December 10, 2015
By MARK SHERMAN
Associated Press
The Supreme Court appears torn over the use of race in college admissions and may not be ready to make a decision without more information.
During arguments Wednesday, several justices asked about the value of ordering more hearings in a case from Texas that was before them for the second time.
Additional evidence might determine whether the use of race is necessary to increase diversity at the University of Texas.
The justices rehashed many of the same arguments they discussed three years ago in the case of Abigail Fisher. Justice Anthony Kennedy, crucial to the outcome, said there was information that “we should know and don't know.”
Fisher has been out of college since 2012, but the justices' renewed interest in her case appeared to be a sign that the court’s conservative majority is poised to cut back, or even end, affirmative action in higher education.
Their skepticism about it was on display during more than 90 minutes in a packed courtroom.
“What unique perspective does a minority student bring to a physics class?” Chief Justice John Roberts asked at one point, challenging a part of Texas’ argument that says their program is needed to increase diversity at the classroom level.
But it was not clear from the arguments whether Kennedy would go as far as the other conservatives appeared willing to deal a blow to race as a factor in college admissions.
Potentially complicating the outcome, Justice Elena Kagan is sitting out the case because she worked on it at an earlier stage at the Justice Department, before joining the court. Her absence creates the possibility of a 4-4 split. That would resolve the case in Texas’ favor, but say nothing about the issue nationally. The other three liberal justices appeared solidly in favor of the Texas program.
The arguments focused on whether the university flagship campus in Austin has compelling reasons to consider race among other factors when it evaluates applicants for about one-quarter of its freshman class. Most students are admitted to the university through a plan that guarantees slots to Texans who graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school classes.
Fisher says the “top 10” program works well to bring in Hispanic and African-American students, without considering race. Bert Rein, representing Fisher, said the university can take other steps to diversify its student body without explicit reference to race, including reducing its reliance on standardized test scores.
Texas says the “top 10” program alone is not enough and that the school needs the freedom to fill out incoming classes as it sees fit. Gregory Garre said on behalf of the university that minority enrollment plummeted at top public universities in California and Michigan after they ended the consideration of race.
“Now is not the time and this is not the case to roll back student-body diversity in America,” Garre said.
Twelve years ago, the justices reaffirmed the consideration of race in the quest for diversity on campus. A more conservative court first heard Fisher’s case in 2012; the case ended inconclusively with a tepid decision that ordered a lower court review.
The federal appeals court in New Orleans has twice upheld the Texas admissions program and rejected Fisher’s appeal.
Fisher’s case was conceived by Edward Blum, an opponent of racial preferences. Blum also is behind lawsuits against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina that aim to eliminate any consideration of race in college admissions.
Texas is unique in marrying the top 10 plan to a separate admissions review in which race is one of many factors considered. The university’s current freshman class is 22 percent Hispanic and 4.5 percent African-American. White students make up less than one-half the school’s freshmen.
Eight states prohibit the use of race in public college admissions: Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Washington.
The Obama administration, dozens of colleges and many of the nation’s largest businesses are supporting Texas in defending its program.
There also are competing arguments over whether racial preference programs actually limit the number of students from Asian backgrounds, who are disproportionately represented in student bodies relative to their share of the population.
The case is Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, 14-981.
December 03, 2015
By Amanda Scurlock
Sports Writer
Youth was an important factor for the Harbor Teacher High School Monarchs Cross Country team for the 2015-2016 season.
This season was Head Coach Fatima Iqbal-Zubair’s first season leading Cross Country at Harbor Teacher. The cross-country team had seen much success by going undefeated in all league meets this season and becoming Ocean League Champions, according to Zubair.
“In the league championship, which was the beginning of [November] we actually got a double,” said Zubair. “Girls and boys both won so we won a double league championship.”
This year was the first time in school history the cross-country team earned a league championship for both boys and girls. Both teams also came in third place for the CIF Division III finals, according to the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF)
In the Los Angeles City Section championship, five runners clinched top 10 spots, with Marcos Cazarez coming in third place. The Monarchs boys came in first, only scoring 25 points. For the girls, four runners reached top-10 status with Mayela Medina in second place, according to the CIF.
Freshmen played a key role in the team’s success, said Zubair. One of them was Rachel Oyeyemi, who came in 10th place for the City championship meet, reported CIF. Zubair describes Oyeyemi as a “quiet, fierce runner” who has been consistent with training.
“That’s shown in her running,” said Zubair. “The biggest thing with Rachel is that she has the biggest [personal record] of anyone this season.”
Oyeyemi earned a personal record of three minutes during one meet, an extraordinary feat in cross country, noted Zubair.
“It’s like cutting a minute off a mile each mile,” said Zubair. “I think that gave her confidence.”
