School Neighbor. Resource Ctr
* Dubuque
.v-Community
, ." Schools
a
John L. Burgan
Superintendent of Schools
2300 Chaney Road
Dubuque fA 52001-3095
Phone (563) 588-5105
Fax (563) 588-8521
Learning' Leading. Living
October 13, 2004
The Honorable Terrance M. Duggan and Members of the City Council
City of Dubuque
City Hall
50 West 13th Street
Dubuque IA 52001-4845
RE: Downtown Elementary School Neighborhood Resource Center
Dear Mayor Duggan and Members ofthe City Council:
At its meeting on Monday, October 11, 2004, the Board of Education of the Dubuque
Community School District unanimously voted to accept the City of Dubuque's contribution of
$250,000 toward the construction of a Neighborhood Resource Center within the new downtown
elementary school currently in planning. Board members and district staff are excited about
taking what we believe has traditionally been a strong collaboration between the city and the
school district to "new heights" of partnership. Thank you for "putting your money where your
mouth is" by this very concrete act of assisting with funding. This space - estimated to cost
approximately $357,000 - would not (in all likelihood) have become a reality without your
support!
Our staff and our architects have met several times already with city staff to discuss program and
design elements to be incorporated into this space. City staff members have prepared a draft of a
28E Agreement which I am presently reviewing with district staff and our legal counsel. We are
confident that we will reach consensus on operating procedures and parameters that will be of
mutual benefit. Ultimately, our common goal through this partnership is to serve the needs of
area residents and to promote both the Neighborhood Resource Center and the school as a hub
for positive activities in the downtown area.
I am also enclosing with this letter a copy of an article that appears in the October, 2004, issue of
American School Board Journal that Dr. Bauerly specifically called to our Board members'
attention and thought you also might like to read. In this article, "Class and the Classroom," the
author presents the argument that even the best schools can not - by themselves - eliminate
The Honorable Terrance M. Duggan and Members of the City Council
October 13, 2004
Page Two
the gap in academic performance between middle class and disadvantaged children. "The
achievement gap can be substantially narrowed only when school improvement is combined with
social and economic reform," contends the writer. We fully recognize our critical need for
partners as we work to continue improving the academic achievement - and lives - of all of
our students. We welcome wholeheartedly the continuing partnership of the City Council and
city staff in these efforts.
Yoyrs truly,
""J! / /2
)-,~ fJ éf7~
John L. Burgart J' . ,
Superintendent of Schools
c:
Mike VanMilligen
Cindy Steinhauser
Members oflbe Board of Education
Cover Story
American
School Board
Journal
OCTOBER 2004
I" ,..
Page 1 of9
The achievement gap between poor and middle-class black and white childre
recognized as our most important educational challenge. But we prevent ours
solving it because of a commonplace belief that poverty and race can't "cause
achievement and that therefore schools must be failing to teach disadvantage,
adequately. After all, we see many highly successful students from lower-cia
backgrounds, Their success seems to prove that social class cannot be what Í1
disadvantaged students.
Yet the success of some lower-class students proves nothing about the power
close the achievement gap. In every social group, there are low achievers and
achievers alike. On average, the achievement of low-income students is bel01
achievement of middle-class students, but there are always some middle-clas
who achieve below typical low-income levels. Similarly, some low-income s
achieve above typical middle-class levels. Demography is not destiny, but stl
characteristics are a powerful influence on their relative average achievemen1
Widely repeated accounts of schools that somehow elicit consistently high ac
from lower-class children almost always turn out, upon examination, to be fl¡
some cases, these "schools that beat the odds" are highly selective, enrolling,
able or most motivated lower-class children. In other cases, they are not truly
schools -- for example, a school enrolling children who qualify for subsidize!
because their parents are graduate students living on low stipends. In other Cé
schools define high achievement at such a low level that all students can reac
big gaps that remain at more meaningful levels.
http://www.asbj.com!current!coverstory.htmi
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Cover Story
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OCTOBER 2004
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EVIIII thebestsdloOlsClllit dose 1he reD adie
" IICH,
The achievement gap between poor and middle-class black and white childre
recognized as our most important educational challenge. But we prevent ours
solving it because of a commonplace belief that poverty and race can't "cause
achievement and that therefore schools must be failing to teach disadvantage,
adequately. After all, we see many highly successful students from lower-cia
backgrounds. Their success seems to prove that social class cannot be what Í1
disadvantaged students.
