Community concerns on education were discussed as the State of Black Students at Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) was held over the weekend.
On Saturday, April 27, over 100 concerned community members came out to Madison College’s Goodman South Campus to discuss the current issues in education for Black students at MMSD. The State of Black Students at MMSD, organized by Blacks for Political & Social Action for Dane County (BPSADC), came to address the needs for changes by highlighting pressing issues in education while taking in feedback from the community on what they would like to see.
The event went over statistics on the prevalent achievement gaps in Wisconsin and Madison while outlining steps of actions to take to address the problem. Wisconsin, which has continued to draw national attention with the state ranking at the highest or near the top for years in learning outcomes in reading and math, was compared to Madison which isn’t faring much better, according to the data presented.
“We have an obligation as folks in the community, people who are a part of the community of Madison, to ensure that our public schools are healthy and safe,” said Rev. David Hart, president of BPSADC. “I’m an alum of the school district. I have a very vested interest. I have children that made it through this school system. I’ve every reason to reach back and make sure that the school district is not only robust and healthy, but thriving as well.”
The BPSADC came prepared with the research and requests for the event with its Financial, Academic, Communication and Expectations (FACE) Framework for MMSD. The FACE Framework was presented by Richard McGregory, professor at Madison College.
Within FACE, BPSADC requests that MMSD add a budgetary line in the yearly General Fund designated as “Black Excellence funds.” Currently, about 18% of the district’s student population is Black, but allocations for supporting Black students at MMSD is less than 1%, or $450,000, of the General Fund.
On the pressing issue on achievement gaps, BPSADC requested that MMSD push for a 10% improvement in reading proficiency and make a 1-point improvement on the average ACT scores of Black students. McGregory says the improvement of scores on the ACT is needed to lower the overall financial burdens of college for Black students.
“We don’t have a true measure in MMSD on the ACT scores for Black students,” McGregory said. “Thirty percent of Black students didn’t even test, and it’s a free ACT.”
The current average score on the ACT for Black students in MMSD is 14.8. If students score below 17 on their ACT, they are forced to take developmental courses in college. The courses would require the students to stay in school longer, lowering the amount of time working in higher paying roles due to the delay in graduating, and forcing them to take out additional loans for the longer time attending college, McGregory said.
Other requests include MMSD making a commitment to show up to the next State of Black Students at MMSD, meet quarterly with BPSAD, commit to reduce in-school segregation, increase the number of Black instructors and improve the Climate Study scores.
Larger points from the event outline the frequent low test scores both statewide and locally for Black students.
McGregory highlighted data indicating that most of these issues need to be addressed early in the child’s life. In FACE, McGregory cited that having at least one Black teacher between kindergarten and third grade leads Black students to be 13% more likely to graduate from high school and 19% to enroll in college.
Later in the State of Black Students, groups split to discuss concerns specific to elementary, middle schools and high schools.
The groups had a large overlap in what they wanted to see with more Black teachers, better funding, efforts to eliminate in-school segregation, educational equity, more inclusive hiring practices and improved retention efforts, but also wanted to see some more accountability on schools to take action.
Other community members wanted to see the families start to take a role and not let the education system take the entirety of the blame for outcomes.
“I do believe we need to start with our home — it starts at home,” one attendee said. “We need some action. We need to come up with a plan… but keep it with the family. Educators can’t continue to be the problem solvers.”
Issues and community feedback plans will be presented to new MMSD Superintendent Joe Gothard, who will fully step into the position May 20. Gothard’s plan has been to address many of the issues spoken about at the event when he debuted his platform for changes as MMSD earlier this April.
