From the Desk of
Richard J. Robison, Executive Director

November 2005

Closing The Achievement Gap

As we approach the celebration of the fifth annual National Inclusive Schools week, observed December 5th through 9th this year, I was surprised to learn that Massachusetts holds two contradictory National distinctions. On the one hand, the Commonwealth has some of the highest scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in the country. More commonly known as the ‘Nation’s report card,’ NAEP tests are the only continuous assessment of what America’s students know in the subject areas of reading, math, science, history, geography and the arts. Massachusetts’s fourth and eighth grade students ranked first in reading and tied for first in mathematics. This is good news, but at the other end of the spectrum, Massachusetts’s dropout rates are increasing, particularly for Black and Hispanic students. Although this rate, 3.7%, is still below the national average of 5%, it signals that something needs to be done to support minority student’s achievement.

Students with special needs have made tremendous academic progress over the past few years, and their MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment Test) scores have improved. Yet, students with special needs are the sub-group of students that is most frequently cited as the cause for schools failing to achieve Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) scores.

All of this highlights the existence of the very real achievement gap that exists among our student population. In many ways, our schools and our students are performing better than anyone expected. In other ways, we still have a very long way to go.

Under IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) and the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, the scores of all sub-groups of students must be clearly reported to the public. What this process reveals is that the average score of the general student population can easily mask the lack of progress of students in the sub-groups.

This edition of NewsLine looks at the issue of the Achievement Gap for students with special needs and the critical importance of addressing it within our schools. We at the Federation are deeply committed to improved outcomes for all students and the closing of the achievement gap.

Dr. Richard J. Robison

became Executive Director of the Federation in April of 1997. Dr. Robison has over 20 years experience with the management of nonprofit volunteer organizations as well as six years experience in state government as a senior policy analyst to the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Retardation. The parent of three children, two of whom have Down syndrome, he is knowledgeable in a broad range of relevant content areas. He was appointed to serve a second 3-year term on the State Advisory Council for special education required under IDEA, is an elected member of the Sudbury, Massachusetts, School Board, serves on the AAUAP Consumer Affairs Council, and in Spring 1997, he was appointed by Secretary of Education Richard Riley to serve on the Goals 2000 “America Goes Back to School” Steering Committee.