Frank Cordova, director of the Utah Coalition of La Raza, says a discussion of Utah's achievement gap encouraged by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. is a positive step.
"Talking about it, at the level we are, has got to be of some significance," said Cordova, a member of the governor's working group on student achievement.
Cordova and other members of the working group on Monday discussed their five recommendations that will be forwarded to the governor, along with public comment.
The meeting at Horizonte Instruction and Training Center, 1234 S. Main, was one of six planned statewide. Those in attendance were encouraged to comment on the plan, available online at www.utah.gov, and to take their ideas directly to lawmakers and school boards.
"This is the beginning, I think, of a very long journey," said Tim Bridgewater, co-chairman of the working group. "We're not as far ahead as many states are. . . . We have some ground to make up."
Some in the audience expressed concerns about race and ethnicity being glossed over as risk factors in a list that also includes factors such as disability or low income.
"We identified it as bigger than an ethnic issue," said working group member Rep. Kory Holdaway, R-Taylorsville. "It isn't necessarily an ethnic issue so much as it is recognizing different sub-groups."
Cordova, along with some in attendance at the meeting, said Utah needs to accept that racism is a factor before real progress can be made.
"We do not want to discuss racism . . . it's an ugly word," Cordova said. "We have to be able to say racism is alive and we must get rid of it."
Gerald Kimball Langton, chief executive officer of Centro de la Familia, expressed a concern that "in Utah it seems like we want to delude ourselves" and not treat race and ethnicity as issues in the achievement gap.
Others questioned the transparency of the process, whether the five priorities identified were the best for Utah students, and stressed the need for accountability.
"The problem is the Legislature gives (school districts) money. . . . There's no accountability," said Robert Gallegos, president of RAZ-PAC.
Kathleen Johnson said the suggested all-day kindergarten is too exclusive since students at all grade levels need help. She suggested an intervention model to help students catch up.
"General education teachers are struggling with what to do with at-risk youth who are not at grade level," she said.
The five recommendations are:
Establish a permanent governor's commission on raising student achievement.
Provide funding and programs to develop and implement a database management system. This includes training teachers and administrators to use new student identifiers to be online in January, and making information transparent.
Comprehensive accountability re-alignment to make accountability real, meaningful and effective.
Provide adequate program funding in strategic areas such as recruiting minority teachers and teacher development training to raise achievement in students with three or more risk factors.
Research and adequately fund districts to provide programs for the most at-risk youth, including universal access to optional all-day kindergarten and incentive programs to raise student achievement.
Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. will review the recommendations and the public comment before making a decision, which he will take to lawmakers. The working group is also scheduled to give a status report to members of the Education Interim Committee on Wednesday.
E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com