A recent report revealed while Wisconsin students have higher than average scores for math and reading, students of color have significantly lower scores, with 8th grade black students scoring the lowest in the nation.
The report from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as “the Nation’s Report Card,” has generated great concern from urban legislators, including Sen. Nikiya Harris, D-Milwaukee.
“It is unacceptable that black students in our schools are consistently testing lower than white students,” Harris said in a statement Thursday. “As a state, we should be ashamed that Wisconsin is leading the nation with its achievement gap between black and white students in our schools.”
Harris said cuts in funding by the state have played a role in the quality of education that is available to black students in Wisconsin.
Children have also become “victims of backwards policies,” Harris added.
According to Linda Hoskins, president of the Madison chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the problem lies in the culture of schools as well as the communities which black children come from.
Hoskins said black students attending schools that are mostly white do not have an equal chance for success.
“When you take a black child and put them in a predominantly white school, the communication is not there,” Hoskins said. “Black kids have already been stereotyped; the playing field is not fair.”
Hoskins said she advocates sensitivity and diversity training for all teachers in the state of Wisconsin, as this would help to improve communication between students and their teachers.
Social issues like poverty also negatively impact the scholastic achievements of black students, Hoskins added.
Rep. LaTonya Johnson, D-Milwaukee, said black students, particularly in Milwaukee, are coming from families that face huge economic disparities.
Families with a working single parent do not often have the resources to ensure their children are receiving high quality education, Johnson said.
“A lot of children from families facing huge economic disparities, especially from single parent households, you’re looking at a lot of that responsibility being passed to the siblings,” Johnson said. “You can’t regulate poverty, but you can put policies in place which help parents to achieve academic sufficiency.”
Johnson added it is not surprising to find a struggling school system in a city that faces huge economic disparities, as is the case in Milwaukee.
“I would really like for people to start thinking about education on the perspective of what’s best for the kids, not on the perspective of ‘What are we willing to do?’” Johnson said. “Kids need strong schools regardless of what they are. They need quality education.”
