Area students tromping back to classrooms in coming weeks will return to schools far more diverse than those attended by their parents, but under the watch of school systems pouring resources into minimizing predictable effects.
Numbers released Monday by the Associated Press using the most recent federal data show that in 2005, white students made up 57 percent of public school students, Hispanics made up 20 percent, blacks made up 17 percent, and all other races made up 6 percent. In 1972, the landscape was far more homogenous: 78 percent white, 15 percent black, 6 percent Hispanic and 1 percent “other.”
And according to U.S. Census data released last week, the trends show no signs of abating. By 2023, when today’s pre-schooler is a senior in high school, minorities will comprise more than half of all children in the country. By 2042, whites of all ages will no longer the majority in America.
“The primary lesson learned [by schools] is to target the support and interventions for both students and for teachers so the district can meet the needs of the students who will likely be lower-performing,” said Russlynn Ali, executive director of Education Trust-West, an education reform group based in D.C. and Oakland, Calif.
Ali applauded the efforts of Montgomery County, Md., which as early as 2000 anticipated the coming changes and focused significant financial and human resources to the youngest grades at many of their lowest-income, most diverse schools.
On Monday, the district released results of last spring’s early-grade reading tests, touting mostly positive results. Even as poor and minority students have increased their share of the population, the percentage of students whose reading scores were up to par improved significantly for first and second graders, and especially for blacks and Hispanics.
“We aren’t dealing with the cookie-cutter classroom anymore,” said eight-year Montgomery school board member Sharon Cox. The changes in demographics “have forced us to review how we engage students, how we engage families, what kinds of strategies we employ. It’s made us better at education for everybody.”
