minority students.

The achievement gap is even more apparent when you consider student test scores.

In fifth-grade reading, 70 percent of Anglo students met or exceeded the standards on the AIMS test, compared with only 44 percent of Black students and 42 percent of Latino students. In eighth-grade math, 29 percent of Anglo students met or exceeded the AIMS standards, compared with 8 percent of Black students and 10 percent of Latino students.

"This is a trend taking place in inner-city schools throughout the nation, not just here," said Leonard A. Valverde, professor of education at Arizona State University in Tempe. "It's very disturbing . . . because we still have a separate and unequal education system even if it isn't actually enforced by the law."

Richard Rothstein, a research associate of the Economic Policy Institute and author of Class and Schools: Using Social, Economic, and Educational Reform to Close the Black-White Achievement Gap, says social class issues fuel the academic divide.

"Fifty years after Brown (vs. the Board of Education of Topeka), the gap has little to do with race, and more to do with poverty, affordable housing, limited English-language skills and health issues," he said. "It's hard to blame schools, when we should be looking at implementing social policies to address many of the societal ills that impact learning."

Desegregation effortsThe 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown overturned the doctrine of "separate but equal" in the country's public schools and affirmed the right of equality in education for all students. Despite that, many U.S. cities still had predominantly White schools during the 1970s and '80s.

State-backed desegregation programs attempted to correct that imbalance by funding magnet programs to attract minorities to mostly White schools, and Whites to mostly minority schools. But as schools became more ethnically diverse, the opposite happened. White families flocked to the suburbs or sent their kids to private or charter schools, creating "White flight."

Nowhere was this more evident than in Phoenix, where the Phoenix Elementary and Phoenix Union High School districts implemented magnet programs after being ordered to desegregate their schools in the mid-'80s. Magnet programs in specialties such as aviation, law and performing arts tried to lure students to racially imbalanced schools.

None of the Phoenix magnet programs succeeded at integrating schools. In fact, both Phoenix Elementary and Phoenix Union were forced to close facilities over the past two decades and now have more than 85 percent minority enrollment.
Craig Pletenik, a spokesman for Phoenix Union, said he doesn't know of any Valley district that feels its schools are integrated enough.

"The suburban ones struggle with becoming more diverse, while the urban ones struggle to attract White students," he said.
Phoenix Elementary officials concur that achieving ethnic balance is a never-ending battle.

"There is that mentality of 'I won't send my kid to an inner-city or urban school,' " said Phoenix Elementary Superintendent René X. Díaz. "But sending a child to a suburban school or a private school doesn't mean they're getting a better education. Our Magnet Traditional School is proof of that."

A measure of successMagnet Traditional has consistently bucked the achievement-gap trend since the school opened in 1991. Supporters credit its "back-to-basics" approach, classroom aides in every room and required parental involvement as reasons for the school's success.

Considered the district's crown jewel, the K-8 school is ranked "highly performing" and was recently named one of 12 A-plus schools in the state. It also employs a higher grading scale for its 500 students, who consistently earn top marks in standardized test scores. Its enrollment is 80 percent minority.

"We would like to have a better balance of students, which better reflects the world we live in," said Principal Anthony Perkins, who is of mixed race. While doing little to achieve ethnic balance, magnet programs have provided enhanced academic opportunities for minority students, Díaz said.

"Magnet programs have failed to deliver on Brown's promise of integrating schools," he said. "But they haven't failed our children, because magnets are also about improving academic achievement."

Still, the district plans to market its new magnet programs to the nearly 75,000 parents who commute daily to Phoenix for work, hoping to attract additional Anglo students, officials said.

Phoenix parent Jon Sands, a lawyer for the Maricopa County Public Defender's Office, said he's concerned about the achievement gap. He sends his two children, who are Anglo, to Magnet Traditional.

"I think most parents worry about the curriculum first because you want your kids to be well-educated," Sands said. "I'm no different. But I like that they're attending an overwhelmingly minority school. My kids are even learning Spanish from their friends, which I'm very pleased with."
Still, magnet programs don't come cheap. They typically require additional money to operate because they have lower teacher-student ratios, extra teaching aides and specialized curricula.

Nineteen Arizona school districts receive about $179 million in desegregation funding each year to help reduce racial isolation.
Phoenix Elementary, which has about 7,700 students, gets nearly $9.5 million, while Phoenix Union, which has about 23,000 students, receives about $41 million.

The Mesa and Tucson Unified districts are among those that also receive desegregation funds each year.
"Without that deseg money, most urban schools wouldn't be able to offer these expensive programs, because we're barely scraping by now with the limited funding we get," Diaz said.

To many, that goes to the heart of the achievement gap between middle-class Anglo students and poor minority students: how schools are funded. In Arizona, it's according to property values. The higher the property values, the richer the district, and vice versa.

According to a study released this week by the Education Trust, Arizona's funding gap between the richest and poorest school districts is $1,449 per student, $36,225 for a typical classroom of 25 students, and $579,600 for a typical elementary school of 400 students.

Funding issues aside, Phoenix Elementary's Diaz is convinced that much can be accomplished by addressing the mind-set of educators who often have lower expectations for inner-city students, especially English-language learners.

"I tell them, 'Don't give me that pobrecito (poor thing) argument because all children can learn.' It's our job to ensure they do."

Ryan Konig contributed to this report. Reach the reporter at mel.melendez@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8212.