The Achievement Gap: Myths and Reality - EAOP

The Achievement Gap: Myths and Reality Author(s): Mano Singham Source: The Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 84, No. 8 (Apr., 2003), pp. 586-591 Published by: Phi Delta Kappa International Stable URL: . Accessed: 10/12/2013 13:08 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@. .

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__________________ T4 A

G

The Achievement Myths and Reality

Gap:

The repeatedattempts to explain and solve thevexing problem of theachievement gap have clearlybeen inadequate,Mr. Singham points out. Perhapswe have been focusing on thewrong factors entirely,he suggests.

BYMANO SINGHAM

HE GAP BETWEEN the achievement of

black studentsand thatofwhite students isone of themost infuriatingproblems

afflicting education. After all, it is clear

thatthereisnothing intrinsicabout"black ness or "whiteness"thatcanbe the cause of thegap.'There areno genetic or other immutable traits that could conceivably be the causeof the gap.Thus theproblem ismanifestly one thatcan and should be solved. Inaddition, thisques tionhasbeen studiedextensively,and asa resulwt e under

stand a lotmore about the causes of the gap now than we

did a generation ago.

Why then has the problem not been solved?As Iwill ex plain below, part of the problem is that the topic is fraught with myths. The difficulty with myths isnot that they are nec essarily false, but rather that they are beliefs whose truth or reality is accepted un critically. It is relatively easy to debunk outright falsehoods. Much harder to over come are those beliefs that have some element of truth in them but that are promoted

with a single-mindeddeterminationthatcanundermineattemptsto systematically solve theproblem.

M'ANO SINGHAM is a theoretical physicist and associate director of the University Center for Inno vation inTeaching and Education, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland.

586 PHI DELTAKAPPAN

Illustrationbassedon photo: EveWire Ima1ges

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The persistenceandprevalenceof thesemyths can ment gapmay be telling us that such a linear approach

be seen if you attend anymeeting or read any news may not be thebest strategyfor thisparticularprob

papereditorialthatdealws ith thecausesof theachieve lem.Infact,Iwill trytoarguecounterintuitivelythat,

ment gapbetweenblackstudentsandwhite students. while specificactionstargetedtowarmd inoritygroups

Youwill finda rangeof analyses(andacorresponding may be requiredin specialsituations,abetterway to

varietyof suggestedsolutions)b:iasedstandardizetdests, reduce or even eliminate the gap isnot to focus on the

teststhatdo notmatch thelearningstylesof blackstu gap at all but to look elsewhere.

dents, lessmoney spenton educatingblackstudents, Itmight beproductive,forexample,to lookat the

socioeconomicdifferences,lackofmotivation,nega importantrole thatmathematicseducationplays in

tivepeerpressurel,ackof familysupportforeducation, thefuturesuccessof studentsM. athematicsperform

teachebr iases,andmanyotherpossibilitieAs.ll of these ancehasbeenstudiedextensivelyandprovidesuswith

figureprominentlyin themenu of causes.

awealth of data. One of themost interesting studies

What iswrongwith allthesediagnoses?Inone sense, isbyCliffordAdelmanof theU.S.DepartmentofEd

nothingT. hey allcontain(oratleastcontainedatsome ucationw, ho conductedadetailedanalysisof thefac

time in the past) some element of truth, and their ad tors that play a role in determining the rates of bach

herentsmay be excusedforespousingthem.But none elor'sdegreecompletion.H6 e useddatageneratedby

of them,by themselvesc,ancome closetoexplaining theHigh SchoolandBeyondlongitudinasltudyw, hich

thegap.Almost everyhypothesishas somedegreeof followedanationalsampleof28,000 studentws howere

validity;yet,when eachone iscarefullystudiedand highschoolsophomoreisn1980until1993 (whenthey

solutionsbasedon itareimplemented,it failsto solve had reached an age of roughly 30) to seewhat factors

theproblem.

affectedcollegegraduationratesA. delmanfoundthat,

Forexample,thetestscoregapshrinksb, utonlyby althoughthecollege-accegsaspbetweenwhitesandblacks

a littlew, hen blackchildrenandwhite childrenattend and Latinos has closed over thepast two decades, thegap

thesameschoolsA. lso, theaverageblackchildandthe indegreecompletionremains20% or higherW. hat

averagwe hite child livein schooldistrictsthatspend is interestingis thatsocioeconomicstatus(SES)pro

almostthesameamountperpupil.B2 lack/whiteincome vides only a verymodest contribution to this gap and

differences are found to have only a small effect on test thatrace/ethnicitmy attersvery,very little.

