Closing the Achievement Gap - Washington State School Directors ...

All Students Can Learn:Evidence That the Gap CanBe ClosedResearch has shown that schools, including those with highpercentages of children from poverty, those with high racialminority enrollments, and those with high percentages of English languagelearners are successfully closing the achievement gap. In 2002, the EducationTrust (www.edtrust.org) based in Washington, D.C. released the resultsof a comprehensive study of school-level test scores in 47 states and theDistrict of Columbia from the year 2000. The report identified schools ineach state with math and/or reading achievement levels in the top one-thirdof all schools that also ranked in the top one-third of the state for povertylevels and/or African American and Latino enrollments. The study identified:3,592 high-performing, high-poverty schools2,305 high-performing, high-minority schools1,320 high-performing, high-poverty and high-minority schoolsNearly 50 percent of the schools identified above scored in the top onethirdin their states in both math and reading or language arts.In Washington, schools have made significant gains in the achievement oftheir students as measured by the Washington Assessment of StudentLearning. In 2000, the Partnership for Learning sponsored a University ofWashington study that looked at schools that had been performing wellbelow state averages. Based on a comparison of their past and currentperformance, a number of schools with high percentages of students eligiblefor free or reduced-price lunch made significant gains on the WASL readingand math tests. A total of 33 elementary schools and 32 middle schoolswere included in the study and had, despite their demographics, madesignificant gains to surpass state averages.Dispelling the MythRevisited, the report issuedby The Education Trust,“provides persuasiveevidence that poor andminority children canachieve at high levels whenthey are taught at highlevels.”— Kati Haycock, DirectorThe Education TrustWASHINGTON STATE SCHOOL DIRECTORS’ ASSOCIATION13