What are other states doing?

Connecticut / Kentucky / Missouri / North Carolina

Local strategies: Charlotte-Mecklenburg, NC / El Paso, TX

Connecticut

According to National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores, Connecticut leads the nation in elementary reading and math achievement.

The state’s high levels of parental education and income likely contribute to this. However, these factors alone do not explain the state’s student achievement gains during the 1990s, when student poverty and language diversity increased.

In recent years, Connecticut has increased minority student achievement and narrowed its achievement gap. Here, African-American and Hispanic students outscore their national peers by more than 50% in reading achievement on NAEP.

Connecticut was one of only four states to both increase its percentage of students rated “proficient” and narrow its achievement gap between the top and bottom quartile of students on NAEP reading between 1992 and 1998.

Teacher quality reforms played a central role in Connecticut’s boost in student achievement during the 1990s. These included:

• Linking teacher salaries with higher teaching standards
• Performance-based teacher licensing
• High-need scholarships
• Incentives for K-16 partnerships
• More teacher education for reading and special education instructors

Connecticut districts where student achievement grew fastest during the 1990s claim the key state policies that contributed to their success included:

• Higher salaries
• Ongoing professional development
• Support for and assessment of beginning teachers
• Detailed student performance information used to improve instructional practices

Indeed, a National Education Goals Panel report dismissed several factors that did not change significantly during Connecticut's period of student achievement growth (class-size reduction, instructional-time increase, and demographic changes among student test-takers).

Housing assistance is one targeted teacher recruitment tool that Connecticut offers to level the playing field between urban and suburban districts. The state offers low-interest mortgages and down-payment assistance to teachers who work in high-poverty neighborhoods and those employed in shortage-subject areas.

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Kentucky

Throughout the 1990s, Kentucky experienced significant student achievement gains after implementing comprehensive school reform. Two important parts of this effort were changes in teacher education and licensing, and salary increases.

Kentucky also has:

• Made major investments in professional development
• Adopted the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) licensing standards
• Introduced new licensing exams and teacher education requirements
• Instituted incentives for teacher colleges to meet national professional accreditation standards

According to the 1999-2000 Schools and Staffing Survey Kentucky provided more professional development to its teachers than any other state. Specifically, 83% of the state’s teachers reported having received instruction in content and performance standards in their main teaching assignment over the previous year. Also, 70% reported in-depth study of content in their assigned subject. Kentucky ranked third and first, respectively, among the states on those two professional development indicators.

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Missouri

The team approach has helped this state close its achievement gap.

In 1997, the Missouri State Board of Education, Coordinating Board for Higher Education and the University of Missouri Board of Curators joined forces to form a K-16 coalition promoting high standards and smooth transitions for all students. Key strategies include creating a coordinated system of education and better curriculum alignment between the K-12 and higher education systems.

In February 2001, Missouri's K-16 co-sponsors appointed a task force to address the achievement gap. The Missouri K-16 Task Force on Achievement Gap Elimination concluded that teacher quality is the “single most important factor” in eliminating the gap in its state. The task force also recognized that no single layer of the education system can accomplish this goal. Rather, it requires the combined efforts of:

• State government
• School districts
• Teacher preparation programs
• Parents
• Communities

The task force made these recommendations to improve teacher quality and address the achievement gap:

1. Provide a financial incentive to attract and retain high-quality teachers at low-performing schools.
2. Hold teacher preparation programs accountable for the performance of their graduates.
3. Develop a statewide, competency-based teacher education curriculum for the first two years of college.
4. Establish standards for teacher quality within schools and the quality of school leadership within districts.
5. Assess the content knowledge of teachers in low-performing schools and provide content-based professional development for those with deficiencies.

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North Carolina

North Carolina has experienced the largest gains in math and reading achievement in the nation.

Between 1990 and 2000, North Carolina posted among the largest increases in fourth- and eighth-grade math achievement on NAEP. (The state’s school accountability system was not launched until 1995, so this could not have accounted for the steep rise in NAEP scores from 1990-96.)

In addition to this overall achievement increase, a 2001 National Education Goals Panel analysis determined that North Carolina was one of only two states to narrow the black/white achievement gap in fourth-grade math. Also, it was the only state to narrow the gap between the top and bottom quartile of students in fourth-grade reading.

Beginning in 1983, North Carolina implemented comprehensive teacher quality reforms. The state's teacher quality strategy included:

• Salary increases
• Professional development academies
• Recruitment efforts
• National Board Certification incentives
• National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) accreditation of schools of education
• Stronger licensing requirements
• Mentoring programs

Simultaneously, North Carolina invested in early childhood programs and increased K-12 spending – including a recent initiative to reduce class size to 18 in grades K-3 for all schools, and to 15 in high-poverty, low-performing elementary schools.

In late 2001, the North Carolina Commission on Raising Achievement and Closing Gaps recognized that preparing teachers to respond to students’ diverse learning needs would help reduce the state's achievement gap. This strategy is also embodied in six core standards developed and adopted by the North Carolina Teaching Standards Board and the North Carolina Association of Educators, and adopted by the State Board of Education in November 1999.

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Local strategies

Charlotte-Mecklenburg, NC: This is one of five school districts in the state participating in an achievement gap pilot program. A key component of this program is intensive professional development for educators. Since 1995, the district has reduced its achievement gap by 9%, while raising African-American achievement by 18%.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg district determined that teachers in its lowest-performing schools had less experience, fewer advanced degrees, and higher rates of absenteeism. As a result, the district created a program targeted at low-performing schools. This program helps teachers earn masters degrees, and also reduces class sizes.

El Paso, TX: In 1992 the El Paso Collaborative (a joint effort between three El Paso area school districts and the University of Texas-El Paso) established the goal of preparing every student to enter college without remediation. To achieve this, the Collaborative's main focus is improving teacher quality.

These school districts hired more than 50 full-time teacher coaches, held intensive summer institutes, and convened monthly meetings for teachers within subject areas. Meanwhile, the university overhauled its teacher preparation program. Elementary teachers now take twice as many math and science courses as their predecessors. Also, these courses are taught by university faculty who helped to establish the teaching program standards.

These changes helped teachers in the three participating El Paso districts raise student achievement and narrow the achievement gap, according to the Education Trust. After five years, the districts had reduced the white/black/Hispanic achievement gap to 9% – down from 31%, as measured by pass rates on the state assessment test. In addition, pass rates rose for all three racial groups: whites from 63 to 94%, Hispanics from 36 to 86%, and African-Americans from 32 to 85%.

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Closing the Achievement Gap
NGA Center for Best Practices
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