Yet the success of some lower-class students proves nothing about the power
close the achievement gap. In every social group, there are low achievers and
achievers alike. On average, the achievement oflow-income students is bel01
achievement of middle-class students, but there are always some middle-clas
who achieve below typical low-income levels. Similarly, some low-income s
achieve above typical middle-class levels. Demography is not destiny, but stt
characteristics are a powerful influence on their relative average achievemen1
Widely repeated accounts of schools that somehow elicit consistently high ac
from lower-class children almost always turn out, upon examination, to be fl,
some cases, these "schools that beat the odds" are highly selective, enrolling,
able or most motivated lower-class children. In other cases, they are not truly
schools -- for example, a school enrolling children who qualifY for subsidize!
because their parents are graduate students living on low stipends. In other CE
schools define high achievement at such a low level that all students can reac
big gaps that remain at more meaningful levels.
http://www.asbj.com!current!coverstory.html
10/18/2004
Çover Story
Page 2 of9
It seems plausible that if some children can defy the demographic odds, all cI
but that belief reflects a reasoning whose naiveté we easily recognize in othel
areas. In human affairs where multiple causation is typical, causes are not dis
exceptions. Tobacco firms once claimed that smoking does not cause cancer
some people smoke without getting cancer. We now consider such reasoning
We do not suggest that alcoholism does not cause child or spousal abuse bec¡
alcoholics are abusers. We understand that because no single cause is rigidly
deterministic, some people can smoke or drink to excess without harm. But v
understand that, on average, these behaviors are dangerous. Yet despite such
understanding, quite sophisticated people often proclaim that the success of s
children proves that social disadvantage does not cause low achievement.
Partly, our confusion stems from failing to examine the concrete ways that sc
actually affects learning. Describing these may help to make their influence r
-- and may make it more obvious why the achievement gap can be substantia
only when school improvement is combined with social and economic reforn
The reading gap
Consider how parents of different social classes tend to raise children. Y oun~
educated parents are read to more consistently and are encouraged to read m<
themselves when they are older. Most children whose parents have college dl
read to daily before they begin kindergarten, but few children whose parents
high school diploma or less benefit from daily reading. And, white children a
likely than black children to be read to in their prekindergarten years.
A 5-year-old who enters school recognizing some words and who has turned
many stories will be easier to teach than one who has rarely held a book. The
can be taught, but with equally high expectations and effective teaching, the
more likely to pass an age-appropriate reading test than the second. So the ac
gap begins.
If a society with such differences wants all children, irrespective of social cia
the same chance to achieve academic goals, it should find ways to help lowel
children enter school having the same familiarity with books as middle-class
have. This requires rethinking the institutional settings in which we provide e
childhood care, begÍ1ming in infancy.
Some people acknowledge the impact of such differences but find it hard to é
good schools should have so difficult a time overcoming them. This would bl
understand if Americans had a broader international perspective on educatior
backgrounds influence relative achievement everywhere. The inability of sch
overcome the disadvantage ofless-literate homes is not a peculiar American
universal reality. The number of books in students' homes, for example, cons
predicts their test scores in almost every country. Turkish immigrant students
an achievement gap in Germany, as do Algerians in France, as do Caribbean,
Pakistani, and Bangladeshi pupils in Great Britain, and as do Okinawans and
Buraku in Japan.
