Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
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In Dayton, white kids lag behind black
Like the rest of Ohio, Dayton has a huge gap between the graduation rate of black and white kids.
But here it’s the white kids who are far behind.
Last week, Education Week magazine published a report that showed Ohio had one of the nation’s worst graduation rate gaps, with 80.5 percent of white students graduating statewide while only 50.7 percent of black kids receive diplomas.
But in Dayton, those numbers are nearly reversed. On last year’s state report card, 76.3 percent of the city’s black students, but only 51.1 percent of white students, graduated.
And white kids graduated less often here despite the fact that they out-scored their black classmates on all 21 state achievement tests on last year’s report card.
“We’ve recognized for some time that we have some issues with high school kids,� school board member Mario Gallin said. “I don’t think we’ve had a specific conversation on this discrepancy, but we are certainly aware there are racial gaps.�
Dayton’s numbers may result partly from what high schools white students attend and the sheer size of the district’s black enrollment compared to white.
Just 21 percent of high school students are white. Of about 1,200 white high school students, 30 percent attend Stivers School for the Arts, one of the Miami Valley’s highest rated high schools. Students must audition and show artistic talent to be selected to attend Stivers.
Both black and white Stivers students score well on tests and graduate at high rates, which helped 95.5 percent of white students graduate from the school on last year’s report card.
That high scoring group of white high school students may be helping to drive up white high school test scores for the district.
But almost half of all white high school students in Dayton attends Belmont High School, an open enrollment school that last year was rated in “academic emergency� for low test performance. At Belmont, 58 percent of the kids are white but just 64 percent of white students graduate.
Gallin said many new graduates in Dayton are the first in their families to receive a high school diploma. “You would think across the board we’d be further down the line than this,� she said. “It’s a combination of societal and educational issues.�
In some ways, there’s never been more attention on keeping kids from quitting school in Dayton.
Over the past five years, the number of Dayton charter schools that target dropouts has grown to 11 and the school board has put in place almost a half-dozen programs designed to make high school a more attractive place.
And school officials say the problem is not specific to any racial group, even if the district’s numbers show far fewer white students graduate than black students.
“Among lower-income family groups, there’s a sense of malaise — a feeling that nothing we do is going to make a difference,� Dayton school board member Mario Gallin said. “I notice with some of the younger kids they have no vision of what they are going to do when they grow up or what the world is like outside their neighborhood.�
Dayton’s overall graduation rate has been on the rise — it’s expected to reach 73 percent on this year’s state report card, due out in August, up from 53 percent two years ago.
And school officials say they are closing the gap between black and white kids when it comes to graduating from high school — two years ago, just 34.7 percent of white students graduated, but Dayton expects its upcoming report card to show 60 percent of white kids earned diplomas.
The district has made gains by focusing new resources toward preventing dropouts. Its “credit recovery� program, for instance, now allows kids to make up classes they failed through online courses before and after school.
This fall, Dayton also will launch an alternative technology high school, partly in hopes of serving kids who don’t do well in traditional schools.
These programs are designed to complement other high school improvements, such as the Dayton Early College Academy on the University of Dayton campus and the academic magnet program at Colonel White High School — two programs designed for kids with high potential.
This year, the district also will begin work on its new career technical high school on the campus of Sinclair Community College.
Board member Clayton Luckie said these alternatives help kids with special challenges.
“It’s unbelievable, for one thing, how many hours some of our kids work,� he said. “A lot of our seniors help support their families. You have to find ways to get kids engaged in the educational process.�
Permalink | Comments (8) | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
Comments
By elementaryhistoryteacher
July 5, 2006 10:04 PM | Link to this
I wondered as I read your post….what is the ratio of white teachers/adm. to black teachers/adm.? Does one group far outweigh the other?By Ms Cornelius
July 5, 2006 1:42 AM | Link to this
This is really interesting. I feel I need to do more research into DPS. But to ignore a problem like this is mind-boggling.By Mary
June 28, 2006 5:03 AM | Link to this
Congratulations to “None Yabiz” for your accomplishments and making lemonade out of lemons. Unfortunately, many of the cases do not end up as yours with all your accomplishments. I am sure you and your parents had to bring some determination and fortitude to bear through it all. I live in a mostly all white district and know of two highly intelligent young men who have had similar disillusionment in our education environment. One dropped out and got his GED. One dropped out and was home schooled.By none yabiz
June 27, 2006 5:03 PM | Link to this
I went to Colonel White High School. I should have graduated in 2001. I chose to drop-out and get my GED. My decision was based upon the large amount of discrimination that I was subjected to by both teachers and students. When my parents raised concerns over what was going on (my life was threatened) both my parents and me were accused of racsism ourselves. I am not now nor have I ever been racist. I cried alot over the way I was treated because I couldn’t understand so much hatred. I don’t have any hard feelings. I just think it is sad that people cannot get along. I am now a very sucessful CPA. I have my MBA and I don’t thank DPS for my sucess in any way.By JERRY BARRETT
June 27, 2006 9:11 AM | Link to this
I have two grandchildren that live in the Cincinnati Public school District. They are white. However, because of intolerable social (racial) conditions in the district, i.e., non-learning environment, mandates that my grandchildren be home schooled. It is not safe for them to attend the local school. What a shame!By Mary
June 26, 2006 6:41 PM | Link to this
Just wondering if there could be a little reverse discrimination going on with white students in some of Dayton’s schools or something in the school environment that repulses them. Supposedly, a large percentage of high school drop outs are actually gifted or highly intelligent students who are turned off to education at school.By Rick
June 26, 2006 6:09 PM | Link to this
It’s not surprising that white kids, who do better on tests, do not have a higher graduation rates. This has been the case for years and I never heard anyone in the DPS who expressed any concern whatsoever. The fact is that the DPS are so oriented towards blacks that many white students dropped out and got a GED. Secondly, I have heard many stories of how many many black students are hostile to white students and make their life miserable. So they drop out and the DPS has not in the past acknowledged the problem. The DPS needs to address the underlying problems, hostility and indifference to white students.By Oldprof
June 26, 2006 5:39 PM | Link to this
The front page of today’s paper proves that students are able to get a superlative education in DPS. For that matter, I’m proof of the same: a graduate of one of the worst high schools in the nation (back then), having gone on to a PhD and a good career. What’s the difference between successful students in these schools and the failures? Family and community support—or lack of it. It’s unfortunate that so many people want to blame the problem on teachers, or who want to trumpet school “choice” as the magic cure-all. Fix the families and the community and watch school performance improve rapidly. A good first step would be for legislators and unions to get together and agree that professionalism, in BOTH faculty conduct and salary/support, will be expected and provided.