scores.T3raditionaml easuresof socioeconomicstatus So what doesmatter?What determines the degree

(consistingof incomew, ealth,andparentael ducation) completion gap?Adelman found that ameasure de

accountforatmost one-thirdof thegap.4

finedas"academircesources("madeupof a composite

Some studies also suggest that the social costs and of high schoolcurriculum,testscores,andclassrank)

benefits of academic success are about the same for has much greater power than SES in predicting col

blacks as forwhites, thus casting doubt on the "nega legedegreecompletion.Forexample,studentsin the

tive peer pressure" theory,which asserts that, for a va lowesttwoSESquintilesb, utwith thehighestacadem

rietyof reasonsb, lackstudentcultureisaversetohigh ic resources, graduated at higher rates than themajor

academicachievementB. oth blackstudentsandwhite ityof studentsinthehighestSESquintileH. e alsofound

studentsdo littlehomeworkoutsideof schoolM. edi that the impact of high school curriculum is farmore

an blacks andmedian whites do between two and four pronouncedpositivelyforblackandLatino students

hoursof homeworkperweek, andonly 14%ofwhites than any other measure and that this consistently over

and 10% of blacks do 10 ormore hours perweek. Ra whelms such demographic variables as gender, race,

cial differences are also found to be negligible for skip andSES. Inotherwords, improvingthehigh school

ping school.O5 f course,suchstudiesdepend tosome curriculumhas a disproportionateploysitiveeffecton

extenton self-reportinbgy studentsandarethusdiffi studentsfromgroupsthattraditionalluynderachieve.

cult tocarryoutwith highaccuracWy.hile thevalidity Within thehigh schoolcurriculumt,hehighestlevel

of thesestudiescanbe challengedon suchgrounds,it ofmathematicsa studenthasstudiedhas thestrongest

isclearthatnoneof thesepopularnotionsareself-evi effecton degreecompletionF. inishingacoursebeyond

dently true.

the levelofAlgebra2 (forexample,takingtrigonom

With most complicatedproblems,theusualstrat etryorprecalculusm) ore thandoublestheodds thata

egy is to tryto rank-ordertheproblemsanddealwith studentwho enterscollegewill completeabachelor's

themoneata timeB. ut thefailuretoclosetheachieve degree.

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Why mathematicsplayssucha crucialrole isa lit schoolsinPittsburghT.his schoolsystemhaschalleng

tlepuzzlingA. fterallm, ost peoplemanage to leadsuc ingdemographics4:0,000 studentsattend97 public

cessfulandproductivelivews ithout havingtounder schools (59 elementary, 19middle, 1 1high, and 8 oth

standthemysteriesof, say,thecosinefunctionF. ormost er); 56% of the students are black, and 44% arewhite

everydaypurposess, omefacilitwy ith basicelementsof or other;more than60%of studentsqualifyfor free arithmeticandperhapssomeunderstandingof proba or reduced-pricleuncheMs. ost significantlfyorthepur

bilityareall thatpeopleneed.

poseof thisstudy,sincetheearly1990s,Pittsburghhas

But therearetangibleadvantageosf knowingmore made acoherenteffortto implementstandards-based

mathematicsI. tcanbearguedthatsubjectsthatformer educationinmathematicsandother subjectareas.

lywere substantiallyqualitative(biologyp, sychology, Schoenfeld'sanalysisdistinguishedbetweenwhat

economicsg, overnmentg,eographya)renow takingon werecalled"strongimplementationt"eacherasndoth

more quantitativaespectsand thatlackof comforwt ith er teachersT.he strongimplementationteacherws ere

mathematicscanmake studentsfeelinsecuraebouttak thoseinwhose classroomstudentswere familiawr ith

ingthosesubjectasnd thus

activitieasndproceduresspe

underminetheirperform

cificto thereformcurricu

ance to an extent that is

lum,visualaidsandmanip

well out of proportionto

cvult5 Thow that use

ulativews ereaccessiblaend

theactuaql uantityofmath ematicsinvolvedF.orwhat

of the rcform curricula

showedclearsignsof use, studentshad frequentop

everreasomn,athematichsas becomeakey"gatekeeper"

