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Two schools make plans to address 'achievement gap'.

Article Excerpt
Byline: Melissa Jenco

mjenco@@dailyherald.com

Two area high schools are trying a new approach to bolster test scores for struggling black and Hispanic students by offering them additional assistance programs aimed almost entirely at minorities.

Leaders at Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley high schools in Indian Prairie Unit District 204 say it's time to acknowledge and address the achievement gap between white and minority students in their schools and across the country.

And part of that, they say, is to admit that people of different races and cultures aren't all the same and may learn differently.

"(People of color) look in the mirror and see color, so we should see color and also acknowledge that and know that person is coming from a different experience," Neuqua Principal Mike Popp said. "We should recognize that and then we should make sure we're being sensitive to the way this person learns."

At Waubonsie Valley in Aurora, students now can take a new all- black ACT prep course. At Neuqua Valley in Naperville, black and Hispanic students can get help with their homework from other minority students through the Face to Face program.

Students who are not minorities are not barred from either of the groups, but they aren't targeted by teachers to participate, either. And not all students invited to join the program do so. Less than half of the 60 students who were invited to be part of the all-black ACT prep course accepted the...

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