By Mark Scott
Albany, NY – The State Education Department released its school report cards Wednesday that assessed every public school in the state. While student achievement was up overall during the 2000-2001 school year, there was a significant gap between the performance of whites and African-Americans.
Education Commissioner Richard Mills says African-American students fared worse on average than white students even in some of the same wealthy suburban schools. In certain middle schools, for example, 70 percent of white students met the state's math standard compared to 34 percent of African-American students.
"Neither poverty nor race is an excuse. All children can rise to the standards," Mills said. "You do what it takes to make sure the child reaches standards ... No one is going to tolerate gaps of this kind."
Mills noted that some of the poorest schools in the state's biggest cities are improving despite a lack of adequate financing.
The number of students earning Regents diplomas increased to 50 percent in 2001, a gain of 10 percentage points since the Board of Regents began raising standards in 1996.
177,000 students took the Regents English exam required for graduation in 2001 and 136,000 passed. In 1996, 114,000 students took the test and 91,000 passed.
Math performance declined last year as students began taking the tougher math exam. About 69 percent passed compared to 71 percent in 2000 and 76 percent in 1997.
182,000 students took the Regents biology exam last year and 163,000 passed it.
Locally, the report cards do show a substantial increase in the number of Western New York students earning a Regents diploma. Fourteen area districts, led by Randolph and Kenmore-Tonawanda, had at least 70 percent of their students graduating with a Regents diploma. A year earlier, just five districts had surpassed the 70 percent figure.