More Students Pass Regents, But.........

(http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/18/education/18school.html?scp=26&sq=achievement%20gap&st=cse)
In this article called More Students Passing Regents, but Achievement Gap Persists , statistics show that more students are receiving there regents diploma’s but still the achievement gap remains’ at large. State education commissioner, Richard P. Mills said "More students are achieving higher standards each year; the number of graduates is staying constant, even with higher standards." "There are too many students who arrive at high school not prepared to do high school work, too many students who arrive at high school reading, writing and doing math at the elementary level. We have to correct the problem in the earlier grades." With elementary and middle schools continuing to do there class after school programs, students should seem to do better and receive more help to hurdle over this gap.

Are regents affecting our students? Giving them too much to handle? What about the S.A.T

The Achievement Gap is Growing

The "The Achievement Gap is Growing" article is about the impact of The No Child Left Behind Act (http://www.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml) and how has it helped and why.The article describes how the No Child Left Behind passed into law in 2001 only happened because of its emphasis on the racial achievement gap, the gaping differences between white/Asian students and black/Hispanic students. But the article writes that a recent report from the American Council on Education finds a worse pattern in higher ed even after the law passed in 2001.

This article also shows some statistics in specific races-showing us the achievement in Asian women and the slow climb for whites but especially the slow and small increase in S.A.T scores for minorities.

Why does everything have to take so long, we'll die of global warming before anyone can close the achievement gap problem.

Possible Solutions to Closing the Achievement Gap

After reading the article A way to close the achievement gap between white and minority students in California, in California, people may have found results on how to close this achievement gap we have in the United States: with the right amount of political will and community support. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell blamed race, not poverty, for this issue and wants the people to do something about it. The latest standardized test results for California schools showed that all groups, in all income levels, are struggling to make progress. These results also show that low-income students of all colors are still doing worse than their more efficient peers. But the performance of African American and Latino students from all economic backgrounds shows the need that has to be done to get these students to learn more and overcome the achievement gap “Clearly, there are cultural factors at work - including a distrust of the educational system - that are holding these students back.” said Jack O’Connell.

“But the main question is: “Would the state have the political will to tackle the solutions that emerge?” These solutions have been used because schools that have been successful with African American, Latino and low-income students have already shown that these students perform at a high level when they're offered frequent results back to them, a dedicated principal who reaches out to parents and student, and engaged teachers who have high expectations for their students.

With time and commitment, the ending of the achievement gap can end soon if more people come to realize it and want to make a difference…do you???

(http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/08/21/EDGSRKTPQ.DTL)

Ask Questions

The other day I was discussing with one of my classmates my blog-Our nations Greatest Injustice- to my biggest surprise They knew nothing of what I was talking about:

The achievement gap guys! The fucking achievement gap!!!

I was completely awed, like, we're on the bad side and to think we should know but we don't. If we don't know what the achievement gap is, whose going to fight for us?
If we don't know, who knows?

Well I ended explaining to them the concept of the achievement gap and now they know and now their fighting harder.