WCPSS - I still don't get it
Submitted by Apex Rich on Tue, 11/24/2009 - 1:41pm
Markey Mark's recent post got me thinking, then I was looking at the NC Justice income fact sheets and figured I'd do a little number crunching in the hope that I can get an answer to a question I have long had.
The support for the policies of the Wake County Public School System from progressives seems undying. Check out the recent interview by Chris Fitzsimon and this post on the subject which compelled me to end my days as a lurker.
I get why the right has challenged the system, but the question for me has always been why the unwavering support from the left for WCPSS? I have been told that "it could be worse" and "it is better than the alternative" which both strike me as astoundingly bad reasons, especially on something as important as public education. As Markey Mark said this morning
education...is the main way to break the medieval choke-hold that fundamentalist republican neanderthals have over society.
Here is the data.
NC Justice figures:
% in poverty – NC:14.6% Wake:9.1%
Twice poverty level (aka low income) – NC:34% Wake:21.9%
Food stamps – NC:14% Wake:7.3%
Now, from DPI: data source
Free lunch – NC:8.82% Wake:6.58%
Reduced Lunch – NC:39.57% Wake:26.74%
F&R – NC:48.39% Wake:33.32%
F&R passing rate for:
..EOG Science - NC:48.1% Wake:40.9%
..ABC math and reading – NC:48.3% Wake:43.9%
..ABC EOC total passing rate – NC:58% Wake:58.5%
Hopefully most of that is self explanatory. The last line is the percent of tests passed by F&R students, while the previous is the percent of students who passed both math and reading. Obviously, some kids pass one but not the other.
OK, so Wake says poverty is a reliable indicator of lower achievement. While I have previously disagreed with how they address it, the data available supports that statement. Having been a teacher, my own experience is in accordance as well. Just to be clear, this doesn't mean that if you are poor you aren't able to be a good student. It is just a statement based on known outcome trends.
Let us take it as true for the sake of this discussion that there is a correlation between poverty and low achievement. By every objective measure, Wake County has a markedly lower incidence of poverty and low income than the state as a whole. That means poverty is less concentrated in Wake. WCPSS has put forth a policy that aims to reduce concentrations of poverty on the belief that the low achievement levels can be reduced if poverty is dispersed. This is the diversity policy that was brought up in the recent elections. The impact of poverty on achievement, they contend, is greatest when the school level poverty (measured by incidence of free or reduced lunch participation) exceeds a tipping point. Once set at 40%, it was moved to 50%.
Based on that belief, with a lower concentration of poverty, WCPSS seems to have an advantage over the state as a whole when it comes to reaching the low income population that is identified as at a higher risk for lower achievement. Yet we find the opposite to be true. Wake is significantly below the state average for low income student achievement in two of the three areas the DPI chooses to report, and scarcely above on the third.
So with less overall poverty and a program that is claimed to mitigate poverty's impact, the result is lower passing rates for poor students. Those who are most in need of a good public education system. I really thought that the recent electoral shellacking would serve as a wake-up call, but it seems to have accomplished the opposite. Instead of looking at the situation, the same dogma is just being repeated more ferociously.
Perhaps Markey Mark and I are out on an island, but I still would like to know how it is that progressives can support the WCPSS based on their track record. What has been accomplished that is so worthy of continued support? How do reconcile Dr. Denlinger's rhetoric of "no bad schools" as being a positive when all that is doing is hiding the unacceptable results of the county's most vulnerable population?
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Let's talk about it
I'm not sure I follow all your financial and performance analysis, but for sake of argument, let's say you're correct.
In my experience, progressives tend to support the reigning public school bureaucracies for two reasons, even when those bureaucracies are demonstrably ineffective. The first reason is fear - fear that any break in resolve will be met with an avalanche of free-market fundamentalism, vouchers, etc. I believe that fear is somewhat justifiable. The hard right wing in American politics would like nothing more than to dismantle public schools, leaving good education only to those who can afford it. They have a vested interested in a permanent underclass, and there is no better way to preserve that underclass than undermining public schools. That said, the fear has been all but paralyzing, leaving us on a predictable path toward larger and larger institutions situated farther and farther from the communities they serve. My friends hate it when I use the term "factory schooling" but I do it anyway. Factory schooling is a lot like factory farming. They both stink.
