A close-up study, conducted for The Long Island Index by Columbia University’s Teachers College, examined one wealthy, almost all-white district; one poor, minority district; and three districts with greater diversity. What the researchers found was vast inequity in education systems: in terms of teachers, academic programs, student support, and more.

 

The achievement data came from the “gold-standard” National Assessment of Educational Progress. Scores on fourth- and eighth-grade math tests, sharply contradicting the rosy results on recent state tests, showed minimal improvement overall, and no narrowing whatsoever in the achievement gap between white and minority children. Today, black eighth-graders are approximately three years behind whites.

 

The article “Hard Truths About Our School” was published on November 6th, 2009 in the “The Roslyn News” opinion section. http://www.antonnews.com/roslynnews/opinion/3879-what-every-long-islander-should-know.html