As we enter the third generation of racially integrated schools in our community, some individuals have declared it is time to admit to the futility of ever closing the racial learning gaps in our schools. Nonetheless, citizens representing every area of this community refuse to say “been there, done that” or feel in any way that we are all on a fool’s errand. Let me share some reasons that inform our more hopeful outlook.
The conclusion that we have done all that is possible was not part of the district’s intense 2003 study, “The Learning Community Performance Gap” (LCPG). The LCPG report expressed deep concern that the achievement gap was becoming a fixed belief, an expected outcome that could not be changed. It also documented troubling unexplained inconsistencies in school grading of students and student performance on standardized college admission tests. Most importantly, the study rejected the kind of fatalism some have adopted today.
The school and community team who conducted the research did not throw up their arms in defeat and resignation. Nor did they believe that the high school played no role in aggravating the gap, that it was simply the result of a set of circumstances surrounding students who enter a school with a long established tradition of excellence, as former supt. Attila Weninger’s report to the school community suggested in 2007.
The LCPG team made many recommendations in 2003, some of which are underway and yet to be proven effective or ineffective. Others still wait to be examined. For example, there has yet to be an in-depth, independent analysis of the widespread perceptions of significant inequities in the curriculum organization of the school — a major recommendation of the group, reflected in the findings of Denise Rose in her important doctoral research in 2007.
In support of the continued pursuit of our best social ideals, I believe it is time to consider establishing a broad coalition of groups and individuals. Fortunately, we have precedents to learn from and build on that we should not forget.
Almost 50 years ago in 1963 citizens of Oak Park and River Forest established the Oak Park and River Forest Committee on Human Rights to challenge the then-common belief that whites and blacks could never live side by side in the same neighborhoods, share the same schools and participate as equals in the institutions that sustain community vitality.
I believe it is long overdue to have a similar popular commitment around realizing our greatest ideals for public education. Such a coalition, BRIDGE (Building and Renewing Institutions Dedicated to Good Education) in support of fuller diversity, inclusion and the success of all students, existed for a short time from 1994-1995. Members of APPLE, the Oak Park Area Lesbian and Gay Association (OPALGA), Oak Park and River Forest Students for Peace and Justice, the NAACP, and leaders from the disbanded Oak Park Community Action Organization came to together in this common effort.
Two key principles must guide us today in renewing such work. First, this engagement must have a presence in both Oak Park and River Forest — an essential ingredient that BRIDGE lacked. Secondly, it must proceed committed to inclusion and equality as values central to the unity of our diverse families and student community. These principles should be guided by equality of access and democratic voices united across differences in ability, racial identity, class membership, gender identification and sexual orientation.
This vision of bringing diverse people together around a shared vision was, I believe, a vital positive legacy of BRIDGE that must not be lost. In moving forward in this way, we also put in place the kind of ongoing community-wide inquiry and advocacy that leading experts around the nation say is essential for guiding, supporting and challenging the administrative and elected officials of public education.
John Duffy is an Oak Park resident, retired teacher and researcher who has been involved in school equity and racial justice work in Oak Park, Maywood, Hinsdale and Chicago for 40 years.