Talk about perceptions, then guiding principles

July 12, 2010

Here’s hoping that the good people of Charlotte-Mecklenburg can talk out some guiding perceptions before they need to decide on guiding principles.

For it is perceptions that have long shaped the principles of CMS school assignment policy. And created the massive separations by race and by economics that are embodied in the attendance numbers below.

I was reminded to start with perceptions by an aphorism long connected with former chair and current CMS board member Joe White.

People want to go to their neighborhood school, he often says, as long as it is a good school. By extension, even the most rabid neighborhood-schools advocate will exercise other options if the neighborhood school does not have a reputation of being a good school. So what factors contribute to a school’s reputation?

Any school’s reputation is composed of truths and falsities – along with stories about one-time realities, both good and bad, that no longer apply. Example: A school can suffer from a reputation for bad plumbing long after the problem is fixed. So what are the realities and the perceptions that mix together to create a reputation? Your thoughts? Here’s the list so far.

Test scores. That’s a reality, right? Only, we all know that school-wide averages on the state achievement tests are a blunt and misleading instrument. I am reminded of the principal of a high-flying CMS school who realized that the cause for a huge reported school-wide achievement gap was a group of six students. Three of those were fine. The other three were way behind but making progress in self-contained classes for the hearing-impaired. The test scores of the three students gave the school a reputation for “bad” test scores.

Schoolhouse condition. We all have stories about children thriving in unattractive circumstances. But adult perceptions are deeply important in attracting and retaining both staff and parents. For decades in CMS, adults with choices shunned run-down schools. The CMS building program of the last 30 years has largely removed building conditions as an issue. But any parent visiting a schoolhouse who sees unkempt conditions has every reason to be suspicious that the neglect goes deeper.

Neighborhood condition. Adults are highly sensitive to crime statistics, visual neighborhood conditions, what their neighbors say about the neighborhood surrounding the schoolhouse, the potholes in the streets, you name it. Some or absolutely none of these pieces of information may be good cues to a school’s classroom learning environment. But that will not stop adults from pre-judging a school’s excellence based on neighborhood conditions.

Poverty statistics. For the non-poor of all ethnicities, children of poverty appear to be the default guide to whether a school is good or bad. If this were not so, why do boundary lines sort out the poor so carefully from their wealthier immediate neighbors? If this were not so, and when the statistics on poverty and race track each other so well, why would the numbers below look the way they do?

Supt. Peter Gorman has written these words:

“Too many of our kids come to school not ready to learn. It might be because they’re hungry. Or maybe they have not had medical care, or immunizations. Or maybe they’re frightened because the family is troubled or homeless. These social conditions come to school with too many of our students every single day – and although CMS works hard to overcome the barriers these conditions represent, we can’t do it alone. We need more family and community support to help solve the underlying problems that are causing some students to struggle in school.

“We still have an achievement gap linked to poverty and race. Many of our schools lack racial or economic diversity, based on housing patterns in the community. Our current student-assignment plan follows those housing patterns. This results in less diversity in individual schools. We want to close the achievement gap, and we’re working to close it – but the unfortunate fact is this: No large school district in America has yet closed the achievement gap for all students.

“So how will we do it? We are putting more of our resources – both financial and human resources – into struggling schools, because we believe every child deserves a great teacher. We’re giving teachers and principals substantial incentives to work in these schools and help them improve – but is that enough? Can we do more to close the achievement gap – can we do more as a district and as a community?

“We know the achievement gap is linked to poverty and difficult family circumstances. We still have a dropout rate that is far too high, and that is linked to the same factors that we see in the achievement gaps.

“All of these things are barriers to learning. All of them affect achievement. So I believe that as a community, we must ask ourselves: Are we doing everything we can for our children? Are we involved enough in our schools? Are there ways we can do more to help all children?

“These are substantial challenges for CMS and for our community as a whole. They will require substantial commitments of time, energy and money from all of us. Many are linked to complex social issues with no easy, one-step answers.

“Do we want our community to prosper? Do we want a unified school district that offers every child an equal opportunity? Or do we want schools that lack racial and economic diversity? Do we want schools of widely varying quality? Or do we want our children to have the opportunities we have had, and more?

“As a community, we must rise to these substantial challenges.”

