“Reality is not about facts, but about the relationship of facts to one another,” writes Ronald Steel, biographer of the syndicated columnist Walter Lippmann (1986, p. 158). Steel was talking about how difficult it was to sift through facts in order to write his biography of a complex personality. He was also explaining a tenet of Lippmann's book, Public Opinion—that there are many sides to a “fact.”
One fact about our most important challenge in education—closing achievement gaps—seems to be clear: In the United States, blacks and Hispanics significantly trail whites and Asians on standardized achievement tests. Moreover, achievement gaps abound in other countries as well. As Richard Rothstein notes, class backgrounds influence relative student achievement everywhere (2004).
Meanwhile, public opinion about “the facts” varies widely. Depending on your point of view, you may believe that achievement gaps are inevitable, narrowing, widening, or are being correctly or incorrectly addressed and measured. You may believe that the principal cause for disparities in achievement scores is poverty, or you may believe that the effects of poverty can be overcome by higher expectations and academic standards. You may place responsibility on students and their families for their attitudes toward achievement at school, or you may think blaming students and their families reflects underlying racism. You may believe that policymakers and society as a whole need to address the achievement gaps, or you may think that schools must take the lead in raising achievement for all students. And, according to the authors in this issue of Educational Leadership, your reasoning would be right, but incomplete.
If any challenge ever demanded looking at the relationships among facts for a solution, closing achievement gaps does. Four of our authors in particular make the case for thinking complexly about this problem.
Paul E. Barton (p. 8) lists 14 factors that research identifies as correlating with student achievement. From birth weight to television watching, from student mobility to parent availability, eight of the factors identified are outside-school conditions. Six of the factors—curriculum rigor, teacher preparation, school safety, class size, teacher experience, and access to technology—are school variables. “Closing the gap must be more than a one-front operation,” Barton tells us.
Richard Rothstein (p. 40) also insists that fixing failing schools is not sufficient; we must also furnish children with better health care and increase low-income families' access to stable housing. Among the school-based solutions he advocates are investing in early childhood programs and expanding after-school and summer programs that provide enriched learning experiences. He writes:To date there have been few experiments to test the relative benefits of these alternative strategies, particularly because people are so wedded to the notion that school reform alone is sufficient. But we could easily design experiments of this sort, and we should make them a priority.
W. James Popham (p. 46) suggests another priority—that educators attain a better grasp on the appropriateness of tests being given to students. Using a suitable achievement test—an instructionally supportive one—is essential. He writes:If we referred to the gaps we're trying to reduce as test score gaps rather than achievement gaps, people might become more aware of the inappropriateness of using test scores as the sole benchmark for student achievement.
Joshua Aronson (p. 14) offers psychological insight about the factors that relate to intellectual performance. His fascinating studies about tests and anxiety reveal that we are all vulnerable to stereotype threat. Providing students with the encouragement and the security to believe in their own ability to learn are the powerful (but not magic) gap closers within every educator's grasp.
All issues of Educational Leadership look at a challenge through multiple lenses. This challenge—closing achievement gaps—demands action on multiple fronts. ASCD's statement on closing achievement gaps (p. 94) is one step in that direction. Another most important step is your effort to see beyond the simplistic facts of the achievement gaps to the complex task of reaching all your students.
