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July 18, 2005

Suburban schools aim at achievement gaps

Michael Petrilli, writing in the New York Times, offers a powerful tale of culture change in suburban schools, which can no longer get away with ignoring poor academic achievement among minority students:

"Look at Montgomery County in Maryland, just outside Washington. It has a rapidly growing population of low-income, minority and immigrant students. Diversity is increasingly the norm. Unfortunately, so is a yawning achievement gap, as was made transparent in the first year under No Child Left Behind, when one in five elementary schools in Montgomery County failed to make 'adequate yearly progress.'

"So the district intensified programs in which extra money was given to schools with at-risk students; struggling children were given additional help; good teachers were lured to the areas where they were needed most. The result? This year reading scores were up 7.8 percentage points for African-American fourth-graders and 10.7 percentage points for Hispanics."

The entire piece is worth a read.

Posted July 18, 2005 3:15 PM