Seeking more rigor in schools

Black and Latino parents cite resource inequities, not testing or too-big workloads, among top concerns.

News reports and talk shows often feature parents threatening to pull their kids out of new standardized test regimens or fretting about their children’s stressful workload.

But a recent national survey of black and Latino parents found little resistance to testing and a widespread desire for schools to do more to challenge students.

The poll by Anzalone Liszt Grove Research was commissioned by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights’ Education Fund, the nonprofit arm of several civil rights organizations, including the National Council of La Raza, the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People and national teachers unions.

It surveyed 400 black parents and 400 Latino parents, with a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points for each.

Only 2% in each group cited less reliance on standardized testing as the most important component of great schools.

Half of the parents said that good teachers are a school’s most important asset.

Most of the black parents and 45% of Latino parents surveyed believe children in their communities receive a worse education than white students, blaming the disparity on a lack of resources, inadequate teachers and racism.

The survey did not poll white or Asian parents. Scott Simpson, director of media and campaigns for the Leadership Conference, attributed that decision to the costs of polling more widely and the researchers’ desire to focus on black and Latino parents, whose children account for about 40% of the public school population in the U.S.

“We feel like these voices should stand alone,” Simpson said.

Such polling, he said, could be useful to state educators’ efforts to define and measure just what makes a good school, as required by a new federal law.

Students of color are more likely to get less-experienced, lower-paid teachers, a government report concluded.

Overall, the polling results align with recent research showing that school districts offer black and Latino students fewer resources, less experienced teachers and less challenging classwork than their white and Asian peers, said Patricia Gandara, a UCLA education professor and the co-director of the Civil Rights Project at UCLA.

“I think it’s a story in itself that if you talk to Latino and African American parents, this is how they feel.”