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	Last updated 01/20/06

Closing the Achievement Gap
Selected Resources

Many economically disadvantaged and minority students do not have the same opportunities for academic success as their more affluent peers. The NEA Foundation, in partnership with the National Education Association and others, is committed to accelerating the achievement rate for disadvantaged and minority students, while raising achievement for all groups of students. In June 2004, the foundation launched a grant program to reach this goal.

Below are selected resources that address research about the achievement gap and strategies for closing it.

Bibliographies and Compilations:

North Central Regional Educational Laboratory
NCREL maintains an excellent bibliography of web resources about the achievement gap, as well as an equally helpful annotated bibliography of print resources.

The Institute for Urban and Minority Education
Based at Teachers College, Columbia University, the institute promotes "school district reform to close the achievement gap between students of color and their peers." The institute maintains a compilation of research about the achievement gaps and related issues. Includes a useful list of data sources.

Education Commission of the States
The ECS website provides a convenient list of "quick facts" about the achievement gap, and describes what selected states are doing to close the gap. The site also includes a helpful annotated bibliography of recent research on the topic.

Reports, Books, and Articles:

Making Low-Performing Schools a Priority
This guide from the National Education Association's Priority Schools Initiative provides tools and success stories about identifying and improving low-performing schools. Sections address: curriculum, instruction, and assessment; staffing and professional development; school organization; and family and community involvement.

Addressing Racial Disparities in High-Achieving Suburban Schools
In this NCREL report, researcher Ronald Ferguson examines the racial and ethnic achievement gap in schools with a reputation for excellence. The author offers a series of policy and practice recommendations to improve achievement for black and Hispanic students.

All Students Reaching the Top:
Strategies for Closing Academic Achievement Gaps
Prepared by Learning Point Associates for the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, this 2004 report advocates efforts to improve minority student achievement through a systemic approach "that combines simultaneous interventions by families, teachers and administrators, and the larger society."

Parsing the Achievement Gap: Baselines for Tracking Progress
This 2003 report published by the Educational Testing Service examines in detail the school and non-school factors that account for differences in student achievement by race/ethnicity and economic status.

Closing the Achievement Gap: It Takes More than Testing
The Center on Education Policy's 2001 report provides key facts and trends about the achievement gap, recommendations for policymakers, and a framework for assessing strategies to close the gap.

Four Schools that Teach so All Students Learn
From The Journal of the Alabama Best Practices Center, this 2003 article analyzes four Alabama schools that have narrowed the achievement gap in comparison to state averages.

Hispanic Achievement
A concise survey of recent research about the Hispanic-white achievement gap compiled by the Education Commission of the States.

Closing the Gap One School at a Time
From the Harvard Education Letter, this article discusses the role of teachers and administrators in researching the black/white achievement gap in their schools, as well as strategies for improving student results. Includes a short bibliography.

Fifty Years After Brown: A Two-Tiered Education System
Published by the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, this study documents the inferior educational opportunities, materials, and facilities experienced by many low-income and minority students. The study is based on a Harris survey of more than 3,300 teachers in California, Wisconsin, and New York.

Gender Gaps: Where Schools Still Fail Our Children
This 1998 report from the American Association of University Women includes recommendations for preventing an achievement gap among girls in science, mathematics, and technology. AAUW has also published Tech-Savvy: Educating Girls in the Computer Age.

The New Gender Gap
A cover story from the May 26, 2003 edition of BusinessWeek provides an overview of achievement trends among boys.

Closing the Achievement Gap: A Vision for Changing Beliefs and Practices
Edited by Belinda Williams, this 2003 volume may be purchased from ASCD. Selected chapters available free online provide statistics about the achievement gap, and describe strategies used by schools and teachers to close the gap.

Who's Responsible for Closing the Achievement Gap?
Jean Snell of the University of Washington examines "three essential steps for school leaders in acknowledging and accepting responsibility for addressing long-standing educational inequities" (2003, New Horizons for Learning).

Websites and Organizations:

National Education Association
NEA's C.A.R.E. Guide helps educators reflect on the causes of disparity in student achievement and explore ways to improve academic success by using innovative, research-based instructional strategies.

Achievement Gaps
Another site hosted by the National Education Association providing a useful and comprehensive multimedia introduction to the achievement gaps.

Minority Student Achievement Network
With a mission "to discover, develop and implement the means to ensure high academic achievement for students of color," the network maintains a website with research about the achievement gap, promising practices, updates on participating districts, and reviews of relevant books.

National Governors Association
NGA has developed a policy primer on closing the achievement gap, with a particular emphasis on state action in the areas of early childhood care and education, teacher quality, college preparation, and "extra learning opportunities."

Alliance for Excellent Education
The alliance seeks to improve achievement among traditionally underserved adolescent students. Focus areas include adolescent literacy, teacher and principal quality, college preparation, and small learning communities.

Public Education Network
PEN has developed a Teacher Data Framework that can be used for examining teacher characteristics at schools serving large numbers of minority and/or economically disadvantaged students. The Community Assessment Framework is a tool for using data to assess the quality of student services and support systems both in and outside of school.

The Project on the Next Generation of Teachers
Based at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and directed by Susan Moore Johnson, the project "examines issues related to attracting, supporting, and retaining quality teachers in U.S. public schools." Includes "The Support Gap: New Teachers' Early Experiences in High-Income and Low-Income Schools", as well as other research papers.

Tripod Project
The project addresses curriculum, teaching, and relationships to improve academic achievement, especially among black and Hispanic students. The website includes materials, surveys, reports, and conversations.

American Association of University Women
AAUW sponsors research and maintains an active publishing agenda on the topic of gender equity in education.

A Tale of Two Schools
This PBS/WETA documentary examines two underprivileged schools and the efforts by school staff to help students succeed. The website is prefaced by researcher Linda Darling-Hammond's 1998 article from the Brookings Review, "Unequal Oppportunity: Race and Education."

Council of the Great City Schools
The council sponsors a task force on the achievement gaps and publishes a City-by-City Analysis of Student Performance and Achievement Gaps on State Assessments.

Compiled with assistance from Jessica Taylor