Latest Achievement gap in the United States Stories

To: STATE EDITORS Contact: Michael Race of the Pennsylvania Department of Education, +1-717-783-9802 7 in 10 students Now Meeting State Standards; Under-Funded Districts, High Schools Major Areas of Concern HARRISBURG, Pa.,Aug. 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Student achievement in Pennsylvania continues to rise, as students have again exceeded the ever-increasing targets for math and reading in the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, Education Secretary Gerald L. Zahorchak announced...

By Kristofer Noceda, The Daily Review, Hayward, Calif. Jul. 30--Just over two-thirds of California's high school students earned a diploma during the 2006-07 school year, according to graduation rates released Tuesday by the state Department of Education. The new information is the latest installment of the "most accurate" data from the state, which uses a formula that relies on the Statewide Student Identifiers, or SSIDs, tracking system put in place two years ago. Earlier...

By Anonymous Experts cite need to grapple with underlying issues of race and retention. A recent report by the Washington, D.C-based Education sector, an independent education policy think tank, brought to light a little-discussed dimension of race and retention analysis. Documenting that there are 62 U.S. colleges and universities where the six-year graduation rates for Black undergraduate students have recently outpaced those of their White peers, the report authored by Education sector...

By Ginny Hoyle, The Herald-Sun, Durham, N.C. Jul. 29--HILLSBOROUGH -- Orange County Schools could soon provide scattered "community learning centers" across the district to offer students additional academic help after regular school hours. Orange County Board of Education members expressed excitement during a special meeting Monday afternoon over two new initiatives presented by Superintendent Patrick Rhodes as part of the schools' and community's ongoing efforts to close the district's...

By WALTER WILLIAMS "Hard Times at Douglass High" is an HBO documentary that aired in June. It captured much of the 2004-2005 school year at Baltimore's predominantly black Frederick Douglass High School. The tragedy is that what is seen in the documentary is typical of most predominantly black urban schools. Douglass' students are four to five years below grade level. Most of its ninth-graders read at the third-, fourth- or fifth-grade levels. In 2006, only 24 percent of its students tested...

Hard Times at Douglass High, is an HBO documentary that aired last June. It captured much of the 2004-2005 school year at Baltimore's predominantly black Frederick Douglass High School. The tragedy is that what is seen in the documentary is typical of most predominantly black urban schools. Douglass' students are four to five years below grade level. Most of its ninth-graders read at the third-, fourth- or fifth-grade levels. In 2006, only 24 percent of its students tested proficient in...

By Walter Williams "Hard Times at Douglass High," is an HBO documentary that aired in June. It captured much of the 2004-05 school year at Baltimore's predominantly black Frederick Douglass High School. The tragedy is that what is seen in the documentary is typical of most predominantly black urban schools. Douglass' students are four to five years below grade level. Most of its ninth-graders read at the third-, fourth- or fifth-grade levels. In 2006, only 24 percent of its students tested...

Standardized test scores don't tell you everything about what sort of education is being offered by a school - or a school system. But they do offer a broad measurement of how many students are at least competent in basic subjects. And from that standpoint there was good news this week for the county schools in particular and state schools in general. The latest scores on the Maryland State Assessment - which has measured reading and math skills in third through eighth grades since 2003 -...

By WALT GARDNER IF TAXPAYERS were not already frustrated enough by the performance of public schools, their mood was probably not improved by the release in June of contrasting manifestoes by two prominent organizations dedicated to improving education. Whether the case made by the Economic Policy Institute or the one by the Education Equality Project prevails depends in large part on the willingness of voters to put aside their personal biases and confront the evidence. At issue is the...

By Gina Damron, Detroit Free Press Jul. 20--Bettering relationships between students and teachers, increasing parental involvement, improving nutrition and instilling in students a sense of accomplishment are just a few ways education can be improved for black students, according to educators attending a forum at Wayne State University Saturday. "Our children are genius," Dr. Carol Brunson Day, president and chief executive officer of the National Black Child Development Institute in...