Solutions to Closing Achievement Gap Explored at Forum

June 2011

"I was very pleased when I was approached to be a member of this panel about the education achievement gap. I think we have certainly defined it in this state; in fact we have become the poster child for it for the nation, especially among Latino children.” 

- Mayra Esquilín, executive director, Hartford Area Rally Together

 

“There are really two questions to focus on. (1) How do you most effectively spend your money to assist closing the achievement gap?  (2) How can you spend your energy closing the achievement gap?

- Allan Taylor, chair, Connecticut State Board of Education

 

Those were the opening comments by the two guest panelists at a public forum, La Brecha: Closing the Achievement Gap, held May 18 by the Latino Endowment Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. The forum continued a study of the issue begun last year by the Latino Endowment Fund.

About 60 people attended the two-hour event held in the Recital Hall at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts in Hartford. The moderator was Estela López, a member of the Connecticut State Board of Education and the steering committee of the Latino Endowment Fund.

More than half of the growth in the population of the United States in the last decade was due to the increase in the Hispanic population – now more than 50 million, or 16 percent of the population, according to the 2010 census. In Connecticut, the number of Hispanics doubled from 2000 to 479,000, or 13.4 percent.

While this augurs well for the growth of Hispanic economic and political influence, Hispanic leaders are concerned by the significant education achievement gap between Hispanic students and their non-Hispanic white peers.

Connecticut has the largest public school achievement gap in the nation, as measured in the average scale score between low-income and non-low-income students, according to a report from the Connecticut Commission on Educational Achievement. Scaled scores tell how much students’ scores deviate from the mean or average score. The Connecticut gap is 34 points.

The state report showed the gap disproportionately affects minority students, including Latino children, placing them sometimes as high as three grades behind. Only about six in 10 Hispanic students graduated from high school in the state, according to reports.

One step to closing the gap would be to improve communication between teachers and parents, said Mayra Esquilín. Changes in society have created barriers, she said. There were once far more stay-at-home moms. Communication with teachers was ongoing.  But now many parents work two or three jobs just to maintain their households. “The ability to connect has been broken. We need to figure out how we mend those relationships,” she said.

Allan Taylor cited scientific studies showing the way a child is brought up in their earliest years changes the physical structure of the brain. “It’s important to have those changes be constructive,” he said. “The brain is born and starts wiring itself.  The good news is that it continues. So if we miss a child from zero to 5, that child isn’t doomed. And if we miss that child from 0 to 15, there are things that we can and must do and that child is not foreordained by what’s happened not to succeed.”

Asked by audience members to prioritize solutions, both Esquilín and Taylor called for standardization of curriculum in the state and endorsed the recent report from the Connecticut Commission on Educational Achievement. The report lists six goals: (1) demand accountability of state leaders, (2) have high expectations for students, (3) foster education leadership, (4) demand excellent teachers, (5) invest intelligently in education, (6) turn around low performing schools.

“We can’t expect short-range, one-time hits to solve the achievement gap,” said Taylor. “We have to change the system.”
 
The next step is for Latino Endowment Fund members to discuss and vote on an actual grant proposal to address closing the achievement gap. This will take place later this year, said Evelyn LaFontaine, chair of the Latino Endowment Fund Steering Committee.
 
Established in 2003, the Latino Endowment Fund was founded by Latino leaders in Greater Hartford to increase philanthropy within the Latino community and to strengthen nonprofits working to improve the quality of life of Latino residents of the region. Members examine issues affecting the Latino community and recommend grants from the fund to address these issues. Grants of $120,000 have been awarded to agencies with Latino leadership and a core mission of benefiting the Latino community. For more information about joining the giving circle, contact Betty Ann Grady at 860-548-1888 or bagrady@hfpg.org, or visit www.hfpg.org/latino.