A Maryland school district has set the goal of eliminating the achievement gap between its black and white students within two years to settle a complaint filed by local civil rights groups last year, on the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning segregation in public education.
The pledge approved on Aug. 17 by the board of the 75,000-student Anne Arundel County public schools says the district will “diligently seek to achieve” a series of goals for its African-American students, including having 85 percent of them score at the proficient level on state tests. Previously, district leaders had committed to narrowing, but not eliminating, the racial achievement gap by 2007.
