The largest spread between the two was in math and science. The smallest gap was in reading. Schools should find ways of giving mobile kids special attention because they are at risk of failing. Bagaka s analysis also showed that the test scores of mobile students suffered regardless of the students family income or whether they live with one or both parents. In many areas, poor mobile students do better than well-off mobile students.
Mobility refers to students who change schools one or more times during an academic year.
Students change schools frequently due to school choice, family moves, poverty, homelessness, changes in child custody and other problems. Cleveland s mobility rate has fallen from 19.5 percent in 1998 and 1999 to 15.8 percent in 1999 due in part to the end of desegregation, says Peter A. Robertson, Cleveland Municipal School District s executive director of Research, Evaluation and Assessment. Individually, however, high-poverty elementary schools such as Willow, East Clark, Bolton and George Washington Carver reported rates nearing 30 percent during the period. Based on student demographics and test scores from 1997 through 1999, the analysis indicated an achievement gap that varied little even as the test changed in difficulty during the period. The highest achievement gaps in math and science were 7.5 points and 9.2 points, respectively.