Task force to tackle gaps in learning

Ogden School District Superintendent Catherine Ortega is trying to solve achievement gaps in her district — such as a tendency for English language learners to do well early on but start lagging behind by the end of elementary school.

Ortega says her district isn't alone in facing such issues, and she's looking forward to addressing educational achievement gaps on a state level as a member of a new task force created by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.

The goal: to come up with solutions to be presented to lawmakers in the next legislative session.

"By putting this task force together, we can see what has worked . . . what hasn't worked, and what are some areas of concern in the community," Ortega said.

Huntsman told the State Board of Education Friday that the panel is aimed at "recognizing first and foremost that we have an achievement gap and second . . . a best way to approach (it)."

In this and other education discussion groups, including those on high school rigor and school choice, Huntsman said: "I don't know if we've ever had this conversation as a state."

The 24-member panel includes an ethnically diverse mix of teachers, parents, administrators and other educational specialists, lawmakers, members of Coalition of Minorities Advisory Committee, and analysts from the University of Utah to examine achievement data. A policy and research committee will be chaired by Tim Bridgewater, the governor's education deputy; a community committee will be chaired by Yvette Donosso Diaz, executive director of the Department of Community and Culture.

They'll conceivably be comparing whites and ethnic minorities, native speakers and English language learners, and the poor and more well-to-do — to help identify and alleviate the problem.

"Ultimately we want to get around to some recommendations by the end of the year," Huntsman said.

Standardized test results for years have shown whites and more well-to-do students outperform ethnic minorities and low-income children. Last year, 81 percent of all white students were proficient on Utah's language arts Criterion Referenced Tests — status earned by about half of Hispanics and American Indians. In math, three-fourths of whites, but fewer than half of Hispanics, blacks and American Indians, scored "proficient."

Task force member and Public Education Appropriations Committee co-chairman Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, said institutional changes and boosted funding are on the table, though he said he doesn't yet have a sense of other lawmakers' mood on the issue.