A little context on racial disparities in suspension rates

Michael J. Petrilli / August 16, 2012

Last week the Civil Rights Project reported that black students—especially those with disabilities—are suspended at much higher rates than their peers. But does this mean, as Arne Duncan has intimated, that these youngsters are victims of discrimination? The study found that black students were 3.4 times more likely to be suspended than white students. Jarring indeed. But consider this: Black adults are 5.8 times more likely to be in prison than whites. Yes, you can make a case that our justice system is also racist. But even if that’s so, nobody would argue that eliminating racism and discrimination would remove the disparity entirely. We understand that all manner of social pathologies—poverty, single parenthood, addiction, etc.—disproportionately impact the black community. Turning that situation around is the focus of many school reformers and other social entrepreneurs. In the meantime, however, we are not wrong to expect that those pathologies will lead to higher levels of crime. So it is with school discipline. Considering what many poor, black children are up against, is it really hard to believe that they might be 3.4 times more likely to commit infractions that carry a penalty of suspension from school? As the Civil Rights Project report itself admits, the data do not “provide clear answers” to the question: “Are blacks and others misbehaving more or experiencing discrimination?” That’s an important caveat that Secretary Duncan would be wise to remember.

A version of this analysis

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A little context on racial disparities in suspension rates

The Unintended Consequence of an Algebra-for-All Policy on High-Skill Students: The Effects on Instructional Organization and Students’ Academic Outcomes

John Horton / August 16, 2012

The “college for all” klaxon has reached near deafening levels, with much attention paid to ensuring that every youngster has access to the courses necessary to prepare him or her for post-secondary work. But as more kids are flung into mandatory college-prep courses, what happens to the high achievers who already occupied desks in those classes? So asks a new study by Takako Nomi from the Consortium on Chicago School Research. Following six cohorts of Chicago high school students (more than 18,000 in toto, spread across close to sixty schools), Nomi examines the consequences of a 1998 Chicago policy mandating that every ninth grader take Algebra I. First, Nomi finds that this algebra-for-all policy resulted in schools’ opening mixed-ability classrooms—and all but abandoning practices of tracking. The resulting mixed-level classes “had negative effects on math achievement of high-skill students.” To wit: Rates of improvement on math tests slowed for those top-notch pupils placed in heterogeneous classrooms (findings consistent with our own prior work on the topic). All students deserve to be challenged to achieve their full potential. This includes our highest flyers, whose needs are too often subjugated to the grand plans of social engineers.

SOURCE: Takako Nomi, “The Unintended Consequence of an Algebra-for-All Policy on High-Skill Students: The Effects on Instructional Organization and Students’ Academic Outcomes” (Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, published online July 31, 2012).

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The Unintended Consequence of an Algebra-for-All Policy on High-Skill Students: The Effects on Instructional Organization and Students’ Academic Outcomes

Trending Toward Reform: Teachers Speak on Unions and the Future of the Profession

Daniela Fairchild / August 16, 2012

In his seminal (and fundamentally depressing) 2011 book Special Interests, Terry Moe argues that so-called “reform unionism” is a dreamy “have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too vision of the future that flatly misunderstands the fundamentals of union behavior.” Teacher unions, he explains, will forever be Aesop’s oak—structurally resistant to education reform. This latest report from Education Sector surveyed 1,000-plus teachers for their opinions on the condition and role of unionism in U.S. education—as well as their thoughts on teacher policy overall. (This is the third such survey, the first having been conducted in 2003 by Public Agenda, the second by Education Sector in 2007.) Per unions: They are still considered highly by teachers, with three-quarters of all educators (and 70 percent of newbies—those teaching less than five years) reporting that working conditions would be worse without the unions. Levels of pride and involvement in unions are up, too: Since 2007, local unions saw a 10 percentage-point bump in teachers’ reporting that the “union provides feelings of pride and solidarity,” to 41 percent. And how teachers would like their unions to handle education reform is shifting—from Aesop’s steadfast oak to the fable’s malleable reed. Teachers would like to see unions be more involved in formulating evaluation systems and dismissing ineffective educators. This, as a majority (54 percent) of educators agree that growth models are a good way to evaluate

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Trending Toward Reform: Teachers Speak on Unions and the Future of the Profession

Compulsory School Attendance: What Research Says and What It Means for State Policy

Daniela Fairchild / August 16, 2012

Much research contributes to the education-policy debate by adding insights on a particular topic. This latest from the Brookings Institution’s Brown Center, on the other hand, is interesting for what it doesn’t say: notably, that compulsory school attendance (CSA) has any bearing on graduation rates. Authors compared states with a CSA age of eighteen to those with a CSA age of sixteen or seventeen. Overall, the latter group boasts a graduation rate 1 to 2 percentage points higher than the former—findings that hold when controlling for demographic factors as well. What’s more this slight advantage tracks over time as well: Between 1994-95 and 2008-09, states with a CSA age of sixteen or seventeen moved their graduation rates by 3 percentage points. Their counterparts with a CSA age of eighteen saw no improvement in grad rate. (Remember, these are correlated data: They don’t factor in exit-exam difficulty, graduation requirements, etc.) Further, from a policy perspective, the authors find that few states are able to ensure compliance with mandated changes to CSAs. Which makes one wonder: If compulsory school attendance doesn’t move the needle on graduation rates (and, in fact, is associated with states with lower rates of high school completion) and it isn’t feasibly enforced, why have policymakers—President Obama included—made it such a focal issue?

SOURCE: Grover J. “Russ” Whitehurst and Sarah Whitfield, Compulsory School Attendance: What Research Says and What It Means for State Policy (Washington, D.C.: Brown Center on

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Compulsory School Attendance: What Research Says and What It Means for State Policy

Pay Teachers More: Financial Planning for Reach Models

Kai Filipczak / August 16, 2012

The figure is staggering, almost unbelievable: 130 percent. That’s the amount by which districts could increase the pay of excellent teachers—without upping class sizes and within current budgets—according to three financial-planning briefs from Public Impact (PI). Each brief describes one model in depth: multi-classroom leadership (master teachers, with the help of aides, educate larger groups of students), elementary-subject specialization (educators teaching either math-science or ELA-history to more pupils), and effectively utilizing digital learning (what PI calls the “time-technology swap”). Each plan centers on PI’s notion of the “opportunity culture,” which allows educators to mount a career ladder based on excellence, leadership, and student impact. And each brief offers: an overview of the cost-saving model, a comparison of savings and cost factors, and scenarios that explain how the model may affect budgets based on a number of inputs (e.g., decisions on how widely to spread excellent teachers and quality of original teaching force). For example, in the multi-classroom leadership approach—which generates by far the most savings—schools can expect to save about $550 per pupil by asking multi-class teachers to lead four classes with three others. These ideas make a ton of sense; unfortunately, common sense rarely rules when staffing American public schools. Gadfly suspects he’ll find these innovative models in action in charter schools long before school districts—and the unions—allow them in traditional public schools.

SOURCE: Public Impact, "Pay Teachers More: Financial Planning for Reach Models" (Chapel Hill,

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Pay Teachers More: Financial Planning for Reach Models