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Achievement gap grows wider in county schools

FCAT results show no significant narrowing of the scores between white and minority students.

By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK
Published June 9, 2005

State and local educators promised last year to redouble their efforts to narrow the achievement gap. Hillsborough officials even called for the gap's elimination.

But test results released Wednesday showed little improvement in the academic chasm separating Florida's white and minority students. In some instances, the gap grew even wider.

While Gov. Jeb Bush bragged that "good news continues" at the state level, the reading gap between white and black students in Florida narrowed by just 1 percentage point. Thirty-five percent of the state's black students are reading at grade level or above, according to this year's FCAT, compared with 64 percent of white students.

The math gap closed by just 2 percentage points.

The numbers were even worse in some local school districts.

Rather than eliminate the gap between black and white performance, Hillsborough saw it widen. Perhaps punctuating the point, two new schools established because of school choice - each with close to 90 percent low-income African-American students - earned F's on the state's grading system.

Pasco, Citrus and Hernando counties saw similar declines. Citrus and Hernando also saw the gap grow between white and Hispanic student achievement.

"We have a job ahead," said Pat Spencer, who represents the Hillsborough NAACP on the school district's choice advisory committee. "I know the district is doing something, but what is happening that is wrong, I don't know how to take off on that."

The gap in Pinellas County schools closed slightly. But it, too, remained large. Only 30 percent of black students scored at or above grade level in math, for instance, compared with 69 percent of white students.

"It's still unacceptable," said Vyrle Davis, of Concerned Organizations for Quality Education for Black Students. "Although it's moved a point, it's not enough. ... By no stretch of the imagination would we approve that."

Hillsborough school officials made no excuses for the district's performance.

"This tells us the kinds of things we're talking about in our committees need to be implemented more urgently than ever," chief academic officer Donnie Evans said.

Training begins this month, he said, for each school staff to identify strategies to eliminate the gap.

Disappointed Hillsborough School Board member Doretha Edgecomb, a retired principal, said the district must do its share. But "we all need to take greater responsibility to help our kids be successful," she said, listing community, parents and students themselves as keys to positive results.

Districts define the gap by looking at testing data broken down into student subgroups, as required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. This information also gets used to determine whether a school makes adequate yearly progress as defined by the state.

If a school misses the mark in even one category, it does not attain the federal standard.

After two years in that status, children in a school can choose to attend a different school. After three years, the school must provide tutoring to its students. After four years, the school must implement "corrective action." After five years, the school faces massive restructuring.

Only high poverty Title I schools are affected.

This year, four area schools - Gulfport Elementary in Pinellas, and Shaw, Robles and Oak Park elementary schools in Hillsborough - face fourth-year sanctions.

Their fates remain unclear.

"The new sanction that kicks in under corrective action could be one of several actions. The district could transfer staff or institute new curriculum," said Charlie Eubanks, Pinellas director of special projects. "Only the superintendent can say what will happen specifically to Gulfport."

Hillsborough federal programs director Walt Bartlett said the impact sounds more ominous than it might be, because the state already requires so much improvement planning to be done each year.

He had more concerns about the coming years, when larger waves of schools will roll toward possible restructuring.

Statewide, 785 Title I schools (as defined in 2003) did not meet federal standards. That includes 66 in Hillsborough, 26 in Pinellas, 11 in Pasco and three in Hernando.

--Times staff writers Steve Hegarty, Donna Winchester and Matt Waite contributed to this report. Jeffrey S. Solochek can be reached at 813 269-5304 or solochek@sptimes.com

[Last modified June 9, 2005, 01:15:21]