Book: Closing the Opportunity Gap

Posted by on May 06, 2013

One gap leads to another

A new book from the Oxford University Press offers research-based essays by education experts that highlight the discrepancies in America’s public schools, focusing on how policy decisions and life circumstances create an “opportunity gap” that leads to stark achievement gaps. The nation’s high level of childhood poverty, coupled with the low level of social supports for low-income children’s health and welfare, creates daunting obstacles for learning. At the student level, effective policies would address key health issues; correctly identify the needs of language minority students; and expand access to high-quality early childhood education. Policymakers should also reform state funding laws to promote equitable and adequate school funding, with federal assistance to states to develop those policies, and provide adequate resources for safe and well-maintained school environments. Furthermore, policymakers should broaden the school curriculum; provide more and better learning time during the school year and summer; end disparities created by tracking and ability grouping; reform testing; and reassess student discipline policy. At the community level, effective policymaking can advance stable and diverse communities by promoting affordable and better integrated housing, creating integrated magnet schools, enforcing existing civil rights laws, and prioritizing diversity in school-choice policies.

http://edpolicy.stanford.edu/publications/pubs/761