Does your district's Success Plan (RTTT) draw from the 90-90-90 Myth?

By Elizabeth Scheinberg

The "90/90/90 Schools" Myth

By Justin Baeder on May 30, 2011 2:59 PM

@eduleadership

One of the most widely cited studies on closing the achievement gap is Doug Reeves' "90/90/90 Schools" research, which asserted more than a decade ago (as reported in his book Accountability in Action) that schools can and routinely do get all or nearly all students to meet standard, despite extremely high poverty rates.

Given the growing consensus that poverty plays an undeniable role in the achievement gap—meaning the gap can be closed, but not without addressing poverty a la HCZ—I've been wondering what to make of the 90/90/90 schools. So I decided to do a little digging and see if there has ever really been any such thing.

Reeves defines 90/90/90 schools as those in which:

•More than 90 percent of the students are eligible for free and reduced lunch, a commonly used surrogate for low-income families

•More than 90 percent of the students are from ethnic minorities

•More than 90 percent of the students met or achieved high academic standards, according to independently conducted tests of academic achievement

When pressed for actual examples of 90/90/90 schools, Reeves provided a list of schools in Milwaukee that had 90% or more of students receive a "basic" or higher score on a certain reading test, the Wisconsin Reading Comprehension Test, in the 1998-1999 school year.

MORE HERE: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/on_performance/2011/05/909090_schools_revisited.html?cmp=ENL-EU-VIEWS2

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