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George, At Tuesday's Charlottesville Democratic Party meeting, Bill Lucy made the claim, in comments against the elected school board referendum, that "Charlottesville has achieved better results in closing the achievement gap in math and English in its elementary schools than has Albemarle County." It appears to me that Bill is cherry-picking data from the Virginia Board of Education web site to try to claim that appointed boards are more successful than elected boards in closing the achievement gap. One could just as easily cherry-pick a different set of data to "prove" the opposite point. For example, focusing on middle school rather than elementary school, Albemarle has made more progress than Charlottesville in closing the achievement gap in English, History, and Math during the past three years. (In Albemarle, the gap decreased in each of these categories; in Charlottesville, by contrast, the gap actually increased.) If one looks at the data in aggregate, rather than cherry-picking, one discovers what experts on school boards have already told us: there is no correlation between the method of selection of school boards and school boards' ability to close the achievement gap. The matter is much, much more complex than Bill Lucy is trying to make it seem. Not to mention the fact that running a head-to-head comparison of Charlottesville and Albemarle schools is comparing apples to oranges (the demographics are very different). For the record, the aggregate black/white achievement gap in these two school systems was as follows as of the 2004-05 school year (unfortunately, aggregate data for earlier years is not available):
Also for the record, the aggregate passing rate of African-Americans in these two school systems was as follows as of the 2004-05 school year:
The above data show that the achievement gap is larger and the African-American passing rate is lower in Charlottesville than in Albemarle. This does not "prove" anything about appointed v. elected boards because, as I've already indicated, comparing these two school systems is comparing apples to oranges. But it does show that the city school board has its work cut out for it, whatever method of selection prevails. Incidentally, a top official at the Virginia School Board Association has told me that the research suggests that the only measurable difference between appointed and elected boards is that elected boards are perceived to be more responsive to their constituents. I would argue that this difference alone makes an elected board preferable to an appointed board, at least in a community of the size and (progressive) political complexion of our own. Perceptions matter, and a board that is perceived to be responsive is likely to enjoy greater leeway to enact its vision. While I'm at it, I would like to correct another misleading claim that has been brought up by some opponents of the referendum -- namely, that an African-American has never been elected to the Albemarle school board. The claim is false: In 1995, John E. Baker, an African-American resident of Albemarle, won an at-large seat on the school board with a margin of almost 1,700 votes. This is not to say that Albemarle can't do more to diversify its candidate pool going forward - certainly, it can. Be that as it may, an elected school board in Charlottesville is likely to be diverse because we have a much larger minority population and we are considerably more progressive than the county. (Note the following: African-American candidates were the top vote-getters in the city council elections of 1996, 2000, and 2004; we voted for John Kerry over George W. Bush by nearly a three-to-one margin; and the Charlottesville/Albemarle NAACP chapter endorsed the elected school board referendum unanimously this past Monday.) In closing, I would urge both proponents and opponents of the referendum to stick to the facts and not engage in cherry-picking or other dubious tactics in an effort to gain advantage on November 8th. Charlottesville deserves a serious and reasoned discussion of the pros and cons of appointed and elected school boards. Jeffrey Rossman
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