Step 3: Produce 50% More Students who are "Advanced" = Attract High-end Development and Produce an Innovation Economy
Delegate Levi’s Record of Action
Reversing the “summer slide”
Delegate Levi has been a leader in proposing programs to increase the number of students testing advanced and reverse the "summer slide"11 phenomenon that can lead to an achievement gap for minority and low-income students. She assembled a group of church, academic, non-profit and business leaders and paid grant writers to compete for dollars to fund a free summer math project in Lanham and Capitol Heights.
Federal stimulus dollars are being sought now to improve and expand the free programto other areas of the county .
Today’s Knowledge-Based Economy Values Critical Thinking…
In today’s knowledge-based economy , employers value problem-solving, teamwork and communications skills. We have to produce more county students with those skills and who are advanced, and prepared to attain PhDs, innovate new technologies and register patents.
Relatively Few Minority Students Advanced in Math…
See Maryland Report Card (2008 and 2009)12
Advanced Placement (AP) Equity and Excellence Gaps13
While Hispanic youth in Maryland are sitting for and passing AP exams in proportion to their representation in the student population, African-American students continue to lag in Maryland and every other state in the nation.
African-Americans are 33.9% of the student population in Maryland but make up just 9% of those students scoring a 3 or better on AP exams.
Time Can Make the Difference
8 to 15 hours a week of homework14...
A synthesis of 51 research studies looking at the role of parent, family and community involvements, cited:
Academic success (as measured by standardized test scores) is more likely when students spend 8-15 hours a week fully engaged in out-of-school learning activities
Teacher Identify Time as the Most Important15...
One state’s survey of 40,028 teachers, asked:
"What is the most important teaching condition for promoting student learning?"
- 29% said Time
- 28% said Teacher Empowerment
- 21% said Facilities & Resources
- 13% said School Leadership
- 9% said Professional Development
11 Karl Alexander, Lasting Consequences of the Summer Learning Gap. Research conducted by Johns Hopkins sociology Professor Karl Alexander and his colleagues shows that low-income youth suffer significantly from a loss of academic skills over the summertime. And the losses pile up, contributing to an achievement gap that can make the difference between whether students set out on a path for college or decide to drop out of high school.
12 Maryland Report Card (2008 and 2009)
13 College Board, AP Report to the Nation, Table 2 (2009). The Equity and Excellence measures the race or total student population versus students scoring 3 or higher on AP exams.
14 Clark, Reginald M., Ten Hypotheses about What Predicts Student Achievement for African-American Students and All Other Students: What the Research Shows (2002).
15 The Massachusetts Teaching, Learning and Leading Survey: Creating Conditions Where Teachers Stay and Teachers Thrive (2009).
