Therefore, I told the audibly impatient reporter, the difference between groups that she gave me did not directly measure whether African Americans in Boston schools were falling farther behind whites. That might have been the case, but it was also possible that it was not. With the simple statistics that used to be routinely reported, such as mean scale scores, I could have told her. But differences among groups in terms of standards-based statistics, particularly changes in the percent exceeding the proficient standard, now dominate reporting of the achievement gap.
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