Infuriatingly so. It begs the question, "What are we going to do about it?"
It would be helpful if the Department of Education would present the data in a way that helps us understand the Achievement Gap:
- What is it?
- Where is it?
- What are the contributing factors?
- What can we, as a community, do to contribute to closing the Gap?
- Where are the pockets of success? (Schools with similar student demographics and higher test scores.)
It would also be helpful if the Department of Education could base its presentation on more than the MCA's and BST's. We have the ACT's, SAT's, NAEP's. Why not use them?
January 2007 - Improving Achievement & Closing Gaps (Power Point) - Cites a number of indicators (state and national, NAEP, PISA, MN MCA's) demonstrating Achievement Gap and provides recommendations to school board members, Education Trust presentation at Minnesota School Board's Association January 2007 state conference.
September 2006 - Latino Students in our Public Schools: A Closer Look, Center for Rural Policy and Development.
Summer 2006 - Outperforming School Districts in Minnesota, 2004-05 - Highlighting Minnesota’s 22 outperforming school districts may help shed light on effective strategies and “best practices” that can help lower-performing “peers” make needed improvements necessary to impact student achievement, Standard & Poor’s.
Summer 2006 - Narrowing the Achievement Gap: Schools in Minnesota that are Making Significant Progress, 2003-04 to 2004-05, Standard & Poor’s.
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