Why is there an achievement gap in our Montgomery County high schools?

Today's (April 4, 2013) Montgomery County pullout section of the Washington Post has two pieces, one by Post education writer Jay Mathews and another by Gazette reporter Peggy McEwan, that actually provide a perfect picture frame for the MCPS achievement gap. 

Far up-county at Poolesville High School, white and Asian kids are writing complex research papers—and they do sound complex. They sound like the kinds of papers one expects from a college thesis assignment.  Here is a link to the Mathews’ piece:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/class-struggle/post/research-projects-harder-than-i-thought-but-worth-it/2013/04/04/d233147c-9cf2-11e2-9a79-eb5280c81c63_blog.html

Down-county at Wheaton High, black kids (that is all I see in the newspapaer photo) are making wigs. Now, the wig making is a worthwhile cause, with the wigs given away to cancer patients. I’m not making light of the cause. I have several close relatives to die from cancer and I appreciate what these kids are doing. Nevertheless, I doubt very seriously that wig making contributes in any substantial way to higher SAT and ACT scores, better AP performance, or in learning how to write and research things. If I’m wrong about that, I certainly do not mind readers calling me out. Here is a link to the McEwan piece:

http://www.gazette.net/article/20130401/NEWS/130409996/1042/wheaton-high-students-make-style-wigs-for-cancer-patients&template=gazette

And so the next time there is one of those inane and boring Montgomery County Board of Education debates about the achievement gap, God should show up (we can hope for miracles), stop the meeting, and then run a PowerPoint presentation that goes through photos of MCPS high school kids working on stuff and projects.  It wouldn’t take long for a sight-impaired person to see what the freaking deal is—why we have an achievement gap.