An international reading survey of l5-year-olds, conducted in 2000, found a:
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lOll 8/2004
Çover Story
Page 3 of9
relationship in almost every nation between parental occupation and student]
gap between the literacy of children of the highest-status workers (such as do
professors, and lawyers) and the lowest-status workers (such as waiters and v
taxi drivers, and mechanics) was even greater in Germany and the United KiJ
was in the United States.
After reviewing these results, a U.S. Department of Education summary cone
"most participating countries do not differ significantly from the United State
the strength of the relationship between socioeconomic status and literacy in
Remarkably, the department published this conclusion at the same time that i
a bill through Congress -- the No Child Left Behind Act -- that demanded eve
the nation abolish social class differences in achievement within 12 years.
Urging less-educated parents to read to children can't fully compensate for di
school readiness. Children who see parents read to solve their own problems
entertainment are more likely to want to read themselves. Parents who bring
material home from work demonstrate by example to children that reading is
segmented burden but a seamless activity that bridges work and leisure. Pare]
to children but don't read for themselves send a different message.
How parents read to children is as important as whether they do, and an extel
literature confirms that more educated parents read aloud differently. When v
parents read aloud, they are more likely to tell children to pay attention withe
interruptions or to sound out words or name letters. When they ask children a
the questions are more likely to be factual, asking for names of objects or me
events.
Parents who are more literate are more likely to ask questions that are creativ
interpretive, or connective, such as, "What do you think will happen next?" "
remind you of what we did yesterday?" Middle-class parents are more likely
to have fun, to start conversations, or as an entree to the world outside. Their
learn that reading is enjoyable and are more motivated to read in school.
The conversation gap
There are stark class differences not only in how parents read but in how the)
Explaining events in the broader world to children at the dinner table, for exa
have as much of an influence on test scores as early reading itself. Through s
conversations, children develop vocabularies and become familiar with conte
reading in school. Educated parents are more likely to engage in such talk an,
with infants and toddlers, conducting pretend conversations long before infar
understand the language.
Typically, middle-class parents ask infants about their needs, then provide an
children. ("Are you ready for a nap now? Yes, you are, aren't you?") Instructi
likely to be given indirectly: "You don't want to make so much noise, do you
of instruction is really an invitation for a child to work through the reasoning
order and to internalize it. Middle-class parents implicitly begin academic ins
infants with such indirect guidance.
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Çover Story
Page 4 of9
Yet such instruction is quite different from what policy-makers nowadays CO]
"academic" for young children: explicit training in letter and number recogni
sound correspondence, and so on. Such drill in basic skills can be helpful but
to close the social class gap in learning.
Soon after middle-class children become verbal, their parents typically draw
adult conversations so the children can practice expressing their own opinion
included in adult conversations this early develops a sense of entitlement in c
feel comfortable addressing adults as equals and without deference. Children
reasons, rather than accepting assertions on adult authority, develop intellectt
upon which later academic success in school will rely. Certainly, some lower
children have such skills and some middle-class children lack them. But, on ¡
sense of entitlement is based on one's social class.
Parents whose professional occupations entail authority and responsibility ty]
believe more strongly that they can affect their environments and solve probl
work, they explore alternatives and negotiate compromises. They naturally e:
personality traits at home when they design activities in which children figur.
solutions for themselves. Even the youngest middle-class children practice tr:
make academic success more likely when they negotiate what to wear or to e
middle-class parents give orders, the parents are more likely to explain why t
reasonable.
But parents whose jobs entail following orders or doing routine tasks show It:
efficacy. They are less likely to encourage their children to negotiate over clc
and more likely to instruct them by giving directions without extended disclli
Following orders, after all, is how they themselves behave at work. Their chi
more likely to be fatalistic about obstacles they face, in and out of school.
