N.J. schools narrowing achievement gap for minority, low-income students, study says
Posted Thursday, October 01, 2009 from The Star-Ledger
N.J. schools narrowing achievement gap for minority, low-income students, study says
By Kristen Alloway/The Star-Ledger
October 01, 2009, 7:01PM
Right, Lucille Davy, New Jersey Commissioner of Education in an April 28 2009 file photo.WASHINGTON-- New Jersey schools are narrowing the achievement gap for minority and low-income students on statewide standardized reading and math tests, reflecting a nationwide trend, according to a study released today.
But there is still room for improvement, noted the report from the Center on Education Policy, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, D.C.
"To close achievement gaps in both reading and math is something to be proud of," Jack Jennings, president and CEO of CEP, said of New Jersey’s results. "It doesn’t say that’s the end of the story. The gaps are still large."
The report does not provide state-by-state comparisons, because each state offers its own set of standardized tests, Jennings said.
The "achievement gap" is a phrase used by educators to describe disparities in performance between all students and specific racial-ethnic groups, and between more affluent and low-income students. Schools around the country have worked to address it for the last decade, but the gap persists.
Some of New Jersey’s strongest gains were found in fourth-grade math tests, Jennings said. There, proficiency for African-American students grew from 39 percent to 68 percent between 2002 and 2008, according to the report. For Latino students, proficiency scores rose from 53percent to 76 percent. Some 92 percent of white students scored proficient on the math test in 2008, an increase of 12 percentage points during that time.
New Jersey breaks down its standardized test scores in three categories: partially proficient, proficient and advanced proficient.
State Education Commissioner Lucille Davy said the increased scores reflect things such as higher expectations set for high school students in math — which drives improvement in the lower grades, since kids must prepare for high school — and preschool expansion.
"Our approach to improving teaching and learning is working and the investment in our schools is paying off," Davy said.
The results in reading also showed improvement, but at a more moderate rate.
According to the report, fourth grade reading proficiency forAfrican-American students grew from 61 percent to 67 percent between2002 and 2008. The percentage of Latino fourth graders reaching proficiency rose from 67 percent to 73 percent during that time. Among white students, the proficiency scores increased two points to 89percent.
"The results in New Jersey are very encouraging in math but less soin reading," Jennings said. He noted that reading scores are moving inthe right direction, however.
Davy said improvement in math is greater in part because math scores started out lower.
David Sciarra, executive director of the Newark-based Education Law Center, which advocates on behalf of New Jersey’s poorest school districts, said the results show investments in those districts paidoff.
The state’s 31 poorest districts were formerly known as AbbottDistricts and received special extra funding. That designation ended,however, when the state Supreme Court this spring upheld a new school funding formula that spreads money more evenly to needy children across all school districts.
Along with Abbott funding, Sciarra said those districts also had a specific "framework" of programs required to help students, which he said is now "pushed aside."
"These scores are showing results under a framework which now has been dismantled," he said.
Davy took issue with that, however, saying the state still has"clear and straightforward" regulations setting expectations for school districts, and giving them options how to do it.
"The court would never have adopted our formula if we had walked away from doing what’s right in Abbott districts," she said.
She also said the test score gains reflect more than Abbott schools.
"More than half of African-American kids live outside the Abbottboundaries, and almost half of kids who are low income live outside of Abbott boundaries," she said.
The report, called "State Test Score Trends Through 2007-08, is available is at www.cep-dc.org.
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