Conference Groups begin study of ethnic student needs 

What do you need to know and what do you need to do in order to accelerate the achievement of specific subgroups of students in your schools?

CSBA is looking for answers to that question in an ambitious new effort to help local governing boards bridge the gap in academic achievement between different racial and ethnic groups, as well as those students served by county offices of education.

The project got under way at the Annual Education Conference in San Diego with the inauguration of five separate Student Issues Conference Groups – each focused on American Indian, Asian/Pacific Islander, black, or Hispanic students, or students served by county offices of education. Those attending the Hispanic Issues Conference Group, for example, learned:

• 90 percent of all Hispanic students are concentrated in 270 of the state’s nearly 1,000 school districts, mostly in urban regions
• 50 percent of those students are in just 42 of those districts
• 25 percent are in six “mega-urban” districts

Comparable numbers exist for black students: 90 percent of them are concentrated in 167 districts, with just 14 districts accounting for half of all black students in California. As with Hispanic students, a quarter of black students are in six large, urban districts.

But the statistics aren’t limited to Hispanics, or blacks, or cities. Similar data are available for other racial and ethnic groups. Rural areas, too, have their own characteristics, such as the 15 districts with fewer that 1,000 students that are 95-100 percent Hispanic.

The data presented at each conference group meeting also confirmed the persistent achievement gap between various subgroups of students.

After reviewing detailed statistics on the conditions and academic performance trends of the students under study, participants at these first conference group meetings provided input on what they need to know in order to address the needs of these targeted subgroups of students.

What you can do

A consortium of districts will work together and serve as the core of each conference group. These districts will identify long-term goals and short-term objectives and develop action plans to reach them; share best practices and remedies; gather and distribute data in search of trends and underlying causes; and track their progress. They will share their "lessons learned" with all districts that want to participate in the conference groups. Ultimately, the lessons learned from the consortia of districts, discussions and explorations by the larger conference groups will equip all local school board members with the information and tools they need to accelerate the achievement of historically low achieving students in their own districts.

Districts with significant populations of minority students and all interested board members are encouraged to participate in future conference group activities and join the "working" consortia of districts. The following CSBA Directors-at-Large will provide the leadership for each conference group:

• Shelly Yarbrough for American Indian students
• Ben Liao for Asian/Pacific Islander students
• Gwen Estes for black students
• Sara Wilkins for county students
• Susan Heredia for Hispanic students

JoAnn Yee, Director of Urban Education and Outreach, is heading up the staff support for the project. For more information, contact her at (800) 266-3382 or the Director-at-large for the student issues group you are interested in.