I'm extremely concerned about my own principal's ability to utilize that kind of money effectively. This is based on what I've seen and experienced over the past few years. The money is needed, but without the wisdom to allocate it appropriately, it will be wasted.

I'm a primary teacher in a pk-8 school.

I think there are a lot of issues here. First, I'm unsure what statistics you are using to measure achievement, but I am assuming you are using the Stanford and MSA scores. They are very different test designed in some ways to measure different things. In primary, the material measured is much more concrete and as students get older, they have to handle and synthesize more and more complex information. What I have learned is that the struggles that many of our kids face makes that organization and synthesis much harder than the more concrete learning.

Also, a gap might start small in first grade, but will grow significantly if not addressed. And almost every child has gaps and some of those gaps do start before they come in to a classroom for the first time.

Also, the home problems that are sited in all of those studies of supporting early education do not stop when children enter school. In fact, in many cases the lack of support for a child's education grows as the child gets older and is expected to be more and more independent.

I'm not arguing that we are failing kids in ECE. Clearly, early educators are making some real strides and are addressing real challenges. I just think that it is more a case of comparing apples and oranges to measure first grade against middle school.

Huh? How do you know 800 first graders were performing above grade level but only 83 7th graders were? Says who? Define "grade level"? How are you measuring?

The system has not mastered middle school.. that is the problem. Middle school is the black hole of education. The students are no longer stimulated by the simple pleasures of youth and a lot of times are bored to distraction, ECR'd and BCR'd until their eyes get glossed over.

How do we interpret those statistics? That over 700 children fell behind? Or, perhaps more realistically, that over 700 children were taken out of the BCPSS system in favor of private school, parochial school, homeschooling, or moving out of the City to another public school district? Anecdotally, I know many parents who have tried our not-so-bad neighborhood school, then pulled their kids out by 2nd or 3rd grade...

Dmitri, the data come from standardized test results: the Stanford 10 taken by first-graders last year and the MSA taken by seventh-graders. An advanced score on the test is defined as above grade level. Momof2, an interesting point. I believe it's a combination of kids falling behind and being pulled out.

There is also another way to look at the statistics. With city schools in many neighborhoods getting better and better, more and more middle class families are sending their kids to public schools. These are young families with young children, for the most part. If schools are able to maintain these families and this success going forward, we may well see a significant jump in performance by the time today's first graders reach seventh grade.