Schools get specific on race

Education: New guidelines will add nationalities, tribal affiliations

VENICE BUHAIN; Staff writer | • Published March 16, 2010

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OLYMPIA - South Sound schools will soon see their diversity at a new level, as schools throughout the state reclassify families by ethnicity as part of new state guidelines.

The six ethnic and racial groupings for which the state has collected information – white, black, Asian, Pacific Islander, Hispanic or American Indian – will be expanded to nearly 60.

The possibilities include all the federally recognized American Indian tribes in Washington, more than a dozen different Asian nationalities, and eight different Hispanic nationalities.

According to officials at the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, federal guidelines soon will require all students to be categorized by race. Students whose families do not answer the form must be categorized by the district, according to OSPI officials.

Families can choose all of the ethnic backgrounds that apply to their children, so multiracial and multi- ethnic families can choose more than one, said Chris Barron, spokesman at the OSPI.

The change was recommended by the state’s ethnic commissions to identify strategies to close the achievement gap.

In 2008, the Legislature commissioned reports on the achievement gap for students who are black or of Hispanic, Asian or American Indian descent. The commissions reported that within the racial and ethnic categories, there was cultural and social diversity not being reflected consistently in the state data.

“We wanted a disaggregation in who our student population was, so we could get a clearer picture,” said Frieda Takamura, a former teacher and a member of the Washington State Commission of Asian Pacific American Affairs.

Takamura said that the group that researched Asian American and Pacific Islander children showed that some of the subgroups of students don’t fit the stereotype of the high-scoring Asian Americans. The report also showed that some subgroups of Asians have higher instances of English Language Learners and families in poverty than Asian American families as a whole.

“It is the hidden achievement gap,” Takamura said.

Michael Pavel, a professor in the College of Education at Washington State University and who participated in the study of American Indian school achievement, said he hopes the move establishes “meaningful relationships” between tribal families and their schools and teachers.

“It’s all of our responsibilities to know and understand the needs of our children. You can’t understand the needs of our children if you don’t recognize their identity,” Pavel said. “And to our children, you’re not just American Indian, you’re Quileute, you’re Makah.”

South Sound families will soon receive the data collection forms from their school districts.

Tumwater families will receive the forms before school conferences next week, said spokeswoman Sue Haskin. North Thurston families will see the forms during next week’s school conferences, said spokeswoman Courtney Schrieve.

Olympia is collecting the data through its online communications with families, said spokesman Peter Rex.

Local district officials say they hope that families will understand the reasons behind the new rules and fill out the forms.

“We have to do this and we appreciate their cooperation, because if they don’t, then we have to choose one,” Schrieve said. “We don’t want to have to do that.”

Venice Buhain: 360-754-5445

vbuhain@theolympian.com

www.theolympian.com/edblog

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