One look at the local numbers, and the achievement gap issue is an easy one to spot.

Several area high schools are not preparing black and Hispanic students at a college-ready level, at the same rate as their white counterparts. It is an issue in Aurora and all over the Fox Valley. On Saturday morning, several Project Ready students at the Quad County Urban League hosted a community forum to address this issue.

“The goal is to solve this achievement gap with what we have as a community,” QCUL Director of Education and Youth Services Dorletta Payton said. “We need to get folks involved.”

The problem is a serious one. At East Aurora High School only 12.9 percent of black students meet or exceed standards for reading, according to the Annual Yearly Progress Report numbers issued by the Illinois Interactive Report Card. Only 17 percent of Hispanic students meet or exceed standards.

At West Aurora, only 25 percent of blacks meet or exceed standards for reading, and 29 percent of Hispanics. The numbers are similarly low in both schools for math.

Schools throughout the Fox Valley face similar outlooks. Even at the more affluent Neuqua Valley High School, only 56 percent of black students meet or exceed standards for reading, compared to 81 percent of white.

Click here to read the full article on The Beacon News.