What a pity that District 200 superintendent candidates cannot answer the Oak Park “achievement gap” question with the answer that most educators know in their heart: Namely, that any achievement gap in a district-whether it be between white students, black and white students, white and Asian students (as where I teach), or any other two groups of students-can primarily be explained by what happens at home, where, after all, most real learning is done.
In fact, the candidates could merely quote the former founder of APPLE [African American Parents for Purposeful Leadership in Education], a black acquaintance of mine who has told me, on several occasions, that in Oak Park “85% of the problem is at home, and 15% of the problem is at the high school.”
Of course, any candidate who uttered such a statement (especially at a public forum!) would be immediately disqualified, though such refreshing candor would probably constitute the best reason to hire that candidate as superintendent.
Mark L. Kolodziej
Oak Park
