Analysis contends state achievement gap remains 
By Maria Garriga, New Haven Register, August 9, 2007

NEW HAVEN — The latest analysis of Connecticut's mastery test scores shows the education achievement gap between urban and suburban schools has not budged over the past two years.

The Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now, a nonprofit education advocacy and research agency, released its analysis last month which showed the average gap has stagnated between white and black students at 38.9 percent, and at 39.1 percent between white and Hispanic students.

Math scores for Hispanic eighth-graders were the second lowest in the United States, said Marc Porter Magee, the agency's research director.

While the racial achievement gap remained the same, the average gap between low-income and non-low income students declined 0.2 points from 38.9 to 38.7.

"This is not news. We are aware of it, and we are trying to focus on reading and language," said Tom Murphy, spokesman for the state Department of Education. Murphy said that Education Commissioner Mark K. McQuillan announced closing the achievement gap would be his top priority when he released Connecticut Mastery Test scores last week.

The coalition is pushing Connecticut to try to close the achievement gap, which is the largest in the nation, and urging expansion of education accountability laws.

"We have not made our best efforts," Magee said. "The biggest problem is that we have great schools, but we don't allow them to expand," he said, in reference to the state's restrictions on charter school growth. He also said it's time for Connecticut's non-performing schools to either improve or be shut down.

"One of the hardest things to do is shut down a school that is not performing," Magee added. The coalition has also been pushing hard for universal high-quality preschool for urban children.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress, often called the nation's report card, has shown for years that Connecticut has the largest achievement gap of all 50 states.

The coalition analysis showed slight improvements in some test areas were cancelled out by lower test scores in other areas.

The disparity between the percentage of white and black students within goal range in grades 3-8 increased from 33.3 to 34.6 points in writing, but declined from 40.5 to 40.1 in reading and from 42.8 to 42.1 in math.

The overall gap between white and Hispanic students increased in grades 3-8 from 35.2 to 35.9 points in writing, while declining from 42.1 to 41.7 points in reading and from 40.8 to 40.3 in math.

The gap between low-income and non-low income students increased overall from the third through eighth grades from 36.7 to 36.9 points in writing, while declining from 39.9 to 39.8 points in reading and from 40.6 to 40 points in math.

The analysis also found bright spots in math. The percentage of black fifth-graders that scored at or above state goals for math rose from 31.5 percent to 37.9 percent. Hispanic and low-income fifth-graders made the same gains in math.

"The bottom line is that we are not seeing the consistent gains in African American, Hispanic and low-income student scores needed to make sustained progress in closing this gap statewide," said Alex Johnston, the coalition's executive director, in a statement.

"We need to make closing this gap our state's highest priority by pursuing a comprehensive plan to raise the performance of Connecticut's public schools grounded in more choices for parents, greater freedom to innovate for educators, and increased accountability for results," Johnston said.