Generational Change: Closing the Test Score Gap

In the 2003 Grutter v. Bollinger University of Michigan Law School affirmative action case, Sandra Day O'Connor declared on behalf of the majority of justices that, 'We expect that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary.' As this amounts to no less than a mandate that affirmative action for college admissions must end by the year 2028, the research in this book examines the progress that must be made in the one generation to fully close the black-white test score gap. The authors draw upon the best available research in considering a broad range of policy alternatives - accountability, school choice, preschool programs, and greater resource commitments - to identify what is most likely to create an educational system that enables all students, regardless of their racial and economic background, to achieve at equal levels. The result is an historic volume that will shape the debate over education reform for years to come.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 Toward the Elimination of Race Differences in Educational Achievement Chapter 2 How Families and Schools Shape the Achievement Gap Chapter 3 Putting Education into Preschools Chapter 4 Losing Ground At School Chapter 5 Lessons Learned from School Desegregation Chapter 6 Early Returns from School Accountability Chapter 7 School Choice by Mortgage or Design Chapter 8 Many Causes, No Easy Solutions

About the Author :
Paul E. Peterson is the Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Government and Director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University, and Editor-In-Chief of Education Next, a journal of opinion and research on education policy. Peterson is the author or editor over one hundred articles and twenty books and is a former director of the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University and of the Governmental Studies program at the Brookings Institution.

Review :
This compilation of essays examines a combination of education policies that, the contributors propose, can close the black-white achievement gap ... The authors identify school desegregation, revitalized preschool education, greater student accountability, and policies giving black parents more control over the schools their children attend as the initiatives most likely to raise African-American students' achievement to a level of parity. In this collection, ten American academics and researchers discuss what must occur to fully close the black-white test score gap in the next quarter-century. The text examines a variety of policy alternatives - accountability, school choice, preschool programs, and greater resource commitment - but makes clear that effective change will require the concerted effort of the country's educational and political leaders. This careful volume provides a roadmap for policymakers and educators who are serious about responding to O'Connor's charge. This volume offers an interesting array of conventional and unconventional strategies for school reform. They deserve to be discussed and given a fair trial in practice.