Social Policy and the Achievement Gap

Abstract

Educational research and reforms tend to focus on what happens inside schools, despite research consistently indicating that nonschool factors contribute more to the large achievement gap between different races and classes than do in-school factors. We now hear a growing call for social reform as a solution, but an important question remains, “Can social policy close the achievement gap?” This article examines the research from a number of different disciplines and fields and finds that we have plenty of reason to believe that social policy can alter educational performance but little evidence that it does. As such, a number of questions need to be answered before we can claim that social reform can meaningfully and efficiently narrow the achievement gap. Future directions for research and policy are discussed.