West High School, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Has been rated number one in academics for the past five years for the whole state of Utah. And it has always been the most diverse in my any ways. Over 40% are english second language learners with the school district having over 100 languages spoken, about 50% is low income, and more then 60% is not Caucasian. However, there is an opportunity or as some people call it, an achievement gap. The enrollment in AP and honor classes is completely disproportionate to what the diversity of the school stands as. Over 75% of the students in the AP and Honor classes are Caucasian. The Salt Lake School District has placed four risk factors to success, such as achieving graduation or going to college. The risk factors are as followed: if you are not Asian or Caucasian, If English is your second language, if you are low income, and if you are in special education. This view is very negative and it blames factors that sometimes cannot be controlled by the student. like race. We should not blame such factors to student or parents, but to see that the real problem is in fact the lack of opportunities to such students with such factors. Rather then seeing a student having English as a second language a risk, it should be seen as opportunity to having bilingual student that are more competitive in the world. There is a reason West High is number one in academics and it is because diversity creates many opportunities for the teachers and students "to become life long leaners and contributing citizens" now and later, as stated in the schools mission statement.
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