Middle-class children's self-assurance is enhanced in after-school activities tl
sometimes require large fees for enrollment and almost always require paren1
enough nee time and resources to provide transportation. Organized sports, n
and dance programs build self-confidence and discipline in middle-class chil,
class parents find the fees for such activities more daunting. and transportatic
be more of a problem. Organized athletic and artistic activities may not be av
their neighborhoods, so lower-class children's sports are more informal and "
confidence-building, with less opportunity to learn teamwork and self-discipl
children with greater self-confidence, unfamiliar school challenges can be ex
children, who are more likely to be nom middle-class homes, are more likely
than those who are less self-confident.
Homework exacerbates academic differences between these two groups of cl
because middle-class parents are more likely to help with homework. Yet hOl
would increase the achievement gap even if all parents were able to assist. Pa
different social classes supervise homework differently. Consistent with over
oflanguage use, middle-class parents -- especially those whose own occupati
require problem solving -- are more likely to assist by posing questions that t
problems down into smaller ones and that help children figure out correct an~
Lower-class parents are more likely to guide children with direct instructions
nom both classes may go to school with completed homework, but middle-cl
are more likely to gain in intellectual power nom the exercise than lower-clæ
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Çover Story
Page 5 of9
Twenty years ago, Betty Hart and Todd Risley. two researchers ITom the Uni
Kansas, visited families ITom different social classes to monitor the conversa
between parents and toddlers. Hart and Risley found that, on average, profes~
spoke more than 2,000 words per hour to their children, working-class parent
about 1,300, and welfare mothers spoke about 600. So by age 3, the children
professionals had vocabularies that were nearly 50 percent greater than those
class children and twice as large as those of welfare children.
Deficits like these cannot be made up by schools alone, no matter how high t
expectations. For all children to achieve the same goals, the less advantaged'
to enter school with verbal fluency that is similar to the fluency of middle-clr
The Kansas researchers also tracked how often parents verbally encouraged (
behavior and how often they reprimanded their children. Toddlers of professi
average of six encouragements per reprimand. Working-class children had tvI
welfare children, the ratio was reversed -- an average of one encouragement j
reprimands. Children whose initiative was encouraged from a very early age
likely, on average, to take responsibility for their own learning.
The role model gap
Social class differences in role modeling also make an achievement gap almc
Not surprisingly, middle-class professional parents tend to associate with, an.
with, similarly educated professionals. Working-class parents have fewer pro
mends. Ifparents and their mends perform jobs requiring little academic ski
children's images of their own futures are influenced. On average, these child
struggle harder to motivate themselves to achieve than children who assume,
of their parents' social circle, that the only roles are doctor, lawyer, teacher, so
manager, administrator, or businessperson.
Even disadvantaged children usually say they plan to attend college. College
such a broad rhetorical goal that black eighth-graders tell surveyors they expc
college degrees as often as white eighth-graders do. But despite these intenti(
black than white eighth-graders actually graduate ITom high school four year:
enroll in college the following year; and fewer still persist to get bachelor's d.
This discrepancy is not due simply to the cost of college. A bigger reason is t
disadvantaged students say they plan to go to college, they don't feel as much
community, or peer pressure to take the courses or to get the grades they nee!
more attractive to college admission offices. Lower-class parents say they ex
to get good grades, but they are less likely to enforce these expectations, for (
rewards or punishments. Teachers and counselors can stress doing well in scl
lower-class children, but such lessons compete with children's own self-imag
early in life and reinforced daily at home.
As John Ogbu and others have noted, a culture of underachievement may hel
why even middle-class black children often don't do as well in school as whi1
ITom seemingly similar socioeconomic backgrounds. On average, middle-cia
students don't study as hard as white middle-class students and blacks are mo
in class than whites ITom similar income strata.
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Cover Story
Page 6 of9
This culture of underachievement is easier to understand than to cure. Throu¡
American history, many black students who excelled in school were not rew,
effort in the labor market. Many black college graduates could find work on!:
or Pullman car porters or, in white-collar fields, as assistants to less-qualified
Many Americans believe that these practices have disappeared and that black
with similar test scores now have similar earnings and occupational status. Bl
market discrimination continues to be a significant obstacle -- especially for 1
with high school educations.
