Report: Blacks, Hispanics left behind by federal law

Maryland students are scoring better on state tests, but significant achievement gap remains, study shows

The law also allows each state to choose its own testing benchmark to measure student success. Each year, Maryland gives assessment tests to third- through eighth-graders to assess progress.

CEP also analyzed scores from the High School Assessments, which the upcoming senior class must pass to earn a diploma. Before the No Child law, the state tested third-, fifth- and eighth-graders to assess progress.

Poverty has long been a barrier to student success. Historically, some black students tend to struggle on tests because they live in poorer conditions, educators say. As for Hispanic students, many of them emigrate from poorer countries with little to no English-speaking skills and interrupted schooling.

‘‘I think it’s a very complicated answer,” Candace Kattar, executive director of Identity Inc., a Hispanic advocacy group in Gaithersburg, said of the disparity.

‘‘It’s not something that’s happened overall. It’s something that’s happened for a very long time. If you were to look across the board and look at where those children are coming from ... you could often separate them along class and poverty lines.”

Nationally, gaps have narrowed more than they widened for black students and low-income students, according to the report. And the numbers show that Hispanic students have progressed faster than black students. The gap between blacks and other subgroups narrowed in elementary school but widened in middle school.

Last year, for example, 89 percent of the state’s white third-graders scored proficient or better on reading tests, compared to 70 percent of black third-graders and 73 percent of Hispanics. In 2003, only 72 percent of white third-graders scored proficient or better in reading, while 41 percent of blacks and 39 percent of Hispanics fared well on the tests.

The No Child law has held administrators more accountable for student success, Kattar said. Still, the numbers show that more needs to be done.

‘‘The fact that they’re starting to pay attention, something is going to happen now,” she said. ‘‘They’ve got to start taking a hard look at the expectations they have for these children.”

Local systems tend to shift teachers to schools struggling to make progress. The state is also ‘‘trying to pressure” all 24 districts to have more certified teachers working with struggling students, said Ronald A. Peiffer, the state’s deputy superintendent of academic policy.

All numbers declined in eighth grade, the data show: Only 35 percent of black eighth-graders scored proficient or above on mandated math tests, compared to 73 percent of white eighth-graders.

While more minorities are taking the tests, the overall number of test takers has declined, the data show. For example, 64,983 fourth-graders took reading tests in 2004, compared to 60,103 students in 2007, a 7.5 percent drop.

‘‘We’re making progress with all our subgroups,” Peiffer said. ‘‘Previous to [No Child], it would be much easier to sweep this disaggregated data under the rug.”

Proficiency growth for eighth-graders

Eighth-grade students, who are tested each year in reading and math, have progressed since the federal No Child Left Behind Act was signed in 2002. Although all students have shown improvements, scores of some black and Hispanic youth tend to lag behind those of their white and Asian-American peers.

All Maryland students

Year % proficient in reading % proficient in math

2003 59.9 39.7

2007 68.3 56.7

African Americans

Year % proficient in reading % proficient in math

2003 40.2 17.6

2007 52.4 35.2

Asian Americans

Year % proficient in reading % proficient in math

2003 73.8 71.5

2007 84.4 84.7

Hispanics

Year % proficient in reading % proficient in math

2003 44.6 26.8

2007 54.8 43.3

Whites

Year % proficient in reading % proficient in math

2003 74.3 53.8

2007 81.6 73.4

Source: www.mdreportcard.org