EDUCATION AND URBAN SOCIETY / August 2002Bainbridge, Lasley / CLOSI G TH ACHIEVEMENT GAP DEMOGRAPHICS, DIVERSITY, AND K-12 ACCOUNTABILITY The Challenge of Closing the Achievement Gap

The achievement gap persists within American classrooms. Although teachers domake a differ-ence in terms of what and howmuch students achieve, educational practitioners and policymak-ers would be well served to consider social inequities created by demographic realities, instruc-tional practices that engender broad student participation, and accountability measures that compare districts fairly. One of the greatest challenges facing educators today is the achievement gap between European American (White) children and African American or Hispanic American students. More than ever, educators are expected to understand how to usewhat is known to shapewhat is done in schools to close the gap. In this age of accountability, schools are frequently compared to provide a handy gauge for measuring performance. Many feel such comparisons are essential in determining how students are doing compared with their peers. But often, the demographic characteristics used to develop similar school or school system groups do not reflect the true picture of the students in any given school community. For example, size and type (urban, rural, suburban) of school system, two frequently used features, indicate very little about the kinds of students actually found in the classroom. Performance is often compared among types of students as well. Most school systems track performance on achievement tests by race (African American, Hispanic American, Native American, Asian American, and White) to assess how different groups of students compare to one another. Gender is also frequently mentioned as a measuring stick. As school leader