Wednesday Journal
News, March 14, 2001
OPRF begins groundbreaking study on "gap"
Survey of minorities aims to raise GPAs.
In an effort to reduce the persistent and troubling grade-point gap between minority and non-minority students, Oak Park and River Forest High School has initiated a unique research project whose results they believe will be fundamental in the kinds of program changes and staff development forums necessary to improve student-teacher relationships and give students of color a greater chance at academic success. And if things go according to plan, the project may well become a model for other schools nationwide.
"Nothing this extensive or systematic has been done before that we have been able to identify," said Mary Bennett, OPRF assistant superintendent for curriculum and instructions. "We hope this project will provide us with a real road map for the best practices we need to develop to counter under-achievement."
Two professional researchers from the Oak Park community hope through the survey to lay a solid foundation for improvement, including the development of comprehensive and reliable research instruments and methodologies that will attempt to identify what personal, school, home, peer, and community factors enable and encourage African-American students to achieve and what factors serve as impediments to success.
"One of the biggest measurements is the difference in grade point averages (GPAs)," said Rich Deptuch, director of instruction, who has been in his current position for the past two years. "In 1994, the weighted GPA for African-Americans was 1.706 and for whites, 2.504. (Weighted GPAs reflect how students are achieving in classes and if they are taking honors classes.) "The good news is when we did our last run of averages earlier this year, black GPAs had risen to 2.211 and whites had gone up to 2.925. But the bad news is in a seven-year period we have only closed the gap by one tenth of a point--and a significant gap still exists."
Deptuch said he believes the interventions put in place at the school have benefited all students but added, "It is clear we must do something in particular to address the needs of African-American students. That's the reason for launching this research study."
Dr. Carl Spight, a professional statistician and Dr. Ted Manley, a sociology professor at DePaul University who has done educational research for Chicago's Black Metropolitan Project, have helped the school design the comprehensive research project. The school's former assistant superintendent for human resources and operations, Frank Danes, is also lending his assistance on the project. And Dr. Ron Ferguson, the Harvard University professor who works closely with the Minority Student Achievement Network, a consortium of high schools nationwide which face similar diversity challenges, will also be working on the study as an advisor.
According to Deptuch, Spight helped the school design a picture of the entire population of black students based on six factors that creates a "snapshot" of minority students: 1) academic achievement; 2) level of involvement in athletics and other activities; 3) attendance; 4) discipline records; 5) family structure; and 6) sender school. "We wanted a group that was representative of our black students, where they came from, how they are achieving, what kinds of activities they participate in, and what their families look like," Deptuch said.
With Spight's help, profiles of 200 students were loaded into a data base who are representative of the 525 African-American sophomore through senior students at OPRF. Those students and their families will be invited to participate in a three-step screening process from which 75 final participants will be selected. Michael Mitchell, a history teacher and Student Council advisor, will then conduct videotaped interviews with each student and family expanding on survey information.
"Mike is well known to most of our students and has two children who are going through the program here [one has already graduated]," Deptuch said. "And he will use questions developed primarily by Manley to generate a conversation with the students." Mitchell hopes to begin his interviews during the spring break and researchers hope to have analyzed the materials in time for faculty workshops next fall.
"We hope to identify from our African-American students and parents, those practices that teachers have used that made them successful and to want to be successful," Deptuch said. "From there we plan to organize a staff development program around the data we discover. We're not interested in identifying who the perceived 'bad' teachers are, but will focus on what things teachers are doing or have done that have caused black students to not want to work towards improving their grades. We expect such a thorough analysis will provide all kinds of insights about our school and our African-American students."
The causes of the persistent gap between minority and non-minority students remains difficult to identify, as do solutions. But OPRF, like their counterparts in the Minority Student Achievement Network, are hoping that reliable, carefully compiled data will yield valuable insights related to effective practices that will close the gap.
Deptuch added that while similar studies have been done at the college level, a study of this magnitude, according to the district's findings and those of other scholars across the country, has never been done at the high school level.
"We will also use the comments from our students to improve our support programs and to improve parent contact programs," he said. "We expect to see some common themes arise from the students' and parents' perspectives that will help us develop specific services and programs that will significantly reduce the achievement gap."