White - Black math gap in WA State

Some HS Math teachers in Seattle often bemoan the SPS failure to emphasize PRACTICE as a tool to reduce the "Opportunity Gap".

Although the politically correct term is "the opportunity gap", I have no idea whether these results are strictly due to opportunity

BUT supposedly the NAEP does measure math achievement.

In the last decade there have been a profusion of committees at district and state levels concerned about this gap problem. They never actually address instructional materials and practices but comment about social conditions and other factors beyond school control. Looking at WA State NAEP data, these folks simply wasted a lot of time.

Here are the White - Black (achievement) gaps for students each year from 2003 to 2015 for Washington State grade 8 students.

22 2003

23 2005

26 2007

27 2009

29 2011

27 2013

37 2015

2013 to 2015

White scores drop from 296 to 294 (-2)

Black scores drop from 269 to 257 (-12)

NAEP - 2015 Mathematics & Reading Assessments

NAEP - 2015 Mathematics & Reading Assessments

Here are the White - Black (achievement) gaps for students each year from 2003 to 2015 for Washington State grade 4 students.

19 2003

15 2005

26 2007

20 2009

22 2011

21 2013

22 2015

2013 to 2015

white scores drop from 251 to 251 (-0)

black scores drop from 231 to 229 (-2)

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TIMSS scores for the Nation show a big drop for the cohort

from grade 4 2011 to grade 8 2015.

In regard to Black students Math gap in WA comparing 2011 grade 4 NAEP cohort with 2015 grade 8....   White-Black Score gap went from 22 to 37 ... gap expanded greatly in 4 years, 15 points larger.

Does anyone have the courage to question the direction provided by the Math Ed dictators running this system?  Too many students are victims of the current unchallenged Math Oligarchs. 


"To improve a system requires the intelligent application of relevant data."  -- W. Edwatds Deming (1900-1993)

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The score gap between eligible for free or reduced price lunch students and those not eligible increased by 3.24 points from 2013 to 2015.
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