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Stalled progress in schools seen as setback for Rhee
schools from A1
percentage points, from 70 to 51.4 per- cent. But year-to-year results show that progress has slowed markedly. After nar- rowing from 2007 to last year, the gap in secondary math proficiency widened by slightly less than 2 percentage points. Secondary reading scores show the same flattening trajectory. The District’s struggle to close aca-
demicdividesbasedonraceandethnicity is playingoutinschoolsystemsacrossthe country, where progress has also stagnat- ed. And experts caution against making sweeping judgments about the District’s prospects for continued improvement based on a year’s worth of data. In a statement Thursday, Rhee spokes-
womanJennifer Calloway said the school system used the three-year time frame because that is how long the Fenty ad- ministration’s reform effort has been un- derway. She also cautioned against form- ing broad judgments on the basis of a single year’s data. “Change does not happen overnight,”
Calloway said. “Any one single data point — or change in a single data point over one year — is not sufficient to make overall conclusions about progress on thisgoal.Toonly consideroneyearwould not accurately portray what has hap- pened during this administration.” The gap in secondary reading profi-
ciency closed by 15 points, from 67.2 to 52.2 percent, between 2007 and this year. But nearly all of that improvement oc- curred between 2007 and last year. This past school year, the gap closed by less than a percentage point. Proficiency gaps in the elementary
grades narrowed more modestly across the three-year span. The black-white gap in elementary math achievement closed by 2.5 percentage points between 2007 and this year. But from 2009 to this year, it grew by 4.3 percentage points. In elementary schools, the three-year stretch shows the divide in reading clos- ing by 1.7 points. But that includes a widening of 3.5 points in 2009-10. That meansthis year’s elementary readinggap is almost exactly where it was in 2007. The same widening trend is visible in
some of the gaps separating white and Hispanic students and Hispanics and blacks.The spread in reading proficiency between white and Hispanic secondary students grew this year by more than 9 percentage points after shrinking be- tween2007andlast year.Thesameis true
EZ RE
KLMNO
Achievement gaps in D.C. schools Below, the percentages of D.C. public school students in each group scoring at proficiency levels on the standardized tests in reading and math and the “achievement gap” year to year.
Black/white achievement gaps Elementary BLACK WHITE
Percentage of each group scoring at proficiency levels of standardized tests Reading
Gap: 51.9 46.6 46.7 50.2 100%
20 40 60 80
0 2007 2008 2009 2010
Hispanic/white achievement gaps Reading
Gap: 39.7 36.2 43.4 100%
20 40 60 80
0 2007 2008 2009 2010
Hispanic/black achievement gaps Reading
Gap: 12.2 10.4 %
20 40 60
0 2007 2008 2009 2010 2007 2008 2009 2010 SOURCE: D.C. Comprehensive Assessment System test scores
for the divide in reading proficiency between black and Hispanic elementary students. The District is far from alone in its
struggle to mount a sustained assault on the gaps. Montgomery County has had some success in the past decade, but gains on statewide tests since 2008 have beenmodest, narrowing the gap between white and black students only a percent- age point or two a year. After major progress in the 1970s and
’80s, the rate of narrowing has slowed nationwide, according to a recent report by the Policy Information Center of the Educational Testing Service. By fourth grade, African American and Latino stu- dents are still, on average, nearly three academic years behind their white peers, according to the Educational Equality Project, a national advocacy group founded in 2008 to help close the gap. The latest D.C. achievement data add to a body of mixed results for the District
DCgap.AAA PROOF 2
Topic: Local/in A sec
Run Date: 08. 27. 2010 Size: 513 points x 460 points Artist: Tobey
2007 2008 2009 2010 2007 2008 2009 2010 THE WASHINGTON POST
this year. Elementary students across all racial and ethnic groups lost ground in reading and math test scores on this year’sDCCAS,after proficiencyrates rose about 19 percentage points in math and 11 in reading between 2007 and 2009. Secondary scores continued to grow overall this year, adding to a three-year run of double-digit growth. Growth in fourth- and eighth-grade
math and reading scores on theNational Assessment of Educational Progress, ad- ministered by the federal government, surpassed that of students in other big cities. But the math achievement gap for black and white fourth-graders widened. Experts said it’s difficult to know why progress in closing the gaps slowed this year. Some say it could be a signal that students on the cusp of proficiency have beenhelpedover the thresholdwithextra attention. Those remaining have far more academic ground to cover. Michael Petrilli, a vice president at the
Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an educa- tion think tank, saidsomeanomaly in the tests, possibly triggered bychanges in the questions, could be a factor. But he agreed with Rhee that one flat year is not decisive. “If there was another year of this, I
would be concerned,” he said. Bruce Fuller, a professor of education
and public policy at the University of California at Berkeley, said that although goodschoolsandgoodteacherscanmake a difference in the lives of poor children, the persistence of the achievement gaps may also suggest that there is a limit to their reach. “Part of this hitting the wallmay be the troubling fact that wemay need to some- how attack family poverty before we see greater progress in closing achievement,” Fuller said.
