New Standards and Old Inequalities: School Reform and the Education of African American Students

Abstract

Despite the rhetoric of American equality, the school experiences of African American and other minority students in the United States continue to be substantially separate and unequal. Dramatically different learning opportunities-especially disparities in access to well-qualified teachers, high quality curriculum, and small schools and classes-are strongly related to differences in student achievement. Standards-based reforms have been launched throughout the United States with promises of greater equity, but, while students are held to common standards-and increasingly experience serious sanctions if they fail to achieve them-few states have equalized funding and access to the key educational resources neededfor learning. This paper outlines current disparities in educational access and proposes reforms needed to equalize opportunities to learn. The education reform movement in the United States has focused increasingly on the development of new standards for students: Virtually all states have begun to create standards for graduation, new curriculum frameworks to guide instruction, and new assessments to test students' knowledge. Many have put in place high-stakes testing systems that attach rewards and sanctions to students' scores on standardized tests. These rewards and sanctions include grade retention or promotion as well as graduation for students, merit pay awards or threats of dismissal for teachers and administrators, and extra funds or loss of registration, reconstitution, or loss of funds for schools. School districts across the country are weighing in with their own versions of reform, including new curricula, testing systems, accountability mechanisms, and promotion or graduation requirements. To be sure, there are other kinds of reforms being proposed. Sprinklings of charter schools and a few voucher programs aim to create new options for some students' education. Bottom up reforms of curriculum and assessment in some schools aim to provide more thoughtful and authentic learning experiences that challenge and excite students' interests and develop higher order thinking and performance skills. Reorganization of schedules and new school designs sometimes provide options for more in-depth study and longer-term relationships between adults and students. School-to-work programs promise greater options for some students who are enabled to connect more directly to the workplace. However, all of these efforts are partial and scattered. The constant of reforms today is standard setting for student achievement. The variable is educational opportunity. The rhetoric of standards-based reforms is appealing. Students cannot succeed in meeting the demands of the new economy if they do not encounter much more challenging work in school, many argue, and schools cannot be stimulated to improve unless the real