MADISON, Wis. (AP) _ Wisconsin is hoping to cut its worst-in-the-nation student achievement gap in half within six years _ a goal that would require a dramatic upsurge in test scores by non-white students.
The Department of Public Instruction set that as a primary goal in a draft accountability plan it released Friday. The plan also aims to cut the graduation gap in half.
The plan is required under the federal Every Child Succeeds Act.
The plan also calls for struggling schools to work more closely with families and local communities to turn them around. That's a more collaborative and locally focused approach than was permitted under the previous law that focused on punishing schools deemed to be failing.
Education leaders who worked on the state plan call the goals ambitious but doable.