MATTER

IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY
Across California and the nation, we find schools and districts closing
opportunity and achievement gaps for Black students. Many of these also
serve concentrations of students from low-income families and aboveaverage
concentrations of African American students. For example, at
Laurel Street Elementary in Compton, students — almost all of whom are
either Latino or African American, most of whom are low income — are
learning challenging material.
On the first-year administration of the Smarter Balanced assessment,
the percentage of Laurel Street’s third-grade Black students who met or
exceeded state standards surpassed the state’s proficiency rates for all
students, regardless of race, in both math and English language arts. And
at the ethnically diverse Bridgeway Island Elementary in West Sacramento,
eighth-grade Black students not only surpassed state proficiency rates for
all students in both subjects, but also posted some of the highest scores
in the state for Black eighth graders: 62 percent meeting or exceeding
standards in math, and 54 percent in English language arts.
Finally, students at Kearny Digital Media and Design in San Diego—15
percent of whom are Black and 70 percent of whom are low-income—are
learning in a thematic, interdisciplinary, project-based environment. Every
student in the class of 2014 graduated from high school in four years, and
on the first year administration of Smarter Balanced, 67 percent of Black
eleventh graders met or exceeded English language arts standards. 25
THE EDUCATION TRUST–WEST | BLACK MINDS MATTER | OCTOBER 2015 17