Los Angeles Provides Inferior Education to Black and Brown Students (REPORT)

LOS ANGELES — A 19-month civil rights investigation of the Los Angeles Unified School District found that the district failed to provide an equal education to English-learners and black students, resulting in wide academic disparities, the U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday.

The district, the nation’s second-largest, agreed to remedy the disparities through a variety of measures, including a complete overhaul of its English-learning program and improving resources such as computers and library books to schools with predominantly black student bodies.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who unveiled the agreement at a news conference at LAUSD headquarters, said it would help ensure that every student in the nation’s second largest school district would receive the same academic opportunities “regardless of race or national origin.”

Noting that these issues are “incredibly complex and politically charged,” Duncan said he was encouraged by the district’s sense of urgency and willingness to voluntarily remedy the disparities without an order.

“Though we still have a long way to go before we see that English learner students and African-American students are consistently getting what they need to perform up to their fullest potential, I’m confident today’s agreement will help address the causes of concern that prompted our review,” he said.

Duncan stopped short of saying that students’ civil rights were violated and did not reveal detailed results of the investigation, just the terms of the agreement. But the Education Department said in a statement that it will monitor the district’s compliance with the agreement until educational codes are met.

The agreement was the result of a “compliance review” by the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights, which was concerned about wide achievement gaps between the district’s lowest performing student groups and other students.

Only 5 percent of high school English language learners ranked as proficient in either English or math; for black students, 32 percent ranked as proficient in English and 9 percent in math, according to the district’s 2009-10 report card.

 

FULL STORY HERE

 

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