Closing the achievement gap in education is an important goal for many educators. American education experienced a long and sustained period of school reform, fraught with significant challenges. Legislators and governors alike have made the school reform movement their top priority since the 1980s. The school reform movement has seen profound gains in the past and continues to face significant challenges, although it has achieved its goal of creating school, student performance and institutional policy. One of the main goals is to close the achievement gap in education.
Understanding the achievement gap
Closing the achievement gap is about equalizing opportunities between people who come from different races and/or economic backgrounds. There is a growing difference in the performance of students who come from disadvantaged minorities compared to the performance demonstrated by white students in the same grade level. This achievement gap is clearly a matter of racism and the effects of the power of privilege. Educational institutions, educators and policy makers are facing a real lack of understanding about creating and developing schools that can cope with the context of a diversified society. The challenge continues with creating the right policy that can help close the achievement gap.
Policies to close the achievement gap
The National Governors Association for Best Practices is investigating the achievement gap challenge facing schools today. This requires the creation of new policies and the development of old policies to close the achievement gap that occurs in the United States and throughout the world, between poor and minority ethnic groups. The policy manual reveals the nature of the performance problem, its history, and the efforts of the various states to resolve the existing problem. The handbook also discusses statewide alternative solutions and strategies, including issues and important factors to avoid when implementing solutions.
The No Child Left Behind Act or NCLB is an attempt by the federal government to close the achievement gap. The policy establishes a new accountability practice for America’s schools to set the same standards with a detailed plan for evaluating performance to ensure students meet the schools’ pre-set standards. The NCLB framework allows a student to transfer to other schools located in the same district if they do not pass the performance test set by the school. It is the responsibility of the school district to provide supplemental services to persistently failing students, as well as options to study at other schools operating within the same district. The school needs to demonstrate adequate progress on the problems of persistently failing students. Failure to show progress makes them open to corrective action by state law.
Schools focus on their performance goals based on the conditions of students with disabilities and who come from disadvantaged family backgrounds. This includes students who have limited English language skills and proficiency. However, well-performing schools are still required to modify school practices, policies, and governance to accelerate and improve the educational experience of the disadvantaged group of students. The state considers a school to be performing well only when it closes the achievement gap. The intervention of the new federal law in the educational landscape has created a stir among schools struggling to comply with the new set of policies and criteria.
