A recent News & Observer article stated that North Carolina had widened its achievement gap more than any other state. It turns out that the ranking used to make that claim was pretty messed up.
Education reform organization The 74 writes,
The 74 has learned that Education Cities and GreatSchools will issue a clarification saying the index it released last week ranking the school inequality gap in 100 cities and 35 states was faulty in its state comparisons.
…
Matt Chingos, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, said the flaw in the index resulted from a faulty comparison. Specifically, the groups’ methodology contrasted students who received free and reduced-price lunch (a common measure of low income) to all students in the same state. That means states with more low-income students looked better because their students’ average proficiency on standardized tests was lower, since poverty and weaker academic achievement are linked.
The website will still feature state level scores, but will not explicitly rank them and will caution readers against doing so.
I expect that the News & Observer will publish an article that sets the record straight. I am not, however, holding my breath in anticipation.
