Schools working hard to close performance gap

By Shawn Cetrone - Shawn Cetrone

York County's schools often are touted as some of the state's best.

But the most recent district assessments highlight a staggering rift between white and minority student performance.

Each year, the state Department of Education uses student test scores to create "report cards" for every school and district. They include scores for English and language arts, math, science and social studies.

For the most part, area students of all races performed higher than their peers across the state.

But the gap between racial and ethnic groups within each local district is stark.

On 2006-2007 state tests, for example, 60 percent of Fort Mill Schools' white students tested "proficient" or "advanced" in English and language arts. Compare that with the 32 percent of black students that scored the same. That 28-percent gap is wider than the statewide 27-percent gap.

About 44 percent of Fort Mill's Hispanic students scored at least "proficient" in English and language arts. That 16-percent gap is narrower than the statewide average of 22 percent between Hispanics and whites.

In math, Fort Mill's divide is worse. The gap between white and black students is 34 percent, higher than the state average of 29 percent. Between whites and Hispanics, the gap is 23 percent, slightly higher than the state average.

Every Fort Mill school has "an action plan to address closing this gap," associate superintendent Chuck Epps said in a written statement. He didn't specify what those plans involve.

Rock Hill Schools' results nearly mirror Fort Mill's. The gap between whites and blacks in math is slightly narrower at 31 percent. The rift between whites and Hispanics in English and language arts, however, is wider at 25 percent.

"It is concerning and something that we are working really hard to close," Rock Hill Schools superintendent Lynn Moody said. "That's where we've been the last year or two ... saying 'OK, what are we going to do?' "

Rock Hill has launched several programs that Moody said are aimed at raising student achievement:

• India Hook Elementary will pilot single-gender classes this year. Proponents suggest that separating students by gender removes distractions and can improve performance.

• Reading teachers have been trained in the district's new, more rigorous teaching and testing standards.

• The district's mentor program pairs volunteer mentors with students identified by teachers as needing extra help.

The district is preparing a guide for parents that explains each of the new programs.

"We put in lots of strategies ... to see what works," Moody said.