NCREL Policy Issues
Issue 13, December 2002
A Message From Gina Burkhardt, NCREL Executive Director
With the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act, closing the academic achievement gap between poor and minority students and their affluent and majority peers has taken on new and urgent significance. This landmark legislation comes on the heels of exciting research indicating that having a high-quality teacher can substantially negate the impact of disadvantages associated with race or low income. NCREL is committed to providing policymakers with sound research to help make sense of the many recommendations to improve the academic performance of all students—especially low-income and minority students.
Yet one of the greatest challenges to understanding the achievement gap is that it cuts across income and geography. In other words, there are racial and ethnic gaps in performance not only between poor and affluent children but also between middle-income students and upper-income students. Whether students attend inner-city schools or well-resourced suburban schools, the gap persists. In this special, double edition of Policy Issues, two leading experts share their research findings to address what accounts for these gaps and what policymakers can do to address them.
