Florida may be closing achievement gaps when it comes to minority students reaching basic levels in math and reading. But at advanced levels, many of those gaps are widening, according to a national report out today.

The report from the Indiana University Center for Evaluation and Education Policy finds that the "excellence gap" - the gap between the percentage of white and minority students scoring at the highest levels on standardized tests - is growing in most states.

In Florida, the percentage of white students scoring at the advanced level on the National Assessment of Educational Progress in fourth grade reading rose from 6 to 11 percent between 1998 and 2007. But the percentage of black students at that level only rose from 1 to 2 percent, while the percentage of Hispanic students rose from 3 to 6 percent. The report includes plenty of of FCAT and AP data that shows a similar trend.

Bottom line: Bright students are being shortchanged, the report suggests, by accountability measures that put so much emphasis on struggling students. Recent reports like this one and this one have come to similar conclusions, while reports like this one say it ain't so.