Dulaney High Minority Achievement Team (MAT) Encourages Minority Parent Participation at PTSA and MAT Meetings

….some facts!

By Charles Perry

             An inadequate education prohibits career opportunities and limits earning potential, and we have seen the effects of unsuccessful educational experiences. They are ever present in the daily news in the form of crime stories and frightening statistics, and a disproportionate number represents stories and statistics about African American males. It should be noted that in Maryland, 50 - 60 percent of inmates who enter the system do not possess a high school diploma. Seventy-seven percent of the inmates in Maryland are black males and the majority of them attended low-performing schools.

             The federally funded Correctional Education Association Three State Recidivism Study (Maryland, Ohio, and Minnesota) noticeably indicates that inmates who participate in some form of educational programming are less likely to be re-incarcerated (19% reduction), and inmates who complete both high school (GED) and vocational training recidivate at even lower rates. If meaningful educational opportunities have a positive affect on prison inmates, is it any wonder that a solid educational foundation can do the same to prevent public school students from future involvement in the judicial system? Educational success changes lives.

            An article in the Baltimore Sun originally published September 15, 2004 by Sun Staff Sara Neufeld indicated test scores show Baltimore County schools are making strides in reading, but lagging in middle and high school math, yet narrowing the minority achievement gap. The county's average scores exceeded the state average in every area tested in elementary and middle schools reflecting there is a state trend in middle school reading higher than middle school math. On high school tests, the county's average scores were all slightly below Maryland averages. Baltimore County students performed much better on the English test -- 50 percent passed compared with 37 percent last year. Baltimore County has eliminated all high school math classes easier than Algebra I. Dulaney had a 38 percent pass rate on the algebra test.

            The County announced that 140 of its 162 schools made "adequate yearly progress" up from 120 schools. Under No Child Left Behind, schools failing have to make adequate progress for two consecutive years and must offer students the option of transferring to higher-performing schools.  The state released the list of schools that did not make adequate progress in the spring of 2004, but has added schools by incorporating graduation rates and attendance data into the formula used to determine whether schools make the grade. The new list will not be released until systems review its accuracy. 

             According to the Baltimore Sun (September 10, 2002), The Sun reported that Baltimore County school officials have already unveiled a program aimed at pushing underachieving high school students into college-preparatory courses, and to provide teachers with online diversity, multicultural and special-education training.  The article further reported that Harford County’s school system has spent about $500,000 over the past two years to close its minority achievement gap. In Howard County, there is a Comprehensive Plan for Accelerated School Improvement focuses on the 15 schools with the lowest test scores or the highest percentages of poor students. What is meant by “achievement gaps” is the persistent difference that exists in levels of access to academic supports, and performance and attainment measures between relatively advantaged and disadvantaged subgroups of students. Martin L. Johnson, director of the Maryland Institute for Minority Achievement and Urban Education at the University of Maryland's College of Education reported…"I think that every school system is looking at test data and seeing these gaps and ...beginning to realize that something else needs to take place."  Dulaney High MAT believes greater parent involvement must also take place at every level of a student educational opportunity.

             In October 1999, the State of Maryland entered a partnership agreement with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) for the purposes of improving the educational opportunities for African Americans in Maryland’s public institutions of higher learning and ensuring compliance with the State’s obligations under federal law. Although the Minority Achievement Plan was not required by the agreement, the measurements in the plan will be used to report progress in meeting the goals of the OCR agreement. According to the Minority Achievement Plan, beginning in 10^th grade, Maryland minorities will be offered college-readiness programs, community outreach programs, and mentoring opportunities.

             Children often exhibit the behavior that is expected from them. If we expect high achievement of students, they will then expect it of themselves. Achievement Initiative for Maryland's Minority Students (AIMMS) constantly researches data-driven decision making regarding ….what it will take to eliminate the achievement in Maryland.  Maryland’s AIMMS report contains the data in the state and examines the underlying issues of low achievement such as low expectations, inadequate resources, uncertified teachers and poverty. The challenge is to use data to make the appropriate decisions. Whatever the state, districts, and schools decide to do should be contingent upon what the data reveals about minority achievement here in Maryland.

           Dulaney High School Minority Achievement Teams (MAT) encourages minority parent participation at PTSA and MAT Meetings. Cleary, statistics confirm what is suspected.  Our school system must take measures to help minority children succeed.  Last summer MAT facilitated a summer camp targeting incoming 9^th graders entering Dulaney High.  The initiative was coordinated by English teacher Kelly Smith and other committee members.  Students Organized for Accedemic Rigor (SOAR), a brain child of MAT continues to explore avenues that will encourage minority achievement.