ABSTRACT
The most recent Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools found that 74" of Americans believe that the achievement gap between white students and African American and Hispanic students is primarily due to factors unrelated to the quality of schooling that children receive. This chapter describes how the school district in which Carol Burris serves as a high school principal was able to close the gap by offering its high-track curriculum to all students, in detracked classes. Researchers who study the relationship between tracking, race/ethnicity, and academic performance suggest different strategies for closing the achievement gap. Some believe that the solution is to encourage more minority students to take high-track classes. The New York State data are reported by graduating class: the state does not report year-of-entry data for Regents diploma rates. Therefore, the state data fail to reflect dropouts and show higher Regents diploma rates than would be reported if given by YOE cohort.
