Giving Compass' Take:

· The Heritage Foundation addresses the racial disparities in academic achievement and explains how Florida has reformed its schools and created meaningful improvement.

· How can other states follow Florida's model to close the racial achievement gap? 

· Here's more on this topic and how unequal access to technology is also preventing education equity. 

For years, policymakers around the country have looked for ways to address the racial achievement gap in K–12 education. Despite significant increases in education spending at all levels and the federal government’s ever-increasing role in education, national academic achievement has remained relatively flat, graduation rates have stagnated around 70 percent, and racial disparities persist. Many states have enacted policies to address racial disparities in academic achievement and attainment, but the changes have been largely piecemeal.

One state, however, has demonstrated that meaningful improvement is possible. In 1999, Florida enacted a series of far-reaching K–12 education reforms that have increased academic achievement for all students and substantially narrowed the racial achievement gap. Today, Florida’s Hispanic and black students outscore many statewide reading averages for allstudents.

Read the full article about closing the racial achievement gap by Lindsey Burke and Matthew Ladner at The Heritage Foundation.