Arundel School Closes Achievement Gap

The Washington Post describes today a school that has achieved the current holy grail of education--a non-existant achievement gap. This school, in the middle class neighborhood of Glen Burnie, MD (just south of Balitmore) achieved this success with:

a new county superintendent, Eric J. Smith; a new statewide test, the Maryland School Assessment; five new teachers; and a new principal, Maurine Larkin, a giddy educator who occasionally allowed herself to be wheeled around the campus on a dolly.

The story points out that personalities matter, more so than money or curricula. This school boasts a 94% proficiency rate among third graders and 82% among third and fourth graders combined--as good or better than other racial groups.