For all students to excel academically and thrive as individuals, we must raise the bar and close the achievement gap. Educators, policy makers, and the public must understand the grave consequences of persistent gaps in student achievement and demand that addressing these gaps become a policy and funding priority.

In the face of these disturbing facts, schools are challenged with bringing underachieving students up to satisfactory levels of performance while also continuing to provide enriching instruction for students already ideally placed on the achievement continuum.

Easy solutions to this problem simply don't exist. In this course, we'll explore the many factors that contribute to unequal patterns of achievement among different groups of students, but one inescapable reality lies at the root of the problem: disparities in achievement occur because some students are better prepared to achieve than others. Although educators can address some of the issues that affect students' readiness to learn, it will take a network of concerned people and institutions to help students overcome other barriers to academic achievement.

Throughout the course, we will look to Dan Laitsch, the former senior policy analyst at ASCD who wrote Policy Perspectives that the above quote is from, to help us make sense of the research about achievement gaps, as well as to provide insight about education policies that support educators' earnest efforts to attain equity in achievement.

Registration dates do not affect when you can register for this class. This class is self-paced and can be registered for at any time.