City's schools cut racial gap in test scores

BOSTON, Dec. 1 - New York City has narrowed the gap in achievement between black and Hispanic students and their white counterparts, largely outpacing 10 other large urban school districts in addressing such disparities, according to federal reading and math scores in fourth and eighth grades that were released here on Thursday.

The scores, part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, often called the nation's report card, measured math and reading skills in 11 of the country's largest urban school systems. The scores are a subset of results from nationwide testing that is widely regarded as the country's best measure of school performance.