About this column:
Education reporter Carol Marshall takes a closer look at Farmington Public Schools issues and programs.
In my professional lifetime, I’ve covered hundreds of board of education meetings. I usually leave the meetings thinking about what information is going to be the most important to the community. Sometimes I leave the meeting saying, “Well that was interesting.” And on rare occasions, I leave the meeting wishing I’d brought a spoon with which to poke myself in the eye, just for something interesting to do. But I’ve never left a meeting saying, “Well that was just one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.” Until last week. At the Jan. 25, 2011, Farmington Public Schools Board of Education …
When Andy Hill, a junior at Farmington High School, saw the numbers in black and white, he said he was shocked. He hadn't before realized that there was such a pronounced gap between white and minority students' performance on standardized tests like the ACT and SAT. Farmington Schools has identified what the district calls a "distinct gap" in achievement between African American students and other subgroups. The numbers came to light in statistics reported through the federal No Child Left Behind Act. "It was just shocking to me just how low and how high and how separated by race (the scores…
