Spokane Schools Fail To Narrow Gap Minorities Continue To Score Lower And Drop Out At A Higher Rate

After three years of monitoring, the gap between the performance of whites and minorities in Spokane public schools still is alarmingly wide, a citizens committee reported Wednesday.

Minority students still are suspended for disciplinary problems more often than whites. They achieve lower test scores. They drop out at a greater rate.

Not exactly a dream “equity report card,” say educators and committee members.

“When you get into the third and fourth year, you can be sure it’s a trend,” said Cynthia Lambarth, a Spokane School District 81 assistant superintendent.

There’s no easy explanation for the trend, officials said, but neighborhood gangs, poverty, racism and inattentive parents are part of the problem.

Mona Mendoza, a teacher at Garfield Elementary and community activist, said the latest findings are deeply disappointing.

“Over the last three years, there has been no significant improvement throughout the equity report card, showing the disparity continues for the majority of students of color,” Mendoza said.

Among the findings:

All minority groups except Asians were suspended more often than whites in middle schools and high schools.

All minority groups ranked lower than white students on 11th-grade achievement tests. Only Asians ranked higher than whites on achievement tests in the fourth and eighth grades.

Students who are black, Native American and Hispanic dropped out more often than whites, although those rates declined over the previous year studied.

The Instructional Equity Citizens Advisory Committee has presented annual reports to the school board since 1993. Its 19 volunteer members range from homemakers to a college administrator.

After reviewing Wednesday’s report card, educators vowed to dig deeper for solutions.

“What I was concerned about was the drop-out range,” said school board member Rob Fukai. “We’re constantly mystified why those drop-out rates are higher for some groups than for others.”

Committee members and educators agreed it’s time to end the mystery by finding specific ways to address the inequities.

“We’re chipping away at it and trying to bring it to reasonable norms,” said John Vargas, who chairs the committee.

The district will devote more staff next year to equity issues. More schools will have multicultural committees. Students will be asked for suggestions.

Susan McIntyre, a member of the equity committee, called for minority mentoring programs.

“We all know there’s certain populations … that don’t have that mentoring, that don’t have those cheerleaders behind them,” she said. “We need to develop that.”

Board member Christie Querna urged the equity committee to take its ideas directly to schools.

“You’d be sort of the advocates of equity,” she said. “Maybe you can be the mentors … Obviously, we can’t do it all.”

Teachers and administrators need more training in spotting and correcting inequities, said Vargas, noting the “alarmingly high rate” of suspensions for black students.

“I think the board should look at diversity training for the staff,” Vargas said.

School board member Nancy Fike urged Vargas and his committee to encourage more minority students who are doing well academically to participate in honors programs.

The report card released Wednesday covered the 1992-93, 1993-94 and 1994-95 school years.

Not all the news was bad. There were some improvements for minority students in 1994-95 compared with the previous year, Vargas said.

In middle schools, for instance, Asian, Hispanic and Native American students had higher grade-point averages. Grade-point averages for black students declined slightly.

A ceremony to honor kids who excelled in school this year opened Wednesday’s school board meeting.

It also pointed out some of the disparities. The kids shaking board members’ hands were predominantly white.

“I would’ve loved to have seen racial diversity in this group,” said Geoffrey Eng, a committee member. “That’s equity.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Graphics: Suspended from school; Dropout rates