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You are here: Home Newsroom Education News Roundup Archive 2011 May 2011 Bolder, broader action: Strategies for closing the poverty gap

Bolder, broader action: Strategies for closing the poverty gap

  • 05-27-2011
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Blog by Paul Reville/Education Week

My post earlier this week framed the piece that Jeff Henig and I contributed to Ed Week's print edition and laid out the need for education reformers to review the evidence and admit that closing achievement gaps is not as simple as adopting a set of standards, accountability and instructional improvement strategies. While these strategies are necessary, the data on student achievement in Massachusetts, after nearly two decades of reform, makes it readily apparent that schooling solutions alone are not sufficient to achieve our aspiration of getting all students to proficiency. We have set the nation's highest standards, been tough on accountability and invested billions in building school capacity, yet we still see a very strong correlation between socioeconomic background and educational achievement and attainment. It is now clear that unless and until we make a more active effort to mitigate the impediments to learning that are commonly associated with poverty, we will still be faced with large numbers of children who are either unable to come to school or so distracted as not to be able to be attentive and supply effort when they get there. (more...)

 

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