Ethnic Studies Course

Guest: Emily Penner, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow in the Stanford School of Education and Center for Education Policy Analysis  Achievement gaps in US education are well-documented and worrisome:  black and Hispanic students are twice as likely as their white peers to drop out of high school. In math alone, black and Hispanic eighth graders are about two to three years behind their white peers.  Stanford researchers working with the San Francisco Unified School District wanted to help these students, but they didn’t bring in math tutors. Instead, they made a ninth grade ethnic studies class mandatory for all students with GPA lower than 2.0. The results were a measurable academic success.