Restructuring Schools for Equity: What We Have Learned in Two Decades

Abstract

NATIONAL reports such as One-Third of a Nation and Workforce 2000 document the extent to which our nation is changing. By the turn of the century only 15% of the new entrants to the U.S. work force will be native-born white males, compared to 47% in 1987.[1] The U.S. labor force is becoming increasingly dependent on women, people of color, and immigrants. Yet a disproportionate number of individuals in these groups do not have the skills and knowledge needed to fully participate in the labor force or in civic discourse. To reduce and eventually eliminate the gap between the skills of these individuals and the demands of our technological society, schools must undergo fundamental change. Changing schools fundamentally requires that we confront harsh realities. We must recognize that, for many low-income and minority students, there is little or no continuity between schooling and the rest of their lives. To be successful in school, they must cross barriers of language, values, cognition, and culture.[2] Restructuring schools for equity challenges schools to establish greater congruence between themselves and students' homes. Children have a better chance of succeeding in school when such congruence exists.[3] During the last two decades, several reform efforts have acknowledged and responded to the barriers that prevent low-income and minority students from experiencing success in school. A number of those reforms, such as parent involvement programs, have helped increase the number of academically successful low-income and minority students.[4] The success of such programs, though limited, serves as a beacon of hope. To maintain that hope, we must acknowledge our progress and build on our achievements. We should remember that, 20 years ago, the dropout rate for African Americans was considerably higher than that of whites.[5] Today whites and African Americans complete high school at about the same rate.[6] In 1971, 82% of 17-year-old African Americans read at a basic level. By 1992, that figure had increased to 97%.[7] The gap between the scores of African Americans and whites on tests conducted as part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress is also narrowing.[8] Certainly work must be done to reduce the Hispanic dropout rate and to improve the low academic achievement of all kinds of students, but these figures do show that we've made progress in keeping African Americans in school and in improving their achievement. Our future success in restructuring schools also requires that we demystify the interpretation of test scores. The scores of U. S. students are frequently compared to those of students in other countries. This kind of comparison often conceals more than it reveals. It doesn't take into account the fact that the U.S. education system is an inclusive one that serves students from many different racial, ethnic, and language groups. Most other countries educate an elite few. For more than 150 years, the U.S. has maintained a commitment to public education. Today that commitment extends to more than 42 million students.[9] U.S. test scores reflect the fact that some of those 42 million receive an excellent education while others receive a poor one. Low-income students and students of color are disproportionately represented among those who receive a poor education. In the future, our nation's ability to deliver on the promise embodied in the Great Experiment public education for all will be directly tied to our commitment to be innovative and to restructure our schools so that they meet the needs of all our nation's children. I use the term restructuring to refer to the implementation of programs designed to improve the organization and performance of schools. In what follows I describe past and present attempts to foster equity through restructuring and discuss the prospects for such attempts in the future. I challenge the notion that school reform can't work and argue that, to a great extent, we know what to do. …