Tuesday night, the Clinton School auditorium was crowded with parents, educators, and administrators, all concerned with the District’s efforts to narrow the achievement gap between white and black students.

They were there because many felt that the gap was not being narrowed quickly enough.

After introductory comments from NJ Acting Commissioner of Education Christoper Cerf, teachers and administrators explained their experience and offered their insights.

South Mountain Elementary Principal Tina Lehn talked about how her school is addressing the issue:

“What can we do right now…to meet the needs of all our children whether black white Hispanic, that’s what I want to focus on. Thank goodness for full-day kindergarten, but I want to see great teaching. A great teacher has engaged every single child in the room. They have turned on the learning and every kid is excited to be there and learn. Academics are incredibly important, but also the social/emotional connection. That every child knows that his teacher thinks he’s important and really cares about him and listens to him."

Lehn added, "It really is a connection between parents and school. The more we have that link and that connection and the more we come out to talk and share our feelings like this, the more successful our children will be.“

Many on the panel praised some of the programs in place at several South Orange-Maplewood elementary schools that help children catch up to their peers outside of regular school hours. But as Seth Boyden assistant Principal Raquel Horn suggested, there are cultural differences in our community that can affect a child’s ability to learn. 

“Our data [at Seth Boyden] mirrored the data shown on the graph at the beginning: a lower percentage of black children were proficient on the standardized assessment than their white counterparts. My principal and I picked apart our data and said who are these black children? And what we found was that 60% of those black children who were not proficient were either born in other countries, or their parents were. We found we were missing a significant part of our immigrant population."

Horn continued, "Our staff had a real conversation about what we observed and talked about strategies. What can we do to engage those parents from other cultures? We need the funding to tackle these things to reach this population. It means being accessible. Sometimes parents are not involved—not because they don’t care—but because they work and don’t have time. So we need to be more accessible to those parents, even if it’s during hours that aren’t necessarily good for us.”

One of the main points Superintendent Osborne made several times during the discussion was the idea that efforts to close the gap do not hurt high achieving students.

"There’s a false belief and a false fear in this community that education is a zero sum game, and that notion has to go. With the Board of Education’s support, I think we’ve proven in the last four years that our efforts to meet the needs of students falling behind are not harmful to high achieving, affluent children. Every step of the way that we’ve offered high quality course work or support for struggling kids, we’ve faced opposition — whether it’s including more students with special needs in regular classrooms, or leveling up more students into college preparatory classes, creating jumpstart programs to directly connect with families who may have had a negative experience with school themselves, by asking community to invest in full day kindergarten. We’ve faced opposition every single step of the way. We have not done enough yet. In fact we’re just getting started."

Osborne said that "The idea that it’s not optimal to take care of all of our kids because it means inevitably neglecting some is just not true."

"Here’s what else has been happening. Our college acceptance rates have been going up, advanced proficient scores have been going up and we have actually been expanding—in this economy—music and arts programs, and increased the amount of college credit kids are earning in the high school," said Osborne. "We’ve proved there are not diminishing returns for our highflying kids when we take this seriously. The myth of the zero sum game is holding this community back. Every child's future is inextricably tied up to the future of every other child.”

School Board member Andrea Wren-Hardin said the Board is committed to closing the gap and is regularly developing and revising the District goals and mission regarding the issue. She also discussed the importance of the Parenting Center’s work to help kids and parents navigate the school system and work with teachers so families feel valued.

After each panelist had spoken on their experience, the moderator invited questions from the audience. One parent noted that studies indicate smaller class size can improve learning and perhaps narrow the gap and asked whether the district was considering reducing class sizes. Mr. Osborne said that is not an option because, first, there is no money for such changes, and, second, teacher quality and providing a core curriculum have proven much more effective.

Another parent wanted to know how to harness the energy and enthusiasm of parents who want to help.

The panel suggested tutoring kids, supporting principals, volunteering in schools, and connecting to parents in the community who need assistance. Osborne also encouraged parents to keep demanding the best even if you have to storm a Board meeting. Commissioner Cerf added that parents could make a difference by pressing for radical changes, even if it means butting against unions and administrators.
 
Wren-Hardin and Osborne were asked more than once how soon they expect results. Both said the gap was a top priority and that although the process has been frustratingly slow, they are staying focused and pushing for results.

Osborne thanked the panel and crowd for coming and posed a question to Commissioner Cerf as well as the crowd:

”What will you do? Where will you carry this? There’s been a number of these conversations – how will this one make a difference?”