Throughout its 132-year history, the school has wrestled with the achievement gap. In addition, we hosted a sold-out American Educational Research Association site visit.Įvanston Township High School, located just north of Chicago, enrolls 2,300 students and is 30% black, 16% Hispanic, 43% white, and 41% low income. We’ve received national attention in both the National Journal (Quinton, 2015) and PBS NewsHour (Friedman, 2015). Student access to and success in honors and Advanced Placement (AP) courses are at all-time highs. The Chicago Tribune editorial board (2010) characterized our freshman restructuring as “Honors? Horrors!” claiming that restructuring would not have a positive effect on student achievement and would actually hurt college prospects for top students. The change was met with controversy in the community and in the media. These gaps contribute to opportunity gaps - and Evanston Township decided to do something about it. Across the United States, gaps of between 25 and 30 points in reading and mathematics between whites and blacks and between whites and Hispanics have been consistent from 1992 to 2013 (Kena et al., 2014). The fact is, income gaps are widening, and gaps in academic achievement persist. The school’s rationale? Students who have access to and succeed in the most rigorous courses have opportunities to attend college and earn more during their careers than those without similar access or success. The school detracked freshman English, history, and biology courses for the vast majority of students - and, by doing so, removed barriers for historically under-represented student groups and provided greater access and opportunity to all. In 2010, Evanston Township High School dramatically changed its freshman year for incoming students. A diverse high school detracks its freshman courses and sees impressive gains down the road in terms of AP attendance and achievement scores.
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