NAACP wants council oversight on achievement gap - baltimoresun.com: The Anne Arundel County branch of the NAACP has asked the County Council to put pressure on the county school system, in hopes of accelerating an agreement to close the achievement gap between white and black students.
Jacqueline Allsup, president of the county National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said in testimony before the council Monday that while the school system is 'moving in the right direction' progress is coming 'way too slowly.' Allsup said the school system should concentrate its efforts on elementary school education.
In a 2005 agreement, the county school system and the U.S. Justice Department signed a memorandum of agreement to address inequalities after local civil rights groups and parents filed a complaint to the Office for Civil Rights about disparities in county schools.
The county Board of Education agreed to close the achievement gap by 2012 in several areas: graduation and dropout rates; Maryland school assessments; high school assessments; access and success in more rigorous instruction; special-education identification and placement; discipline referrals; suspensions and expulsions; and community engagement.
