Closing The Gap

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Frequently, Ferguson says, teachers misread signals from black students. "The course work is rigorous at these schools, even in nonhonors classes, and I think many of these kids are struggling," he explains. "Some of the behavior that others infer as laziness is really a way of playing it off. If the work is hard and they're not doing well, in the students' minds it's better to act like they don't care rather than acknowledge that they're trying hard and still can't do it." The problem becomes more damaging when teachers interpret such behavior as indifference and lower their expectations for what the students can achieve. Without interest and support from teachers — which matter more to minorities, Ferguson found — floundering black students eventually become resigned to their low position on the academic totem pole, fail to develop essential skills and slip even further behind.

Meanwhile, many black parents, who themselves struggled to prove their worth, are reluctant to put their kids through the same bruising experience and so don't push them as hard. Ferguson's research showed that black families often have fewer learning resources, such as books and computers, at home than do white families of similar incomes. Moreover, as relative newcomers to their communities, black families tend to lack access to the informal networks white parents use to trade intelligence about the best teachers, classes and strategies for guaranteeing success. As a remedy, he suggests having teachers establish a good rapport with students early on and create homework assignments that show how academic subjects connect to real life. Black parents, he says, should become more proactive and vigilant.

Superintendents from the districts Ferguson studied, including Rossi Ray-Taylor, Fornero's predecessor in Ann Arbor, had created a network to share gap-closing ideas even before Ferguson began his research. His findings formed the basis for the efforts Ray-Taylor started in 2002, which Fornero expanded when he took over in January 2003. "Our goal is achievement and opportunity for all students — and I'm serious about it," Fornero says.

As a result, the high schools are lavishing attention on ninth-graders because experience shows that incoming students who don't have good study habits and preparation for the academic demands of high school usually lag behind and stay there. Huron High has added classes for middling achievers called Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID), designed for freshmen who enter with a GPA between 2.0 and 3.5 and show the potential to succeed in honors classes. The AVID classes teach them how to take notes and study for exams more effectively, and provide tutoring. Samir Webster, who came to Huron last year with pretty good middle school grades but an antiacademic chip on his shoulder the size of his blowout Afro, didn't apply himself until AVID class changed his attitude. He now has a B average. "I used to watch TV, play video games or hang with my friends rather than do homework," he says. "But now homework comes first. I've realized grades are important."