Two years ago the Partners for K-12 School Reform was convened to address the achievement gap between low-income - and predominantly minority - students and their more affluent counterparts. The Partners for K-12 School Reform, which we co-chair, is a countywide collaboration comprised of superintendents, union leaders, school board members and the County Office of Education, as well as civic and business leaders.

Last month, the Partners for K-12 School Reform released a report by San Diego Dialogue outlining some of the possible causes of the achievement disparity. We looked for the underlying reason that the schools with the highest percentage of impoverished children were also the ones with the lowest achievement scores. What the research showed was an alarming concentration of beginning teachers at these schools. Students in high-poverty schools are two-and-one-half times more likely to have a new teacher than students who attend schools in more affluent neighborhoods. A school with a 75 percent or more Latino student enrollment is twice as likely to have new teachers than a school with 25 percent or fewer Latino students.

In fact, teachers new to the profession accounted for more than one-third of the faculty for two of the last three years at 32 high-poverty San Diego County schools. The consistency of this phenomenon during a three-year period bolsters the anecdotal evidence that suggests teachers flee high-poverty schools as soon as the opportunity arises.

The implications of this cannot be overestimated. It means that the money devoted to professional development of new teachers at less affluent schools actually benefits the more affluent schools where the teachers eventually go. It has become clear that our challenge as a community is to find ways to make the teaching experience at high-poverty schools as professionally fulfilling and as effective as that at the schools in more affluent neighborhoods. If we can do that, we will significantly close the achievement gap, enhance the quality of our future workforce and assure a bright future for us all.

We invited groups of new teachers and groups of principals to discuss their thoughts on this problem. We heard that students from low socio-economic backgrounds have health and stress-related problems that make it more difficult for them to learn and for their teachers to teach. What we found were teachers who are overwhelmed by the fact they must take over functions beyond teaching, in order to help children get along from day to day. We heard over and over that what would encourage teachers to stay at these schools is the kind of supports that allow them to be teachers and not social workers.

Specifically, what these schools need is more health care, counseling and parental involvement. We were told that community support would make a big difference toward improving the learning atmosphere for these kids. We listened and came upon the idea of family health and learning centers.

If we could create such centers at our neediest schools (as has happened in some low-income schools in Los Angeles), it would go a long way toward improving the educational experience for so many of our children. This is something that we, the Partners for K-12 School Reform, can do but only if we have the help and support of the community. It's a big challenge and one that will cost millions of dollars that won't come from the school districts. We will need the ideas and resources of organizations, government, churches and schools. This summer we will convene discussions with these groups to help develop a work plan. In the Fall we will hold a community forum to discuss the planning work and to begin implementation.

It's clear that there are many things that need to be addressed in this country's and in this county's educational system. There is no silver bullet that can fix everything. Several kinds of improvements need to happen simultaneously. Many of them must be done by the teachers and administrators themselves. Already, there are schools where teachers are working hard to close the achievement gap. But the schools can't do it alone. They need and deserve our help. If we, as a community, don't own this problem we are robbing our children and our region of a prosperous future. We owe it to our children and ourselves.