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Oct 15, 2024

Rochester school board grapples with discrepancy in state test scores | WXXI News

The majority of Rochester city students in third through eighth grade are not passing state assessments in math and English language arts. But the data shows that one group of students is improving at

The majority of Rochester city students in third through eighth grade are not passing state assessments in math and English language arts. But the data shows that one group of students is improving at a higher rate than others.

Interim superintendent Demario Strickland presented a breakdown of test scores to the school board this week. The data shows that nearly 40% of white students are testing at a proficient level in math and ELA.

That’s significantly higher than any other group of students in a district that is 85% Black and Latino. In the 2022-23 school year, white students made up 9% of the student population, according to the state Education Department.

The question school board members want to answer: Why?

“Part of that, to me, has to do with the curriculum is more Eurocentric based — or bent, I should say,” said school board president Cynthia Elliott. “So it's easier for them because they're in that environment where the culture is primarily Eurocentric, and they are part of that culture.”

Generally, there has been a greater push in recent years in the field of academia to move classroom practices towards more culturally responsive strategies, like screening textbooks for biases, and ensuring that learning materials reflect and represent diverse perspectives.

In turn, that better serves students of color whose heritage and culture has been historically excluded in classroom settings, according to American University’s School of Education.

At the school board meeting, Elliott said she was surprised to see that Asian students — who make up about 3% of the student population — were not exceling at a higher rate than white students.

"In every kind of locality or venue, Asian students always exceed white students, right? Because they understand time on task,” Elliott said. “So, I'm concerned about even Asian students that are not excelling here, because that normally is what happens."

After about 20 minutes passed and six other people spoke, Commissioner James Patterson was called on. He said that what one board member says reflects on the other board members and added that he’s received calls about past remarks from commissioners that people felt were racist.

“Sometimes we sit up here as commissioners and we hear things, or one of our colleagues says things that kind of disturbs us, and oftentimes we're quiet and we don't say anything,” Patterson said. “Personally, I've been subjected to racism, discrimination, unfair and inequitable treatment in my past. So, I know what it looks like, I know what it smells like, I know what it feels like.”

Elliott said her comments reflected the information at hand, and she stands by her words.

“If there are people out there who've taken offense because I've delineated based on race, well, then that's on them, because we live in a country that is more racist now than it's ever been,” Elliott said.

The average rate of proficiency for math and ELA tests for third through eighth graders hovers around 15%. The school board has a goal to improve state assessment scores to an average of 40% by 2028.

“I know a lot of the numbers up here are pretty sobering. When we first set those board goals, I felt like they were way too low,” board member Amy Maloy said. “I'm now realizing that those are actually very aspirational goals.”

A possible contributor to the low scores on state assessments is a high concentration of poverty in city schools — a relic of Rochester’s long history of redlining. According to the state education department, 91% of students in the district were economically disadvantaged in the 2022-23 school year.

“If you have one kid who's homeless and doesn't have enough food, and you’re a class of 20 kids, it's easier to address those needs,” education specialist Dan DeMarle previously told WXXI News. “But if you have a class of 12 out of 20, then most of the time you're dealing with those issues. So, it's the concentration of poverty, not poverty itself, that makes it hard for kids to learn.

The experiences students are facing in their daily lives is taking a significant toll on their ability to learn, school board vice president Beatriz LeBron said, adding that students’ basic needs have to be met outside of school for them to succeed in school.

“I just don't even think it's actually, logically, factually, even doable for some of our kids for this be a priority for them when they have so many challenges that they're managing or their family's managing,” LeBron said.

LeBron said she’s aware of at least one student “who was secretly sleeping in a car with his dad, and nobody knew. But he's expected to come to school every day, be on task, be ready to learn,” she said. "We're going to continue to see these outcomes into academics. We're going to continue to see the outcomes that exist right now in the community, with the amount of people who are homeless and facing adversities."