National Study: Unified Student Achievement Lags Behind National Average

RACINE — According to a recent study by the Stanford University Center for Education Policy Analysis, published by the New York Times, students in the Racine Unified School District scored a full grade level lower than the national average on reading and math scores.

It’s the second-lowest achievement average in the Metro Milwaukee area (to Milwaukee whose averages are nearly 2 full grades lower) according to the study.

The study, which included every school district in the U.S., investigated just how large the achievement gap between students in America's richest and poorest communities truly is.

Overall, the study showed that the yearly income of families was correlated to student performance. The study indicates that the most highly impoverished school districts achieved at levels four grades below children in some of the country's richest school districts.

In the Metro Milwaukee area, for example, while Whitefish Bay students scored 2.5 grades higher than the national average on reading and math scores (the highest in the area and one of the top scores in the U.S.), and the community median income is $132,000.

In contrast, the average median income in Cudahy is $55,000 and the average scores average out to 0.4 grade levels lower than the national average. Racine’s average median income is comparable at $52,000, but the district is a full grade below the national average on reading and math scores.

Correlation does not necessarily show causation across the country, as some communities with low median incomes have been shown to have high performance in their school districts. Greendale’s is middle of the road when it comes to median income, but has some of the region’s higher-performing students - outperforming students who come from districts whose communities have an average median income of $20-30 thousand higher.

Here is the full list of Metro Milwaukee communities showing student reading and math scores and how many grade levels they are above/below the national average. The number to the right of each municipality is its median income.

• +2.5 Whitefish Bay - 132k
• +2.3 Mequon-Thiensville - 128k
• +2.1 Elmbrook - 117k
• +2.1 Fox Point - 125k
• +1.9 Shorewood 96k
• +1.7 Germantown 100k
• +1.7 New Berlin 99k
• +1.6 Greendale - 75k
• +1.4 Wauwatosa - 82k
• +1.3 Muskego-Norway 99k
• +1.2 Whitnall 96k
• +1.5 Menomonee Falls - 86k
• +0.5 Glendale-River Hills 89k
• +0.4 Oak Creek-Franklin - 90k
• +0.3 Greenfield - 59k
• +0.3 Waukesha - 73k
• +0.1 West Allis - 52k
• 0.0 Saint Francis - 55k
• 0.0 South Milwaukee - 59k
• -0.4 Cudahy - 55k
• -1.0 Racine Unified - 52k
• -1.9 Milwaukee - 32k

Click here to view the full study by the University of Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis.

Click here to see the full New York Times report. You can also follow The Upshot, a division of the New York Times on Twitter @UpshotNYT.

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