BI: Why has this issue taken so long to come before the public and policy-makers?

RF: In various forms, this issue has always been before the public. What has evolved over time is the implicit, or even explicit, understanding of what's possible, and what the goal should be, could be, or is.
In times of slavery, the debate was on should we even allow Black folks to learn to read — not should we give them the quality of education that Whites have, or help them try to reach the same standard of achievement that Whites reach.
Earlier, I talked about changes in the racial makeup of the society and changes in the needs of the economy, making it in everybody's interest to deal with the achievement gap. I think part of what's been happening also is that there's been an evolution in the plausibility of the proposition that there are no important genetic differences that affect intelligence.
I think that we all have an interest in believing that now. It's also partly that there have been enough bright, very successful African Americans to be what I call an existence proof. People know it can happen because they've seen it now. The question is now can we bring the whole group along in that same way. And I think it's out of style now to question whether that's possible. It may not stay out of style; it depends upon how much progress we make. …
It's important to be serious about the effort and to manage expectations. There is a limit on how fast we can go with this. We've got to develop the tools to do this before we can get it done. We're talking about right now starting from a place where we have to work with what we have in terms of teachers' existing skills, the way school is scheduled, the messages in the society, the quality of the textbooks and other materials.
It's a generational agenda, not an agenda for a few years. We need to manage our expectations so we don't declare failure too soon.