Educators don’t fret about the racial achievement gap at Gateway IS 364 in Brooklyn — because they’ve eliminated it.
“I like to say we’re the best-kept secret in Brooklyn,” Principal Dale Kelly said of his Starrett City middle school, where enrollment is 93 percent black and Hispanic.
IS 364 wasn’t always such a success.
In 2002, only 18 percent of its eighth-grade stu dents passed the state English exam. Only 14 percent passed the math exam.
But this year, 77 percent of Gateway’s eighth- grade Hispanic students passed the English exam — nipping the 76 percent citywide average for white students. Two-thirds of its black stu dents also passed.
Meanwhile 77 percent of its Hispanic students and 73 percent of its black students passed the eighth-grade math test last year — almost matching the 78 per cent rate for whites citywide.
Kelly said the intimate, small-school environment — Gateway has 400 students — made it easier to implement reforms with a dedicated faculty.