When you have a decline in Black enrollment along with the perennial White student decline, you've got a problem.
CMS is now less than 30% White and the number of Black students has declined as well.
Yes, the proliferation of charters is a factor, but you have to agree that if CMS was putting out a great product overall, no one would want to be leaving for other educational opportunities such as charters, home schooling or private schools...
Hispanic increases help drive CMS growth
With additional charter schools, fewer white and black children attend the district
04/01/2015 6:54 PM
04/01/2015 9:06 PM
Fewer white and black children attend Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools this year, but rapid increases in the Hispanic population kept CMS growing, according to the district’s annual racial demographic data.
The shift comes as both white and black families have been leaving traditional public school districts for charter schools, and no county has more of the schools than Mecklenburg. This year, nearly 11,000 students attended Mecklenburg charter schools. These schools are public and operated with tax dollars, but outside of county school districts.
“I think the key story is unintended consequences, what happens when families are opting out, but not opting out in equal ways,” said Amy Hawn Nelson, director of social research at UNC Charlotte’s Urban Institute.
CMS also remains significantly divided based on race. Sixty-two schools in the district are more than 90 percent nonwhite, two more than last year. More than half of black and Hispanic children attend one of these schools, which make up more than a third of the district’s 164 campuses.
Meanwhile, more than two-thirds of white children attend schools that are majority white. MORE and with graphs, etc...... http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/article17147018.html
The shift comes as both white and black families have been leaving traditional public school districts for charter schools, and no county has more of the schools than Mecklenburg. This year, nearly 11,000 students attended Mecklenburg charter schools. These schools are public and operated with tax dollars, but outside of county school districts.
“I think the key story is unintended consequences, what happens when families are opting out, but not opting out in equal ways,” said Amy Hawn Nelson, director of social research at UNC Charlotte’s Urban Institute.
CMS also remains significantly divided based on race. Sixty-two schools in the district are more than 90 percent nonwhite, two more than last year. More than half of black and Hispanic children attend one of these schools, which make up more than a third of the district’s 164 campuses.
Well, to the chagrin of people like Kay McSpadden, it doesn't appear charter schools are going to go the way of the covered wagon. The successful ones will make their way while others quickly fail which traditional public schools can't do - fail and shut down. Although, The Gormanator did shut down chronically failing Waddell H.S. only to abruptly quit after all hell broke loose.
ReplyDeleteSince I work at a rural charter school, it's worth noting that the charter school movement isn't limited to urban areas. As you know, I'm not an advocate for charter schools over traditional schools because there are many variables that factor into a school's success primarily having to do with how much parents value education.
Alicia
Sounds like they need more Hispanic Charter schools to help balance things out a bit.
ReplyDeleteOther than that, no big surprises here.
But don't you get tired of the same crap from educrats talking about how they need "more diverse student bodies"? Again, they're running out of White people.
ReplyDelete...if only we could go back to busing and make Providence, Ardrey Kell and the other high percentage White schools more "diverse", even though they claim out of the other side of their mouth it's about being low income and where they live as to why they can't learn.
Of course I get tired of the same crap. So they change their tune just a bit to keep it "interesting". (Sort of like Madonna morphing Michael Jackson's "Billy Jean" into "Like a Virgin"...)
ReplyDeleteOne of the biggest problems in education is that they're "stuck in the 60's again". I can actually see where some "race mixing" might have helped general socialization of blacks at first, but after nearly three generations, the "magic" has mostly worn off white people as just white people. The mojo has left the building.
The fifties and sixties mentality among even educated black people was that Brown v. Board was going to pretty much solve everything because all they really thought they needed was "equal funding" and access to the same schools with better resources and maybe more and better teachers.
And I still suspect that special projects like that Perry Preschool study might have had some success due to the fact that some educated white people actually showed some interest in poor black kids.
Especially since the highly-touted "soft" successes of that program had NOTHING to do with the supposed intent of the study (to raise black IQ's), but everything to do with what you might expect from an attitude change which came from knowing a few "nice" white people at a time of deeply ingrained, legally sanctioned segregation.
They probably could have played Tiddlywinks with the kids and kept a few of them out of prison. Of course, they would have had to claim that Tiddlywinks was an educational game to make it look like a "real" intervention. (But we'll never know, because they never controlled for that kind of effect in their study).
But de-segregation and equal funding wasn't all that was needed. Even giving them more funding doesn't seem to help. But no one really wants to figure out what's really needed because the "mystery" is a great gravy train.
So now it's up to that old bugaboo "poverty" to serve as the next BIG excuse and "social ill" to eliminate.
And everyone knows that "problem" (remember the War on Poverty) will never be solved, so they now they have their "PermaWar", which is exactly what George Orwell used to keep the populace in line for further sacrifices.
So be prepared to open those pocketbooks folks, it's for the good of all as we march further into a socialist "democracy" run for the good of the little people.
Diversity and Poverty:
ReplyDeleteFunny how nobody ever raises the question about where the vast majority of CMS Asian students happen to go to school.
