Black and White Test Score Comparison

African Americans currently score lower than European Americans on vocabulary, reading, and mathematics test, as well as on tests that claim to measure scholastic aptitude and intelligence. This gap appears before kindergarten, and it persists into adulthood. It has narrowed since 1970, but the typical American black still score below 75 percent of American whites on most standardized tests. On some tests the typical American black scores below more than 85 percent of whites. The black white tests score gap does not appear to be an inevitable fa

On the hand, Test scores continue to climb in urban school districts, some of which are making greater gains on math and reading assessments than their state averages, a report concludes. The annual city-by-city analysis, conducted by the Council of the Great City Schools and released here last month, found that some districts also are narrowing the achievement gap between white students and their African-American and Hispanic peers on state tests.

In addition to helping teachers make the most efficient use of their limited time, some schools have also found ways to buy more time for teachers or to allow teachers to use their time more flexibly. Some schools use Title I resources strategically to help buy time for teachers; other schools have adopted "flexible scheduling" as a feature of teacher contracts that allow teachers more time to interact with parents outside of the traditional school day. The schools reviewed for this study have used the following strategies for freeing up teachers to work with parents: Atenville Elementary, a school wide program in the Lincoln County Public Schools, Harts, West Virginia, gives teachers release time to conduct home visits with classes covered by the principal or another teacher. The school uses Title I funds to support a part-time parent coordinator to organize the "telephone tree" program, which helps maintain home-school communications. The coordinator also organizes parent volunteers to help make home visits. Parent volunteers staff lunch and recreational periods to give teachers a daily in-school planning period that can be used to meet with parents. From 1991-1992 to 1995-1996, the number of parent volunteer hours rose from 2,000 to 7,000. Ferguson Elementary, a school wide program in the School District of Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), uses Title I funds to provide compensation for teachers who conduct parent workshops in the evening and on weekends. Title I funds also support the parent involvement coordinator and school-community coordinator. These coordinators operate the Parent Network that helps teachers communicate information to students and parents about upcoming events. The 1995-1996 fall open house drew 350 parents, compared with 30 parents in the fall of 1989. In addition, about 50 parents volunteer as classroom aides each week. The Wendell Phillips Visual and Performing Arts Magnet School in the Kansas City Public Schools, Kansas City, Missouri, and uses its school wide programs to employ a full-time parent-community liaison. The liaison keeps teachers informed about family needs and helps teachers spread information on school-related issues to all parents. For example, last year the parent-community liaison led an orientation for parents on state and district school policies; more than 150 parents attended. The liaison helps organize all school-family events, allowing teachers and principals to spend more time meeting with parents to discuss student learning and less time making logistical and administrative arrangements to organize events.

Michael D. Casserly, the executive director of the Washington-based advocacy group for urban school systems, characterized the findings of the report, "Beating the Odds II," as encouraging, pointing to significant improvements in mathematics since last year's analysis. The council studied the test scores of 57 urban districts in 35 states, examining gains in scores from the first year their state assessments were administered to 2001. Gains were made in about 87 percent of all grades tested in math and 76 percent of all grades tested in reading in those districts, the analysis found. Roughly 44 percent of all grades tested in the urban districts increased their reading scores faster than the average in their states, while 43 percent did so in math.

In conclusion, urban schools are stereotyped as a result of bias test. It is clear that urban schools are not taught the same material as rural and schools located in the

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