Wider racial achievement gap in Washington D.C. schools

The average scores of white D.C. fourth-graders over the past two years grew from 262 to 270 (on a scale of 500), but their African American peers' rose just three points, from 209 to 212. The achievement gap actually grew between 2007 and 2009, from 53 to 58 points. African American progress in the eighth grade remained essentially flat, dipping a statistically insignificant one point, from 245 to 244. Average white scores were not included in the test results because the sample size wasn't large enough. The picture across a six-year stretch isn't more encouraging. The gap separating white and black fourth-graders in 2003, when the first National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in the District was given, was 60 scale points (262 to 202). Although the scores achieved by children in both groups have increased during this period, the difference has barely narrowed to 58. Some education advocates in the District expressed concern recently that the gains celebrated by Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) were propelled largely by white students who are already high achievers.