[media-credit name=’JAKE NAUGHTON/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]

A panel of education experts hosted by
Teach for America discussed inequality in the state public education
system during a presentation at University of Wisconsin Monday.

About 50 UW student audience members
gathered in the University of Wisconsin?s Red Gym to participate in
the discussion.

The panel included UW professor of
curriculum and instruction Carl Grant, Indian Mound Middle School
principal Dave Witte, Assistant State Superintendent for the
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Carolyn Stanford Taylor
and UW professor of education Michael Olneck.

Panelists said they came from diverse
backgrounds and had different life experiences, but added they all
shared a common passion for fostering equal opportunities in public
education.

UW junior Ali Trevi?o-Murphy
said the panelists made a big impact on her because she is
particularly interested in equality in education. She added she was
?further inspired by the people on this panel and their commitment
to inclusive education.?

The panelists presented to the audience
a ?snapshot? of Wisconsin?s achievement gap. They said there is
a disparity in academic performance between groups of students based
on gender, race and socioeconomic status.

Olneck, who focuses on multiculturalism
in education, provided an overview of the statistics from Wisconsin
by sighting numerous results from the 2007 National Assessment of
Educational Progress, also known as ?the National Report Card.?

According to this report, 60 percent of
black eighth-graders scored below basic level on national progress
tests compared to 17 percent of white students, 23 percent of Asian
students and 42 percent of Hispanic students.

Only 8 percent of black students scored
proficient, compared to 38 percent of white students. Black students
had an average score lower than that of white students by 38 points.

?Reading scores for fourth- and
eighth-grade black students in Wisconsin were dead last in the U.S.
in 2007,? Olneck said.

The panelists said teachers are not
trained properly to handle diversity.

?This achievement gap includes more
than just one gap,? Grant said. ?Political, economic, social and
health gaps all feed into the education gap, but the problem can?t
be reduced to blaming the circumstances of the student. What about
teacher preparation?? Taylor also stressed the crucial role of
educators.

?We have to look at the people who
are in these classrooms, at the instructors,? she said. ?Are they
the best teachers out there? Probably not. If 50 percent of the
students are not getting it, the problem is not with the students but
with the educators.?

UW junior Jason Hale asked the
panelists, ?What have you done to minimize this gap??

Witte said educating educators is the
most important way to minimize the education gap. ?I make sure
teachers have an awareness of the diverse circumstance of their
students so that they can then help their students,? he added.