Columbus Schools Get $1.25M To Close Achievement Gaps

COLUMBUS, Ohio—The Columbus City School District is one of only three districts in the nation to land a $1.25 million grant from the National Education Association Foundation.  The NEA is the union representing more than 3.2 million teachers in more than 14,000 districts, including Columbus. 

The money will be used over the next five years to provide more professional-development opportunities for teachers in two of the district’s most-challenged “feeder patterns.“  It will include the elementary and middle schools that feed into Linden-McKinley and Briggs High Schools.  It is part of the NEAF’s initiative to close achievement gaps.

“If minority students are not performing on a particular test as well as white students, then there is a gap,“ explains Rhonda Johnson, the president of the Columbus Education Association, the local branch of the NEA.

In their grant request, the Columbus City Schools told the NEAF that there is an “exceptionally high need” for help in 13 schools, even compared to the rest of the district.  Those 13 schools are part of the Linden and Briggs feeder system.

There is a 5 percent gap in graduation rates between white and non-white students.  The reading achievement gap is 12 percent and the math performance gap is 17 percent.  Plus, there is a 22 percent gap in passage on Advanced Placement exams.  Fifty-eight percent of the enrollment in AP classes is non-white even though 72 percent of the student population is non-white.

“This is not a program,“ says Dr. Gene Harris, Columbus City Schools Superintendent.  “This is about providing funds so that teachers can work together, so that teachers can do home visits, so teachers and principals can work together to design new ways to really close these gaps.“

The CEA’s Rhonda Johnson says there are some very talented teachers in the district’s classrooms now, but, “If we can improve the quality of the teacher in the classroom, then we are going to improve student achievement.“

Guya Henderson is a parent at Linden Elementary.  She is the president of the Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) and works as a Parent Consultant. And she’s worried about her son, Rieco.  He’s facing
challenges in reading, math and science as he moves from the fifth grade to the sixth grade.

“I want him to be able to go to sixth grade and not have to struggle,“ she says.  Guya hopes the NEAF money will make Rieco’s teachers even better able to help him succeed.

“We have wonderful teachers here,“ she says. “But if they had more education on what they need to do to help our children succeed, and if this money will help, then that’s another reason I’m for it.“

Both CEA President Johnson and Superintendent Harris say the NEAF grant will help promote collaboration between teachers and administrators.

“It’s going to give those teachers a chance to work together,“ Johnson says, “bringing some time, paying for substitutes if substitutes are needed and paying them for professional development outside the school day.“

“Columbus rose to the top because of its robust, flexible and collaborative leadership structure that builds on a long history of union and district collaboration, and that aligns perfectly with our theory of change,“ said NEAF President and CEO Harriet Sanford in a news release announcing the award.  Sanford was unable to attend the Columbus announcement in person because of travel delays after this weekend’s east-coast snow storm.

“This is the just the shot in the arm that we need to help move our students forward in the 21st century,“ noted Columbus School Board President Carol Perkins.

A team from the district, the community and the United Way of Central Ohio helped write the proposal that won the grant for Columbus.  The NEAF says the district’s progress will be measured by “an independent, third party evaluator.“

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