Dear Dr. Hatrick and the Honorable Members of the Loudoun County School Board:
For over ten years the Loudoun County Branch NAACP has been concerned about the long-standing data that show disproportionate achievement among, and disciplinary actions taken against minority students who attend Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS). As you will recall, our Branch has consistently pledged to work with LCPS to remedy the situation. Some of our efforts included presenting two research papers to LCPS and the Minority Student Achievement Advisory Committee (MSAAC), one in 1998, and one in 2004.
Loudoun’s data show a very small, inconsistent improvement, only a few percentage points at a time. Given that some schools throughout the nation have eliminated the achievement gap, the Branch believes that we must demand more effective and vigorous action by LCPS administration and School Board to address this vital social justice issue. Significantly, LCPS did not meet the Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act for the 2005-2006 school year. A few statistics from the Virginia Department of Education (http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/src/) follow to illustrate the critical nature of these problems:
Graduation Rates:
| 2003-2004 | 2004-2005 | 2005-2006 | ||
| Black Students 75.59% | Black Students 78.04% | Black Students 80.58% | ||
| Hispanic Students 75.74% | Hispanic Students 79.40% | Hispanic Students 75.49% | ||
| White Students 89.42% | White Students 91.41% | White Students 91.79% |
More than ten percent fewer minority students graduate from LCPS than white students; this represents a civil rights issue.
Failures Rates in English Testing – Third Grade:
| 2003-2004 | 2004-2005 | 2005-2006 | ||
| Black Students 44% | Black Students 35% | Black Students 29% | ||
| Hispanic Students 44% | Hispanic Students 40% | Hispanic Students 26% | ||
| White Students 20% | White Students 14% | White Students 9% |
Failures Rates in English Testing – Fifth Grade:
| 2003-2004 | 2004-2005 | 2005-2006 | ||
| Black Students 25% | Black Students 28% | Black Students 33% | ||
| Hispanic Students 24% | Hispanic Students 20% | Hispanic Students 27% | ||
| White Students 6% | White Students 7% | White Students 8% |
Failures Rates in English Testing – Eighth Grade:
| 2003-2004 | 2004-2005 | 2005-2006 | ||
| Black Students 39% | Black Students 32% | Black Students 38% | ||
| Hispanic Students 46% | Hispanic Students 32% | Hispanic Students 41% | ||
| White Students 12% | White Students 10% | White Students 11% |
Although similar scores are evident in the other tested subjects (math, science and history), here we are focusing on reading as this skill is crucial to all learning and knowledge. When approximately one-third of a school system’s minority students fail standardized English testing, it represents significant institutional failure and, again, a civil rights issue.
Suspensions and Expulsions – 2005-2006:
LCPS Research Office presented the following data to MSAAC on June 21, 2007:
| Total Number | Total | Total | |||||||||||||||
| of Students | Percentage of | Number of | Percentage of | Number of | Percentage of | ||||||||||||
| Enrolled | Total Enrolled | Suspensions | Total Suspensions | Expulsions | Total Expulsions | ||||||||||||
| Black Students | 3941 | 8% | 377 | 25% | 7 | 25% | |||||||||||
| Hispanic Students | 5663 | 12% | 18 | 1% | 67 | 22% | |||||||||||
| White Students | 31817 | 67% | 946 | 63% | 12 | 44% | |||||||||||
| Total Number of | Percentage of | Percentage of | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Suspended Students | Total Suspended Students | Race Enrolled | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Black Students | 243 | 20% | 6% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hispanic Students | 244 | 20% | 4% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| White Students | 617 | 51% | 2% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
It is not logical to assume that minority children are less well-behaved than white children and deserve to be suspended approximately three times more often than white students; rather these data indicate that discipline is applied disproportionately. Children and young adults readily perceive unfairness, and it fosters a school climate in which it is even more difficult to learn and achieve. Anecdotally, most of the civil rights complaints regarding LCPS received by this Branch of the NAACP appear to involve suspension and expulsion issues. The parents involved believe that they either have no recourse or have exhausted every available avenue, and they believe that LCPS has failed to ensure that discipline has been applied without regard to race.
Following are the summary of findings and recommendations from the Loudoun County Branch NAACP’s 2004 research paper. Considering that LCPS did not make the AYP mandated by Virginia standards and federal law, and that data indicate that institutional racism persists in this system, we are asking if any of these research-based recommendations were put into place, and if not, why not?
The entire research paper is available on our website: http://naacploudoun.org/education.htm.
All children -- regardless of their ethnic identity or economic status, deserve the best Loudoun has to offer. It is time to stop attending conferences, instituting feel-good programs, and conducting so-called "recruitment of minority teachers" in Hawaii in the winter. It is time to focus on student achievement and research-based programs.
Sincerely yours,
The Reverend Reginald A. Early
President, Loudoun County Branch NAACP
(540) 686-8230 or rgnear@aol.com