\ ign{ificintly narrrowcd

portunitiestowork togeth erandexplaintheiwr ork to

courseM. athematicsteach

ing and learning has also

the gqp bctwccn white and

one another,studenwt ork showedcurriculum-specif

been the toughesteduca tionalproblem;thesubject

unde,rrcprc5ntE

mrinoritihc, whilc

icprojectasndactivitiesa,nd noothercurriculuwmasevi

typicallhyasthelowespt ass in1crCa5ngthe pcrformranceof both

ratesinproficiencytests.

dentT. he studycompared themathematicsperform

Sincemathematiccslear

groUP ii ,alcl atcgoric5.

anceof studentisnwhatwere

ly plays an important role

called "strongimplemen

in the fiitnre success of stn

tationschools"(schoolsin

dentsw, hat does it taketo reducetheachievemengt ap which all the teacherws ere consideredstrongimple

inmathematicseducationA?n answerto thatquestion menters)with thatof studentsin "weakimplementa

might giveus insightsintohow toaddresstheoverall tion schools" (inwhich atmost only one or two teach

achievemengtap.Fortunatelyforus, themathematics erswere strongimplementers).

educationcommunityhasw, ithin thelasttwodecades, The resultsshow thatuse of the reformcurricula

made adeterminedeffort toaddresstheproblemsof significantlnyarrowedthegapbetweenwhites andun

mathematicseducation.

derrepresentmedinoritiesw, hile increasintgheperform

In1989, theNationalCouncilofTeacherosfMath ance of both groups in all categories. On tests of so

ematics issuedCurriculumandEvaluationStandards calledbasicskills,scoresforwhites increasedfrom48%

forSchoolMathematicasd, ocumentinterweavincgon to72% (a50% increasew), hile scoresforblacksrose

tent (number,algebra,geometrym, easurement,data from30% to75% (a150%increaseO).n problemsolv

analysisa, ndprobabilityw) ith process(problemsolv ingw, hite scoresincreasedfrom18%to54% (a200%

ing, reasoningandproof, connections,communica increasew), hile blackscoresrosefrom4% to32% (a

tion,andrepresentationB)y. themid-1990s,goodcur 700% increaseO). n mathematicsconcepts,scoresfor

riculareflectingthesestandardwsereavailableforadop whites increased from 20% to 60% (a200% increase),

tion. Large-scale data are now beginning to come in while scores for blacks increased from 4% to 40% (a

that will allow us to analyze the results of such stan 900% increase)T. hus, while both groups improved,

dards-basededucation.

thescoresforminoritygroupsimprovedbymuch larger

A recentstudybyAlan Schoenfeldpoints to some amounts.

significantfeatures.S7choenfeldanalyzeddata from What these data suggest is that it ispossible to great

588 PHIDELTAKAPPAN

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lyreduce(andinsomeareaseliminate)thegapinmath schoolsindicatesthatit takesa seriousefforttoprovide

ematicsachievementthrougheducationamleasuresthat all-roundgood teachingI.t takesabout10yearsof sup

donotdirectlytargettheachievemengt ap.The educa portandprofessionadlevelopment(collaborativsetudy,

tionalremedieasdoptedwerenot race-specifiTch. e re observationk,nowledgeof curriculaa,nd lessonrefine

ductionsin thegapswere achievedby ageneralfocus ment aspartof teacherso'ngoingdailyresponsibilities)

on improvingtheeducationaal chievemenot f allstu foreventalentedbeginningteachertsoacquirethechar

dents,whatevertheirethnicity,gender,or SES.

acteristicosf "strongimplementationt"eacherst:hatis,

That suchabroadereffortat improvementisboth tobecomeaccomplishedprofessionals.(It is interest

necessaryanddesirablecanbe seenby lookingat the ingthatthisparticularesultisreplicatedin independ

latesNt AEP (NationaAlssessmenotf EducationaPlrog ent studiesof collegeteachersaswell.')But suchsus

ress)resultsformathematicsN. AEP testsaregiven to tainedinductionandprofessionadl evelopmentrarely

representaticvreoss-sectionosf studentsatvariousgrade happeninourschoolsystemsN. ew teacherasreuncere

levelsacrossthecountryand aregradedon a 0-500 moniouslydumpedintoclassroomasnd lefttofendfor

scaleF. orgrade-12 studentsin2000, theaveragwehite themselvesI.sitanywonder thatsomany noviceteach

scorewas 308, and theaverageblackscorewas 274.8 ersfailtodevelopashoped forand even leaveteach

