First-grade students during a grammar lesson on their first day of school at Thelma Elizabeth Page Richardson elementary in 2013.
In Dallas ISD, African-American students’ scores on state STAAR exams continue to trail white students in the district and Texas, according to academic data DISD will present to trustees this week.
In fact, the achievement gap between black and white students has increased in Dallas ISD in recent years. School districts nationwide have struggled for decades to increase minority students’ test scores and bring them closer to their white peers.
Dallas ISD trustees have urged district administrators for years to put an extra emphasis on helping DISD’s black students, who make up 23 percent of the student population. The school board is scheduled to hear an update this on the program, known as the African American Success Initiative.
The results are bleak. In the eight DISD feeder pattern highlighted in the report for trustees, black students pass the STAAR exams at a significantly lower rate than whites in DISD and Texas. The report examined passing rates on the reading and math exams, and the Algebra I and English I tests, which are both taken in high school.
Source: Dallas Morning News | Matthew Haag