In the years since 2008 when he included the comments above in his State of the Schools address, most of Gorman’s time has been spent slashing budgets. Perhaps he hasn’t had time to mobilize Charlotte-Mecklenburg leaders to answer his challenge. But he also hasn’t risked the wrath of well-connected parents by doing what every police and fire official does every day – assign personnel to where they are needed most. That would mess with another key perception of this age: that my child deserves the best, irrespective of other community needs.

Readers not steeped in North Carolina history may not know that the writers of the N.C. Constitution created a mandate that every child should have access to a sound basic education. A Superior Court judge, Howard Manning, oversees a long-running court case on this topic. In previous sessions of that case he has accused CMS of inflicting “academic genocide” on low-income children. Manning has the support of the N.C. Supreme Court, and will not shut up or go away.

My own perception is that CMS will forever fail this constitutional mandate so long as it isolates its highest-needs students. That’s in large part because adults with choices, both teachers and parents, will shun those places, and so the children will not have what they need to get a sound basic education. But it is also because children learn from each other. And we have cut high-needs children off from the children who can teach them, and learn themselves in the process. We do none of the children a favor by doing so.

Adult perceptions are getting in the way of educating our children. Delivery of education is effectively controlled not by guiding principles but perceptions, most of which boil down to adult fears of “the other,” the “not like me,” the “less than me,” the “not my kind.”

So let’s talk through those perceptions. If they were discussed at length in public forums, held up to the light of day, who would champion them? They would fall away of their own weight.

Then we could talk about guiding principles.

– – –

CMS enrollment ’09-’10
Schools in descending order of white enrollment at the end of the first month of the school year, fall 2009. Source: N.C. Department of Public Instruction.

ELEMENTARIES	Totl.	Bl	His	Wh
Providence Sp	846	6	3	82
Eastover	588	14	2	82
Davidson	889	10	6	82
Torrence Cr	1187	11	4	79
Selwyn	772	14	5	79
Beverly Wds	747	14	5	79
Olde Providence	673	13	4	78
JV Washam	934	12	7	78
Huntersville	799	14	8	77
Sharon	719	15	5	76
Elizabeth Lane	1035	9	4	76
Bain	1033	14	7	75
Polo Ridge	849	9	4	73
McKee Rd	500	13	5	73
Cornelius	699	14	12	70
Hawk Ridge	830	12	7	70
Barnette	732	22	8	67
Matthews	1023	19	8	67
McAlpine	513	19	11	65
Elon Park	891	16	5	64
Park Road	427	28	5	63
Ballantyne	778	18	7	60
Myers Park	738	36	4	58
Endhaven	694	18	12	57
Highland Cr	1222	32	6	56
Chantilly	252	37	6	54
Cotswold	587	37	10	52
Clear Creek	701	36	14	48
Lansdowne	564	41	11	47
Croft	690	43	5	46
Blythe	910	35	17	44
Winget Park	913	33	17	44
Mountain Is	834	46	5	44
River Gate	681	35	19	42
Pineville	672	28	26	41
Long Creek	486	50	6	40
Smith Language	1189	36	20	40
Metro	227	51	10	37
Crown Point	733	37	19	37
Smithfield	561	32	26	37
Elizabeth Trad	555	59	3	36
Lake Wylie	715	38	24	29
Lebanon Rd	753	42	33	23
Berryhill	329	18	50	22
Mallard Cr	665	54	11	21
Greenway Pk	580	51	28	20
Whitewater	464	59	15	19
Paw Creek	558	58	19	19
Highland Mill	230	72	7	19
Collinswood	529	23	57	19
David Cox Rd	906	65	10	18
Rama Rd	523	56	22	18
Villa Heights	304	68	1	18
Dilworth	538	71	10	17
Reedy Creek	793	60	19	17
Berewick	524	49	25	17
Oakhurst	576	68	11	16
Pinewood	529	40	42	16
River Oaks	554	70	11	15
Steele Creek	725	46	33	14
Stoney Creek	665	62	17	14
J H Gunn	700	50	33	14
Piney Grove	759	48	35	14
Hunt'towne Fms	728	42	42	13
Tuckaseegee	810	54	25	12
Univ Meadows	641	65	18	12
Idlewild	801	55	30	10
Oakdale	626	74	13	9
Barringer	561	80	2	8
Pawtuckett	220	72	14	8
Newell	667	45	43	8
Shamrock Gar	338	65	23	6
Hornets Nest	867	67	26	6
Morehead	702	73	14	6
Statesville Rd	522	78	11	5
Windsor Pk	752	36	50	5
Winding Springs	576	67	24	5
Albemarle Rd	960	43	46	5
Grier	849	61	30	5
University Pk	525	85	7	5
Westerly Hills	278	79	4	4
Montclaire	450	21	72	4
Thomasboro	312	75	8	4
Briarwood	679	55	37	4
Billingsville	452	61	22	4
Sedgefield	385	71	23	3
Winterfield	549	49	46	3
Allenbrook	421	67	16	3
Hickory Grove	972	60	35	3
Merry Oaks	555	37	52	3
Lincoln Hts	277	76	19	3
Nations Ford	600	44	53	3
Sterling	472	59	36	2
Highland Ren	477	64	31	2
Irwin Avenue	478	90	6	2
Buers	393	90	6	2
Oaklawn Ave	335	67	30	2
Ashley Park	245	92	4	2
Devonshire	504	53	42	1
Hidden Valley	611	51	46	1
First Ward	376	97	1	1
Reid Park	558	94	3	1
Druid Hills	392	89	7	0
Bruns Ave	528	91	7	0

