 since 2003 to close the gap. Since the formation of this committee, improvements have been seen. “Some are anecdotal, and some are data driven, OGT passing rates have improved, and GPA’s are going up,” said Deegan.
According to Deegan, an “atmosphere of mutual respect and openness” is the first step necessary to close the gap. Students will be more likely to approach a teacher for help when there is respect between them, which is a big leap to closing the gap. In this case, it’s not always determined by how the student engages the class, but how the teacher engages the student.
“We take into consideration all the different variables that effect a student’s achievement, such as level of instruction previously given (from previous years or districts), the quality of the educational program and the type of teaching the student receives” said Lauren Broderick, Director or Pupil Services in Beachwood.
The district also has a contract with the Pacific Educational Group, or PEG, a company whose mission is to address issues of educational inequality by providing individualized guidance to school districts to meet the needs of students with minority backgrounds. The group gives individualized and comprehensive support. PEG helps educators develop effective strategies for closing the achievement gaps in their districts. But PEG isn’t enough. “There’s no magic bullet solution,” said Broderick, “if the perfect solution was out there, we’d be using it.”
A reason is because so many places disparities can be seen. “they take on all different shapes” said Markwardt, explaining that there are important questions to ask, such as, “are they involved [in school activities]? Why/why not? What’s their GPA? Are they urged to take honors and AP classes?”
Although there may be no golden solution, test results show the gap in Beachwood has been closing over the past few years. In the 2006-07 school year, 79.6% of black students were proficient in OGT reading, in 2007-08 that percent increased to 83.6%, and in 2008-09 the percent rose to 88.8% proficient. African Americans who have been in the district for a few years tend to perform significantly better than the recent transfers, which suggests that the efforts made in the district have achieved results, setting Beachwood on the right track.