The Closing the Achievement Gap series explores Casey’s education investments in detail
and presents stories, results, and lessons learned. This particular publication describes Casey’s
efforts to develop a flexible but rigorous results measurement system that enables the
Foundation and its grantees to reflect on practice and then course-correct as necessary to
achieve the desired result. It also presents a list of selected aggregate results to show the
Foundation’s own progress in the area of education results measurement.

A June 23, 2009 New York Times editorial put a human face on the struggles of students arriving in America as children and graduating high school only to face huge barriers imposed by their undocumented status. The editorial argued that the DREAM Act could open doors for these young people and should not be held hostage to larger immigration reform dreams.

Innovative Approaches in Civil Rights and Education: The Link Between Data-driven Decisionmaking and Promising Practices is presented by the Alliance for Excellent Education and the Civil Rights Working Group.

This national meeting will examine key policy issues related to accelerated learning options, such as Advanced Placement, dual/concurrent enrollment, early college high schools, and the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program.

Schools wherein Hispanic students make up at least 25 percent of undergraduate enrollment account for only about 6 percent of colleges and universities in the United States, but they enroll almost half of Latino college students. This new report by Excelencia in Education offers background, history, and context, and examines what it means that a small (albeit growing) number of schools teaches so many of our nation's Latino students. Short fact sheets are also available.

One in ten non-Hispanic black children in first through third grade has repeated a grade, compared with 1 percent of Asian or Pacific Islander children, 4 percent of non-Hispanic white children, and 6 percent of Hispanic children of the same age. Other new data points include an analysis of receipt of special education services by gender (boys are more than twice as likely as girls in K-3rd grade to get services through an Individualized Education Plan), and the impact of neighborhood poverty on Head Start attendance.

A recently released U.S. Census Bureau report takes a comprehensive look at the nation's Asian population. Among its findings: 44 percent of Asian adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, compared with 24 percent of the general adult population. Roughly 80 percent of Asian families speak a language other than English at home.

There are millions of Americans with full or partial Native American, Alaska Native, Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander ancestry—as a group, they face specific challenges. This site offers quick facts, examines states' approaches, and catalogues new and important research and articles on efforts to improve educational outcomes for American Indians and Alaska and Hawaii Natives.

Over the next two years, a national task force will research strategies for improving educational outcomes for Hispanic children from birth through third grade, and develop recommendations for policymakers, teachers and parents.

On average, black students show strong gains from fourth to eighth grade, compared with whites. A National Association of Education Progress (NAEP) state-by-state analysis finds that although they start behind, black fourth graders increase their reading scores at a greater rate than white and Asian students in the years between fourth and eighth grade.