MIDDLE	Totl.	Bl	His	Wh
Bailey	1195	14	8	77
South Charlotte	944	17	8	68
Robinson	1131	17	7	67
Crestdale	1008	20	7	67
Alex Graham	1150	30	5	63
Community House	1534	18	9	62
Carmel	1128	26	15	56
Davidson IB	248	31	5	55
Bradley	1198	34	9	54
Mint Hill	1289	28	15	53
Smith Language	1189	36	20	40
Northwest Arts	1092	54	5	38
Metro	227	51	10	37
Northeast	851	45	17	34
J M Alexander	573	54	9	33
Quail Hollow	891	43	25	29
Randolph	928	47	16	28
Southwest	1298	47	21	27
Ridge Road	968	60	10	25
Coulwood	836	68	11	18
Piedmont	909	72	5	16
Marie G. Davis	388	68	14	15
McClintock	621	59	23	12
Whitewater	561	67	14	11
Kennedy	618	53	29	10
Sedgefield	381	50	38	8
Albemarle Rd	816	55	33	7
Wilson	581	66	18	6
Northridge	901	68	22	6
Martin	1265	72	18	5
Eastway	777	49	35	5
Ranson	1171	79	13	4
Nath Alexander	1014	70	20	4
Cochrane	610	68	24	3
Spaugh	533	85	5	3
ML King	869	62	32	3
J T Williams	527	90	3	1

HIGH SCHOOLS	Totl.	Bl	His	Wh
Providence	2072	10	4	79
Butler	2345	20	7	67
Ardrey Kell	2021	17	7	65
North Meck	2161	27	8	61
Myers Park	2948	26	9	57
South Meck	1875	24	17	55
Perf. Learning	104	40	8	48
Olympic Math	404	30	14	47
Hopewell	2519	43	8	46
Olympic Ren	378	39	18	39
Northwest Arts	1092	54	5	38
Metro	227	51	10	37
Mallard Creek	1987	59	7	28
Morgan	94	69	4	27
East Meck	2132	52	16	26
Cato College	100	60	9	25
Olympic Biotech	378	47	18	22
Independence	2577	59	21	16
Olympic Global	373	49	24	16
Marie G Davis	388	68	14	15
Garinger Tech	427	58	24	11
West Meck	2213	70	11	11
Olympic Intl Biz	370	62	27	9
Berry Academy	1228	78	11	9
E E Waddell	969	54	37	8
Vance	1798	69	21	6
Turning Point	241	83	12	5
Garinger Lead	362	70	22	4
Garinger Intl	372	57	36	4
Garinger Biz	364	70	21	4
Garinger Math	345	63	28	3
Hawthorne	257	88	9	3
Midwood	209	92	3	3
Harding Univ	1043	91	3	2
West Charlotte	2078	86	7	1