Talk:Achievement gap in the United States

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This is the first in a series of articles I plan to put together about U.S. education reform. Here's where I'm going with it:

  • History of the gap
  • Evidence of the gap
    • Problems discussing the gap (e.g. inconsistent classifications of race)
  • Explanations of the gap
  • Proposed solutions
  • Political implications
  • Similar patterns in other nations

I would like to acknolwedge that some have no interest in "closing the gap," but I'm not sure how to fit that into an article about an issue where "both sides" of the mainstream debate agree that something should be done.

Feedback and assistance VERY much appreciated, as this is my very first article.

Lottelita 22:13, 4 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Since the title at least for now isn't yet "Achievement gap in the US"... I've found this about low achievement in british schools: Tackling low educational achievement. A collection of documents with short summaries. I hope it's going to be useful, but I didn't look at depth at all. --Extremophile (talk) 18:49, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Effort gap

This article should examine whether there is an "effort gap" that corresponds with the "achievement gap" between the groups of people discussed in the article. People are not going to achieve unless they put in the effort to make it happen. --Jagz 19:39, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] First reference

Seems like the first reference isn't a reference to anything, just an institution and a name. I think we need a more specific source before claiming that gaps exist at every income level. --JereKrischel 06:50, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Article name change

I suggest changing the article name to "Achievement gap in the United States". Comments? --Jagz (talk) 14:21, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Standards Based Reform

The section on standards based reform needs some significant revision. The first sentence is outright silly--beliefs do not refute findings--and at least one other sentence was completely incoherent (as someone took the liberty of noting in brackets in the article text). Other parts, such as the section about IQ tests being made illegal need clarification and the part about ACT and SAT tests being condemned needs sources. More significantly, the whole section looks as though it was penned by an individual or a small group, possibly with a stilted view of education reform. Someone with some perspective needs to weed out the facts from the rhetoric and make it clear to readers which is which. 68.46.233.83 (talk) 17:54, 21 April 2008 (UTC)