New Report: Poor Learning Climate for Black & Hispanic Students

Posted by on January 8, 2007

[posted from Public Education Network newsblast]

POOR LEARNING CLIMATE FOR BLACK & HISPANIC STUDENTS

If an adult were forced to work in an environment where disrespect, bad language, fighting, drug and alcohol abuse and other bad behaviors are inflicted by a relative few, but tolerated or winked at by management — it might be considered a “hostile workplace.” Substantial numbers of the nation’s black and Hispanic students report conditions like these in their schools, according to a new Public Agenda national survey of parents, middle and high school students and teachers. Asked to rate their schools on key academic and social dimensions — resources , promotion policies, dropout rates, truancy, fighting, drug and alcohol abuse and others — black and Hispanic students are more likely than their white counterparts to report “very serious” problems in nearly every category. According to the report, about 3 in 10 black youngsters attend schools with considerable turmoil: (1) 30 percent of black students report that teachers spend more time trying to keep order than teaching; (2) 30 percent say their school has very serious problems with drug and alcohol abuse; (3) 32 percent report very serious problems with fighting and weapons; (4) 33 percent say their school is not consistent in enforcing discipline and behavior rules; (5) 37 percent say their school has a very serious problem with kids cutting class; and (6) 52 percent say their school has a very serious problem with kids who lack respect for teachers and use bad language. Nearly half of Hispanic students (48 percent) report that their school has a very serious problem with kids dropping out. This edition of “Reality Check” does include some particularly heartening findings for those who seek silver linings. Majorities of all students — black (66 percent), white (72 percent) and Hispanic (71 percent) — report that they have had a teacher who was able to get them interested in a subject that they hadn’t really liked before. Additionally, most parents (61 percent), across racial and ethnic groups, believe their children’s schools are better than the ones they attended when they were young.

http://publicagenda.org/research/research_reports_details.cfm?list=9