The twin achievement gaps—between the rich and poor students in our state and between all of our students and their peers around the world—are the most urgent social and economic problems facing Connecticut.
Internationally, Connecticut’s achievement ranks far below world leaders. In a matchup of Connecticut’s 2007 National Assessment of Education Progress and the 2003 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, half as many Connecticut students were proficient in math as Singaporean students. Our poor and Hispanic students score below Moldova, and our African-American students tie with Jordan and score less than half as high as Bulgaria.
Connecticut’s achievement gap between poor and non-poor students is the largest achievement gap of any state in the country. The achievement gap is most acute in high school: the gap in percentage of students at grade level is 44 points between our African-American and white high school sophomores.
Click below for:
- the 2008 State of Connecticut Public Education Report
- Mapping the Gap: An Illustration of the State of Connecticut Public Education
- Report Cards on the 2008 performance of more than 1,000 schools and 160 districts in the state
