What achievement gap statistics reveal — and what they don’t - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post: "The existence of a gap only tells you that there are differences in outcomes (e.g., scores) between two groups, which are almost always defined in terms of income or race. States and districts could have a large achievement gap, but still contain a relatively high proportion of students reading at grade level. For instance, a relatively affluent district could see virtually all third graders reading at grade level, but still have a significant achievement gap — with one group (e.g., high-income students) performing much higher than the other. Conversely, one could imagine a struggling district with a much smaller gap, but where virtually all students still scored below grade level.
If the NJDOE wants to make the (perfectly compelling) case that something should be done to help the 40 percent of third graders who it says cannot read at grade level, then those are the statistics they should cite."
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