The day was very useful and extremely well-done. No surprises there for those who know FCE!
During one of the plenary presentations, Dr. Marcus Martin, Director of Research at FCE, shared a fascinating series of comparisons.
First, he compared the pre-Katrina economic status of residents of New Orleans' 9th Ward with the general population of that city.
The indicators he chose to present to us included employment, high school graduation rates and families living in poverty. Residents of the 9th Ward were behind in every category (-11%, -15% and -9% respectively) when compared to the general population.
Those results were not so surprising. Actually, I would have thought they could have been even worse.
But then, he went on to compare one of Dallas' poorest communities, the Frazier neighborhood in South Dallas to the general population of our city in those same categories.
The gaps between residents of the Frazier area and the general population of Dallas were over twice as great as the gaps reported in New Orleans.
- 25% worse in employment
- 29% worse in high school graduation rates
- 23% worse in families living in poverty
Take aways?
There are startling disparities between rich and poor in Dallas, Texas--more dramatic than most people realize or are willing to face. No doubt, Dallas is wealthier than New Orleans. But the gaps appear shocking.
Our nation has a problem it wants to deny.
We persist in our denial to our own national peril.
What is even more startling to me about those facts is that Frazier has had intense support for their Head Start and their elementary school from...is it TI?? If they are *still* so far behind Dallas, it really makes me wonder about our other sections of the city...like Rochester Park, southeast Dallas, and others...who haven't had the research-backed extra support. It's a huge job to reverse the trends that we have created in low-income neighborhoods and schools.
ReplyDeleteUTD just did reading assessments on our 30 K-6th grade kids in the After-School Academy in Turner Courts. Although I haven't received conclusive reports, UTD commented that our kids were lower than they had seen in other similar areas of the city. There is a LOT of work to do in impoverished areas.
The bottom line is we're not focusing funding or quality in those areas. We need a system-wide change for our schools. I'm afraid we've already lost quite a few potentially bright and eager students to the current system. We can't afford to let the system continue the way it is.