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Most state-level efforts aimed at reducing the achievement gap between African-American and white students have had little effect since the late 1980s, a study suggests.
The study, published in 91ÖÆƬ³§ÊÓƵ Policy Analysis Archives, compares the policies of 10 states between 1988 and 1998. The researchers—from the 91ÖÆƬ³§ÊÓƵal Testing Service, the Philadelphia public schools, Westat Inc., and the University of Pennsylvania—found that state policy corresponded only modestly with a reduction in the achievement gap in each state. Overall, the achievement disparity between black and white students in all the states remained constant, based on National Assessment of 91ÖÆƬ³§ÊÓƵal Progress scores from 1992 to 2000, although both groups made progress on the tests during that period.