Gaining New Perspectives on the  Achievement GAP

Scholars examining the academic achievement gap between Black and White students in grades K-12 worry that its persistence will result in continued social and economic inequality between Blacks and Whites in the United States.
The concern is valid, given the widespread consensus among scholars and policymakers that solutions must be found to improve the achievement of Black and Latino children, especially those living in impoverished communities.
Despite willingness to support taxpayer-financed vouchers for children to attend private schools — a controversial policy proposal thought to spell disaster for public schools — the incoming conservative Bush administration has placed reform of poorly performing schools high on its agenda.
"[President George W. Bush] has made it clear that he sees the urgency involved in making our classrooms safer, in equipping each child with reading and math skills, and in closing the inexcusable achievement gap that exists among students attending public schools across this country, particularly among minority students and economically disadvantaged students," said U.S. Education
Secretary Dr. Roderick R. Paige at his swearing-in ceremony.
Nevertheless, three decades of investigation and experimentation have produced a vast array of innovative schools, curricula, theories and policy proposals that, taken together, has yet to close the achievement gap on a national scale. What seemed to be promising progress by Black and Latino students on National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) standardized tests from the early 1970s to the late 1980s stagnated and declined during the 1990s.
At the dawn of a new century, scholars and policymakers remain optimistic that solutions for closing the achievement gap do exist. Legions of education experts have devoted their careers to closing the gap, and promising examples of schools, teaching practices and innovative curricula are in place around the country.
"We are collecting more and more evidence from schools across this nation that poverty and race do not have to be impediments to high achievement. [High quality] schools are closing the achievement gap by accelerating the progress of students who are at the low end of the scale, while ensuring that their best students are also being challenged," says Dr. Stephanie G. Robinson, a principal partner with the Education Trust organization in Washington, D.C. The Education Trust group is an independent nonprofit that specializes in achievement gap and education reform research.
Some observers see that a new honesty is emerging about the scope of the problem and the need for a new culture around intellectual development. In contrast to the school reform era of the 1970s and 1980s, Black and Latino underachievement is now being actively discussed and debated by the media, the civil rights establishment and even scholars. For example, Black middle-class parents are coming to grips with the reality that their children, like children from poorer homes, are failing to make gains in academic
performance.