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AEP Online |
Urban Districts Not Benefiting from NCLBAlmost four years after the No Child Left Behind Act took effect, urban school districts have shown little benefit from the law, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Over the last two years, most fourth- and eighth-graders in 11 city school districts examined in the Trial Urban Districts Assessment (TUDA) made very modest progress in reading and math, and the majority continue to perform well below the national average. Students from Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, District of Columbia, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, and San Diego participated in TUDA - a special project that began assessing performance at the district level in selected large urban districts in 2002. According to the Urban District Assessment Reading 2005, average scores for fourth graders in each of the 11 participating districts were lower than the score for the nation, except in Charlotte, where the average was higher, and in Austin, where the average score was not significantly different. For eighth graders, the average score for each district was lower than the score for the nation, except in Austin and Charlotte, where average scores were not significantly different. The Urban District Assessment Math 2005 showed that average scores for fourth- and eighth-graders in nine of the 11 districts were lower than the national average. Austin and Charlotte were the only two urban districts with math scores above the national average. The achievement gap between white and minority students has stayed the same and may even be widening under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), according to the assessments. Among fourth graders, 12 percent of white students in large urban school district scored below basic levels in math. Forty-five percent of black students and 36 percent of Hispanic students in those districts did so. Twenty-six percent of white fourth graders in large urban districts scored below basic in reading, while around 60 percent of black and Hispanic students in such districts scored below basic. Questions, ideas, or in need of more information? Please contact Stacey Pusey at 856-241-7772. |
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