The difference between high achieving students and low achieving students, the persistent gap between students and standards has much to do with experience. There is a huge language gap between upper and middle class students when compared to students in living in poverty. In addition , the quality of language when students become school age differs. The amount of lap time reading, number of books in the home, the number of books read to a child have an enormous bearing on school success.

If you want the truth about something, don’t ask your friend, minister, local politician, activist group, or consulting company looking for big bucks contracts. Instead, consult the peer reviewed literature (publish or perish) where professional reputations and careers are on the line, big time. Any flawed reasoning is quickly challenged and exposed.

It is uniformly found in the literature that cognitive performance potential has genetic roots. That’s why, e.g., sperm banks prefer medical students as sources and Ivy League grads are the prized egg donors. Ask any molecular biologist. The truth is not always a pleasant thing, but that is no reason to bury one’s head in politically-correct sand. Whenever two groups go head-to-head on a cognitive playing field as with the "achievement gap," the differences in results are fundamentally based in genetic differences between the two groups.

Poverty and disadvantage is not an explanation. It is to be naturally expected that low cognitive performers will tend to be found in lower income families. Low-performing students are overwhelmingly the offspring of intellectually-challenged parents whose earning capacities, and less-responsible life decisions leading to poverty, merely reflect genetically-rooted cognitive deficiencies of their parents. Really no surprise here.

The achievement gap is mostly hereditary. Thus, no amount of legislation, massive funding, or special programs can ever close it. Best to identify the superior performing students, regardless of race, and ensure that they have all possible educational advantages and programs. These students are the most precious resource: those who will ultimately be most effective in solving society’s problems down the road. Mucho more bang for the educational buck…

As a black male and product of the Baltimore City public schools (1977 graduate), Loyola College (BS '89), Johns Hopkins (MS '01), I feel I was not pushed to my maximum potential until my senior year in voc-tech high school, when I was selected for a work study program in high-tech corporate America It was here that I met middle class whites who seemingly lived a life of which I was completely unaware. A life that was perceived as "better", and I wanted to know how I could have a similar fate...the answer was COLLEGE! A place seldom mentioned in my circles. Now that many of my peers hold college degrees, we should be more involved in our children's education and raising the bar for them. Unfortunately, many of our children have come to rest on our accomplishments and take their current lifestyles for granted, as parents have sought to give their children more than they had when growing up. This paradigm has seemingly nullified our kids to hard work, as they enjoy the "good life" without having worked a day in their lives to get it.

I think if you want to understand how to improve the achievement gap, one should look to where there has been successes and try to model programs after that. In the media, I have read articles about students in disadvantaged schools overcoming the odds to achieve. My observation is that there was usually great leadership in the school and caring people involved in the children's lives; ie a teacher or a mentor. Someone also had higher expectations of the children but also tried to help the children to succeed. For example, one school partnered with a YMCA to provide after school programming to help with homework. Many teachers who worked with the children during the day were able to stay after school to help with homework and got compensated for it due to the partnership.
It is true that a supportive family is helpful but since we know this does not always exist, we should be developing mentoring and support programs in conjuction with the private sector and community organizations to supplement what the children need which is to know that someone cares about them enough to expect them to do the best they can and will give them the support in this endeavor.

Perhaps genetics play a role, but I feel it is more the immediate lifestyle. There are MANY very bright poor children who are simply NOT pushed to their potential. Their parents, perhaps, were also pushed to their potential and therefore saw no need or do not have the ability to help their children.

To some extent, some students are simply lazy or have found that they can get by living in the welfare system. It maybe all they have ever known and have grown comfortable there.

I have seen "poor African American kids" go to the library to get out of the heat since they have no a/c at home. Now they have been introduced to books and the internet -- again something they do not have at home -- and their life has been forever changed!

I equate give a man a fish and he eats today; teach the man to fish and he eats every day. Give the kid a boring life and he remains there; excit that kids brain with reading and you have changed the world!

I believe that the problem with African American acheivement has to do with the values that parents instill in there children(i.e.why buy your 5 year old books when you can buy them a wii ) Materialism is a priority in the African American community, education is not. Until we stop rewarding them with special programs because they are failing and extra help because they are not making academic gains things will never change. Why learn when I can still acquire things.If we took free education away from the students I think that only then would their priorities change.