A traditionaflocuson eliminatingthegapwould try ing?

to findways to raiseblackscoresto about308, thus It isnot hardtounderstandwhy good teachingre

eliminatingthe34-pointgap.But evenifwe succeeded, duces the gap.What happens in the classroom-

wouldwe havesolvedtheunderlyingproblemH? ardly. both in termsofwhat the teacherdoes andof the re

I suggestthatthegapwe shouldbe focusingon is lationshipthatiscreatedbetweentheteacherandstu

thedifferencebetweenwhere allstudentsarenowand den-t isextremelyimportantB. ut adisturbinganal

wherewe believetheyshouldbe.TheNAEP scoresal ysisbyKatiHaycock,CraigJeralda, ndSandraHuang

lowus tomake thiscomparisonbecausebenchmark showsthat,ingeneral,blackstudentsreceiveadispro

levelsarespecified,enablingone tomake judgments portionateamountof poor teaching.C10omparedwith

aboutthelevelsreachedby studentsT. he realityisquite white eighth-graderbs,lackeighth-graderasretwiceas

depressingF. or studentsingrade12, a basic levelof likelytohaveteacherwsho placelittleemphasios n de

achievementinmathematics(denotingpartiaml astery veloping labskills,four timesas likelytobe assessed

of knowledgeandskillsthatarefundamentaflorpro usinghands-onactivitiesonceor lesspergradingperi

ficienwt ork) requireasminimum scoreof 288; apro od, twiceas likelytohavea scienceteachewr ho does

ficientlevel(representinsgolidacademicperformance not emphasizdeevelopmenotf data-analyssiskills,three

and competencyoverchallengingsubjecmt atter) re timesas likelytoengageinhands-onactivitieslessthan

quiresa scoreof 336; anadvancedlevel(representing twiceamonth, lesslikelytohavea teachewrho partici

superioprerformancer)equireasminimumscoreof 367. pated inprofessionadl evelopmentthepreviousyear,

NAEP believesthatallstudentsshouldreachat least much lesslikelyto have a certifiedteachewr ho has

theproficient-leveslcoreof 336. Butwe see thatthe subjectcompetencyf,ourtimesaslikelytohaverooms

averagNeAEP scoresof bothwhite studentsandblack with little or no access to running water or a labora

studentsarewell belowtheproficientlevel.In fact,only tory,andmuch lesslikelytohaveall thenecessarmy a

20%ofwhites scoreaboveproficientlevelsw, hile only terials.

3%of blacksareaboveproficient.So even if,aftertre Compoundingthisgap in teachingqualityisthefact

mendous effort,we were to raisetheaveragescoreof thatthe impactof teacherexpectationsis threetimes

black12th-gradersto308, both ethnicgroupswould as great for blacks as forwhites and also larger for girls

stillhave80%of studentsbelowproficiencyI.nother and forchildrenfrom low-incomefamilies.Interest

words, theirperformancweould be equal,but equally ingly,theethnicityof the teacherhas littleeffecton

dismal.There is littlepoint ineliminatingthegap in studentperformance8:1%of blackfemalesand62%

thisway. Itmay solvethepoliticalproblemof inequal of blackmaleswant to pleasethe teachemr ore than

ityb, ut itdoesnot solvetheeducationaplroblemof stu theydo aparent;thecomparablefiguresforwhites are

dent underachievement.

