Student Achievement Gap Shrinking Slightly

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Is NCLB Working?

(KCPW News) The gap in achievement between white students and their Hispanic or low-income counterparts is shrinking slightly in Utah. That's excellent news, according to Judy Park, Associate State Superintendent. But she's reluctant to give all of the credit for the improvements to the federal No Child Left Behind Act:

"I think it would be really hard to say specifically it was or wasn't," says Park. "But I do know the state had put a lot of things into place, even if No Child Left Behind hadn't come into place."

The report from the Center on Education Policy showed narrowing achievement gaps and significant improvements in reading and math scores in most states since No Child Left Behind was implemented in 2002. Park notes that Utah has been operating a parallel assessment system since that time - partly in rejection of No Child Left Behind. A Governor's Working Group has also been mulling solutions to the achievement gap. Park says there's more work to be done:

"Is it enough? No, it won't be enough until we can get all of our students proficient . . .until we can see the achievement gap no longer exist," says Park.

Though slightly smaller, Utah's achievement gap still exists. The report finds 84-percent of white fourth graders are proficient in reading compared to 68-percent of low-income students and only 57-percent of Hispanic students.

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