Jacqueline Irvine, professor of urban education at Emory University, spoke about the white-black achievement gap in education yesterday at the second annual Dr. Walter Ridley Distinguished Lecturer Series.
Chief Diversity Officer William Harvey introduced Irvine, expressing his enthusiasm about her visit during Black History Month.
Irvine, a graduate of Howard University, said she thinks the two most important issues to address are school segregation and the gap in test scores.
She said 48 percent of schoolchildren today are from a diverse background, but noted that "growing diversity does not entail growing integration."
Irvine attributed a lack of integration in public schools to the enrollment of white children in private schools.
"Private school enrollment by white students today is comparable to white private school enrollment in 1968," Irvine said.
The achievement gap that exists between black and white students affects every student at the University, Irvine said, because these students are the future.
The disparity in test scores cannot be explained solely by a socioeconomic dynamic between whites and blacks. For example, a comparison between specific social groups, such as white and black middle-class students, still reveals the same gap.
The solution to this problem, according to Irvine, lies in teachers.
"The quality of a teacher is the single most important factor in closing the gap," Irvine said, noting that teachers must realize students gain much of their knowledge from their communities and must be able to make teaching content applicable to everyday life, she said.
Making a difference one student at a time, however, is not the best strategy, according to Irvine.
Irvine said government involvement in urban education is crucial because the entanglement of social and racial issues cannot be handled by school systems alone.
"We cannot close the achievement gap if we can't close the income, employment, nutrition and childcare gaps," Irvine said. "We are interested in the transformation of structural institutions of inequality."
The achievement gap between black and white students affects every student at the University, Irvine said, because these students are the future.
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