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

ConclusionsChanges of the past quarter century, including increasing diversity,are remaking this society. Many of these changes havecontributed to growing economic and racial disparities. These societalchanges require educational leaders to restructure education. And thoughmany social and economic factors in society are outside the control ofschool boards, education remains the single, best hope to end society’sracial and economic disparities.Educational leaders must make the necessary changes in policies, structuresand practices to address these changes and the disparities that exist. Allschool boards must invest in a plan for closing the achievement gap. Thispolicy action guide can be the foundation on which school boards buildtheir plans for closing the gap.Progress is being made. On the 2002 ITBS, all ethnic groups made gains inreading. African American students made the greatest gains in both readingand mathematics. The most sizable gains were made by non-white studentsin mathematics.Progress also continues with respect to student access to rigorouscoursework. OSPI reports that the number of low-income and minoritystudents in Advanced Placement classes is also increasing. Washingtonrealized a 42 percent increase from the previous year in the number ofHispanic students taking AP classes while nationally the increase was only16 percent. For black students, the increase this past year was 24 percent inWashington and only 11 percent nationally. Over the past three years,Washington doubled the number of low-income students enrolled in APclasses from 655 to 1,308.The progress must continue. Closing the gap is a developmental processthat will require districts to make substantial changes in resource alloca-“Though the number ofcases is small, there areschools where no achievementgap exists, and thereare students who achieve athigh levels despite theincredible odds againstthem. These bright spots ofsuccess provide us with awindow through which wecan examine what might bepossible if we lived in asociety that truly valuedchildren and was genuinelycommitted to equity andhigh quality for all.”— Pedro Nogueraand Antwi AkomHarvard UniversityWASHINGTON STATE SCHOOL DIRECTORS’ ASSOCIATION45