Kayla Navarro is another standout freshman who came in fifth in the City Section Championship Meet, according to the CIF.
“She was ready to go and was ready to start training and she’s been a standout,” said Zubair. “She’s had really big [personal records] every race.”
Zubair mentioned that Navarro is confident, assertive, and goal-oriented. Navarro once told Zubair that she wanted the team to reach the CIF state competition.
“No girl has ever told me that on the team, even the upperclassmen,” said Zubair. “She has that vision, which is amazing to me as a coach.”
Anne Tsai came in 15th place in the City Championship meet; she has been persistent with training, according Zubair.
“She made the top 7,” said Zubair. “She’s a sixth or seventh runner as a freshmen.”
Zubair believes that overall comprehensive fitness is an important factor for a great runner. The team practiced five days a week; on the week of meets, they practiced four days. The team worked on body resistance conditioning and core conditioning three times a week.
The boys cross-country team earned six League Championship titles and the girls earned four championships, according to the CIF.
November 26, 2015
By Jamal Hagler
Special to the NNPA News Wire from the Center for American Progress
As Congress prepares to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or ESEA, it is vitally important that the updated law address the significant achievement gaps that plague the nation’s most underserved populations: students of color and low-income students. Providing these students with a high-quality education that prepares them for college and a career is a moral and economic imperative. Today, students of color comprise the majority of children in U.S. public schools. And as the demographic makeup of the United States continues to shift, the percentage of children of color in public schools is set to rise. By 2044, people of color will make up the majority of the country. Simply put, people of color will be the fuel that drives the engine of America’s future. That being the reality, the United States cannot afford to have a significant portion of its population unprepared for tomorrow’s job market.
As the reauthorization process comes to a close, lawmakers must keep in mind that a strong education system is vital to America’s global competitiveness—both now and in the future. Furthermore, the benefits of closing academic achievement gaps are not just exclusive to communities of color but also to the country as a whole. A Center for American Progress analysis shows that closing educational achievement gaps for people of color, particularly black and Latino students, would result in greater gross domestic product, or GDP, growth and increased state and federal revenues. The analysis also concluded that closing academic achievement gaps would add $20.4 trillion in GDP between 2014 and 2050, $4.1 trillion in federal revenues during the same time period, and $3.3 trillion in state and local revenues during those same years.
Strong statewide accountability systems are critical to ensuring that states, districts, and schools provide all students with the resources and supports they need to graduate ready for college and a career. Yet, the plans put forth by the House and Senate significantly rollback accountability. In fact, the House version of the ESEA reauthorization does not require states to do anything to support their struggling schools. The Senate bill at least requires state intervention for underperforming schools, but in its current form the proposal ignores achievement gaps between groups of students. As the reauthorization process continues to move forward after the House-Senate conference committee decided on a proposal yesterday, it is vital that states are held accountable when students are underperforming.
A recent CAP analysis uncovered significant achievement gaps throughout the nation affecting millions of underserved students who would go unnoticed under the proposed accountability systems. These gaps will have a long lasting negative impact, particularly as communities of color become a larger percentage of the U.S. population. CAP’s analysis of schools across the nation finds that millions of low-income students and students of color attend schools with substantial achievement gaps. These gaps could be potentially masked by state accountability systems if either the House or Senate bills becomes law. This would leave a considerable portion of students lagging well behind their peers.
CAP’s analysis found that during the 2012-13 school year, nearly 1.2 million black students and 1 million Hispanic students attended schools where their performance is at least 10 percentage points below the schools’ overall performance. Additionally when examining schools with high- and low-proficiency rates, CAP found that high-performing schools—which are defined as schools with the highest overall proficiency rates in the country—have larger achievement gaps than schools that posted some of the lowest proficiency rates. These findings suggest that policymakers need to rethink the indicators with which they determine school performance in order to ensure that students of color do not slip through the cracks.
Increasing educational attainment and achievement for all Americans is key to reducing the country’s growing inequality, even more so for communities of color that on the whole have less educational achievement, earn lower wages, are less likely to own a home, and have significantly lower levels of wealth than their non-Hispanic white counterparts. While various factors contribute to these unfortunate outcomes, policymakers must do everything possible to increase the educational attainment and achievement for communities of color in order to greatly improve these circumstances. Moreover, as members of the baby-boom generation continue to retire it is increasingly up to people of color to replace them in the U.S. work force. The 21st century global economy needs workers with the high tech and advanced skills to compete. Ensuring that all students in U.S. schools have a proper and rigorous education is essential to eliminating the skills gap that looms on the horizon.
