In Lauren Resnick’s LPC colloquium series talk earlier this year, she noted that the achievement gap has been shrinking somewhat nationally, with overall rises across sub-groups happening since testing and accountability measures were instituted as part of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in 2002. Resnick particularly noted that average achievement for all groups - including Whites, Hispanics, and Blacks - has steadily risen since 2000 and is now above basic cut scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for fourth-grade mathematics, which indicates that national education reform is headed in the right direction.
However, Resnick also noted that we have some way to go to achieve equity in schools, and she points out that the achievement gap has been slower to narrow in reading. Furthermore, as The Education Trust has stated in some of their publications - and as Kati Haycock will likely note - progress in accelerating achievement and narrowing the achievement gap is highly variable in state-by-state comparisons. Additionally, data from many urban districts, including reports based on data from Chicago Public Schools - headed (until now) by new Education Secretary Arne Duncan, reflects no significant narrowing of the achievement gap. According to The Education Trust, gaps have stayed the same or even widened in many states and school districts by the time students reach high school.
The unevenness in achievement progress among states is highlighted in Education Week's 2006 Quality Counts at 10 report of standards-based education over the last decade, which notes the high variation in student achievement gains and achievement gap patterns across states for fourth-grade reading from 1992-2005. In the words of one Education Trust report, "These wide differences in NAEP scores - from district to district and state to state - indicate clearly that what schools and school systems do matters. The excuses about the effects of racism and poverty simply don't hold up against data like this. In the face of this data, we must look inside the schools and school systems - at instructional policy and practice - not outside of them, in order to explain the achievement gap." This stance that schools matter is one that is echoed by many education policy experts and is also mentioned in a recent report from the National Bureau of Economics Research.
In her presentation on January 15th, Haycock will detail what the Trust has learned from schools and districts that have been most effective in raising achievement and closing gaps. If you happened to miss her presentation you can access the video recording through the Learning Policy Center colloquium page. And please share your own thoughts on the achievement gap or Haycock's talk by commenting below.
