Conference looks at economic dimensions of education disparities

While Madison may rack up outside plaudits for its livability, those who live here are focused on the challenges posed by racial disparities throughout the community, especially in education.

Aiming to initiate a conversation about solutions, the Consortium for the Educational Development of Economically Disadvantaged Students (CEDEDS) has organized a conference entitled Opportunities Beyond Obstacles on Oct.7 and Oct.8, 2014 at the UW-Madison Pyle Center.

CEDEDS hopes the conference will help define an agenda that will address the challenges faced by economically disadvantaged children and allow those students to find success in Madison schools, said Floyd Rose, the president of CEDEDS.

“The educational achievement gap is more of a result of economic disparity, rather than racial one as Annie E. Casey Foundation has emphasized,” Rose said. “It incorporates poor black children, poor brown children, poor white children, all poor children.”

Currently in Madison Metropolitan School District more than half the enrolled students, receive free or reduced price lunch program. 

“In order to attain educational success, kids require basic amenities: food and housing, which many of them do not have. Last year there were 1,200 children of Madison Public School System who were homeless,” Rose said.

If there was stability in home situations, Rose believes many other problems would have been resolved without difficulty.

The conference Opportunities Beyond Obstacles organized by CEDEDS would be a vehicle addressing the causes that has afflicted not only black children’s but any poor children’s educational performance.

“This conference is an initiation of a process, not an event,” Rose said.

Rose hopes this will lead policymakers to look beyond actions to root causes of problems the make it difficult for students to achieve. He sees Opportunities Beyond Obstacles as the “first draft of a long process” that would be dealing with these problems and their causations.

This conference will feature some city leaders like Madison Metropolitan School District Superintendent Jennifer Cheatham, Madison Mayor Paul Soglin, Mayor, former Police Chief Noble Wray, United Way of Dane County Executive Director Leslie Ann Howard, Madison Teachers, Inc. Executive Director John Matthews and Dane County Executive Joe Parisi.  

CEDEDS also publish a biannual journal entitled Nurture that focuses on the education of economically disadvantaged students.