Writer Calls For Separate Strategies For Black, Hispanic Students

In an op-ed in USA Today (5/2, 1.78M), author Richard Whitmire writes that student data indicate that Hispanic students are making strides in narrowing the education gap, but that black students "continue to lag." Whitmire concedes that Federal data shows a more equal progress among the groups, but states that "the trend doesn't appear in federal data" because it relies on standardized testing, and not on other metrics, such as college readiness data. He argues that this disparity indicates that "we need to stop lumping blacks and Hispanics together - both in terms of how we measure progress and in terms of policy - as 'students of color.' The groups have different education needs." Whitmire continues to describe the different approaches that successful schools have had in improving the performance of black or Hispanic populations, noting that "lumping the two groups together only shifts attention away from differing strategies that can work for each group."