The second reason is also fear - electoral fear. Traditional Democratic coalitions of ethnic minorities and social progressives have been held strongly together around a moderate Democratic core. Any political efforts that seem to disrupt business as usual in the teaching and education ranks are dead-on-arrival. Many teachers are a lot like politicians are a lot like everyone else in the world ... they want to keep their jobs until they get so disillusioned they can't think straight - and even then many still want to keep their jobs.
All that said, it's unfortunate (but not surprising) that the Wake situation had race as the tipping point. All the fancy rhetoric of the shiny new board members won't mean squat when their actual policies result in effective resegregation of the school system. They should stop lying and be straight about that. They are essentially betting their communities on the belief that separate but equal is possible. I guess the people of Wake County will find out one way or another. But from out here, it sure looks like one fucked up way to run a school system.
Talking about it
First, thanks for the reasoned response. This is a subject that I have found becomes emotional very quickly.
Your reasons make sense. The first one, fear of the other side, is the one that I have heard many times. I think this comment is particularly relevant.
So, to take the most pessimistic view, fear of the other side has lead to the left to be responsible for what is likely to be very close to what would have happened had the right been in charge. No, not the far right, but the right that would actually be able to govern without a major backlash. And again, this is the pessimistic view, not the only one.
The second one I guess is what concerns me most.
While certainly true, it seems disturbing to me that, based on the truth of your statement that
there isn't a recognition of this as a major problem. If we fear to change, then the underclass will remain impoverished.
I will disagree with you on your assessment of what comes next for WCPSS. You said:
I find that interesting in light of the demographic information published by WCPSS.
I am using only elementary school data for this. There are about 100 elementary schools in the county and there is very little geographical impediment to assignment for diversity purposes. Yes, there are some out in the corners of the county that do not have other easy assignment options, but it is much fairer way to judge than by middle or high schools where the limited options within a reasonable geographic area make balanced assignment more difficult to achieve. Many of the vocal critics who fall into the undermine the system group do not make this distinction, by the way.
So here are WCPSS elementary school demographic numbers. I am going to show the extremes that exist today, on a school level.
The format is:
Category - MAX% / MIN% / DISTRICT%
White - 82.7% / 6.2% / 50.69%
African American - 77.2% / 3.3% / 23.79%
Hispanic - 44.9% / 2.2% / 13.74%
Free or Reduced lunch (F&R) - 69.8% / 6.9% / 31.6%
Limited English Proficient (LEP) - 26.1% / 1.9% / 12.5%
English as a Second Language (ESL) - 23.1% / 0.6% / 7.5%
Academically Gifted (AG) - 54.2% / 8% / 29.4%
Performance Lvl I or II (below grade level) - 60.1% / 8.1% / 32.1%
The reality is we already have vast differences between schools, whether you measure them on race, income, language, achievement or high academic program participation. And this is what bothers me so much. Much of what is claimed the new board members will do has already been done. And those who seem most outraged at what think is going to happen next have been the most vocal defenders of those who have created what we have today.
I will be honest, my experience as a teacher and a parent tells me that the diversity system of WCPSS is useless in improving the academic achievement levels of the low income population. The idea that the impact of a home life in poverty can be undone by surrounding the child with more affluent students is absolutely absurd. This isn't to say that the idea of diverse student populations is without merit, but if we are serious about eliminating the nearly permanent underclass in this nation, then we need to do something else. Something that puts learning and achievement first. A school where 60% of the kids aren't at grade level is categorically unacceptable and flies in the face of the oft repeated contention that "there are no bad schools in Wake County."
I understand the fear reasons, but is this also a case where people weren't aware of what they were supporting?