1. Closing the Achievement Gap
WS/FCS PAC 2/14/17

2. Overview What is the goal? What does the data tell us?
What are we doing to accomplish the goal?
Changing mindsets
Changing actions
What progress are we making this year?

3. WS/FCS Goals
By 2020, 90 percent of third-grade students will read on or above grade level.
By 2018, our graduation rate will be 90 percent.
By 2018, we will close the achievement gap between subgroups by 10 percentage points while increasing the performance of all subgroups.

4. Achievement Gaps Over Time - ELA
W/AA
33.5
39.6
37.9
34.5
W/H
31.0
39.7
34.4
38.8
GAPS
W/AA
37.5
37.9
38.2
W/H
40.8
41.6
40.9
40.2

5. Achievement Gaps Over Time - Math
W/AA
39.2 40
41.1
W/H
31.8
32.2
33.2
34.9
GAPS
W/AA
39.2
37.2
36.3
41.1
W/H
32.8
31.6 32
34.3

6. Achievement Gaps Over Time – Science
W/AA
36.1
35.9
37.7
31.1
W/H
32.3
35.5
37.2
31.3
GAPS
W/AA
38.2
40.6
42.3
40.2
W/H
28.5
33.9
39.3
37.4

7. What are we doing to accomplish the goal?
To better understand the problem, this Essential Question guided discussions with principals and teachers:
What can WS/FCS do to close the achievement gap?

8. What was the racial makeup of the high school you attended?
As an activator for the discussion, principals and teachers were asked:
What was the racial makeup
of the high school you attended?
Was the racial makeup of your school
reflective of the state of NC as a whole at the time?
Responses:
-- Most schools did not reflect NC’s racial makeup
-- Some schools (East Forsyth & Parkland) did
(Note – if your high school represented NC as a whole in 1990 it would have been about 65% white, 30% black, and 5% “other”)

12. Principals and teachers were also asked:
How has the demographic shift that has occurred
in our schools changed the culture?
How have our schools responded to the demographic changes that have occurred over the past years?
Specifically, what changes (if any) have you seen in instructional practices?
Responses included:
-- Creation of bilingual education programs
-- Different approaches to reaching parents

13. Finally, principals and teachers were asked:
What changes have you seen in the demographics
of the teaching force during your career as an educator?
Responses included:
Educators from different generations (Baby boomers, Generation X, Millennials) sometimes approach the work differently.

14. What are we doing to accomplish the goal
What are we doing to accomplish the goal? Establishing common definitions
By 2020, 90 percent of third-grade students will read on or above grade level.
By 2018, our graduation rate will be 90 percent.
By 2018, we will close the achievement gap between subgroups by 10 percentage points while increasing the performance of all subgroups

15. What are we doing to accomplish the goal
What are we doing to accomplish the goal? Establishing common definitions
“Between subgroups”
Recommended comparisons
Gap between Hispanic and White
Gap between Black and White
Non-Recommended comparisons
Gap between Limited English Proficient (LEP) and White
Gap between Economically Disadvantaged (EDS) and White

16. How do you define closing the gap “by 10 percentage points”?

17. What are we doing to accomplish the goal
What are we doing to accomplish the goal? Establishing common definitions
“By 10 percentage points”
If there is a 40% gap between subgroups, what does it mean to close the achievement gap by 10%?
Hispanic = 30% proficient
White = 70% proficient
Answer = Hispanic achievement will increase from 30% to 40%
Schools are working to define how many students = 10% change in proficiency

18. What are we doing to close the achievement gap?
1.) Changing mindsets
2.) Changing actions

19. Changing Mindsets
Sixteen Research-based Factors that Contribute to the Achievement Gap
1. parent participation
2. student mobility
3. birth weight
4. lead poisoning
5. hunger and nutrition
6. reading to young children
7. television watching
8. parent availability
9. summer gain or loss
10. the rigor of the school curriculum
11. teacher preparation
12. teacher experience
13. teacher turnover
14. class size
15. technology assisted instruction
16. school safety
(from The Black-White Achievement Gap: When Progress Stopped by Paul E. Barton and Richard J. Coley, ETS (Educational Testing Service), 2010, p. 28)

20. Changing Actions
Write clearly written gap goals that include changes in percentages and the equivalent number of students impacted
Analyze rising rosters to identify students that will be targeted for remediation
Implement research-based strategies consistently
Evaluate results in PLTs and change practices as needed

21. Results High School EOCs were administered in mid-January.
Although the data is embargoed and preliminary, 1st semester results look promising.

22. Overview What is the goal? What does the data tell us?
What are we doing to accomplish the goal?
Changing mindsets
Changing actions
What progress are we making this year?