Here is the contact page to the alleged “administrators” at Evanston Township High School. Tell ’em what’s on your mind. — Ed.
When he scans the faces in his honors science courses at Evanston Township High School, chemistry teacher William Farmer can easily see who’s missing: minority kids.
“Out of 26, you might have three nonwhite students,” he said.
One of the most racially mixed high schools in Illinois, Evanston has a mission of embracing diversity and promoting equity and excellence for all students. But its own data show that few minority students make it into the school’s most rigorous courses that will best prepare them for college and the future.
Honors classrooms dominated by white students have been common in Illinois and across the nation, a byproduct of a century-old and controversial tradition of tracking, or sorting, students into different levels of classes.
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In Washington, the federal government is pushing for states to increase academic standards to better prepare students for college and work, and the U.S. Department of Education has stepped up civil rights monitoring that gauges whether schools are providing minority students access to rigorous programs.