"In DC, especially charters, student progress is the most important factor in the DCPCSB PMF ratings. All kids need to be making progress from year to year. The schools where kids stagnate, be they higher or lower performing students, will not score as well. "

not in Montgomery county. And federal funding to local public school only look at the criteria on gap closing , which force the school doing some wired thing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is the article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/why-i-reject-the-american-obsession-with-achievement-gaps/2016/06/12/4831d636-2dff-11e6-9b37-42985f6a265c_story.html

Excellent article even if it is only stating common sense.

Common sense rarely prevails in education anymore.

Anonymous wrote:In the context of MCPS, these gaps should be examined. Unlike Detroit, where all groups score low, all groups score relatively high in MCPS, and therefore an analysis (at the very least) of these gaps is appropriate. Leave it to Mathews to find the one non-example of a concept and try to extrapolate it. I do think MCPS has very little idea of how to close the gap other than throw money at it. Really, this just seems like click bait for people who have no direct benefit of a focus on the achievement gap (the vast majority of people on this board). Mission accomplished, Jay.

Where do you get your data from? Detroit "the city" has a minority population of virtually 100% and additionally virtually 100% poor in the public schools. They don't have a county based system like Maryland. So to see high acheivers which there are plenty of you have to look outside of the city. You can't compare demographics trends in Detroit to here because there is no diversity in the city at all.

Mathews is a little behind/out of touch.

In DC, especially charters, student progress is the most important factor in the DCPCSB PMF ratings. All kids need to be making progress from year to year. The schools where kids stagnate, be they higher or lower performing students, will not score as well.

"Trying to close an achievement gap that is due to factors out of the school system's control (poverty/unstable families/unstable homes) is IMPOSSIBLE."

The School's job is to educate our kids, not to change the social economical status of the society.

in the article, the national champion of achievement gap is Detroit, the nation's worst school district.

Anonymous wrote:Here is the article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/why-i-reject-the-american-obsession-with-achievement-gaps/2016/06/12/4831d636-2dff-11e6-9b37-42985f6a265c_story.html

Thanks for the link. At least I hope it'll lead to some constructive discussion on why it's not useful to put such intense focus on 'closing the gap'. Many teachers I talk to know that this is not something that can be fixed by the schools, and yet the teachers get blamed when certain students don't perform well on tests. It's not just about the schools, and it's useless to pretend it is.

Anonymous wrote:There will always be an achievement gap.

There is enough evidence from all local school systems who have been attempting to close the gap that it is not going to close.

He is right. The focus needs to just shift to upward trends in each group.

This is it in a nutshell for me!

Makes sense. We want to see ALL kids improving. If kids are going to be spending 30 hours a week in school, we want them ALL to be actually learning something. Focus on how we can make that happen (smaller class sizes, for one).

Whatever level a kid is at - above/below/ESOL - teach the kid where he currently is, and show that at the end of the year there has been some improvement.

Trying to close an achievement gap that is due to factors out of the school system's control (poverty/unstable families/unstable homes) is IMPOSSIBLE.

There will always be an achievement gap.

There is enough evidence from all local school systems who have been attempting to close the gap that it is not going to close.

He is right. The focus needs to just shift to upward trends in each group.

i agree with jay. we need to move away from "dilution is the solution" mentality.

Anonymous wrote:Here is the article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/why-i-reject-the-american-obsession-with-achievement-gaps/2016/06/12/4831d636-2dff-11e6-9b37-42985f6a265c_story.html

Excellent article even if it is only stating common sense.

In the context of MCPS, these gaps should be examined. Unlike Detroit, where all groups score low, all groups score relatively high in MCPS, and therefore an analysis (at the very least) of these gaps is appropriate. Leave it to Mathews to find the one non-example of a concept and try to extrapolate it. I do think MCPS has very little idea of how to close the gap other than throw money at it. Really, this just seems like click bait for people who have no direct benefit of a focus on the achievement gap (the vast majority of people on this board). Mission accomplished, Jay.

Here is the article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/why-i-reject-the-american-obsession-with-achievement-gaps/2016/06/12/4831d636-2dff-11e6-9b37-42985f6a265c_story.html

First, there are achievement gaps. Not only one achievement gap. Is it the right reaction to simply "close" them?

How can we educate young citizens in order to make sure that they will be self-sufficient and life-long learners? To me, this is a more important problem than closing gaps.

I wasn't aware Jay Mathews was actually regarded as a thought leader in education. Who cares?

Jay Mathews is thinking progress in each group is more meaningful than artificially close the gap by stopping the advanced students.. Will his idea change MCPS or the whole country's obesses on closing the GAP?