A Question of Priorities

The overwhelming majority of African American parents care more about raising student achievement than broadening the racial diversity of schools, and most also say race should not be a factor in hiring administrators or teachers--even for largely black school districts--according to a new national survey.

Although the survey also found broad consensus among black and white parents that integrating schools can improve race relations, more than seven out of 10 respondents of both races agreed with the statement that “too often, the schools work so hard to achieve integration that they end up neglecting their most important goal--teaching kids.”

The findings from the survey by the nonpartisan research organization Public Agenda underscore the breadth of the national movement to make high academic standards and high performance the top priority of public and private schools.

Organizers of the study said they hoped to draw attention to the pragmatic concerns of African American parents, many of whose children are served by troubled schools in urban centers such as Los Angeles.

“The laser-like focus people have on academics and higher standards resonates,” said Jean Johnson, co-director of the survey. “The numbers were so overwhelming, it was incredibly clear that there’s such unanimity of thought here. What you see is the urgency, the feeling that black kids overall are not doing as well as they can, are not as well served by the public schools as they should be.”

Public Agenda, based in New York, was founded in 1975 by social scientist Daniel Yankelovich and former U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance. Its survey was based on telephone interviews in March and April with 800 African American and 800 white parents of school-age children nationwide. The reported margin of error for both groups was plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The headline finding was on school integration, a profound issue since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954 that racial segregation of schools, under the principle of “separate but equal,” was unconstitutional.

After many years of controversial desegregation plans, some involving the court-ordered busing of black students across cities to white neighborhood schools, 80% of African American parents now say the bigger priority for schools nationwide should be raising academic standards and achievement. Only 9% say the priority should be more diversity and integration, and 11% say both.

Those opinions were virtually unchanged when the parents were asked about their own children’s schools.

That doesn’t mean black parents have forsaken the ideal of integration. According to the survey, 80% said racial integration in their children’s school was “very” or “somewhat” important, contrasted with 66% of white parents.

But just over half of black parents, 51%, said that racial integration makes “little difference” in education of children, while only 41% said it improves education.

“There was a point in our history when a lot of hopes were placed on efforts to integrate and desegregate,” said Steve Farkas, another co-director of the survey. “The expectations were that this would lead to better social relations and to better educational achievement. And we’re not there yet, as far as African Americans are concerned.”

In mostly black districts--those in which integration remains an unrealized goal--most black parents seem to discard racial preferences for recruiting and hiring of superintendents and teachers. Only one in five of those parents said such school districts should “make a special effort” to recruit black teachers or superintendents--even if hiring was based on merit alone. More than three-quarters said, simply, hire the best educators possible, “regardless of race.”

In their focus on raising student achievement, many black parents support standardized tests. Asked why black students tend to do worse than white students on such tests, only 28% of black parents blamed the gap on cultural bias. And 44% agreed that the tests measure “real differences” in academic achievement.

The survey was taken more than a year after a debate over the legitimacy of Ebonics instruction erupted in Oakland and Los Angeles, spotlighting the struggles of many big-city schools serving black schoolchildren who have not mastered standard English. Ebonics is a term coined from “ebony” and “phonics” to describe what advocates say is a separate language spoken by some African Americans.

The survey did not query parents specifically on Ebonics, but it found that 86% of black parents believe it is “absolutely essential” for all students to speak and write standard English, with proper pronunciation and grammar.

The survey was funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Surdna Foundation Inc. and the Rockefeller Foundation. The nonprofit Public Education Network, a coordinator of community groups involved with schools nationwide, collaborated in the study.

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Race and School Standards

A nationwide survey shows that African American parents of school-age children appear more focused on high standards and teaching excellence than on racial integration and affirmative action. But black parents still support integration in greater numbers than their white counterparts. Some questions and responses from the survey by Public Agenda:

Black Parents:

White Parents:

The bigger priority for schools across the nation should be...

Raising academic standards and achievement.

Black Parents: 80%

White Parents: 88%

*

Achieving more diversity and integration.

Black Parents: 9%

White Parents: 5%

*

Both of the above.

Black Parents: 11%

White Parents: 6%

*

* Do kids get a better education in a racially integrated school, is it worse, or does it make little difference?

Better

Black Parents: 41%

White Parents: 15%

*

Worse

Black Parents: 5%

White Parents: 8%

*

Makes little difference

Black Parents: 51%

White Parents: 72%

*

How important is it to you that your own child’s school be racially integrated?

Very important

Black Parents: 49%

White Parents: 28%

*

Somewhat important

Black Parents: 31%

White Parents: 38%

*

Not too important

Black Parents: 10%

White Parents: 16%

*

Not important at all

Black Parents: 10%

White Parents: 16%

*

* What kind of superintendent should a mostly black district hire?

Hire the best candidate possible, regardless of race.

Black Parents: 75%

White Parents: 65%

*

Make a special effort to recruit black candidates but only hire the best, regardless of race.

Black Parents: 20%

White Parents: 29%

*

Hire the most qualified black candidate, even if a better qualified white candidate is turned away.

Black Parents: 4%

White Parents: 5%

Note: Numbers may not add up to 100% because of rounding or other responses.

Source: Public Agenda