By Joyce Kryszak
Buffalo, NY – The state's new higher academic standards are leaving poorer children farther behind. The State Board of Regents Thursday released school report cards for districts statewide.
The report cards show tremendous progress among students, predominately white students, from the state's more affluent school districts. Achievement here is climbing, with about 35 percent scoring at the highest levels.
But for poor students, largely minority, the scores are much lower. Less than eight percent of these students score top marks.
State Education Commissioner Richard Mills says they've made some progress, but not enough.
"There is a gap in student achievement," Mills said. "It can close. It must close."
The good news is that students overall are performing better each year under the state's new tougher standards. Most students are passing the four Regents exams currently required to graduate. And many more are opting to take eight regents exams to graduate with a Regents diploma. Mills says the data prove the nay sayers wrong.
"Many thought that as these Regents exams came on line that fewer children would graduate," Mills said. "That has not been the case."
But many students, once again from the state's poorest school districts, are taking longer to graduate. In New York City, for example, only half the high school students graduate in four years. Mills says taking five years or longer is not the aim.
"Students need to complete their high school. They need to get into higher education. Or they need to get into some other workforce preparation," Mills said. "They need to be moving on."
Mills says the answer is building a rigorous curriculum, better preparing teachers and providing extra help for students. But he says that will also require a substantial commitment of state dollars, particularly to the highest need districts.