Metro Schools Show Progress Closing ‘Achievement Gap’

Register

Top officials with Metro Schools say they made progress this past year toward closing what’s called the “achievement gap.” That means catching up groups such as poor students or those learning English. It’s something Metro had to show progress on to avoid a “warning” status from the state.

Metro is a highly diverse system, with a lot of poor kids and a lot of different languages spoken at home. So Schools Director Jesse Register says making progress on the achievement gap a big deal:

“It’s really difficult to change. It’s very hard to change that, and particularly in a district like this we’re talking about, in addition, over 50 thousand children that fall in one gap area or another.”

Register calls the results an “important first step.” This is the first batch of statewide scores since Tennessee got a waiver from the federal “No Child Left Behind” law, and Register says the new expectations are “realistic,” but “no easier.”

Test results for individual schools will be out in about two weeks. Click here for the district-by-district results from the state.