Evidence for this comes from employment discrimination cases, such as the I
1996 case in which Texaco settled for a payment of$176 million to black em
taped conversations of executives revealed pervasive racist attitudes, presum:
restricted to executives of this corporation alone. Other evidence comes from
find black workers with darker complexions have less success in the labor m¡
those with identical education, age, and criminal records but lighter complexi
Still more evidence comes from studies in which blacks and whites with simi
qualifications are sent to apply for job vacancies; the whites are typically mOI
than the blacks. In one recent study where young, well-groomed, and articula
white college graduates, posing as high school graduates with identical qualiJ
submitted applications for entry-level jobs, the applications of whites with cr
records got positive responses more often than the applications of blacks witl
records.
So the expectation of black students that their academic efforts will be less re
the efforts of their white peers is rational for the majority of black students w
expect to complete college. Some will reduce their academic efforts as a resu
say that they should not do so and, instead, should redouble their efforts in re
greater obstacles they face. But as long as racial discrimination persists, the a
achievement of black students will be lower than the average achievement of
simply because many blacks (especially males) who see that academic effort
payoff will respond rationally by reducing their effort.
The health and housing gaps
Despite these big race and social class differences in child rearing, role mode
market experiences, and cultural characteristics, the lower achievement of 10'
students is not caused by these differences alone. Just as important are differ¡
actual social and economic conditions of children.
Overall, lower-income children are in poorer health. They have poorer vision
because of prenatal conditions and partly because, even as toddlers, they watl
television, so their eyes are poorly trained. Trying to read, their eyes may WaJ
difficulty tracking print or focusing. A good part of the over-identification of
disabilities for lower-class children may well be attributable to undiagnosed '
problems that could be easily treated by optometrists and for which special e.
placement then should be UillTecessary.
Lower-class children have poorer oral hygiene, more lead poisoning, more æ-
nutrition, less-adequate pediatric care, more exposure to smoke, and a host oj
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rover Story
Page 7 of9
problems. Because of less-adequate dental care, for example, they are more I:
toothaches and resulting discomfort that affects concentration.
Because low-income children live in communities where landlords use high-:
heating oil and where diesel trucks frequently pass en route to industrial and '
sites, they are more likely to suffer from asthma, leading to more absences fr,
and, when they do attend, drowsiness from lying awake at night, wheezing. ¡;
surveys in Chicago and in New York City's Harlem community found one of
children suffering from asthma, a rate six times as great as that for all childre
In addition, there are fewer primary-care physicians in low-income communi
the physician-to-population ratio is less than a third the rate in middle-class c
For that reason, disadvantaged children -- even those with health insurance --
likely to miss school for relatively minor problems, such as common ear infe,
which middle-class children are treated promptly.
Each of these well-documented social class differences in health is likely to 1
palpable effect on academic achievement; combined, their influence is probal
The growing unaffordability of adequate housing for low-income families al¡
achievement. Children whose families have difficulty finding stable housing
likely to be mobile, and student mobility is an important cause off ailing stud
performance. A 1994 governrnent report found that 30 percent of the poorest
attended at least three different schools by third grade, while only 10 percent
class children had done so. Black children were more than twice as likely as '
children to change schools this often. It is hard to imagine how teachers, no n
well trained, can be as effective for children who move in and out oftheir cia
they can be for those who attend regularly.
