Calif. School Sets Own Path on Achievement Gaps

By Alan Richard

Elk Grove, Calif.

All Philip Moore wanted was for the parents here at T.R. Smedberg Middle School to talk about the achievement gaps that separate many of his students. Instead, he ended up with an unlikely label for an African-American principal.

People called him a segregationist.

Mr. Moore knew his decision to separate parents by race and ethnicity for a series of meetings on test scores, culminating in a May 1 meeting for all, might spark a local controversy at first. But when he found himself talking to the "Today" show, and was threatened with a civil rights lawsuit, he learned how volatile it can be to talk...