At the crux of the achievement gap is an education gap or grave inequities in the American educational system. Unless the education gap is effectively addressed, the achievement gap will persist. Ladson-Billings (2006) challenges the notion of an achievement gap instead emphasizing the education debt that the system owes to the mis-educated (poor and minority students) who have been inadequately served by American public schools.
What is your understanding of the achievement gap? What role if any does race, poverty, systems and structures (societal, schools, economic, political, etc.) play in the phenomenon of the achievement gap? What are the causes of the achievement gap?
