Closing the Achievement Gap
Yesterday in the Faubion K-8 School Library, 40 prominent community leaders gathered to hear about the Black Parent Initiative's newly released report on the Black/White Achievement Gap in Multnomah County Schools. Media stories are here and here, and the report itself is available here.
For me it was great to be part of this event happening in the very same school room where I volunteer with the Chess for Success program. The tables normally occupied by little kids playing chess were instead full of prominent education and community leaders contemplating a problem much more complex and meaningful than the hardest chess problem.
Each of the speakers and audience members who spoke did a great job enunciating the costly toll the achievement gap takes on our community, and describing what they see as the best ways to fix it. Commissioner Cogen will be doing his part by serving on the Black Parent Initiative's achievement gap coalition, which will prepare specific recommendations by the end of this year.
Do you have any ideas for how we can close acheivement gaps in our schools?
Posted on February 26, 2009
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