Superintendent of Schools SUBJECT: ACHIEVEMENT HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE COUNCIL OF THE GREAT

Today, the Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS) released the sixth installment of their annual urban-schools achievement report, “Beating the Odds. ” The report examined reading and mathematics achievement data for sixty-six CGCS member school districts during the 2004-05 school year. The report highlighted several encouraging findings. Many urban-area school districts registered gains in reading and mathematics achievement when compared to the preceding years. These gains were achieved despite higher concentrations of historically underachieving demographic groups, such as free or reduced-price lunch recipients and limited English proficient students in urban centers relative to suburban and rural areas. Urban school districts also had to contend with issues, such as teacher shortages, overcrowding, and funding imbalances. Reading gains and achievement gaps were one of the foci of the report. In 2004-05, 89.7 % of CGCS member school districts registered reading gains in the fourth grade when compared to the baseline year of 2000-01; 59.3 % of the districts registered fourth grade reading gains greater than or equal to those of their state. At the eighth grade level, 87.5 % of CGCS member school districts demonstrated reading gains as compared to 2000-01. Of these, 73.3 % showed gains that were greater than or equal to the eighth grade gains for their respective state. Narrowing of reading achievement gaps were observed at both grade levels within CGCS districts. The White-Black achievement gap was narrowed in 84.6 % of fourth grades and 63.3 % of eighth grades. Additionally, 76 % of fourth grades and 75.9 % of eighth grades narrowed the White-Hispanic reading achievement gap (Casserly, 2006). Achievement Highlights from “Beating the Odds VI