28% forfemalesand32% formales.1"Inotherwords,

What would ittaketoachievethemoreworthwhile the impact of the teacher is fargreater forminority stu

goalof havingallstudentsreachat leasttheproficiency dents.Sinceeffectiveteacherps roduceasmuch as six

levelof 336?The Schoenfeldanalysios f thePittsburgh timesthelearningainsproducedby less-effectivteach

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ers,'2itshouldnot be surprisingthatgood teachercsan suchpassiveclassrooms.

havesuchadifferentiallpyositiveeffectonminoritystu A secondnecessarycomponentof effectiveteach

dents.

ing istheacquisitionof certaingenericteachingskills

The condusionthatgood teachinmg atterswill strike that are conducive towhat isknown as "active learn

many as so obvious asnot to beworth stating.And so ing"by students:the ability to organizewell-struc

it should be. But we do not act as if itwere obvious. If turedcooperative-learnincglassroomsk, nowinghow

we reallythoughtso, thenthecontinuousprofessional to implementhands-onand inquiry-basedinstruc

developmentof teacherse, speciallythosenew to the tion,knowingwhat it takesto createconditionsfor

professionw, ould head thelistof alleducationreform enhancingintrinsicasopposedtoextrinsimc otivation

effortsW. hat's more, itwouldn't be justanykindof instudents,1a4ndtheabilitytopreparechallenginmg a

professionadl evelopmenteither anddefinitelynot teriaal nd toprovidesupportforstudentsuccessT. each

thekindof scattershots,ingle-sessionw,orkshop-style ers should learn how to increase "wait time" inways

programsthatpassforprofessionadl evelopmentinso thatenablestudentstoreflecmt ore thoughtfillyonques

many schooldistricts.

tions. Ithas been shown, for example, thatminority stu

What needs to happen is for school systems to have dentsin integratedclassroomsparticipatme orewhen

a sustainepdrogramof plannedprofessionadl evelop thewait time islongerT. his tacticimprovestheirper

ment for each new teacher that lasts over a period of formanceandalsochangesteacherperceptionsT. each

about 10 years.Such a sustained program should use our ersshouldalsolearnthevalueof providingcorrective, bestknowledgeofwhatmakes studentws ant to learn neutralfeedbackto theirstudent-s askillevenmore

andshouldprovidenew teacherwsith thekindsofmen valuablethanextendingwait time.Teacherws ho prac

toringt,raininga, ndfeedbackthatcan takethemfrom ticeprovidingsuchfeedbackarelessabletopredictstu

promisingnew recruitsto theskilledpractitionerwsho dents'laterachievementws,hich haspositiveeffectson

can have a transforming effect of students. This out

comecannotbe achievedquicklyand cheaply. What would sucha long-termprofessionaldevel

performancee, speciallyforminority students.

The final component - and one that is frequently

overlooked- is the need for the teacher to havepeda

opment program consist of? How People Learn, a re gogicalcontentknowledgein thespecificsubjectsbeing

cent publicationof theNational ResearchCouncil, taught.In any subject,studentsarrivewith precon

providesguidelinesonwhat isnecessary."I3n thissur ceivedknowledgethatmay conflictwithwhat the in

vey, a group of academics analyzed the research evi structoris tryingto teachT. his knowledgeisoften so

dencefromcognitivescience,education,andbrainre deeply buried in the student's mind that he or shemay

searchand found a suggestiveconvergenceof ideas not evenbe awareof it,but thesediscipline-specific

fromthethreefieldsT. he researcehvidenceisquitedear learningobstaclesdrive learningnonetheless,and, if

thatthreecomponentsgo intomakingeffectiveteach teachers do not take them into account, their best ef

ers:contentknowledgeg, enericteachingskillsa, ndped fortscanbe nullified.

agogicacl ontent knowledge.

Forexample,in teachingthe subjectof electricity,

It is easy to understand the benefits to a teacher of a teacher should be aware thatmost people believe im

havinggood contentknowledge.It isextremelyhard plicitly and strongly that a battery provides the same

for teachersto teachwith flexibilityand resourceful amount of current in all situations. Iwas incredulous

nessif theythemselveasrehavingdifficultyunderstand when I first heard of this because no science textbook

ingthecontenttheyareteachingT. eachersdonot have ever teaches such a thing, and itwas inconceivable to

to be content experts, but they do need to have a suf me how anyonecould acquiresuchan erroneousbe

ficientlevelof comfortwith thematerial. Ihavecon liefButmany yearsof teachingelectricityto teachers

ductedenoughprofessionadlevelopmenctoursesto re haveconvincedme thatthisbelief iswidespreadN. ow

alize that, at least in themathematics and science areas, that Ihave acquired a greater appreciation of how peo

many teacherasreunprepareds,omewoefully so.Such ple learn, itdoes not seem nearly so preposterous as it

teachers tend to take refuge in amode of teaching domi did a decade ago. In the course of their everyday lives,

natedby textbookasndlecturesb,ecausedoingso lessens people try tomake sense of phenomena and build (of

the chance that students will become engaged, begin to ten unconsciously) mental models that satisfy them.The

explore new ideas,and so ask questions- thus exposing idea that a battery produces a fixed amount of current

the teacher'oswn ignoranceL. ittle learningoccursin doeshaveanempiricabl asis,and itmakessensetopeo

590 PHI DELTAKAPPAN

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ple. If a teacher tries to teach electricity without hav ing his or her students examine the consequences of this hidden and erroneous belief, much of that teach ingwill be wasted.