Differences in wealth are also likely to be important determinants of achieve!
these are usually overlooked because most analysts focus only on annual fam
indicate disadvantage. This makes it hard to understand why black students, (
score lower than whites whose family incomes are the same. It is easier to un
pattern when we recognize that children can have similar family incomes but
different economic classes. In any given year, black families with low incoffio
have been poor for longer than white families with similar income in that yea
White families are also likely to own far more assets that support their child"
achievement than are black families at the same income level, partly because
middle-class parents are more likely to be the first generation in their familie:
middle-class status. Although the median black family income is about two-t
median income of white families, the assets of black families are still only 12
those of whites. Among other things, this difference means that, among whitt
families with the same middle-class incomes, the whites are more likely to hI
for college. This makes white children's college aspirations more practical, aJ
more commonplace.
Narrowing the gaps
Ifwe properly identifY the actual social class characteristics that produce diff
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Çover Story
Page 8 of9
average achievement, we should be able to design policies that narrow the ac
gap. Certainly, improvement of instructional practices is among these, but a f
school reform alone is bound to be frustrating and ultimately unsuccessful. T
school improvement must combine with policies that narrow the social and eo
differences between children. Where these differences cannot easily be narro
should be redefined to cover more of the early childhood, after-school, and Sl
when the disparate influences of families and communities are now most pov
Because the gap is already huge at age 3, the most important new investment
doubt be in early childhood programs. Prekindergarten classes for 4-year-old
but they barely begin to address the problem. The quality of early childhood]
as important as the existence of such programs themselves. Too many low-in
children are parked before television sets in low-quality day-care settings. To
gap, care for infants and toddlers should be provided by adults who can creat
intellectual environment that is typically experienced by middle-class infants
This requires professional caregivers and low child-adult ratios.
After-school and summer experiences for lower-class children, similar to pro
middle-class children take for granted, would also be needed to narrow the g¡
not mean remedial programs where lower-class children get added drill in m¡
reading. Certainly, remediation should be part of an adequate after-school an,
program, but only a part. The advantage that middle-class children gain after
in summer comes from the self-confidence they acquire and the awareness of
outside that they develop through organized athletics, dance, drama, museum
recreational reading, and other activities that develop inquisitiveness, creativi
discipline, and organizational skills. After-school and summer programs can
to narrow the achievement gap only by attempting to duplicate such experien
Provision of health-care services to lower-class children and their families is
to narrow the achievement gap. Some health services are relatively inexpensi
school vision and dental clinics. A full array of health services will cost more
cannot be avoided if we truly intend to raise the achievement of lower-class (
The connection between social and economic disadvantage and an academic
gap has long been well known. Most educators, however, have avoided the 0
implication: Improving lower-class children's learning requires ameliorating
and economic conditions of their lives. School board members -- who are oft,
officials with the closest ties to public opinion -- cannot afford to remain sileJ
connection between school improvement and social reform. Calling attention
is not to make excuses for poor school performance. It is only to be honest at
social support schools require if they are to fulfill the public's expectation tha
achievement gap will disappear.
Online Training Resources
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Cover Story
Page 9 of9
._m~___-
Richard Rothstein (rr2159@columbia.edu) is a research associate of the Economic Policy In
(www.epinet.org)andavisitingprofessoratTeachers College, Columbia University.
He is the author most recently of Class and Schools: Using Social, Economic, and Education
Close the Black-White Achievement Gap (The Economic Policy Institute and Teachers con
2004), on which this article is based. Class and Schools includes full bibliographic citations:
many claims and generalizations made in this article.
Photo by Patrik Giardino
Copyright (> 2003, Nationat Schoot - Association, American Schoot Bow'd JownaJ i, an e<litorialty
independent pnhtication of the National School Boards A"ociation. Opininns expre""¡ by thi, magazine or any of
its aothn" do not nece",,"ly reflect positions of the Natinnal School Boar<!> Nisociation. Within the paramere" of
fair ose, thi, article may be prinred out and photocopied for individnal or ed""atinnal U>e. pro.ided this copyright
ootice appear> on each copy. This article may not be otherwise.lioked, ttaosmitted. or reproduced in print m
elee...nic form without the con..nt of the Publi,her, For more infonnation, call (703) 83g-<;739.
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