To quote Tom Brokaw: “There is a place in America to take a stand: It is public education. It is the underpinning of our cultural and political system. It is the great common ground. Public education after all is the engine that moves us as a society toward a common destiny. … It is in public education that the American dream begins to take shape.”
Yet, for a huge and growing segment of our youth, that dream is a cruel mirage. The average black or Hispanic high school student achieves at about the same level as the average white student in the lowest quartileof white achievement, according to the Education Commission of the States. That gap originates before students ever reach the public schools. When children entering elementary school are tested on cognitive skills, those from high income households (who are predominantly white) score 60% higher on average than those from the lowest income households.
From its inception, FCE has worked at every level to close that gap. Working with a variety of partners, we helped spread a proven, language-rich curriculum to thousands of preschoolers, launched an SAT preparation course in South Dallas high schools, instigated the first AP (advanced placement) courses in South Dallas high schools, helped fund the creation of a chess program for elementary and middle school students, and donated computers to the families of more than 1,500 South Dallas students.
The longer FCE has grappled with the challenge, the more obvious it became that piecemeal solutions—however well intentioned—will not suffice. Comprehensive, systemic change is the only viable answer. That is how FCE came to launch both Dallas Achieves and Partners for Children.