5(3) ways to close the achievement gap

Even though this blog post actually only has 3 ways to close the achievement gap, it is still an interesting discussion, based on two of the people involved, Valeria Silva and Bernadeia Johnson, the superintendents of St. Paul Public Schools and Minneapolis Public Schools respectively.

"Silva: I’d require more time and more days per student in academic programs. That’s not the same thing as saying we need a longer school year. That isn’t necessary for every student. But for kids who are struggling, summer school and community education programs should be a must, not an option."

Having taught summer school, I question whether our current model can truly close the achievement gap, but I agree wholeheartedly with her assessment, we cannot close the achievement gap without increasing contact days and hours with teachers. As a staunch union member, I understand the difficulties with increasing the number of days teachers work, but when you compare us to other countries, we lag behind in contact hours and days.

5 Ways to Close the Achievement Gap

"I was wrong" - The Minnesota Achievement Gap

Well, I've said this before myself, and it turns out I was wrong as well.

from an article at minnpost...

"The statistical argument we'd hide behind was that our kids of color weren't doing so much worse than kids of color in other states, but rather the gap was mostly a function of our white kids doing so much better than white kids in other states.

I was wrong. That argument is simply not true, according to the latest evidence."

Minnesota's stubborn and scary reading achievement gap

Interactive Map of Poverty Rates in USA

From mint.com

There's a lot of these maps around the internet. Here's one from Mint. It looks at the poverty rate in every US County. Interesting, although as educators can attest, you can live in a "weathy" county, and teach students who live in poverty.

http://www.mint.com/blog/trends/poverty-10182010/

Black Boys lagging in Public Schools

Here's a report, although lacking a link to the original research, that supports other research that shows black boys are significantly lagging behind in test scores. Interesting reading. What kind of school system do we have in this country if 12 percent of 4th grade black boys are proficient in reading? 12 percent? Really?

black boys lagging badly in school