The Social and Economic Impact of The Achievement Gap

Duane Hill, Vice Chairman, Stamford Achieves

For many of us who have successfully raised families in Stamford, problems like teen pregnancy, illiteracy and dropping out of school may seem remote. It is easy for us in the business community to stay within our “comfort zone” and convince ourselves that these social problems are being addressed by our elected school board and that they won’t have any impact on our lives.

Yet recent studies should dispel any feelings of complacency. According to Education Week, 85% of white students graduated from high school in Connecticut last year. Yet only 61% of African Americans completed high school in 2006 and just 51% of Hispanics. The failure of our schools to educate all children – regardless of race or income – creates a social and economic burden which has an impact on all of us. Data are now available on the economic impact of dropping out of high school which serve as a proxy for the social and economic costs of an inadequate education.

On average, high school dropouts earn just 37 cents for every dollar earned by students who graduate. The nation’s current dropout rate translates into between $58-135 billion in lost income tax and Social Security revenues annually. Based on the current dropout rate in Stamford, our local economy loses millions of dollars in earnings potential every year. But that is by far the smallest measure of the economic impact of our failing schools.

Consider crime rates. It is estimated that a 10% increase in high school graduation rates would reduce auto thefts by 13% and assault arrests by 20%. That would have a material impact on reversing a dangerous trend in Connecticut, where we spent more on prisons last year ($611 million) than on higher education ($601 million).
Connecticut now has the second highest juvenile incarceration rate for Hispanic males and the third-highest for African American males. What a waste of human capital!

Perhaps the most sobering measure of the cost of dropping out of high school is in the relative rates of disease and mortality between the two populations. On average, high school graduates live over nine years longer than high school dropouts. You cannot put a price on that level of inequity.

So there is clearly an enormous financial burden, and incalculable human costs, associated with the achievement gap in Stamford. These costs are passed along to all of us in higher property and state income taxes. But those who suffer the most from the achievement gap are, of course, the poor and minority students whose hopes and dreams will never be realized.

As a father, a tax payer and a businessman, I feel it is a moral imperative to work on closing Stamford’s achievement gap – and eliminating this hidden tax. I hope others in the business community will join with us at Stamford Achieves on this important mission.

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“Tutoring Achieves” – A Success Story

Christine M. Casey, Ed.D., Interim Director, Stamford Achieves

What would you do if your child was struggling in math or reading in elementary school? You would hire a tutor, right? But what if you could not afford the fees that private tutors charge? Until very recently, there were very few options for the many students from moderate income families in Stamford who fall into that category.

This problem was brought to my attention this spring at a meeting with a senior member of the School Superintendent’s staff. She told me there were not enough approved providers of supplemental educational services to meet the needs of all of the eligible children reading below grade level in Stamford.

As a life-long educator, I know how critical it is for children to master reading at grade level. After all, a child cannot read to learn until she masters learning to read! So in May, Stamford Achieves began a tutoring program in reading for students from two pilot sites: Springdale and Davenport Elementary Schools. The program, which we call “Tutoring Achieves,” was offered at three community locations: CTE, Boys and Girls Club and Yerwood Center. Thirty three children identified by school staff in grades 1 –5 received one hour of intense tutoring three times a week. Certified teachers from Stamford Schools, and several retired teachers, used a research-based reading program (Benchmark) to work with small groups of up to three children. This small student/teacher ratio, combined with the skills of the teachers, produced important results. Many non-readers in this first cohort “turned the key” to reading during the brief four weeks by learning to decode words.

The program continued this summer with even more intensity. Seventy children were identified and received the same program for one hour a day, four days a week. Several non-readers from higher grades received tutoring two hours a day. As a result, we are sending many students back to Springdale and Davenport ready to “read to learn.” For the students attending during the summer, 62% went up one or more levels. For those students who attended both summer and spring sessions, the percent of students rising a level or more was 87%. (Tested using Benchmark Program) We will post a more comprehensive report on “Tutoring Achieves” on the Stamford Achieves website (www.stamfordachieves.org) in a few weeks.

In July, Stamford Achieves was officially accredited by the State Department of
Education as an approved Provider of Supplemental Educational Services. As an SES provider, Stamford Achieves will be paid with Title I funding to provide tutoring in reading and math for up to 200 students in the 2007/08 school year. But unlike other SES providers, who are limited to a budget of $1200 per student, the “Tutoring Achieves” program is committed to providing top quality remedial instruction until these students are able to reach grade level. After “graduation” from Tutoring Achieves, we will monitor their report cards to certain they maintain their gains.

These first 200 children represent only a small part of the population of students in Stamford who need – and qualify for – subsidized tutoring in math and reading. Over time, we hope to be able to create local capacity for providing tutoring in all three community centers, using volunteers and high school students to supplement our certified teachers. Eventually, these and other centers will expand out and operate their own Tutoring Achieves programs as they scale up to serve all elementary school children in Stamford who struggle with academics.

While that may seem like “Mission Impossible” – consider this: in 1999, a small group of business and educational leaders had a vision for a high tech high school in Stamford. It took seven years to make that vision a brick and mortar reality, but on September 4 the Academy of Information and Technology will be dedicating a $45 million building in Stamford.

It may take that long – or longer - for Stamford Achieves to reach our goal of serving every struggling student who needs remedial help. But we are embarked on that path and we are committed to staying the course.