Educational Improvement? Yes?

The gap between white and black students on achievement tests is becoming larger in some Northern States like Wisconsin, and smaller in some Southern States like Alabama. So says a new report from the U.S. Department of Education, as reported in the NY Times. Narrowing that gap was one of the goals for No Child Left Behind, the much maligned Bush Administration program. But the Times story indicates there's isn't a clear connection between the geographic shift and NCLB. From the story:

Wisconsin was the only state in which the black-white achievement gap in 2007 was larger than the national average in the tests for fourth and eighth grades in both math and reading, according to the study. Kati Haycock, president of the Education Trust, a nonprofit group in Washington that works to close achievement gaps, said principals in Wisconsin were “stunned” when shown the results.

I do wonder when they compare states like Wisconsin, where the black population is relatively tiny (6.48%), to Alabama. where there is a substantial black population (26.7%). But I'll leave that to the statisticians and researchers. I say when it comes to education in Alabama, we take our improvement wherever we find it.