State school responds to report on achievement gap

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell issued the following statement regarding a report released today by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) on the achievement gap.

            "While the report released by the NCES today does not provide new data about California student achievement, it does provide a stark reminder of the prevalence of the achievement gap here and across the country. The achievement gap is a real threat to the economic well-being of millions of students as well as to our state and national economies. We have put ourselves in a permanent national recession by failing to close these gaps. A recent study by the consulting group McKinsey & Company found the U.S. gross domestic product would be up to $2.3 trillion higher in 2008 had we succeeded in closing the achievement gap in the 15 years after ANation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform was published in 1983 by the National Commission on Excellence in Education. Finding ways to close the gap demands our ongoing focused attention.

            "I realize that these are extraordinarily difficult economic times for schools, but we cannot let budget cuts distract us from our goal of closing the gap and helping all students meet their full potential. We owe it to our students - and to our state - to stay the course."