Achievement Gap In Education

The adoption of the policy No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in 2001, with its standards-based reform, pressed school leaders to become more aware of the issues of educational disparities. One belief of NCLB was the intention that through the increase in high-stakes accountability demands, our public K-12 school institutions would be challenged to produce improved achievement results for all students (Fusarelli, 2004). The outcome of such an intention has been the now prominent discussion of the abstract or technical identification of racial and class “achievement gaps.” A study by Paul E. Barton (2004) identified fourteen factors, divided into in school and beyond school categories, contributing to the achievement gap (among those identified factors discussed are parent participation, rigor of curriculum, and …show more content…
Furthermore, Carter and Welner (2013) argue that the “opportunity” framework moves our focus from student outcomes to the societal, school, and community inputs that create such significant differences in educational outcomes. Educational researchers A. Wade Boykin and Pedro Noguero (2011) remind us that “If we are not willing to acknowledge and confront the numerous barriers to the opportunity to learn that many poor and minority children experience, greater progress in reducing racial disparities will be difficult to bring about” (p. 7). Here, we may well recognize that the above researchers make the argument that shifting the discussion on the achievement gaps towards a focus on the opportunity gaps can provide both educators and policy makers a more holistic approach to tackling one of the most critical educational issues of this