by Erik W. Robelen
Education Week
June 27, 2013
Achievement gaps for black and Hispanic youths have declined by substantial margins in reading and math since the early 1970s, according to new federal data issued Thursday. The gaps with their white peers, while still in evidence, have narrowed across all three age levels tested as part of a national assessment of long-term trends that offers a look at test data spanning some 40 years.
Overall, the nation’s 9-year-olds and 13-year-olds are better off academically today than they were in 1971 in reading, and in 1973 in math, the years when the long-term assessment was first administered, the results suggest. But for 17-year-olds, the average achievement levels are about the same when comparing 2012 data with results for the early 1970s in both subjects.
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