Improving Hispanic Achievement: Implications for State Policy PDF - On October 19, 2010 President Obama signed an Executive Order creating a presidential advisory commission on Hispanic education. Many ECS constituents are deeply committed to improving educational outcomes for Hispanics. This ECS Alert contains a sampling of ECS policy tracking, analysis and research syntheses aimed at helping state policymakers work towards this important goal....

Achievement Gaps: How do state standards, assessments, curriculum influence acheivement? - Access related research titles from the ECS Research Studies Database. Links embedded in titles will take you to each study's major findings and recommendations....

Advancing Equity: Removing Roadblocks to Achieving High Academic Standards - This issue of Educational Testing Service's Policy Notes provides highlights from the second "Saturdays at ETS" series on the challenges facing standards-based education reform. The conference was co-convened by the Council for Opportunity in Education, the Education Law Center and the National Urban League. (Educational Testing Service, July 2012) ...

Closing the Achievement Gap for Economically Disadvantaged Students? - Three key questions are addressed in this analysis: (1) Has student achievement on math and language arts state-administered assessments improved significantly since NCLB, particularly for students from economically disadvantaged families? (2) Has the achievement gap for economically disadvantaged students closed since NCLB implementation? (3) Are state trends in student achievement on state assessments confirmed by achievement trends on NAEP assessments? (CCSSO, April 2011)...

State Test Score Trends through 2008-09, Part 2: Slow and Uneven Progress in Narrowing Gaps - After eight years of implementing the No Child Left Behind Act and other school reforms, how much progress have states, school districts and schools made in lifting achievement for students from all backgrounds and closing achievement gaps? The authors of this study felt four main conclusions emerged from this study: (1) Achievement gaps are large and persistent; (2) every major student group has made gains in math and reading tests but gaps have not always narrowed; (3) gaps on student tests have often narrowed since 2002. Gap trends vary based on student group and indicator of achievement examined; (4) at the current rates of progress it would take many years to close most gaps. (Center on Education Policy, December 2010) ...

Not Prepared for Class: High Poverty Schools Continue to Have Fewer In-Field Teachers - Nearly a decade after federal law was enacted to ensure that low-income students and students of color had a fair shot at being assigned to strong teachers, students in high-poverty schools are still disproportionately taught by out-of-field and rookie teachers. Abundant research has concluded that among schoolhouse variables, teacher quality has the single most significant impact on student academic gains. (Sarah Almy and Christina Theokas, The Education Trust, November 2010)...

The Black-White Achievement Gap: When Progress Stopped - This report traces the Black-White educational achievement and attainment gaps back to the early 20th century and presents a variety of data in an effort to understand why the gaps stopped closing over the last several decades. Barton and Coley conclude that we have spun a wide and sticky web of conditions that are holding back progress in closing the achievement gap. Getting over just one strand of that web will not allow an escape from it. It will be necessary to move forward with all deliberate thought, care and speed. (Paul Barton and Richard Coley, Educational Testing Service, August 2010)...

A Call to Action to Raise Achievement for African American Students - The first part of this brief summarizes key results for African Americans on the state tests used for accountability under the No Child Left Behind Act. The second part of the brief considers policies that could be undertaken at the local, state and federal level to raise achievement for African American students. The authors arrived at these policy implications after reviewing studies by other researchers about possible factors underlying the black-white achievement gap and possible strategies to address the gap. (Center on Education Policy, June 2010)...

Gauging the Gaps: A Deeper Look at Student Achievement - Using state-level NAEP data, this brief illustrates the pitfalls in one-dimensional appraisals of achievement gaps. Analyzing the gaps from four perspectives is essential to gain a comprehensive, accurate picture of equity. (Anna Rowan, Daria Hall and Kati Haycock, The Education Trust, January 2010)...

Lost Opportunity: A 50 State Report on the Opportunity to Learn in America--National Summary Report - Analysis of state-collected education data reveals that 84% of states fail to provide students access to a moderately proficient public education system. The study analyzed student performance data reported by state departments of education to determine both the quality of and access to instruction provided across the United States. The results clearly show minority and low-income students have only half the opportunity to learn in our public schools as their White non-Latino peers. (Schott Foundation for Public Education, May 2009)...

Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America's Schools - Many discussions have been held on the causes of the achievement gap and on what the nation should do to address it. We know there are four distinct achievement gaps: (1) Between the U.S. and other countries; (2) between white, black and Latino students; (3) between students in different income levels; and (4) between similar students schooled in different systems or regions. This report shines the spotlight on the economic impact of the achievement gap. The authors point out that the persistence of these educational achievement gaps imposes on the country the economic equivalent of a permanent national recession. (McKinsey and Company, April 2009)...

Getting it Done: Raising Achievement and Closing Gaps in Whole School Systems: Recent Advances in Research and Practice - 2008 conference report. (Harvard University, 2009)...