May 29, 2004 | By Dan Dmacich | New York Times

To the editor:

Twenty-eight public schools in New York State (“Consortium schools”) have successfully bridged the gap between minority and white students, and significantly improved minority achievement ("School Law Spurs Efforts to End Minority Gap," May 27) without reverting to test-obsessed curricula.

Their students enroll and stay in college and achieve higher GPA’s than the national average (M. Foote, 2005).

They achieve this by offering minority students the quality education that private schools offer privileged students: rigorous curricula, opportunities for thoughtful discussion, and engaging assignments. Consortium schools set and meet high goals by using multiple, performance-based assessments rather than standardized exams.

And this occurs in New York, a state with the lowest graduation rate in the nation for black students.

Considering the woeful performance on 8th grade exams (a recurring nightmare that refuses to disappear) policymakers need to consider better ways to reduce the achievement gap. Consortium schools can provide a direction.

Dan Dmacich, co-chair
New York Performance Standards Consortium