Parents upset by segregation, educators defend themselves

With schools under increasing pressure to improve test scores, Mt. Diablo High School has resorted to a new way to motivate students: by race.
The Concord campus on Friday held separate assemblies for students of different ethnicities to talk about last year's test results and the upcoming slew of state exams this spring.

Jazz music and pictures of Martin Luther King greeted African-American students, while Filipino, Asian and Pacific Islander students saw flags of their foreign homelands on the walls. Latinos and white students each attended their own events, too, complete with statistics showing results for all ethnicities and grade level.

"They started off by saying jokingly, 'What up, white people,'" said freshman Megan Wiley, 14. Teachers flashed last year's test scores and told the white crowd of students to do better for the sake of their people.

"They got into, 'you should be proud of your race,'" Wiley said. "It was just weird."

Several parents later told MediaNews that the meetings smacked of segregation resurrected.

"Why did they have to divide the students by race?" said Filipino parent Claddy Dennis, mother of freshman Schenlly Dennis. "In this country, everybody is supposed to be treated equally. It sounds like racism to me."

Principal Bev Hansen said she held the student assemblies by ethnicity to avoid one group harassing another based on their test scores. The 1,600-student campus, one of the most ethnically diverse high schools in the Mt. Diablo school district, is roughly half Hispanic, 30 percent white and 15 percent black, with Asian nationalities rounding out the mix.
Last year, the school improved its academic performance index score, largely based on test scores, to 613 out of 1,000. Among the races, Asians scored highest. Whites earned a 667. African Americans scored a 580, while Hispanics earned a 571.

"I don't want students being teased," Hansen said.

Ultimately, however, Hansen said she did not know why parents seemed so concerned. The state has reported scores based on race for years. The school assemblies simply reflected those same categories in reporting the numbers to students, she said.

"In this country, race is a very uncomfortable topic and it's time we got over it," Hansen said.

Jack Jennings, president of the National Center on Education Policy, a leading education research group, called the racially divided meetings potentially illegal and dangerous.

"It's segregation by race, whatever the motivation," Jennings said, noting that he had never heard before of a school or district doing such a thing.

He described the assemblies as a unique byproduct of the intense focus on testing.

Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, schools, school districts and states must report and are accountable for scores in reading and math for specific races, English learners, special education students and economically disadvantaged students. All statistically significant groups must show continuous test score improvement.

"It shows that there's so much pressure to raise test scores that teachers and administrators are trying to do anything they can," Jennings said. "Sometimes what they choose is not very wise."

Last spring, California High School in the San Ramon Valley pulled Latino and black students in for pre-testing pep talks, but not white students. The principal apologized after parents flooded the mayor's office with complaints.

Mt. Diablo sophomore Hector Rivera, 15, said he enjoyed the speakers at his Hispanic student assembly.

"The way they were speaking, it was intended to make people feel good," Rivera said. "I guess it was to inspire everybody, like you can do better."

Hispanic students made a 50-point gain on the academic on the state's 1,000-point achievement scale. White students improved by 46 points, while English learners posted the greatest rise, 82 points.

"There's nothing negative about these assemblies," said school secretary Arnetta Jones, who is African-American and helped organize the assembly for African-American students. "It wasn't, in any way, to put people down."

In fact, African-American students raised their score on the state academic performance index by 61 points.

"We showed an incredible amount of improvement on our test scores," Jones said.

The event also celebrated black culture, Jones said. Two students performed a dance with choreography by African-American dance visionary Alvin Ailey. A black pastor from Bay Point delivered a message. One student read a poem that is the mantra of a black fraternity from UC Berkeley.

"That kind of set the tone," Jones said.

However some African-American students interpreted the school's messages differently.

Freshman Jason Lockett, 14, said saw the pictures of Martin Luther King and the words, "Black Power" projected overhead. But the scores, despite being an increase over last year, still lag other races.

"It was to compare us and say how much dumber we were than everybody else," Lockett said.

Principal Hansen said though some students were upset, they deserve to know the truth about lower test scores.

"We need help in closing the achievement gap," Hansen said. "This is one tiny step."

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