Achievement Gaps Arise from Opportunity Gaps

Abstract

The ideas of “achievement gap” and “test score gap” have dominated policy discussions over the past two decades about American youths’ overall educational well-being. Meanwhile, scant attention has been paid to a gap that is even more at odds with American ideals: the opportunity gap—a divide that exposes the wide chasm of resources and social inequality in our society. The latter constitute the inputs that shape the outputs of achievement and mobility. In this talk, I will examine what I call the “ecology of opportunity” (or lack thereof) and offer some insights, based on evidence-based research, about not only the challenges embedded in U.S. educational institutions but also the supports and resources that would create deep and substantial improvements in student learning and achievement