In 2008, Teach For America placed 55 corps members in Duval County, Jacksonville’s largest and most diverse county. The Duval County Public Schools (DCPS), which serves approximately 130,000 students, is the 19th largest school district in the country.
Now more than ever is a critical time for corps members to have a profound impact on student achievement. Each of Florida’s 67 districts encompasses an entire county, which can lead to wide variance in the quality of schools, even within a single district. Duval County Public Schools includes some excellent schools, of which it is rightfully proud, and its average student achievement scores track closely with statewide averages. However, looking beyond these overall scores reveals a deep achievement gap that exists within the district. While 44 percent of all DCPS students qualify for free or reduced lunch, there are many schools where 70, 80, 90, even 100 percent of students meet this measure of low socio-economic status. In fact, nearly one-third of all DCPS elementary schools (where free and reduced-price lunch rates tend to be most accurate) have student populations that are more than 70 percent low-income. Under the Florida Department of Education’s school report card system, which assigns grades to schools after a complex analysis of their student achievement results, Duval County Public Schools had the second highest number of failing schools in the state, exceeded only by Dade County Public Schools (a far larger district), with approximately seven percent of schools in both districts deemed failing. Highlighting the wide disparities within the district, 57 schools in DCPS earned a grade of A, while one in five DCPS schools (21 percent) earned a grade of D or F.
The 2009-10 school year will be a pivotal time for students in Duval County schools. Leaders in and outside of education in Jacksonville have taken deliberate steps to reverse educational disparities that exist for students living in low-income communities. The region’s partnership with Teach For America is a critical part of this strategy, and corps members will join a reform effort that is already gaining momentum.
In addition to implementing initiatives to fight drop out rates and instate a community-wide reading program for pre-kindergartners, community leaders are creating new ways to close Jacksonville’s achievement gap. The superintendent has deliberately clustered the lowest performing and highest performing elementary and middle schools together, with one chief officer who oversees this group of schools and reports directly to him, in an explicit move to try and close the gap between these schools. The structure allows principals and school staffs to share best practices, collaborate, and observe first-hand on a consistent basis what their gap in performance looks like on a day-to-day basis.
| School Districts: |
|---|
| Duval County Public Schools |
| Ethnic Breakdown-Student Population-Duval County Public Schools |
|---|
| 43% African-American |
| 44% Caucasian |
| 6% Latino/Hispanic |
| 4% Asian-American |
| <1% Native American |
| 4% Other |
| Ethnic Breakdown-Jacksonville |
|---|
| 29% African-American |
| 62% Caucasian |
| 4% Latino/Hispanic |
| 3% Asian-American |
| < 1% Native American |
| 1% Other |
| Percentage of Students Qualifying for Free/Reduced-Price Lunch |
|---|
| 83% |
Placements |
|---|
| 65% elementary |
| 35% secondary |
| 100% teach at a school with another corps member or alumnus |
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