Issues Forum: Fact or Fiction: Data Tell the True Story Behind America's Urban School Districts

Many American believe that urban schools are failing to educate the students they serve. The perception, fed by numerous reports and observations, is that urban students achieve less in school, attain less education, and encounter less success in the labor market later in life. CUBE seeks to dispel many myths related to urban school performance by sharing new data from Standard & Poor's eye-opening new spending and performance analysis of more than 25 of the country's largest urban school districts. Join this compelling session and learn that many large urban districts are making greater gains in reading and math test scores and spending less relative to the needs of their students than their respective state averages. Interestingly, S&P's analysis also found that in many cases white students are failing key academic measures in greater numbers than their African-American and Hispanic classmates.

Presider:

• Brian K. Perkins, CUBE Steering Committee Chair and Board President, New Haven Public Schools, New Haven, CT

Presenters:

• Robert Durante, Director, Standard & Poor's School Evaluation Services, New York, NY
• Jason Willis, Senior Research Assistant, Standard & Poor's School Evaluation Services, New York, NY
• Dan Bugler, Chief of Research, Evaluation, & Accountability, Chicago Public Schools, Chicago, IL