This article is one of a series of articles produced by Word in Black through support provided by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Word In Black is a collaborative of 10 Black-owned media outlets across the country.
By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
Persistent gaps between Black and white students in educational outcomes — such as school suspensions, special education assignments, admission to AP or gifted classes, and grade-level retention — continue to shape the lives of children across the United States. But what explains these disparities, and who bears responsibility for addressing them?
This debate is longstanding and divides perspectives. Some argue that “everything begins in the home,” emphasizing parents’ roles as children’s first teachers. Indeed, families shape students’ early development, values, and academic foundations. However, research shows that once children enter the K-12 system, they learn up to 80% about life and society from experiences outside of home.
Others argue that schools and the state are responsible for these disparities because the education system itself structures opportunities, experiences, and outcomes for students.
Ted Howard, Chief of Accountability for Seattle Public Schools, believes the issue is not about choosing sides. Rather, it is about understanding that these perspectives are two sides of the same coin, and the community must advocate accordingly.
“So, we have to look at it as a public entity,” Howard said. “Public schools were set up to primarily educate our students. The paramount duty of that is the state. How we, in turn, personalize what we would like to see in the education system is up to us. So, we as parents, as students, we as a community, the school district, the school board represents what we desire. If we don’t hold them accountable, then they’re allowed to go wherever they want to go.”
Howard says that it is imperative that community voices guide the education system for change to occur.
“In an ideal system, it would be us holding them accountable, us talking and saying this is what we want to see in kindergarten or 1st grade or 2nd grade. This is how long we want our day to be, us coming to the community meeting, sharing that vision,” he said.
In addition, Howard says that meaningful change requires both system leaders and communities to listen, collaborate, and implement shared visions for education.
“The board understanding that vision and then implements that with the superintendent and his or her employees. That’s what’s supposed to happen,” said Howard. “If we don’t hold the board accountable and put forth our voice, and our feet for change, then change never occurs.”
Researchers analyzing these disparities often use regression analysis, which estimates the relationship between a dependent variable—such as suspension rates—and independent variables like race, income, and school demographics. This helps identify whether racial differences in outcomes can be explained by in-school or out-of-school factors.
Out-of-school variables include eligibility for free lunch, household income, and neighborhood environment. In-school variables include school demographics, safety, teacher’s characteristics such as race and experience, and structural supports.
For example, a student’s home environment influences academic performance, but so do school factors such as teacher expectations, curriculum access, and institutional bias. Research often finds that racial differences in socio-economic status account for some disparities, but not all.
One under-discussed disparity is disenfranchisement: students’ disconnection from education altogether. Data from the City of Seattle reveals stark racial differences in this area.
“Large racial and ethnic disparities exist in rates of youth disconnection from school and work. In Seattle, the rate of disconnection among Black youth is three times as high as the rate is for White youth. The rate among Hispanic/Latino youth is twice that of Whites. Data for our region also indicates that Native American, Pacific Islander, and Southeast Asian youth have disproportionately high rates of disconnection from school,” SPS researchers found.
Analyses often interpret data to suggest that Black students are suspended more frequently or are less likely to enroll in advanced courses due to steeper out-of-school challenges—not because of decisions made within schools. This interpretation brings the debate back to accountability: does responsibility rest with families or the education system?
Advocates who argue the system bears primary responsibility say schools and the state structure these disparities. Focusing solely on out-of-school factors, they argue, allows institutions to evade accountability for inequitable practices and policies that harm students of color.
“Historically, the structural racism that is inherent and the legacy of the expulsion of students is clearly there. Everything is clearly there around special education and placement of students, emotionally, disproportionate labeling students, school-to-prison pipeline, all that’s there. The inherent biases of our teachers, our educators about what it’s supposed to look like when you’re being educated. Yes, all that’s there,” Howard said.
He added that dismantling these structures requires intentional anti-racist practices and community-led accountability.
“I would say in 2025, the call to action is to have equity-centered data analysis, and for us to require anti-racist training for all teachers, anybody who’s working with our kids and making decisions, and develop a community review board for discipline to look at the segregated data and IEPs and other things of that nature that we are actually implementing to hold us accountable,” he added.
Educational outcomes such as being labeled gifted, suspended, or assigned to special education are classifications that can shape a student’s entire academic trajectory. Schools create these categories, and educators decide how students are sorted into them. For this reason, categorical inequalities remain distinctly within the purview—and responsibility—of education systems.
The debate over who is accountable for disparities reveals the complexity of systemic inequities. Families shape children’s early years, but schools determine structures, support, and opportunities for students’ academic success. Both must work together to dismantle barriers rooted in race, gender, and economic status.
Howard’s call to action is clear: real change requires community advocacy, equity-centered policies, and structural accountability to ensure every student can thrive. Schools were created to educate all children, he reminds us, but it is up to the community to ensure they do so justly.
“If we don’t hold them accountable,” Howard said, “then change never occurs.”