Ensuring that the ESEA reauthorization includes the appropriate safeguards to address the needs of all students is a critical step toward a securing a strong future not only for them and their families but the entire country. Policymakers must find the proper balance of local, state, and federal involvement to ensure that investments are targeted to close achievement gaps and students are not left behind.
When it comes to increasing educational attainment there is no one-size-fits-all solution. It is imperative that school districts, states, and the federal government effectively collaborate to ensure that schools properly serve the nation’s children.
Over the past several decades, communities of color have made impressive strides in terms of education, wages, employment, and many other indicators of success. Unfortunately, even after these gains, communities of color continue to lag behind the non-Hispanic white population on most of those indicators. Education, however, is one pathway toward closing these disparities. Legislators must mandate resource allocation in a manner that gives every student the opportunity to succeed.
Jamal Hagler is the Research Assistant for Progress 2050.
November 19, 2015
By Monique Chappell
Special to the NNPA News Wire from The Charlotte Post
Education always played a big part in Byron Garrett’s life.
“Education has always been a love of our family,” said Garrett, a Greensboro native and chairman of the National Family Engagement Alliance. “It’s always been the key thing that we believe to help you transition from one space in life to the next. So I found myself as a school principal and a state [education] advisor really focusing on education strategy and believing it is a key opportunity to do great work.”
Although education influenced Garrett, it was two nephews who pushed him to do more. They were living in South Carolina when Garrett learned they were having great difficulty.
“My eldest brother, their father, has been incarcerated for 18 years,” he said this week at EpicFest, a Charlotte reading festival for families. “So here I was a school principal helping someone else’s kids and then I find out my youngest nephew is two years behind. It even gave me a different sense of urgency to figure a strategy out. [I wanted to figure out] how we can help young people live the best life that they can and get a great education and that’s what's critically important. I realized we all have a collective responsibility to think differently about how we support the education of young people.”
“There's Greatness on the Inside,” Garrett's first children’s book, was influenced by a student in Omaha, Nebraska when he was asked to speak to children in grades K-2.
“I was trying to figure out what I can say to a 6-year-old that would be impactful but is simple enough for them to have the concept and can be something that they can carry with them,” he said.
That is when he came up with the repetitive line that is featured in the book: “If the mind can conceive it and the heart can believe it then the hands can achieve it.”
He even came up with actions to go along with it.
“As I was leaving, one of the students said ‘this would make a great book’,” Garrett said.
Garrett had no interest in writing a children's book and didn't even know where to begin. So on his way back home on the plane, he jotted down key phrases from his presentation and later met up with illustrators determine to create a children's book.
“After that it took on a whole different life of its own,” he said. “It's something for people of all ages. Whether you're an adult, student or working with children, it's the message that's universal and applies regardless of where you live or who you are.”
For EpicFest, Garrett was featured in a free workshop for educational leaders and parents. After the workshop, he made it his duty to visit John M. Morehead STEM Academy to talk to students about life skills and strategies that are effective in being successful. Anywhere he goes, Garrett does a school visit.
“I think it helps me keep an authentic connection with students and it gives them an opportunity to see an author if they never met an author before,” he said. “That's quite an exciting feeling to them because they think ‘wow it's possible I can do this too. This is your book and you're here in person.’”
Garrett believes that because he started as a speaker before a writer it helps him stand out from other authors who participated in EpicFest.
“I have a unique ability to convey a message and bring it to life telling stories that captivate and engage people in the process,” he said. “So I think that's incredibly helpful. A lot of authors like to hide behind the words. I'm the complete opposite. I want to see the person. My grandmother always told me if you want to see a person for who they really are look them in their eyes and you'll see the windows to their soul. And I never really understood that as a kid. But I do now. When I'm in front of a student, parent or audience it gives me the chance to engage in a very different way.”
Garrett said his book was essentially made because people need to be reminded and be encouraged that they truly can do amazing things.
“The glass is always half full,” he said. We just need to figure out how I can help you see that.
I get energized off of helping young people craft a vision that's larger than what they currently see.”
Garrett has experience from both the non-profit and governmental sectors and strongly believes it is an advantage and has helped him with his greatest achievements.
“I've been able to see how society functions as a principal and as a state [education] advisor, so it gives me a chance to kind of see from the most local opportunity all the way across to a national stage,” he said. “I can sit with the governor and [ask] what is your state doing or what is your strategy but I can also drill down into a classroom and ask a teacher about their best practice of working with students. My ability to reach people in a variety of segments is much broader.”
Garret believes he isn't defined by one industry. He also has major plans for the future.
“I always keep things on the horizon,” he said. “We’re working with some folks out in New York to possibly do a school based production where students can act out the characters of the book and bring them to life. We’re also working with a toy company to create a plush toy for the little boy and little girl so I’m in the process of thinking of names for the characters.”