All children deserve the same chance to reach their full potential. Unfortunately, it’s just not the reality. Some children are born with so many disadvantages that they can never overcome them. They don’t have the chance to receive enriching experiences at an early age and may start school far behind their peers. Or the schools they attend aren’t up to par. Or they face crises in life that set them back.
But there are bright children who rise from modest circumstances who can do as well as anyone — if they’re encouraged and pushed to excel.
Too many are not, according to an examination of accelerated classes in North Carolina public schools by The News & Observer of Raleigh and The Charlotte Observer. Reporters looked at third-grade end-of-grade tests that determine which students are enrolled in advanced classes and found that high-scoring children from low-income families are much less likely to gain that placement than are their peers from wealthier families.
Using data from 2010 to 2015, they estimated that 9,000 more children should have been placed in stronger classes, giving them a better chance to excel later. This represents a terrible disservice to those children and their families. It’s a denial of our country’s promise that a person can go as far as his or her talent allows.
The reason this happens appears to be a mix of low expectations and environment. One noticeable factor is the increasing concentration of poverty in many of our public schools. Students in those schools “don’t get taught in an enriched environment. They get taught in a bare-bones one,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education member Ruby Jones told the Observer.
But that’s not all of it, because some children in those schools still post test scores that should earn them places in advanced classes. Yet many aren’t.
Here’s some good news: Reporters found that the placement gap was narrower in Guilford County Schools than anywhere else in the state. For third-graders scoring above grade level in math in 2014, 79 percent of low-income students were labeled gifted compared to 87 percent of students from families with higher incomes. Guilford County also enrolls more students in Advanced Placement high school courses than do most districts.
There may be a risk of pushing any student beyond his or her aptitude, but it’s devastating to let a child pass through school with undeveloped potential because of lack of opportunity. Any gap based on race, gender, family income or anything else must be recognized and corrected.
Until then, no one can rightly contend that life outcomes are determined entirely by merit. The bright student who is properly nurtured, encouraged and challenged will go on to higher education, earn a degree, win a good job and climb the ladder of success. The same child, if neglected, likely won’t. That should be unacceptable in this country.