I had a good friend in CMS who arrived from India after an arranged marriage with about $50 bucks in her pocket with children who graduated top in their class and went on to attend medical school. Niru and I collaborated on two performance projects over two years that involved teaching CMS elementary children classical Indian dance.
Alicia
Meanwhile, back at the ranch...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/02/us/verdict-reached-in-atlanta-school-testing-trial.html?_r=0
Well, so much for those "high stakes" tests...
As a former Birminghamian, we were always told to look to Atlanta for examples of how a "progressive" city did things.
Well, neither city is much to crow about today, but still it's fun to see old rivalries rekindled.
I wonder when Birmingham will try to top this?
After all, they only have a mayor and a few other city and county officials in prison...
Alicia,
ReplyDeleteIndians and other Asians can do those amazing things because they've never had to deal with institutionalized discrimination.
Ha, just kidding...
Yeah, I know a few Indian and other Asian families. My wife is from China and my kids are technically half-breeds (or hybirds, the Chinglish version of hybrids, as the Chinese like to call them).
ReplyDeleteThe ones we get in the US tend to be cut of a "better cloth" than the ones left behind, though. That could be true of all our immigrants to some degree, but it seems more apparent with the Asians.
Maybe because it's just a bit more difficult for them to get here, especially illegally.
I've seen lots of explanations why they tend to do so much better here.
Even some peculiarly racist anti-Asian comments from the likes of Glen Singleton, our official "courageous conversation" about race fellow.
But Asians are a mixed bag as well. They don't all fit into the stereotype, either. It's interesting that some folks such as the Hmong don't seem to do as well as other Asians.
Maybe it is because of the tribal nature of their native culture, who knows for sure...
OTOH, we have success stories from the "darkest" parts of Africa as well.
Those Somalian immigrants make an interesting case study.
Check out their successes in Minnesota (you know where all those Norwegian bachelor farmers chose to live and where Lake Wobegon is an important part of their regional identity and culture...)
And yet this can happen there:
http://www.minnpost.com/community-sketchbook/2011/10/report-shows-somali-kids-test-kindergarten-ready-why
Of course, everyone wants to take some credit for this success, but I think this is a very important clue:
“Somalis are very much involved with their kids…They really care about their kids,’’
H'mm. Funny, but these kids aren't here under the best of circumstances and face all the "racism" that all other black kids face, and most likely even more "discrimination" since they are immigrants, don't always speak English well and are mostly, if not entirely, Muslim.
Yet they seem to be getting a grip on the situation and moving up.
It seems to me that they are a case of the horse which actually drinks when it is led to water, unlike so many other horses who die of thirst avoiding the trough.
We'll see how this works out.
Alicia,
ReplyDeleteEven the Indians with little education take education seriously...
http://www.smh.com.au/world/indian-bride-walks-out-of-wedding-ceremony-when-groom-fails-maths-test-20150313-143w3z.html
I can just see the CMS student assignment Gestapo gnashing their teeth over this latest conundrum.
ReplyDeleteAlicia
One thing you almost never hear the Chinese asking for more of is "diversity".
ReplyDeleteI'm sure they get told they need it all the time, but I think they're just too smart (or crazy, or something...) to fall into that trap.
If fact, if you ask them, they'll tell you they already have enough with over 50 ethnic groups and several hundred languages spoken within their border.
I keep waiting for the day when western style "political correctness" rears its ugly head in China.
So far, nothing even close has tried.
Chinese relentlessly insist on shoving "Han" culture (the dominant Chinese culture) down everyone's throat.
In fact, they sometimes to go hilarious lengths and do things we would NEVER do in the US.
When threatened by Islamic terrorism from the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, the Chinese solution is to "encourage" the imams to dance in groups to Chinese pop music.
In this case, Little Apples by the Chopstick Brothers...
The Imams:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcGZPPC7RRk
Chopstick Brothers performing at American Music Awards:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ttPCSag6ms
You really CANNOT make this stuff up. And it has really pisssed off the neighboring Turks...
https://uyghuramerican.org/article/little-apples-xinjiang.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzV9VyhBZnE
Sometimes you just have to laugh at the Chinese. But some of the comments on these videos from Muslims are what you would expect.
Good luck fighting the Chinese on this one, though.
Can you imagine if we made all the imams (or at least the most radical ones) in the US dance to Thriller, in full religious regalia?
The Chinese simply do not understand what the big deal is about. As far as they're concerned, EVERYONE should be Chinese or at least act like Chinese.
And they are accustomed to having "minorities" dress up and perform dances for entertainment of the Han majority.
If nothing else, the Chinese are entertaining. I can hardly wait to see what else they will do when they are dragged kicking and screaming into the global "War on Terror".
At least it will be fun to watch.
Yeah, the upcoming "redistricting" should be a hoot.
ReplyDeleteWe just need to stir the vegetables in that 45 year old pot of soup and it will taste just fine.....