History of IDEA
Jeannie Oakes, Founder and Former Director
Youth Voice in School Finance
NEW REPORT: Los Angeles' road to A-G for all
Without Dollars and Sense Powerpoint
Past Educational Opportunity Reports
ACHIEVEMENT GAPS, RESOURCE DISPARITIES IN STATE’S PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE SUBJECT OF NEW FOCUS
Report finds that while many students face hurdles, academic success most elusive for African American and Latino students
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MEDIA ADVISORY
November 8, 2007 stephen.kulieke@porternovelli.com
916-325-2904
ACHIEVEMENT GAPS, RESOURCE DISPARITIES IN STATE’S
PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE SUBJECT OF NEW FOCUS
Report finds that while many students face hurdles, academic success
most elusive for African American and Latino students
Sacramento, CA – A new report released today reveals a “national opportunity gap,” demonstrating how California lags behind most other states in providing fundamental learning conditions and students outcomes.
UC ACCORD and UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access (IDEA) address educational disparities in the 2007 Educational Opportunity Report: The Racial Opportunity Gap.
The main report finds that systematic inadequacies and inequalities leave California students from all backgrounds unable to compete with their counterparts elsewhere. Two supplemental studies released in connection with the main report focus on the specific problems faced by African American and Latino students. They show that the obstacles are greatest for African American and Latino students who are more frequently enrolled in schools with fewer qualified teachers and educational resources.
Reflecting research findings that white and Asian students in California consistently outperform their African American and Latino peers, California Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell has called for a statewide focus on understanding and eliminating this racial inequality gap.
The comprehensive 2007 Educational Opportunity Report examines California’s poor and unequal education achievement in light of the conditions in public schools. It focuses on two sorts of opportunity gaps: the gap between learning opportunities in California and other states, and the gap in learning opportunities between different California public schools. The report provides new analyses that reveal a “restricted flow” through the “mathematics pipeline.” The flow of students through California’s middle school and high school math curriculum is slowed by students’ lack of access to small class size, rigorous coursework, and well-trained teachers. This restricted flow makes the No Child Left Behind goal of universal proficiency in math by 2014 nearly impossible to reach for most California schools.
Finally, the report reveals worse educational outcomes for the Class of 2006. The consequences of poor learning conditions were greater for young people in the Class of 2006 because they were the first class to face the California High School Exit Exam’s “diploma penalty.” California graduated a smaller proportion of its 9th grade cohort in 2006 than any year since 1997.
“The statistics shown in this report suggest that solving educational inequity requires a two-pronged strategy– one that improves California’s education infrastructure overall and, at the same time, targets resources and support to students concentrated in the much smaller proportion of middle and high schools that suffer from an even greater lack of essential educational resources,” said Professor John Rogers, co-director of UCLA’s IDEA.
“These research results demonstrate that closing the opportunities gap faced by African American and Latino students will have tremendous benefits for the state as a whole,” added Professor Jeannie Oakes, Director of UC ACCORD and Co-Director of UCLA’s IDEA.
For more information and to obtain copies of the full report,
please visit www.idea.gseis.ucla.edu/
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