turqueb@washpost.com
Staff writer Michael Birnbaum contributed to this report.
2.7
Elementary 6.2
2007 2008 2009 2010 HISPANIC
BLACK
Secondary 7.7
Math 8.3 11.4 1.3 14.7 13.6 12.2
Elementary 11.6
Secondary 9.6
17.1 18.3 8.9 2007 2008 2009 2010 2007 2008 2009 2010
Elementary 44
2007 2008 2009 2010 HISPANIC
WHITE
Secondary 59.5
Math 52.8 41.8 51 Elementary 39 36.5 34.8 39.6
Secondary 60.5
47 31.4 42.5 2007 2008 2009 2010 2007 2008 2009 2010
Secondary 67.2
61.1 53.2 52.2
Math 53.7
Elementary 50 46.9 51.2
Secondary 70.1
FRIDAY, AUGUST 27, 2010
U.S. proposes record fine for American Airlines
64.1 49.7 51.4 BY ASHLEY HALSEY III The federal government wants to fine
American Airlines a record $24.2 mil- lion for failing to adequately address a problem with wheel-well wiring that could cause fires in its fleet of 245 McDonnell DouglasMD-80 airplanes. The Federal Aviation Administration
proposed the fine Thursday, alleging that American failed to follow a 2006 directive to inspect thewiring to auxilia- ry hydraulic pumps for signs of wear that could send sparks flying next to fuel tanks in the wings. The FAA inspected several American
Airlines planes two years later and determined that the directive had not been obeyed. The airline said itwould fight the fine. “These events happened more than
two years ago, andwe believe this action is unwarranted,” American said in a statement. “American Airlines has al- ways maintained its aircraft to the highest standards, and we continue to do so. We assure our customers there was never a safety of flight issue sur- rounding these circumstances.” The FAA detailed the problems its
inspectors found in a 58-page letter Thursday addressed to American Presi- dent Thomas W. Horton. It lists screws, clamps, washers, grommets, locknuts and “nutclips” that should have been installed under the 2006 directive. American has more than 900 aircraft
in its fleet. It has begun phasing out the fuel-thirsty MD-80, which debuted in the 1960s as the DC-9 before evolving into the current model in the 1970s. American has retired 55 of the planes, which carry up to 170 passengers on short andmiddle-distance flights. To date, the largest fine proposed by
the FAA was $10.2 million against Southwest Airlines in 2008 for failing to inspect older planes for cracks. South- west fought the fine but settled the matter by paying $7.5million. The decision to hit American with a
proposed fine more than double that faced by Southwestwas endorsed byU.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “We put rules and regulations in place
to keep the flying public safe,” LaHood said. “We expect operators to perform inspections and conduct regular and required maintenance in order to pre- vent safety issues.”
halseya@washpost.com
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