Focusing on the “Excellence Gap”
June 25, 2018
Dana Goldstein writes in the New York Times that “with test-score gaps narrowing but remaining stubbornly persistent after years of efforts, some in the education field are taking a fresh look at programs for advanced students that once made them uneasy, driven by the same desire to help historically disadvantaged groups.” They “are concerned not just with the achievement gap, measured by average performance, but the ‘excellence gap’: they hope to get more students from diverse backgrounds to perform at elite levels.” The article also notes that ESSA “requires states to track and report the demographic breakdown of high-performing students, in order to help identify gaps,” something that wasn’t required under No Child Left Behind.