‘Equity crisis’ seen in county schools

Terry Webster

Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2001 | 11:15 a.m.

A lack of equal access to educational programs is at a crisis stage in the Clark County School District, a new study says. Using test scores, dropout rates and placement in special education and advanced courses, the study conducted by the school district found that black, Hispanic and poor students are not faring as well as their peers.

"We are facing a crisis of educational equity ... similar to that of other large urban school districts," the report says.

Compiled by Superintendent Carlos Garcia's committee on diversity, the report is the result of several months' worth of research and debate. Reported gaps in achievement, the study says, "are too wide and involve too many students to be ignored."

The issue of performance gaps between different groups of students sparked a national education reform effort by President Bush and remains a topic of discussion at the forefront of education circles throughout the country.

Educators in Clark County, the nation's sixth largest district, say the performance gap needs to be closed because the district's minority population is continuing to grow.

Last year the Clark County's 231,000 student population was 51 percent minority and 49 percent white.

"This is something we're really bringing onto the frontburner," Augie Orci, deputy superintendent for instruction, said.

The district is stepping up its literacy effort and plans to further desegregate testing and other data to study the issue of inequity, Orci said.

The diversity committee's study traces racial disparities in the district from elementary school through the Nevada High School Proficiency Exam, a high school graduation requirement.

"The study suggests we have a great need for diversity training within all realms of the Clark County School District," said Mujahid Ramadan, committee member and executive director of Nevada Partners.

"Students are lagging behind in math, English and reading and are unable to fulfill their graduation requirements when they get to high school. That is so important to life itself and in going forward into the workforce."

The study begins with the TerraNova exam.

The TerraNova is a nationally normed test, meaning the scores reflect how Clark County students performed in relation to other students in the country.

Based on those reporting methods, about 25 percent of students should fall in the bottom quartile.

The study points out that in 1999 in Clark County, 40 percent of black students and 38 percent of Hispanic students scored in the bottom quartile on the fourth grade TerraNova reading exam.

Meanwhile, 18 percent of white and 16 percent of Asian students were in the bottom quartile for reading.

According to the study, "achievement among black and Hispanic students deteriorates the longer they remain in our school system."

Using the same school year (1999) the study says that students scoring in the bottom quartile of the TerraNova reading exam rises to 44 percent for blacks and 42 percent for Hispanics.

Additionally, the study looks at students in grades four and eight receiving free or reduced lunches, a commonly used measurement of poverty in school districts.

Those students generally score 20 percentile points lower in all subject areas when compared to students not receiving free or reduced lunches.

Students lacking enough credits to graduate, dropouts and assignments to special education classes and honors diplomas also were examined.

"My interpretation is that many of the findings are right on target," said School Board member Larry Mason, who also served on the diversity committee. "It's going to be interesting to see how the board takes it and what we do with it."

The report Thursday is scheduled to be brought before the School Board.

Mason said he believes students have been subject to racial profiling -- that assumptions were made based on their ethnicity and other factors.

The study lists the school district's guidance and counseling program, testing services, student support services, student records center and the central information systems center as the sources for its data.

Garcia could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The diversity study came about when Garcia one year ago spoke a racial slur during a radio program, in an attempt to condemn racism.

The comment brought racial tensions to a head, sparking much public debate, and ultimately resulted in the formation of the diversity committee.

"All of this grew out of a great deal of concern and expression of anger," said Gary Peck, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada and diversity committee member. "I give him (Garcia) a lot of credit. Some of the people who served on this committee were among his worst critics."