Student Achievement Gaps – IRP Poverty Dispatch

Learning gaps slow to change, By Jason Wermers, December 14, 2010, Augusta Chronicle: “Student achievement gaps that run along lines of race and gender still persist, and educators’ efforts to narrow those differences have led to slow and uneven progress, according to a report being released today. That is true nationally as well as in Georgia and South Carolina, according to ‘State Test Score Trends through 2008-09, Part 2: Slow and Uneven Progress in Narrowing Gaps’ by the Center on Education Policy, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, D.C. ‘Achievement gap’ refers to the difference in test results among groups of students along racial, economic or other lines such as disabilities or English language skills…”
Racial academic achievement gap remains a problem, By Brian Bull, December 15, 2010, Superior Telegram: “A new report says academic achievement gaps among racial lines persist among U.S. students, despite some progress. And narrowing these gaps will take awhile. The non-profit Center on Education Policy analyzed standardized test scores from all 50 states, with data going back nearly a decade. And while the center’s president, Jack Jennings says overall student performance has improved, he says it’s not nearly fast enough to close the gap…”