last week unveiled the first of a series of state-by-state that are designed to track the impact of federal stimulus spending on educational progress and equity.
Intended to mark the starting line in what U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has called the 鈥渞ace to the top,鈥� the first report notes, for instance, that only one state鈥擫ouisiana鈥攈as significantly narrowed black-white achievement gaps in both 4th grade reading and 8th grade mathematics. High-need districts in Pennsylvania get more than $1,000 a year less per pupil than do the state鈥檚 better-off districts. And, in Colorado, Latino students represent 20 percent of the state鈥檚 11th- and 12th-grade students, but 7 percent of the students taking Advanced Placement exams in key subjects.
鈥淭he federal dollars are not a license to do business as usual,鈥� said Kati Haycock, the president of the trust, a Washington-based advocacy group. 鈥淭hey come with a demand for change.鈥�
