Inequalities and the Schooling of Minority Students in Texas: Historical and Contemporary Conditions

Abstract

In the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills case, the State argued that the differences in current schooling conditions and outcomes experienced by Whites and African American/Mexican American students are not due to historical discrimination, and such history is irrelevant to the litigation in GI Forum et al. vs. Texas Education Agency et al.By contrast, this article asserts that the contemporary widespread school failure of many African American and Mexican American students in Texas public schools is strongly connected to long-standing systemic public school inequalities and the subsequent limited opportunities to learn. This article lays down a framework for understanding the link between historical and contemporary discrimination. As an example of this past-present association, the issue of school segregation is discussed. Furthermore, data on the issue of substandard teachers and how this inequality shortchanges minority students is presented. The article’s major conclusion is that the State’s ahistorical position is both faulty and indefensible.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

American Federation of Teachers . (2000). Building a profession: Strengthening teacher preparation and induction. Report of the K-16 Teacher Education Task Force. Washington, DC: Author.

Brooks, A. P. (1999a, April 11). Teacher credentials, TAAS scores linked. Austin American-Statesman, pp. A1-A1, A12-13.

Brooks, A. P. (1999b, May 9). A question of school equity: Certified teacher shortage worse in Austin’s low-income areas. Austin American-Statesman, pp. A1-A1, A14-15.

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 at 494 (1954).

Espinosa, R. , & Ochoa, A. (1986). Concentration of California Hispanic students in schools with low achievement: A research note. American Journal of Education, 95, 77-95.

Fassold, M. (2000). Disparate impact analyses of TAAS scores and school quality. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 22, 460-480.

Finn, C. E., Jr. , Kanstoroom, M. , & Petrilli, M. J. (1999). The quest for better teachers: Grading the states. Washington, DC: Thomas B. Fordham Foundation.

GI Forum et al. v. Texas Education Agency et al., 87 F. Supp.2d 667 (W. D. Tex. 2000).

Haney, W. M. (2000). The myth of the Texas miracle in education. The Education Policy Analysis Archives [Online serial]. Available: http://epaa.asu.edu

10.

Jaeger, C. (1987). Minority and low income high schools: Evidence of educational inequality in metro Los Angeles (Report No. 8). Chicago: Metropolitan Opportunity Project, University of Chicago.

11.

Orfield, G. (1988). School desegregation in the 1980s. Equity and Choice, 4, 25-28.

12.

Rangel, S. C. , & Alcala, C. M. (1972). Project report: De jure segregation of Chicanos in Texas schools. Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, 7, 307-391.

13.

Reynolds, A. (1933). The education of Spanish-speaking children in five southwestern states (Bulletin No. 11). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

14.

San Miguel, G., Jr. (1987). “Let them all take heed”: Mexican Americans and their campaign for educational equality in Texas, 1910-1981. Austin: University of Texas Press.

15.

San Miguel, G., Jr. , & Valencia, R.R. (1998). From the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo to Hopwood: The educational plight and struggle of Mexican Americans in the Southwest. Harvard Educational Review, 68, 353-412.

16.

Saucedo, L. M. (2000). The legal issues surrounding the TAAS case. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 22, 411-422.

17.

State Board for Educator Certification . (1998). Who is teaching in Texas public schools? Austin, TX: Author.

18.

Texas Education Agency . (2000). Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS, 1998-1999). Austin, TX: Author.

19.

Triesman, P. U. (1999a). [Texas teacher certification analyses]. Unpublished raw (tabular) data. Charles A. Dana Center for Educational Innovation. University of Texas at Austin.

20.

Triesman, P. U. (1999b, February). Expert report (preliminary). Submitted to defendants’ counsel, Geoffrey Amsel. GI Forum et al. v. Texas Education Agency et al., 87 F. Supp.2d 667 (W. D. Tex. 2000).

21.

U.S. Commission on Civil Rights . (1971). Mexican American education study, Report 1: Ethnic isolation of Mexican Americans in the public schools of the Southwest. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

22.

Valencia, R. R. (1984). Understanding school closures: Discriminatory impact on Chicano and Black students (Policy Monograph Series, No. 1). Stanford, CA: Stanford Center for Chicano Research, Stanford University.

23.

Valencia, R. R. (Ed.). (1997). The evolution of deficit thinking: Educational thought and practice. The Stanford Series on Education and Public Policy. London: Falmer.

24.

Valencia, R. R. (1998, November). Expert report. Submitted to plaintiffs’ counsel, Albert H. Kauffman. GI Forum et al. v. Texas Education Agency et al., 87 F. Supp.2d 667 (W. D. Tex. 2000).

25.

Valencia, R. R. (2000, July). Legislated school reform via high-stakes testing: The case of pending anti-social promotion legislation in Texas and its likely adverse impact on racial/ethnic minority students. Commissioned paper for the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Educational Excellence and Testing Equity. Paper presented at the workshop on School Completion in Standards-Based Reform: Facts and Strategies, Washington, DC.