Abstract
The achievement gap is one of the most talked-about issues in U.S. education. The term refers to the disparities in standardized test scores between Black and White, Latina/o and White, and recent immigrant and White students. This article argues that a focus on the gap is misplaced. Instead, we need to look at the “education debt” that has accumulated over time. This debt comprises historical, economic, sociopolitical, and moral components. The author draws an analogy with the concept of national debt—which she contrasts with that of a national budget deficit—to argue the significance of the education debt.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
Brown v. Board of Education 347 U.S. 483 (1954).
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
Mendez v. Westminster 64F. Supp. 544 (1946).
55.
56.
57.
58.
National Voting Rights Act of 1965, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1973–1973aa-b.
59.
60.
61.Plessy v. Ferguson 163 U.S. 537 (1896).
62.
63.
64.
65.
66.
67.
68.
South Carolina v. Katzenbach 383 U.S. 301, 327–328 (1966).
69.
70.
71.
72.
73.
74.
75.
76.
77.