Two new reports from The Education Trust—West, a statewide education advocacy organization, demonstrate the disturbing impact of California’s failure to close opportunity and achievement gaps plaguing African-American and Latino children who together now make up almost 60 percent of the state’s student population. In Opportunity Lost: The Story of African-American Achievement in California, 2010, and Futures At Risk: The Story of Latino Student Achievement in California, 2010, the group reveals a number of local school districts successfully dispelling the myth that African-American and Latino students cannot perform at grade-level or make great gains toward proficiency. The reports call on California policymakers to no longer be satisfied with convening task forces that highlight problems everyone knows exist, and recommend that state leaders instead focus on finally implementing high-impact solutions that have long been avoided or ignored.
