Big-City Schools Begin to Ascend in Achievement By Michael Casserly* Nation's Cities Weekly August 9, 2004 Many of Americas great cities can now begin to look skyward as urban public schools have begun to take flight in academic achievement.  Judging by state-mandated assessments, students in big-city school systems have advanced substantially over the past several years in math and reading, particularly in the elementary grades. When comparing 2003 state test scores with the first year of the federal No Child Left Behind law in 2002, big-city school students have climbed significantly in math and reading. Improvement of public school students who scored at or above proficiency levels on their respective state tests in fourth- and eighth-grade reading and math can be found in 61 urban school districts in 37 states. The percentage of fourth graders in the Great City Schools reading at or above proficiency on their respective state tests increased from 42.9 percent in 2002 to 47.8 percent in 2003 a gain of almost five percentage points.  And the percentage of fourth graders scoring at or above proficiency on their state math tests increased from 44.2 percent to 51.0 percent a nearly seven percentage point gain over the same period. Reading scores among eighth graders were largely unchanged, however, and math scores increased by a modest three percentage points. One can be confident of these and other trends, recently reported in the Council of the Great City Schools Beating the Odds report, because they correspond so closely to reading results from the 2003 Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA).  These data showed that the nations largest central city school districts posted statistically significant gains in reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) between 2002 and 2003, but showed little headway among eighth graders. Improved reading performance among urban fourth graders did not occur solely between 2002 and 2003, of course.  If one looks closely at reading data from previous Council reports, one can see that many students were moving toward proficiency, but had not yet attained it. The most recent 2003 data suggest that there was a substantial gain in the numbers who actually reached that level. The data were also encouraging because they showed that about half of the cities were improving their reading and math scores at rates that were faster than their respective states.  This suggests that the cities were adding value over and above what federal and state reforms were creating. How has the improvement occurred? Some credit for the gains over the last several years goes to individuals who have been helping big-city school districts reform and improve.  Some credit goes to the extra federal money that has come. Some credit goes to the standards movement, which has helped urban school systems focus attention more sharply on student achievement. But the lions share of the credit goes to the cities themselves that have been working tirelessly outside the public eye and without much acclaim to raise student achievement.  They have heard the criticism.  They understand the stakes.  They embrace the challenge.  Urban school leaders acknowledge that there is still a long way to go before Americas Great City Schools reach the stars of high academic achievement.  But now since urban schools have taken flight, the urban educators are optimistic that the climb to higher altitudes is indeed attainable.   *Michael Casserly is the executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools, a Washington-based coalition of the nations largest urban public school systems.