The achievement gap between minority and white students in Dallas ISD has widened, with black students falling behind academically more than any other group.
Black students trail white students an average 30-plus percentage points in most key subjects, and they lost ground in social studies, science, reading and writing, according to an analysis of the district’s results on statewide exams.
The gap is larger than those seen statewide and in Houston ISD, the state’s largest district and the one most comparable to Dallas.
DISD trustee Lew Blackburn, who has voiced concern about the achievement gap for years, said the district needs to make closing the gap a top priority by providing extra help to black students who struggle the most.
“African-Americans at the bottom of every category at every grade level — to me, that’s an urgent need,” Blackburn said. “As long as you allow those students to sit in the classroom and still don’t understand, and you don’t do anything specific for those students, we’ll continue to get the gap that we have.”
Closing the achievement gap is a criterion on Superintendent Mike Miles’ evaluation. He received an “unsatisfactory” in the area on a recent review.
The district did not specifically address black students in its response to the growing achievement gap but said the focus is on improving achievement for all students.
“I think everyone recognizes the need for improvement in all scores, which is why there is a sense of urgency throughout the district,” said DISD spokesman Jon Dahlander. “No one would dare suggest that we are anywhere close to where we want to be on the STAAR exam. We have a lot of work ahead of us in all grades and all subjects. Our results, our progress and our declines closely mirror that of the state. We’re a majority-minority school district. Everything we do is designed to improve achievement at all schools and in every ethnicity.”
The latest STAAR results for spring show that passing rates for black students in third through eighth grades fell in reading, writing, science and social studies by 5 to 7 percentage points. The passing rate in math stayed flat, with 47 percent of students passing.
Black students taking the high school end-of-course tests made improvements in biology and algebra 1.
The results show that Hispanic students, too, in third through eighth grades dropped in every subject except math, although they outperformed black students.
DISD’s African American Success Initiative focuses on closing the achievement gap for black students, as measured against the performance of white students at the state level. But most recent target goals under the initiative have not been met. Of 22 measurable goals in 2013-14, just four were met, according to an August report by DISD’s Department of Evaluation and Assessment.
The initiative centers on academic support, student advocacy and other support services. It’s targeted at eight school feeder systems, with 70 campuses, that have a high concentration of black students and the widest achievement gaps.
Dallas resident Shirley Daniels, who follows DISD issues and has grandchildren in the district, believes that having too many new teachers in the system contributed to the growing achievement gap. DISD started the school year with at least 20 percent of teachers new to the district.
“The first-year teachers do not know how to interact with the African-American students,” Daniels said.
Follow Tawnell D. Hobbs on Twitter at @tawnell.
