Question

In this discussion board, the concept of the "achievement gap" as a case study for identifying, analyzing, and critically evaluating players and political, economic, social, and cultural assumptions in a controversy or problem was put forward. What are your critical perspectives of the "achievement gap" given your prior readings in this course? What perspectives are the authors advancing, and what might influence the authors' perspectives? Your initial post will run between 450-500 words in length.

Answer 1

Closely related to learning gap and opportunity gap, the term achievement gap refers to any significant and persistent disparity in academic performance or educational attainment between different groups of students, such as white students and minorities, for example, or students from higher income and lower income. Federal educational legislation in the United States has focused increased attention on the racial achievement gap between minority and majority students. The no child left behind legislation has forced high stakes accountability in public schools, with the assumption that these policies will create performance pressure on schools to improve achievement. Yet, there is considerable evidence that performance pressures alone are unlikely to reverse longstanding racialised policies and practices that remain neither well understood nor easily reversed.