NCREL Policy Issues
Issue 13, December 2002
The Smart Library on Closing the Achievement Gap: NCREL's New Resource for Information
NCREL presents the Smart Library on Closing the Achievement Gap, a new resource for information and research on closing the achievement gaps. It is available online at www.ncrel.gap.smartlibrary.info. Education professionals seeking in-depth information about the achievement gaps now have a wealth of research and policy sources about this critical education topic right at their fingertips. The Smart Library presents this information in a user-friendly, easy-to-navigate, and highly readable format.
You can begin with an introduction to the achievement gap—what it is and what causes it; or you can jump right into the complexity of the issue and find answers to how school segregation may affect racial differences in achievement, information on trends in white-minority achievement gaps, or strategies that schools can use to help close the achievement gap.
If you attempt to understand the trends associated with the achievement gap, you likely will stumble upon the following information from the Center on Education Policy, taken directly from the Smart Library: "Math scores have shown the biggest improvement in the achievement gap. Between 1973 and 1999, the black-white gap narrowed for children ages 9, 13, and 17. The greatest change was made between 1973 and 1986, when the gap decreased by 22 points on the NAEP scale."
For this information and more, visit NCREL's Smart Library on Closing the Achievement Gap.
