Racial Education Gap

Public Official Acknowledges Racial Education Gap

In a rare and commendable acknowledgment of racial disparities by a public official, Jack O’Connell, California’s state superintendent of public instruction, announced that student performance on the most recent standardized tests demonstrate that “the system does treat some people differently, and race does have a role to play.”  Mainstream discussions of disparities in education have missed the widening reality of racial inequity in our schools that cannot be explained away along economic lines. “We must take notice and take action,” says O’Connell.  The public comments offer an opportunity for meaningful policy that explicitly addresses racial inequity in education.  O’Connell’s comments have come up against backlash from conservative media as well as some educators and education policy leaders who stay away from any mention of race.

Read more here from the LA Times.

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