Why Achievement Gap Mania Undermines Reform
by Frederick M. Hess • Sep 30, 2011 at 7:53 am
Cross-posted from Education Week
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ShareAll right, enough of this already. This is the last day on "Our Achievement Gap Mania" (at least for now); I promise. But some folks have wondered how I can be goofy enough to argue that such a popular rhetorical strategy is bad for sustaining reform. My default answer is to encourage folks to read the whole piece. But since many of you are busy, let's highlight a few key points here.
The champions of the gap-closing gospel tend to regard themselves as tactical geniuses, and to think of the achievement gap mantra as a brilliant political strategy. The irony is that, if you stop to think about it, this would seem to be at odds with their persistent frustration that they don't get more support from suburbanites and the middle class--and their search for clever new stratagems with which to broaden their base of support. I'd suggest that the problem is actually less their tactics than the inherently self-limiting appeal of the gap-closing
