Public schools have been in the spotlight nationally and here in San Diego recently, from President Obama’s “Race to the Top” reform agenda to controversy surrounding our local school board’s budget priorities and commitment to student achievement.

   Locally, the numbers are especially disturbing. Despite a 25 percent increase in spending between 2003 and 2009, less than half of the elementary and middle school students in San Diego public schools are performing at grade level in English or math.

   But as bleak as the big picture looks, the outlook for Latino students in the San Diego Unified School District – the largest single ethnic group in local schools – is much worse.  The long-recognized academic achievement gap between white and Latino students shows no signs of disappearing.

   In 2010, nearly one-third of San Diego Latino students did not pass the California High School Exit Exam in English, and one-fourth did not pass the Exit Exam in math. The Exit Exams require just 10th grade competence in English and 8th grade competence in Math.

   Less than one-third of San Diego’s 12th grade Latino graduates successfully complete the required courses to enter the UC or CSU systems. 

   And these numbers reflect only the fate of those who graduate.  Between 2001 and 2009, the number of Latino students who dropped out of San Diego public schools before graduating increased by over 100 percent — nearly two-and-a-half times the drop-out rate for white or African-American students.

   This achievement gap is concrete evidence of the lost opportunities for future success experienced by Latino students.  This achievement gap robs our students of the chance to break the chains of poverty and under-employment that afflict our community.

   Some argue that these statistics are skewed because of the high percentage of Latino students who are economically disadvantaged and English-language learners.  Eight out of 10 Latino students in San Diego come from disadvantaged homes, and 51 percent of San Diego’s Latino students are defined as English-language learners.

   But these are problems common to most urban school districts, and San Diego Unified has known for many years the correlation between English-language proficiency and academic success. Despite this awareness and modest gains over the past 10 years, today 58 percent of Latino students in San Diego do not perform at grade level in English.

   And as other, more successful urban school districts have demonstrated, the most reliable predictor of student success is not economic status or language skills; it’s the quality of the school they attend.

   In 2009, 42 percent of all Latino students in San Diego elementary school were clustered in the worst-performing schools in the District.  That number grows to 53 percent for Latino students at the secondary level – and this is a pattern that has persisted for decades.

   In 1967, a class-action lawsuit challenged the treatment of students in San Diego’s low-performing inner city schools. In 1977, the court found 23 schools that were racially isolated and ordered the School District to integrate them.  But 32 years later, 16 of the original 23 schools are still under-performing – and more than 7,700 Latino students attend these schools.

   Education experts have long understood the connection between experienced teachers and student performance. But teachers in San Diego’s worst performing schools have significantly fewer years of experience than their counterparts in the School District’s best-performing schools.

   In 2009-10, San Diego’s worst-performing schools (API 1-3) had 209 first- and second-year teachers, compared to just 96 in the best-performing schools (API 8-10).

   The San Diego Unified School District’s policies are directly responsible for limiting the opportunities for success among San Diego’s Latino students.  It’s past time for our community to demand more from the School District and its leaders.