The Reading Gap. I know the answer.

You know the story by now ...

The average reading ability for fourth- and eighth-grade black students in Wisconsin is the lowest of any state, and the reading achievement gap between black students and white students in Wisconsin continues to be the worst in the nation.

Those are among the facts found in a mass of testing results released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Education, the latest results from a long-standing federal program called the National Assessment of Education Progress. It is the closest thing to a nationwide standardized testing program for reading and math ability.

Based on Wisconsin's demographics, this Black-White disparity is actually a proxy for Milwaukee vs. non-Milwaukee schools. Milwaukee's schools stink, so the scores for African-American kids in Wisconsin will stink too.

One reason these children cannot read is because of Milwaukee's use of "Whole Language" or other educational frauds. My lily white kids attended MPS for just one year, but their educations were harmed for many years. If my middle class kids in a two parent home are negatively affected by one year of this crap, what chance do poor kids in single parent home facing 12 years of it have?

It isn't income. It isn't family. It isn't race. It is those rotten schools.

Make MPS teach phonics. Watch that racial gap close.