City schools show improvement in math

Eleven urban districts, including Cleveland, participated in the assessment.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Just like students nationwide, children in major U.S. cities are getting better in math but struggling to improve in reading, a new federal snapshot shows.
On the test considered to be the standard of academic progress, city students also often did as well or better in 2005 than kids of the same race or ethnicity across the country.
Urban educators said the new scores, released Thursday, show that urban fourth-graders and eighth-graders are moving ahead despite facing greater poverty and academic challenges.
In perspective, however, the new scores emphasize how much room for improvement remains across a range of urban districts, just as is the case for most of the nation's schools.
In both grades, for example, only one-third or less of city students were competent to handle challenging reading material -- a skill level called proficient, the goal of the test.
Who's involved
Overall, 11 districts volunteered this year for the National Assessment of Educational Progress, giving them data to compare themselves to peers and chart progress over time.
The districts enroll more than 1 in 10 of the nation's public school students, plus a disproportionately large share of minorities and kids with limited English ability.
The 11 are Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Boston; Charlotte, N.C.; Chicago; Cleveland; Houston; Los Angeles; New York City; San Diego; and Washington. The District of Columbia's scores were released in October with state and national results but were included again for comparison.
Some urban districts are improving faster than states and the nation, particularly in math. That trend is essential if the city districts are to catch up academically.
"These results tell us that we need to permanently abandon the belief that race and poverty determine how much students can and will learn," said Kati Haycock, director of The Education Trust, which advocates for poor and minority children. "While urban districts face big challenges, it is clear that some districts are responding more effectively than others."
Improving
In math, eight of the 10 urban districts posted improvements in fourth grade since 2003, when the test was last given. Four districts showed significant gains in eighth grade. No comparative figures were available for Austin, which joined the project this year.
"The news is the improvement, and the determination to improve," said Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools, a coalition of urban public school systems.
Yet in fourth-grade reading, none of the urban districts showed a significant improvement in average scores compared with 2003. And just one district, Los Angeles, posted a reading gain in eighth grade that was big enough to be statistically significant.
Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said urban minority students are catching up, and the scores dispel "the myth that city schools can't make the grade."
Making comparisons
Federal officials warned that comparisons of the cities should be done with caution because the urban districts differ in significant ways -- the size of the systems, their levels of poverty, the number of disabled or limited-English children excluded from testing.
Just going by raw scores, Charlotte fared the best in math and reading. Charlotte generally benefits in comparisons with other urban centers because its countywide school system encompasses both relatively wealthy suburbs and poorer inner-city neighborhoods.
In California, the state's superintendent of public instruction, Jack O'Connell, said the federal test offers no universal standards for excluding students, which affects test scores.
For example, he said, the Los Angeles Unified School District excluded far fewer limited-English learners than the Houston Independent School District. O'Connell said federal policy-makers should fix that inequity so the test will be a more useful analytical tool.
In Atlanta, where scores were mixed, schools superintendent Beverly L. Hall said, "We must now accelerate our efforts if we are to meet and exceed the performance of the nation."
The performance of the children in urban centers has national implications, said Sheila Ford, vice chairwoman of the test's governing board and a former school principal.
"We have to maintain our level of international and global status no matter where one lives," she said. "It's everybody's responsibility to make sure those youngsters are as successful as they can be."
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