Achievement Gap Report (PDF, en Español)

Because of his expertise on education policy, Jay can quickly become a leader in the state Senate on that vital issue. In the report on the achievement gap that he co-authored in 2008, Jay wrote, “Arkansas has done some great things in recent years to improve education for our children. However, there is much more to do. Those who have worked hard to reform Arkansas’s education system in this decade cannot rest on their laurels.” To help close the gaps in educational outcomes between white and African-American, white and Latino, and more and less wealthy students in Arkansas we need to focus our energies in several areas:

• expanding the percentage of Arkansas students who take advantage of the first rate Arkansas Better Chance (ABC) program in the pre-K years;
• ensuring small class sizes in grades K-3 in schools with large percentages of low-income, African-American, and Latino students;
• developing programs that will promote ongoing parental engagement in schools;
• promoting accessibility to in-school health clinics in the state so that children can come to school healthy and ready to learn;
• expanding afterschool and summer learning opportunities for students.

Governor Beebe’s Task Force for Best Practices in After-School and Summer Programs, of which Jay was a member, put forward specific recommendations about what Arkansas should do in this important area of educational policy. In the legislature, Jay will work to enact those recommendations along with other programs, supported by good research, that will make excellent education available to all the state’s students and will promote the economic future of Arkansas.