Don't Worry, We'll Fix The Low Test Scores With More Test Prep!

Buried in this New York Daily News story about how the "achievement gap" between white and Asian students and black and Latino students widened with the new Common Core tests and how schools they had more high needs students did worse on the tests than schools with fewer high needs students is this doozy:

Despite launching several reforms to close the achievement gap, like Mayor Bloomberg’s Young Men’s Initiative, city education officials acknowledged that minority group students and other vulnerable populations will likely do worse when harder standards are implemented.

“Anytime you raise standards, the achievement gap for our neediest students gets bigger,” said Shael Polakow-Suransky, the city Education Department’s chief academic officer.

But officials vowed that scores would improve with the overhaul of lessons and test prep.

Ah, yes - more test prep, more obsession with test scores, more narrowing of the curriculum to only what is tested, more time added to the day for test prep, enrichment activities, recess and physical activity reduced so schools can spend more time on test prep.

Yeah, that should make things better.