Editorial: Racial boxes don’t tell the Will C. Wood story

When math scores for black students at Will C. Wood Middle School fell below standards set under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, Principal Jim Wong persuaded parents of four students there to change the racial designation of their mixed-race kids.

Two students who had been classified as black were reclassified as white. Two others were reclassified as American Indian. That change reduced the number of black kids below the threshold necessary to make the category statistically significant and Will C. Wood magically met its federal targets, at least for this year.

Obviously the system was gamed. But it's a game lots of schools play, and it isn't necessarily wrong. A Bee analysis found that 80 schools across the state changed racial designations for students in ways that allowed the schools to meet federal standards.

And why not? Race is an artificial social construct, not a science. When a child is half black and half white or half Asian or part Indian or part Latino – what exactly is she? The forms provided by the federal government don't say. Parents or students are required to check one box. Schools periodically update and correct data about race and ethnicity.

It's easy to overlook the most important fact: Will C. Wood under Principal Wong has made great strides. Scores at the school have improved dramatically for all kids, including African Americans. In a letter to The Bee published Sunday, Wong noted specifically that the percentage of African Americans at the school who had tested proficient in language arts has tripled since 2004 and doubled for those testing proficient in math.

The federal No Child Left Behind Act has rightfully forced schools to pay attention to specific groups of kids who have fallen below grade level in reading and math. But the racial categories specified by the law don't capture the complexity of a diverse society. For instance, Chinese and Japanese American students do quite well in general, while immigrant Hmong and Mien students, in general, struggle. On top of that, there is the complex reality of mixed-raced kids.

Any principal whose performance is judged based on questionable racial categories feels stuck, and understandably so. If a different race box is checked – one that may be more accurate but serves to boost scores – they are accused of gaming the system.

The situation at Will C. Wood highlights a conundrum posed by No Child Left Behind. While the performance of racial, ethnic and socio-economic categories of students can reveal much about how well a school is meeting its needs, those categories by themselves reveal little. A struggling student is a struggling student, whether he or she is white, or black, or Latino, or Asian.

Will C. Wood won't get more federal money just because one subset of its students failed to make the grade in math. What will happen is that school administrators will be more restricted in how they spend the federal funds they already receive.

Will C. Wood draws students from some of the toughest neighborhoods in Sacramento. It has exceeded the state's expectations for academic growth for five consecutive years. For that, its principal and teachers deserve praise and resources to help those who are still falling behind.