A Message to Our CommunityClosing the Achievement Gap: The Unfinished Business of the Civil Rights MovementFall 2004

In May we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court case that rendered segregation in our public schools unconstitutional. One prominent historian wrote that no other case has affected “more directly the minds, hearts, and daily lives of so many Americans.” Unfortunately, educational equity and excellence remains elusive for too many children.

Closing the achievement gap -- or guaranteeing academic proficiency for every student -- has become the professional and moral imperative of our time. Many scholars and educators have characterized the achievement gap as the leading driver of racial inequity and, as such, the unfinished business of the civil rights movement.

While Brown v. Board of Education opened the door for opportunity, we must face the fact that many of our students are up against daily struggles that prevent them from even reaching the threshold, let alone walking through the door.

It is important that we, as educators, use every partnership, opportunity and resource and make them work to the advantage of our students.

Our responsibility is huge, our task complex, our cause noble and necessary but our road is not always smooth. In the face of smaller budgets, more under-funded mandates and larger class sizes, we continue to commit to making a difference in every child’s life.

Much of the teacher training services provided by the Alameda County Office of Education continues to be guided by our commitment to low-performing, high priority children and schools. Space doesn’t permit me to talk about all the work we are doing in this area but a few examples include:

• Our School Assistance and Intervention Team partners with regional projects and other service providers to support and identify schools that need assistance. October marked the beginning of Educational Services Division’s Leading with Excellence and Equity Professional Development Series.” This series of Distinguished Scholars and array of professional development programs and services is designed to help participants find answers to difficult instructional and leadership questions to close the achievement gap.
• Our Information Technology Division is providing statewide leadership to identify and leverage technological expertise to create a data management platform that replaces current disparate systems. This platform will fully integrate critical applications, incorporating classroom instructional delivery with school management processes. We are very excited about this because quality of education is affected by our ability to readily access and assimilate critical data systems that inform and drive student-centered, standards-based, instructional delivery and school management processes.
• Student Programs and Services has worked closely with Ed Services to provide leadership among county offices statewide to develop a rigorous mathematics curriculum for court and community school students. The success of Student Programs and Services language art’s Character Based Literacy (CBL) program (a partnership with Santa Clara University) fueled this collaboration among county offices.

Our focus on the best aspects of No Child Left Behind, disaggregating data and working with districts is the pathway to creating an educational climate that fosters equity and excellence for every child we serve.

I am proud of the work and the systematic approach that is happening in our schools particularly in the face of the significant challenges our students provide.

Sheila Jordan is the County Superintendent of Schools. She may be reached at 670-4144 or by e-mail at acoesuperintendent@acoe.org.