UNIT 3. ACHIEVEMENT GAP We will explore the nature of persistent academic performance discrepancies found in American public education. What is the “achievement gap”? What do we know about it? Some have written that the term achievement gap is problematic. They argue that it signals “test score gap” and frames the issues to highlight short-term measurable results, suggesting that schools alone are responsible for the underachievement of various groups. In other words, the term puts the focus on outputs to the exclusion of inputs. In this class we will look at the role of parents, who are often held responsible for these gaps in EDL EDUC 523 16 test scores. We will also explore the role of poverty, and finally, we will look at the role of instruction, which has been absent in most of the national dialogue about the achievement gap.Learning Goals: 1. Be able to distinguish opinions about causes of the achievement gap from research findings. 2. Be able to parse out different factors related to inequitable educational outcomes and distinguish between a factor and an interpretation about that factor (e.g., parental involvement). Key Questions: 1. If we start with a look at test scores, what do they tell us? 2. How does the community understand the achievement gap? 3. How do the trends in their responses align with the research literature? 4. What role do instruction and parent involvement play in the achievement gap?