Hip-Hop N’ Politics: Study Finds L.A. Provides Sub-Par Education To Black Students
Feds Find L.A. Provides Inferior Education For Blacks
Wide academic disparities among the races have plagued this country for years. Now a 19-month long civil rights study of the Los Angeles Unified School District has unearthed what many people have been saying is one of the main reasons for the lags in education among black and Latino students, failures in the education system.
The study found that the district failed to provide an equal education for English learners and African American students. Now the district has agreed to try to fix the system that has dropped the ball on black and Latino students for years by overhauling its English-learning program and improving resources such as computers and library books to schools with predominantly black student populations.
“Though we still have a long way to go before we see that English learner students and African-American students are consistently getting what they need to perform up to their fullest potential, I’m confident today’s agreement will help address the causes of concern that prompted our review,” said U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan.
According to the district’s 2009-10 report card, only 5 percent of high school English language learners ranked as proficient in either English or math; for black students, 32 percent ranked as proficient in English and 9 percent in math. The overall district average was 37 percent proficient in English and 17 percent in math.
Los Angeles holds the second largest school district in the nation, which means millions of minority students have been deprived of an equal education.
