海角大神

America鈥檚 public schools are a snapshot of a changing America: Since 2014, for the first time in the country鈥檚 history, a majority of those in public schools have been students of color.

That鈥檚 more than just a statistic. The rise of this 鈥渘ew majority鈥� promises to have sweeping effects on American schools over time. The voices and interests of these students and their parents will need to be better woven into the decisionmaking that affects United States classrooms, many education experts say.

What鈥檚 their emerging message? In part it鈥檚 in keeping with the age-old desires of families everywhere: a good education in safe schools. But it鈥檚 also a call for greater equity in school quality 鈥� a longstanding sore spot in America鈥檚 education system that鈥檚 growing harder to ignore. And for some in this new majority, the definition of a good education includes shaping lessons that truly embrace diversity.

Consider just this one finding from a new poll of black and Latino parents: The sense of racial bias was so strong for some parents that a quarter of Latinos and a third of African-Americans agreed with the聽statement, 鈥淪chools in the US are not really trying to educate Black/Latino students.鈥�

The poll focused on education, and that one finding suggests that, despite years of education reforms, states have a long way to go to succeed in the dawning new-majority era. One of the places to start,聽judging by responses in the poll, is figuring out how to better fund schools in communities that don鈥檛 have the tax base of middle-class suburbia.

鈥淭he quality is not the same due to less funding,鈥� a Latino parent said of schools serving primarily students of color, during a Chicago focus group tied to the poll. The parent said the money gap means 鈥渓ess teachers, less technology available 鈥� and less overall academic opportunities.鈥�

And opportunity is the goal for these new-majority parents. Judging by the poll and focus-group responses, they want their kids held to rigorous standards and expectations, and they鈥檙e ready to do their part to prod their children forward. They just want schools to be up to the task at hand. 聽 聽

鈥淲ill states and school districts rise to the occasion and build a K-12 public education system designed to address the educational needs of students of color? Or will they shirk their duty 鈥� and condemn a majority of public school students to a future with little to no promise?鈥� asks Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference Education Fund, in a report on the poll results.

What parents聽see聽

Mr. Henderson鈥檚 group is the research and education arm of a large civil rights coalition, and sponsored the new poll for a report titled, 鈥�: Attitudes and Aspirations of Parents and Families of Color.鈥� 聽The survey included 400 black and 400 Latino parents and guardians of school-age children, interviewed by phone in March by the polling firm Anzalone Liszt Grove Research (ALG).

More than three-quarters in the poll said schools in low-income communities 鈥� often those with many African-American or Latino residents 鈥� receive less funding than schools in wealthy communities. Parents who believed there are racial disparities in the quality of education attributed it primarily to this lack of funding. The next two factors they pointed to: lower teacher quality and overall racial bias.

鈥淚鈥檝e seen it so many times before. They don鈥檛 offer to black schools what they offer to white schools,鈥� an African-American parent told a focus group in Philadelphia.

In all, 6 in 10 Latinos and 8 in 10 African-Americans in the survey said schools serving their group receive less than schools in white communities.

The vast majority also believed students should be challenged more and that low-income students should be held to the same or higher expectations, because of the importance of education as a path out of poverty or limited opportunities.

The call for better schools and greater equity comes at an important moment in national education policy. States are working to refine their school accountability systems within the parameters of the new federal education law known as the Every Student Succeeds Act. The law replaced the law known as 鈥淣o Child Left Behind,鈥� giving states greater flexibility in how to ensure strong schools.

As is often the case with polls of parents, more than 8 out of 10 said the school their children attend is good or excellent. But even within this question, the backdrop of racial equity lurked. Among African-Americans whose child attended a school that is mostly white, 94 percent rated the school highly, compared with 75 percent of those whose school was mostly black.

When asked an open-ended question about what factor is most important to make a great school, half cited good teachers.

Considering new priorities

The poll results may help broaden education policy agendas. In the dominant narrative around education reform, 鈥渁 lot of the debates that we hear about 鈥� just don鈥檛 reflect what these new-majority parents have to say,鈥� says Liz King, director of education policy for The Leadership Conference Education Fund. 鈥淭he hemming and hawing about opt-out [related to standardized testing], for example, we just don鈥檛 see that as a priority concern.鈥�

A majority of poll respondents said that when their children make it to college, it is largely due to the student鈥檚 and family鈥檚 efforts, while only about 15 percent said the school鈥檚 role was the most important factor.

But such family support is not always top of mind for educators at struggling schools.

In a high school in Florida that had some of the worst outcomes, an intervention leadership team at first thought of the families as largely unemployed and not particularly valuing education. The team believed that, in turn, this caused the children to not aspire to higher education.

After they surveyed the students, they found quite the opposite, according to by Rebecca Carlo, then-coordinator of a Florida project working with struggling learners.

Nearly all the students believed attending school beyond high school was an important goal, and more than 9 out of 10 said their family supported their educational goals and encouraged them to keep trying when things were difficult.

鈥淭oo often, the prevailing dialogue faults families of color for bad educational outcomes instead of grappling meaningfully and seriously with the need for the system to make different policy choices,鈥� notes Mr. Henderson of The Leadership Conference Education Fund in the report, which acknowledges that the new majority includes Asians and Native Americans, who are likely to be included in future polls. 鈥淲e cannot hope to build the public education system all children deserve without including the parents and families of the students who will most benefit from a truly high-quality education.鈥�

But to truly engage with families in Latino and African-American neighborhoods to ensure equity will require a deeper dive into the subtext of the poll, said Jeffrey Duncan-Andrade, a longtime teacher in largely Latino East Oakland, Calif., and a professor at San Francisco State University, during a panel discussion following the poll鈥檚 release April 11.

When parents of color call for 鈥渞igor鈥� in education, for instance, they aren鈥檛 necessarily calling for more academic tests. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 be engaged in academically rigorous education without being engaged in a culturally relevant education,鈥� he said. 鈥淔or us, the inclusion and centrality of valuing our culture, valuing our history 鈥� is by definition what we mean by academic rigor.鈥