Closing the Opportunity Gap : What America Must Do to Give Every Child an Even Chance

Carter, Prudence L. (EDT); Welner, Kevin G. (EDT); Barnett, W. Steven, Ph.D. (CON); Belfield, Clive (CON); Berry, Barnett (CON)

ISBN 10: 0199982988 / ISBN 13: 9780199982981

Edité par Oxford University Press, 2013

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N° de réf. du vendeur 19139453-n

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Closing the Opportunity Gap : What America Must Do to Give Every Child an Even Chance
• Éditeur: Oxford University Press
• Date de parution: 2013
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 0199982988
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9780199982981
• Reliure: Couverture rigide
• État de l'article: New

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Synopsis

While the achievement gap has dominated policy discussions over the past two decades, relatively little attention has been paid to a gap that is even more at odds with American ideals: the opportunity gap. Opportunity and achievement, while inextricably connected, are very different goals. Every American will not go to college, but every American should be given fair opportunities to be prepared for college. By obsessively focusing on measuring achievement, the nation's policymakers have made little progress in measuring or addressing inequitable opportunities. Policy therefore fails to engage with the challenges, supports, and resources that lead to improvements in student learning. The achievement gap has not arisen by coincidence; children learn when they have opportunities to learn, and gaps in opportunities have led to gaps in achievement. Moreover, students' learning experiences and outcomes are deeply affected by many factors outside of the immediate control of schools.

Closing the Opportunity Gap brings together top experts who offer evidence-based essays that paint a powerful picture of denied opportunities. They also describe sensible, research-based policy approaches to enhance opportunities. They highlight the discrepancies that exist in our society and in our public schools, focusing on how policy decisions and broader circumstances conspire to create the opportunity gap that leads inexorably to the outcome differences that have become so stark. The volume makes a compelling case that American educational policy must move beyond the conventional focus on achievement and opens a discussion about the common sense ways schools can and should give all American children more equitable opportunities to thrive.

À propos de l'auteur

Prudence Carter is Associate Professor of Education and (by courtesy) Sociology at Stanford University and co-director of the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education. Dr. Carter's primary research agenda focuses on cultural explanations of academic and mobility differences among various racial and ethnic groups. Her most recent book is Stubborn Roots: Cultivating Cultural Flexibility and Equity in U.S. and South African Schools.

Kevin G. Welner is a professor of education policy in Educational Foundations, Policy and Practice program area at the University of Colorado Boulder, and he is the director of the National Education Policy Center. His work examines the use of research in policymaking, the intersection between education rights litigation and educational opportunity scholarship, and the school change process associated with equity-focused reform.