March 9, 1999

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT COUNCIL TO HELP CLOSE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT GAP SAN DIEGO—The Board of Education today approved the creation of the Academic Achievement Council as a major step to improve school performance across the district and to raise academic achievement by all students. To accomplish this necessarily requires closing the student achievement gap in San Diego City Schools, generally speaking, between Latino, African American and Indochinese students, on the one hand, and Asian and Caucasian students, on the other. The Council brings together a broad-based group that includes the insights and perspectives of district staff, parents and community representatives, as well as nationally prominent educators who will share their knowledge of successful school accountability and achievement-based approaches elsewhere. Chaired by Superintendent of Public Education Alan Bersin, the Council is co-chaired by the Honorable Napoleon Jones, U.S. District Court Judge in San Diego, and Dr. Lauren Resnick, the founder and director of the Institute for Learning at the University of Pittsburgh. San Diego’s Institute for Learning, under Chancellor of Instruction Anthony Alvarado, is modeled after and affiliated with the Pittsburgh program. The urgent need for improved student achievement across the board is highlighted by recent national reports that detail California students’ flatly unsatisfactory reading scores, particularly on the part of Latino and African American students taken as a group. The profound impact of this academic achievement gap for San Diego City Schools is underscored by the fact that African American and Latino students account for 52 percent of the current student population and standardized test scores reveal, generally speaking, that they continue to score significantly lower than other students. An additional challenge here is that Spanish is the primary language for 59 percent of all Latino students in the District. "Student achievement for all our students won’t occur until we narrow and then close the achievement gap," Bersin said. "The Academic Achievement Council places the district at the forefront of efforts to engage the educational community and the community-at-large in a frank and wide-ranging discussion of public education and strategies for meeting high standards of student achievement." The Council joins two ongoing District efforts to improve student achievement: the District’s two-year-old accountability system and the Institute for Learning, established last July when Bersin became superintendent. Members will review and make recommendations on the accountability system, assessment and data reporting, and other matters related to teaching and learning. Designed collaboratively by a task force of stakeholders, the District accountability system sets school improvement targets every two years based on multiple indicators of student achievement. Schools that exceed their improvement targets qualify for rewards and recognition; schools that do not meet their targets participate in the Process of Accountability Review (PAR). The District established the Institute for Learning to create and sustain a culture of learning with a focus on instruction and student achievement. The Institute responsibilities include curriculum and instruction, school-based professional development, assessment, accountability and the coordination of research on San Diego education reform. The proposed members of the Academic Achievement Council are: DISTRICT MEMBERS Alan Bersin, (Chair) Superintendent of Public Education, San Diego City Schools Anthony Alvarado Chancellor of Instruction, San Diego City Schools Tim Jenkins Member (teacher), Accountability Task Force Suzanne Power Member (principal), Accountability Task Force Marc Knapp President, San Diego Education Association Jane Gawronski Executive Director, Administrators Association of San Diego Joan O’Hara Paraeducators Bargaining Unit, Calif. School Employees Assn. Debbie Rinehart Parent Teacher Association, San Diego Council COMMUNITY MEMBERS Brenda Gipson United Front for the Education of African American Students Kenji Ima Asian-Pacific Education Council, San Diego State University Hon. Napoleon Jones, (Co-Chair) United States District Court Judge Vahac Mardirosian Parent Institute for Quality Education Charles Nathanson San Diego Dialogue/University of California San Diego Alberto Ochoa Latino Educational Coalition, San Diego State University NATIONAL MEMBERS Richard Elmore Graduate School of Education, Harvard University Kati Haycock Education Trust, Washington DC Lauren Resnick, (Co-Chair) University of Pittsburgh, Institute for Learning Warren Simmons Annenberg Foundation, Providence, Rhode Island Uri Treisman University of Texas, Austin Justo Robles National Education Association, Burlingame, CA