1.Mano Singham, "The Canary in theMine: Closing the Achievement

Gap Between Black and White Students," Phi Delta Kappan, Septem

ber 1998, p. 8; and idem, "Race and Intelligence: What Are The Is

sues?," Phi Delta Kappan, December

1995, p. 271.

The same can be said about any subject, however esoteric. No student isever ablank slate.They all come with preconceptions, and a teacherneeds to learnwhat the specific preconceptions are for a particular topic and, instead of ignoring them, know how to use these

preconceptionsto teachstudentsmore effectively.

The important point is that all thesemeasures are good for all students. The worst thing about much of the current discussion on how to eliminate the achieve ment gap is that it focuses on what should be done with minority students. This has the effect ofmaking it look as if it is aminority problem.

Such thinking has many unfortunate effects, apart from the fact that discussions of the topic invariably have jarringovertones of patronization and condescen sion toward theminority community. First, many in

themajoritycommunitydisengagefromthediscussion,

feeling that it isnot theirproblem. Second, the discus sion becomes divisive and is frequently framed as a competition for resources, with whatever is given to solve the "minority problem" being thatmuch taken away from teaching white children. Third, seeing the achievement gap as aminority problem breeds the sus picion that attempts to narrow the gap involve trying to "dumb down" the curriculum so that equality is achieved by reaching some sort of lowest common de

nominator.Finally,thewhole en

2. Christopher Jencks and Meredith Phillips, eds., The Black-White Test Score Gap (Washington D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 1998), p. 9.

3. Ibid., p. 23.

4. Meredith Phillips and the Black-White

45.

et al., "Family Background,

Parenting Practices,

Test Score Gap," in Jencks and Phillips, pp. 103

5. Philip J. Cook and Jens Ludwig, "The Burden of Acting White': Do

Black Adolescents Disparage Academic Achievement?,"

in Jencks and

Phillips, pp. 375-400.

6. Clifford Adelman, Answers in the Toolbox: Academic Intensity,

dance Patterns, and Bachelors Degree Attainment

(Washington,

U.S. Department

of Education,

1999).

Atten D.C.:

7. Alan H. Schoenfeld, "Making Mathematics Work Issues of Standards, Testing, and Equity," Educational ary/February 2002, pp. 13-25.

for All Children: Researcher, Janu

8. The Nations Report Card: Mathematics 2000 (Washington, D.C. N: a tional Center for Educational Statistics, NCES 2001-517, August 2001).

9. Robert Boice, Advice for theNew Faculty Member Bacon, 2000).

(Boston: Allyn and

10. Kati Haycock, Craig Jerald, and Sandra Huang, Closing the Gap: Done in a Decade (Washington, D.C: Education Trust, Thinking K

16, Spring 2001).

11. Ronald F. Ferguson, "Teachers' Expectations Gap," in Jencks and Phillips, pp. 273-317.

and the Test Score

12. Haycock, Jerald, and Huang, op. cit.

13. How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience ton, D.C: National Academy Press, 1999).

and School

(Washing

14. Alfie Kohn, Punished by Rewards (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993).IC

terprise of focusing on the gap as a

minority problem tends to ignore

the serious matter of the educa

tionalunderachievemenotf many white studentsaswell.

We need to create an awareness

that the achievement gap isa symp

tom of more widespread educa

tional problems. We should not

treat it as a black problem, with

white levels of achievement as the

norm.Ifmathematicsperformance

is any indication, the overall per

formance of both groups leaves

much to be desired.We need to re

alize that implementingremedies

that aregood for all can be even bet

ter for those who are currently

fallingbehind.

"I'mall forcontinuing education. Ijustwish Dexter hadn't takenup pot tery."

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