A life impacted and a future potentially diverted or derailed

Expansive Survey of America's Public Schools Reveals Troubling Racial Disparities is an article published by the Department of Education that looks at data collected over the 2011-2012 school year. According to the article, it is the first time since the year 2000 that this type of data has been taken from all 97,000 of the public schools in the U.S., as well as the 16,500 school districts. The data represents the 49 million public school students. This study also marks the beginning of the public database, crdc.ed.gov, that can be used to search state, district, and school-level information.

The quote in the blog title, "Every data point represents a life impacted and a future potentially diverted or derailed" comes from Attorney General Eric Holder. He explains that the findings show that racial disparities actually begin during preschool. Approximately 40% of school districts do not offer preschool, and many of the districts that do, only offer half-day classes. I was surprised to find out that preschool students can be suspended as well. The study found that 42% of preschoolers that are suspended at least once are Black, although Black preschool students only make up 18%.

For high school students, around 50-60% of Black and Latino students have access to advanced courses in math and science, whereas 70-80% of Asian and White students have access. Also, 1 out of 5 high schools do not provide a school counselor. This inhibits the students' abilities to locate and apply to colleges. Another statistic is that "English learners" account for only 5% of high school enrollment, but 11% of the students that are held back each year. The statistics show that there is an opportunity gap in the school systems today. President Obama proposed Race to the Top- Equity and Opportunity (RTT-Opportunity) to address these issues and create incentives for states and school districts to drive comprehensive change in how states and districts identify and close opportunity and achievement gaps.

http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/expansive-survey-americas-public-schools-reveals-troubling-racial-disparities