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OPINION: K-12 System Leaves Low Income and Minority Children Behind

Closing the Achievement Gap Should Include Career Readiness.

Washington State is failing too many low-income and minority children. Only 56% of black boys graduate high school. The average black family in Seattle earns $25,700, compared to the average white family who earns $70,200. While white families have seen their incomes go up, black families have seen their incomes go down 13% in the last two years. The public school system should help to solve this inequity, instead it’s contributing to it.

Targeting Suspensions and Expulsions

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Public schools have inadequate tools to rectify the lack of support many poor students receive from home. Children who act out are pulled from the system early on and at a very high social cost. Once a child is suspended or expelled, no network exists to bring them back in. With no high school diploma, these children become adults who are trapped in poverty, and likely to land in prison.

In Washington State, over 9% of 8th grade students are suspended every year, a figure the EOGOAC Committee, and the Discipline coalition (comprised of Lawyers and the ACLU) has tried to draw attention to. The greatest reason for suspension or expulsion is not a crime, but misbehavior.

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Other states have been more successful at helping low income students navigate the system. The college participation rate for low-income students in Washington was 28.5 percent in 2010, worse than Mississippi and Alabama.

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Broaden Career Pathways, Keep Kids in School

The fact that 53 percent of students who drop out do so during their senior year speaks volumes about the value of a high school diploma (that’s up from 36 percent in 2005 according to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction). It shows that, for students who don’t see themselves going to four-year schools, the decision to stay in school for one more year is not worth the payoff.

WA Dropout Visual

Driven by a narrowly defined “college readiness” goals, career and technical education (CTE) is steadily disappearing from K-12. Funding for the Running Start for the Trades program has dried up, even though a growing number of students are participating. Last year, both Democrats and Republicans proposed cuts to CTE funding. The state’s 14 “skill centers,” are hardly enough to service all 885 public schools.

Increasing exposure to career and technical training would make high school more than just a stepping stone to a four-year school. A national survey found that 81 percent of dropouts say relevant, real-world learning opportunities would have kept them in high school.

The labor market is asking for more diverse credentials than a four year diploma. Starting wages a major shipyards or vessel crewing with Inland Boatmen’s Union can be over $60,000 a year with full benefits to over $100,000. Skill shortages exist for high paying jobs that don’t require a college degree across a range of occupations in agriculture, manufacturing, maritime and construction.

This year, the Legislature announced an effort to fund technical skills education for incarcerated prisoners. The idea is to give inmates a real job skill for which they can earn a living upon release. It’s a great idea, which begs the question “why can’t we teach them the skill that will keep them out of prison?”

Rising to the Challenge

The “achievement gap,” the discrepancy in educational attainment between students of different socioeconomic backgrounds, is a frequent conversation topic in Olympia and Seattle political circles. While early learning has emerged as the primary tool for closing this gap, alone it falls short of offering a viable economic pathway out of poverty for many low income and minority students.

The current K-12 System is designed for one kind of student and one kind only: the student from a middle or upper class white family who learns well by sitting, reading, and listening. Further, high school has become increasingly college-track oriented at the expense of preparing students who choose a different pathway to further education and employment in order to positively engage in today’s economy.

There is a legislative pathway to rectify these imbalances and reorient the system to enable all children, including low income, minority, and children with differing abilities to succeed. It will take combining elements of early learning and culturally competent social supports throughout all grades, with a robust commitment to provide career and technical training such that a student leaves high school prepared to enter the workforce college or not. We hope legislators will rise to the challenge.


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